Kruzhka Svezhego
Efes Karaganda Pivovarinniy Zavod

almost positive this is my first ever beer from kazakhstan, what a treat, and what a cool bottle, never seen glass this shape before! its a simple pale lager really, relatively hearty in grain complexion and body for its mild abv, and very well refined, somewhere between super cheap macro lager and something a bit better like a stella or something. to be judged against those beers, not all beers, its pretty solid. radiant golden from the bottle with a tall and lasting white head on it, along with a ton of bubbles and absolutely perfect clarity. it smells a touch corny and sweet, but not obviously adjunct driven to me, with some definite pils malt earthiness and a honey character as well, faint oxidation here too, its traveled a long way after all. flavor is fine and balanced. minerals and trace flavorless bittering hops, with the grain really leading the way, classic european lager yeast here too, well used but uninteresting. when nice and cold is pretty refreshing, a little more hearty to me at temperature. nothing real special here, aside i guess for the unique origin, at least to me, but if you want a yellow lager, you could do a lot worse for yourself than this one. i enjoyed it quite a lot actually, and would prefer it to most of the locally available alternatives...