Balik Beer
Brauerei Locher AG

 

Tasty aged beer but crazy expensive

 

Allegedly brewed according to an old Russian porter recipe, with kvas/kwas as one of the ingredients! Brewed by Brauerei Locher "im Auftrag der BALIK Räucherei im Toggenberg AG", website www.balik.com . The Räucherei might even have supplied the smoked salmon I had with this beer (330 ml bottle) at the Seafood Bar at Stansted Airport, London (Norwegian salmon, smoked in Switzerland, bought in Britain - weird!) According to the BALIK website the beer should be served cool at 12 degrees C, but I had it served fridge cold. While the coldness must have taken away some of the flavour details, it probably made the beer more drinkable with seafood, taking the edge off the heavy sweetness. The beer has a brown colour with a slight haziness, low head. Aroma and flavour are more like a port wine than a "normal" beer. Very sweet, warming mouthfeel (no surprise at 11% ABV!), spicy, a bit alcoholic, but interesting. Decent hops in the finish.

I'm entering this as a Baltic Porter because the back label states:
"...brewed according to an old Russian porter recipe with brown malt, Russian kwas, hops and water from BALIK's own source at Ebersol. It is then matured during one year in old oak butts and received individual care..."

The color however it anything but porter-like. Bronze and clear, it possesses some residual foaming, more than most 11% beers I know. The aromas are very grainy. Split, ripe little blisters of sun-ripened grass seed, boiled and drizzled with caramel honey. On the palate it is quite gasless. Surging, unctuous flavors of hazelnut paste and brown sugar lead to a balanced, nearly dry finish. Bitterness sufficient to obscure the crude grain and sugar flavors provides space for apply, basil-herbed aromatics to appear. The texture is silken and contains the colossal alcohol presence very well.

A delicious and very rare treat from Craig; my much-travelled, flavor hunting friend. I have your Burgundy! (red, not white like you asked for. :-P' ' ' ' ' ')