Vergina
Macedonian Thrace Brewery SA

 

 

 

Kavos 20/7 2022. 33 cl can from Diellas Supermarket in Lefkimmi, Corfu. Blue can in classic design with some Greece letters to spice things up and a grumpy Golden Lion as logo.

Pours slightly unclear, pale yellow with a mid-sized white head. Settles as thin, almost transparent layer of foam covering the surface of the beer. Clinging to the sides of the glass. Moderate lacing.

Aroma is medium intense with a sweet malty odor mingling with a chemical off-scent. Sweet pale malts, bread and cardboard. Glue and caramel.

Light carbonation. Thin, oily, soft, lightly tingling texture.

Flavor is medium intense with a rather strong sweetness followed by a moderately strong bitterness. Aftertaste is sweet and lingers for a bit. Finish is semi-dry.

Generic Greek Lager Beer. A tad too sweet with a weird tang.

 

Can. Diluted urine colour. Clear with a frothy white head.
Smells of corn with weak hops.
Some improvement upon tasting. Hints of honey with grain.
Light to moderate carbonation and body.
To style but rather poor quality.

 

 

Vergina – from Macedonian Thrace Brewery S.A. 11.2 fl oz (330 mL) bottle purchased from Shangy’s, Emmaus, PA, 14/09/24, $ 3.17 (including tax), $ 0.283/fl oz. Reviewed 25/09/24 (Review 3363). Note that I use DD/MM/YY protocol.
Back label stamped “BEST BEFORE JUNE 2023”. In room temperature storage at store. Stored at 34 degrees F at home. Served at 45.6 degrees F in a hand washed and dried Jester King snifter. The final temperature was 56.3 degrees F.
Appearance – 4
First pour – Pale Straw (SRM 2), clear.
Body – Pale Gold (SRM 4), clear. Under direct light, same. When rear-lite, same.
Head – Average (Maximum 3 cm, aggressive center pour), white, medium density with a rocky top, moderately fizzy, short retention, leaving a 0.5 cm crown, and a thin partial cap.
Lacing – Good. Narrow band of near-microscopic bubbles which eventually evolves into torn curtains.
Aroma – 3 – Initial burst of skunkiness which fades away. No hops, weak malt, no alcohol (5 % ABV, according to the label).
Flavor – 3 – Begins and ends with a slight hop bitterness. No dimethylsulfide or diacetyl. No gastric warming.
Palate – 3 – Thin; watery; lively carbonation.
Style: Follows the style guidelines, as condensed by BA.
Final Impression and summation: 3.25 Good looking brew. Transitory sulfides may be deliberate. Actually, not as bad as I expected – maybe it just needs to be cellared for a year or two past the BB date.

Cool 50 cl can, straight up, at the Temple of Apollo in Delphi, Greece.
Perhaps it was my excitement to be drinking this one where I am, but it feels and tastes better than most beers I’ve had in Greece. Malty creamed corn nose, taste is short on hops, mouthfeel is crisp, medium carbonation.
Overall, just a tad better than most everything else, so far.,. Bonus point for the name. You said ‘Vergina’. Huh huh huh.,.

 

When I saw the label in the fridges of singles at my local bottle shop in Glenfield, Sydney, I thought my eyes were deciving me. "Vagina?" I found myself muttering, like some sort of deranged sexaholic. Upon reaching in and grabbing the bottle, I was equally amused at the spelling Vergina. "Hehe Vergina" I found myself chuckling. There was a lady a few feet away looking at fridge wines, who looked at me alarmingly, like I was some deranged sexaholic.

On a whim, and my childish mind choosing my purchase, I then thought this was a Macedonian beer, but upon further investigation, it's Greek. I won't delve too deep into Verginas origins (giggle), wars have been started over much less.

The mature person (buried deep in the far recesses of me) realised that it can't be pronounced Vergina either. And it's not, but for immaturities sake, I'm drinking Vergina.


Vessel: 330ml brown glass bottle. Best before sadly is June 2023, so it's over 6 months out of date. I hope this Vergina doesn't have too many off smells.

Appearance: Pale Golden. Frothy white head. Typical Euro Lager experience so far. 100% filtered, some carbonation bubbles. Standard, par the course.

Aroma: Sweet toasted malt, giving a slightly burnt toast and corn Initially it smelt 'dusty', but it's very malt driven and forward. Some floral hop notes are evident. But it's sweet and corn mostly.

Taste: Sweet with a slightly funky bitter finish. Definitely a strong corn base adjunct used in this beer. It's not overly offensive, but some more flavoursome and prominent hops for a crisper finish would improve this.

Feel: Light body, the sweetness adds a bit of body. Highly carbonated.

Overall: Would probably pair alright with a nice fresh Gyros or sitting by the Mediterranean without a care in the world, but the lack of hop crispness means it get bland quickly. Not terrible by any means, but definitely strikes me as a mass produced adjunct lager, maybe even a Greek supermarket beer.

#️⃣1️⃣2️⃣1️⃣

 

 

 

Grabbed out of the Old Man's fridge in July 2023 and drunk immediately.

L: Brilliant yellow gold, bright-white head and busy carbonation flowing up the glass. An undeniably pretty beer!

S: Sweet malt, corn, DMS, skunk. Ok, so it's gone downhill a bit from the visuals...

T: Very sweet, corn from a can, long finish. Classic lower-tier Euro pale lager, but worse.

F: Very mild. This beer is built for quaffing.

O: Even marking this one to style it's got too much sweet corn aroma and taste in it. Would be palatable on a hot Greek beach but nothing going for it otherwise.

Cheers!
#280

 

The first time I bought this, I actually couldn't find it on beer advocate, because this is a Greek version, in Greek writing. And I had no idea what beer it was when translated to English.

I am a big fan of Greek produce in general. The best ever fruit, tomatoes and olive oil that I ever have had, were either in Greece or Greek Cyprus. They are masters at growing and producing things. I liked Mythos, hopefully this too.

So this is called Vergina. Ok. With a lion on the label. So maybe the beer helps lions to make virgins into non virgins. Cool design.

Lots of effervescence but quite large bubbles. Pale. Fresh aroma. I love the aroma. It's sweet but still healthy. Like fruit, not sugar. Bitterness perfectly complements the sweet maltiness.

Complex hops. Unique and different to Czech, German and Eastern European hops. This reminds me of an Efes pilsner a bit. Mouth feel is quite thin, effervescent, but with some complex hop bitterness in the aftertaste.

It's a beautiful and refreshing pilsner. Better than Mythos? I think Mythos is more smooth with less effervescence and a more subtle refresing flavour. This is less smooth and unfortunately there is too much carbonation. But the hops are amazing and it's still a great beer.

Why there is a lion on a beer called Virgin is a little strange. But it's less strange than the baby in the beer glass, in a Berliner Kindl. But anyway, I like this. The hops are amazing. It's not too sweet. And it tastes healthy. Just a little too much carbonation for me, when straight from the bottle.

Great beer though, will buy again. Hopefully in the sun next time and not in the night.

Litttle color. lot of stagnant floaties. smells like day old budweiser. actually tastes alright due to the malts. Not bad, but not great either. Comparable to beers like Amstel, Peroni, Heineken

October 2004: (33 cl can, bought in Greece). Pale golden colour, low head. Weak aroma, weak "neutral" flavour. Poor, but not offensive. Not something I'll buy again though, unles I'm extremely thirsty.