Zhiguly Ekstra
Gubernija Brewery

Live review. Poured from the 16.9 oz. green vertically oriented bottle that I received as a Christmas gift from Mat & Christine. I think that this will be my first Lithuanian beer. Poured into my Murphy's Red pint glass.

A Visible sediment gathered around the bottom of the bottle before I even opened it. After pouring same sediment is much more evenly distributed throughout the translucent yellow body under an intial 3 inch head which dissipated down to a thin layer on the top. Interesting look. 3.5

S Somewhat stale barley smell and very little hops. Smells like a boring Euro Lager. 2.5

T That "stale" smell unfortunately was just a hint at the funk that hits me first. There is a funky taste of rotten, wet barley and it is not pleasant. Thankfully, that is only the first 2/3 of the taste, the latter 1/3 being an unoffensive but boring Euro lager light barley sweetness, very little hops and no backbone. I have to mark the taste down due to that unwelcome rotten taste. 2.0

M Thin to moderate with some syrupy stickiness but not much more. That rotten funk also increases the feel overall. 3.0

D Not good. I do not think that I will likely finish the bottle. I have already drank about 10 ounces and several of those ounces were a chore to get through. 2.0

Eye: Lemony yellow in color and not as clear as I thought it would be. There is just a taint of cloudiness in there. Poor head retention, formation, and lacing. Decent looking beer.

Nose: This is just what I would expect from this style of beer, malty grain and spicy hops. There is also a malt sweetness in there blended with the grain-like aroma. Overall nice aroma but nothing to brag about.

Tongue: Both malty and grainy in flavor with coarse bittering hops. Spicy hop flavor. Not really much more here.

Mouthfeel and Drinkability: Light on the palate with higher levels of carbonation, just what one would expect. Finish is dry after a few seconds. I'll drink the rest of this bottle but this isn't something that I'd keep an eye out for. Not bad, not good...it just doesn't go above and beyond any other of the same style out there.

16.9 oz green bottle with an almost art deco style label. No freshness dating.

The beer pours a light gold with a fairly massive dense white head. Good lacing

The nose is slightly sulfuric with underlying grains and grassy hops.

The taste is a bit sweet with some grainy taste. There is a whisper of floral hops and pepper that is in the background. No real transfer of the sulfur smell to the taste (thank goodness).

The mouth is medium to medium thin. The beer could use a bit more carbonation. Still, this is a pretty inoffensive beer. Unfortunately it does not really stand out either.

Just about worth the $1.59 I bought it for at Sals liquor. I bet it would be better at the source in Lithuania.

Zhuguly Ekstra is a bit stronger than Bud or MGD but that’s about where the easy comparisons end. The nose is skunky, and I immediately think of Beck's and wanna pour this or feed it to the dog, but resist as I'm thirsty and the dog ain't around. Pours a brilliant straw in color and offers a fluffy off-white head of medium duration (eventually turns to clumpy "islands" of foam.) . Carbonation is moderate, mouthfeel is medium-full. There’s a slightly sour slightly astringent character that offsets it's almost-big malt-driven body, and a very pleasant hop bitterness lingers after the first gulp which returns for each subsequent gulp. Aside from that Beck's skunk on the nose this is ain’t bad for a session lager, and it’s practically tailor-made to cut the greasy bar snacks and pub-grub.

I am drinking a 500 mL bottle poured into my Lancaster Malt Brewing Co. tumbler.

Appearance: The color lives up to the style. This is a very pale golden lager. It pours with a moderate head that quickly dissapates and leaves no visible proof that it existed.

Smell: A light grainy aroma is the first hint. After that, I think the adjuncts make themselves known, with muted tones of non-barley. There is a light hop presence.

Taste: The taste is somewhat muted. Clearly it has the flavor of a mass-market lager. The grains and adjuncts do create a smooth flavor (although there is not a lot of said flavor).

Mouthfeel: The lager taste fine in the mouth. It does not leave a lasting impression, which I think is the point with this style.

Drinkability: This beer reflects the continental drive for a quality session beer. It comes close and when combined with the low abv, could be hard to beat.

A clear, straw gold body is capped by a short and foamy white head that drops fairly readily. It does, however, maintain a thin collar and light surface covering - and even leaves some temporal lace. It's clean nose offers a lightly sweet and mildly bready malt that's meshed with some herbal hops. The body is light and it's nicely crisp in the mouth. The flavor mimics the aroma, and it's very well-balanced by a solid bitterness. It finishes dry with a dollop of sweet malt that fades to reveal some herbal hop flavor and a mineral-like character. Nice. Very well done. The "Ekstra" isn't as interesting as their other beers, but it seems to be better made (maybe it's given more time to condition?).