Kvas (Hlebniy Kvas)
All Stars Beverages

 

Rubber-band chewy, it's soda, not beer. Brown bread cheese sandwich nose. Cola grape soda cereal milk palate. Pleasant lactic acid taste. Parmesan/Cheetos finish. Lots of added sugar. It does lack the satisfying funkiness and tang/bite of homemade kvas due to food/alcohol laws. Homemade kvass has a very short shelf life and I think this is probably better when purchased in Canada. A really worthy regular purchase, definitely highest-quality most authentic mass-produced kvas available in North America, made from bread crumbs and not syrup like many brands. Incredibly delicious ice-cold on a hot day after exercise.

Poured from the 2 litre plastic bottle into a nonic(k) pint glass.

In terms of a Kvass, this has a surpising amount of retention. Khaki and fistfull forming head that manages to have a lot of no surprise soda pop like fizz. Dissolves failry slowly for kvass and not a trace of lacing. Dark rusted brown, almost tinged red with a bit of clarity through the dark beverage. Leaves a solid collar when finishing too.

Real nice aroma. Rye bread with a tinged dark cola/molasses like sweetness. A lot of the other kvass I have had has been mostly commercial and while ok seems much more sweeter without this bready angle. This one actually has a sense of character and malt if rye presence. Mild touching caramel as well for some diversity on the nose too. This is pretty impressive so far.

Palate is just a little bit more than just straight up sweet. Big touches of cola like quality in flavor, with not too much sugar. Aftertaste has a real good dry twinge on the tongue if a little numbing, with a slight spicy finish.

Wish that some of that aroma kind of came out more in the taste but otherwise pretty solid.

 

 

Pours a cola brown with a frothy 2" head that settles out with a thick ring of tan head; cloudy with some sediment settling to the bottom. Nose is spicy rye bread, caraway, and sweet cola. Taste is essentially a slightly less sweet Coke with a smattering of rye bread spices - pretty pleasant! As it warms, sour bread and pumpernickel become more pronounced. Mouthfeel is full with solid, soda pop carbonation; extremely refreshing on a hot day and went well with a plate of sausages. Worth seeking out!

Common! I made at home way better. And mine was 7% strong. No jokes!

 

 

 

Plastic screw-top bottle pour.

No head. Brown colour. Dark.

Aroma suggests baked brown bread and vitaminy yeast. Cola-like notes. Caramel. Molasses. Sourdough.

Taste is bready, with a fizzy mouthfeel holding it up and preventing it from having an overbearingly full body.

A little dry. Medium-bodied. Well-carbonated.

Overall, it's a drinkable kvass and I find it well-executed if a bit simplistic and rudimentary. Certainly balanced, and not too soft drink-leaning like many expressions of the style. I'd like to see more commitment to the breadiness though.

B- / WORTHY

2 L bottle. Pours brown with tall, long lasting, fluffy, beige head. Aroma is of sweet malt and molasses. Body is medium and crisp. Taste is of bread, brown sugar, molasses and some dark fruit. Finish is long and sweet. This tastes more like sweet soda than kvas.

 

16oz Plastic Bottle
$1.99
Cafe Vilnius - Darien, IL

This kvass started foaming the second the screw cap got turned. It was a monster. A full mug of foam started me off and the total pour took about 5 minutes. All Star Bakery's version is chestnut brown and muddy. The head eventually fizzled to nothing but the carbonation was still very active and could be seen sprinting up the sides of the mug while tiny particles of rye bread sink to the base.

This is certainly not one of the sweetened versions and actually has a sour note present. This version isn't made with rye and sugar only, barley malt was added as well and it's noticeable. Rye and barely are both present with the the rye inching ahead. The malt has taken on a soft sourness while molasses adds the sweetness. The aroma overall is understated but it's making my mouth water.

The flavor follows the nose and I'm happy about that. It's bright and malty. A soured molasses note pervades throughout while big notes of both barley and rye run their course from front to back. The sour note is a little metallic but mostly conforting in some strange way. The soft tartness doesn't stick around long after the swallow and is surpassed by a note of rye. Thereare even fruity notes popping up at times. This is the best tasting kvass I've come across.

The body is light and thin with lively, snappy carbonation that seems to scrub the tongue. This is listed as a soft drink kvass and that fits in line with the body. The tart gets at the back of the tongue a bit as does some spice from the rye. Highly drinkable.

This isn't the most rye forward kvass I've ever tasted but it is the most complex and interesting. The sour note fits perfectly. I would recommend this to anyone looking to try something new. It's strange looking to the newcomer but certainly worth a shot.

 

 

 

A thanks to woodychandler for this beer. Poured from a clear plastic 2 liter bottle. Has a cola color with a 1 inch head, considerable carbonation. Smell is of molasses, malts. Taste is bready, rye, molasses, not bad but not great either. Feels light in the mouth and overall is a mediocre beer.

(Served in an America pint glass)
A- This beer pours a dense murky brown body with a thick light tan head and chunks of jetsam banging around that turn out to be raisins and yeast chunks.

S- The yeasty cola note has a white plastic note that finishes with a septic aroma. As the beer opens the septic aroma takes on more of a hair perm tartness with some soy sauce qualities.

T- The slight sweetness of prunes finish with a bit more sweetness and a bread yeast quality with some fruity cola notes coming through. There is a bread crust note that comes through as it opens aswell.

M- The big scrubbing fizz leads to a thin light mouthfeel.

O- The sweet fizzy concoction is interesting but doesn’t have much depth and the odd smell makes it hard to take another sip. I keep sipping hoping to find some old ale or flanders red qualities in the dark fruit and tartness but they just aren’t there.