Premium Czech Lager
Pivovoar Branik

Pours a light amber color with a slight head and lacing
Aroma has bready and malt hints
The taste follows the nose with a bready and malt flavor
A light bodied decently carbonated beer
A decent Lager

 

According to the label, this 330ml green bottled beer is brewed by Pivovar Braník (part of InBev.-Pivovary Staropramen now), as another "Firebrand" beer by the British chain wine-shop "Threshers", which purchases beers from some breweries and place them under their own Firebrand label so as to promote quality beers to the British public. So after checking the facts about Pivovar Braník which now brews only two of their traditional brands (světlé lezak 12%--draught only, and světlé výčepní 10%), I suspect that this beer might be simply the bottled version of Braník 12% for the British company, just like what happens to Vratislav 12% for Tesco supermarket? If so, I'd say InBev-Staropramen really knows the art of camouflage~~

A: pours a dark golden hue, coming with a nice white beer head with reasonable retention; the body is moderated carbonated, ever so gently and not fierce at all.
S: quite expectable nose--slightly sweet biscuity malts mixed with Saaz hop and its mildly apple-ish aroma and a touch of buttery note, while an unexpected "bite" of grass hint like hays emerges at the back. Not bad, but not impressive either.
T: soft palate of malts prevails from the very beginning, leading to a bready texture along with minimum hoppy flavour and just mildly-dryish bitterness. Short finish and the texture turns thin as it goes. Somehow the hops are overly restrained in this brew, gearing towards the side of maltiness.
M: quite lively on the palate and crisp in the end b/w the teeth, but a residual sugary/sticky mouthfeel is left deep down the tongue, and not so pleasant.
D: a Bohemian lager without good depth of hops, yet not as deliciously malty as, say, the famous Budvar; its price at the Thresher Wines, 1.19 pounds for a 330ml bottle, does not reflect very good price performance either. Besides, I think the Threshers group, true to their Firebrand strategy and philosophy, should support more quality micro-breweries in need of capital, not contributing already great share of market to the super-rich InBev. by stealth. For both reasons, I wouldn't buy it again.