Kvas Taras (квас тарас)
Slavutych Brewery

Handsome clear brew on the red side of brown with modest foam in the tumbler. Interesting fruity aroma and taste. This is not all that hard to drink. It's sweet, but not like soda. It's more of a very mellow cola taste with some grainy background. Carbonation dissipates as you sip but there is still some spritz left for the finish. From the 500 ml can purchased at the European deli.

Brown color with minimal head. The aroma of grain and yeast and caramel. The taste is caramelly sweet and chemical. Tons of unfermented sugar. Not true kvas

Pretty much like barley soda. Very sweet and lots of good grain/malt flavor. Looses it's carbonation quickly which makes the 2l bottle sad towards the end. Great bang for your buck though.

Dark kvas rye and barley malt.

A: dark brown with very little head.

S: malty and syrupy, with molasses and brown sugar.

T: sweet and malty with some roasted notes, and caramel.

M: medium thick, low carbonation, and a dry finish.

O: sweet and malty, maybe a little more carbonation, but interesting and tasty.

 

 

Slavutych Kvas Taras (aka Kbac Tapac), 1.2% ABV! This massive 2 Liter beer pours thin and dark brown, with no head. Nose is malt, taste is sweet - the sweetest beer I have ever had. Mouthfeel is OK, overall poor. This is style #96 of 104 for me. The owner of the Russian grocery where I bought this said that Russians do not consider this a beer, as the 1.2% ABV is low enough to be classified as non-alcoholic. If I had been offered this and not told what it was, I would have guessed it is a sweet tea. I don't believe I will finish this.

How best to describe this? It looks like tea, it has a little carbonation, and there's a little bit of sediment on the bottom of the glass. Big aromas of dark bread and fruit, with notes of sweet tea, black bread, and raisins on the palate. I was not expecting much after reading about this particular style, but this was surprisingly good and worth the time it took to seek it out.

 

 

 

 

 

Appearance- Pours only a sliver of head even when I pour straight into the glass (not like I had much of a choice with such a large bottle). It did have enough retention for me to notice that is was a light beige color. The body is a dirty maroon/dark amber color that appears dark amber when held up to the light. I don't expect any lacing as this is more like a soda than real beer.

Nose- Very strong aroma. Some notes are desirable, some are less. Lots of caramel with notes of beets and sweet cornflakes. Somewhat like Coca-cola but these off flavors. It has a slight sourness from the glass but is syrupy sweet from the bottle.

Taste- Very reflective of the nose. Very sweet, maybe a note of raisins and cherries underneath grain and bread. The caramel aspect is not as strong as one the nose and the off Coke flavors of the nose are overwhelmed by the raisin and grape sweetness. There are a lot of similarities to Coca-Cola (which I do enjoy but do not drink anymore) and I can understand why kvass in Russia has been overtaken by cola. Perhaps a better comparison is to Pepsi, as it is sweeter than Coke. Some prune juice qualities to it as well. Reminiscent of a flat rum and coke. Not a bad beverage- definitely better than low alcohol beer. Some hints of rye (and cereal) and tiny bits of spice around the edges.

Mouthfeel- Medium bodied with lots of syrup to the texture. Very little carbonation. This does not render it undrinkable but if it wants to reclaim market shares from soft drink companies, then it needs the bubbles.

Drinkability- Fairly easygoing. It's not going to get you drunk. Maybe your six year old. Which appears to be an acceptable practice in Russia. Pretty cheap. 3 bucks for 2 liters.

Overall- It's good for what it is and it seems to be fairly representative of the style. I would not classify it as beer though. It's not even considered an alcoholic beverage in Russia. Give it a try. I was a bit apprehensive but I definitely have had worse “supposedly great” beers. I wouldn't repurchase this but I might try others of its style- especially American interpretations.

 

Poured from 2 liter plastic bottle into a dimpled mug.

Appearance: medium brown hue with a haze-free body and a light effervescence. Head poured half a finger of fizzy tan foam but dissipated immediately. An average kvass.

Smell: sweet and bready with a distinct raisin aroma. Not too bad.

Taste: rye bread is readily evident, and the flavor is a little bit drier than the aroma would suggest. There's less raisiny fruitiness in the flavor as well, which provides a nice counterpoint to the aroma. A decently balanced brew.

Mouthfeel: light and watery with a low level of carbonation. Even for a kvass, there's not much going on here.

Overall: the balance of this brew makes it very quaffable. There are some disappointing areas here, but overall experience and drinkability are quite good.

2 liter plastic bottle
Served in a tulip glass
Thanks to sommersb for this one

A - It is dark amber in color, almost a copper. It has amber highlights. I vigorous pour only yields a thin, tan head.

S - The aroma is a combination of rye or pumpernickel bread and caramel candy. It is very sweet and bready.

T - The taste is candy sweet. I also get some rye bread taste. The best way to approximate the taste would be to take a caramel candy and eat it with a crouton.

M - Moderate to thin with very little carbonation.

O - It's like drinking a really sweet, flat cola. I think more carbonation would help. This is my first dalliance with this style. I would like to try some others for comparison.

Poured this one out among the family yesterday at our annual Christmas party. The for many of them it was their first time trying Kvass. Basically I sold it to them as a "Russian Soda". Many didn't like it and found it hard to drink a 2/3 full glass of it. Either way it pours out as a clear looking reddish brown color. There is a thin and quick fading head on top. The smell of the beer is sweet, it's got a boat load of molasses on the nose as well as plenty of bread-like aromas as well. The taste is sweet for the most part, there is the main flavor of molasses and bread followed by what I thought tasted like grapes in the finish. The mouthfeel of this was much like a soda, watered down and carbonated... not much complexity at all. Overall it's a pretty traditional Kvass, not much else to say... It's a decent drink but not something I would rush out to buy more of.

New find at Rich's Deli, priced right at $1.89 for a 2 liter. Info in 6 languages on the bottle, English being the least descriptive. Seemingly pasteurized or "pasteurizat" in Moldovan. Contains rye malt and barley malt concentrate. Seems to be decently rated and poised to enter the top 10 style list with a couple more reviews.

Pours placidly into a large mug with little fanfare. A string of bubbles at the edges and a cluster of larger ones in the center linger briefly. Color is a dark tawny brown, approaching mahogany.

Smells good, very bready and raisiny. Lightly sweet, giving an oatmeal raisin cookie impression.

Tastes tangy and full of raisins, bready rye and barley linger, not overly sweet and only moderately so. Finishes sort of dry, though it's definitely sweetened. Thin and watery, as commercial Kvas often is, though not always. Very drinkable though, in small part due to the lower carbonation. Distinct rye bread aftertaste after a bigger quaff. Overall not bad, a warm weather beverage to pair with hearty food.

A: This one pours a light brown color with some reddish notes and no head.

S: Smells strongly of rye with a heavy dosing of toasted bread. A bit more sweet malt from toffee. Lots of fruit aromas, mostly prunes and raisins. There is a slight tang/sourness and some yeast.

T: The flavor is very sweet. White table sugar and brown sugar as well as cola. It's a bit watery with some bread and toffee. Only a mild rye flavor.

M: Light bodied with low carbonation.

O: Watery but still almost cloyingly sweet.