Balans Bräu Special (Pilsener)

Brewed by Balans Bräu
Style: Pilsener
Istanbul, Turkey

Serve in Flute, Footed Pilsner

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Draft. A dark golden beer with a white head. The aroma has notes of malt and lighter notes of Bamberg smoke. The flavor is sweet with strong notes of smoke - which comes as a bit surprise to me, when it was listed as a Pilsener on the board, but it also has malty notes, leading to a dry smokey finish. A good thirstquencher. I asked the bartender and he told me they did use smoked malt for this beer.

Draugha at the brewpub as Pilsener. Yellow/pale golden coloured, small white head that went away slowly, light malty nose. Grainy, light bready and watery with pretty strong stale acidic finish and aftertaste. 4€ for nothing.

Gold / yellow pour. Mild hop and mild bread aroma. Mild hop and mild bread taste. Not much going on.

Draught at the brewpub. Clear golden colour, sparkling. Small stable white head. Fizzy mouthfeel and mildly grainy flavour. Very bland. Does not taste microbrewed at all, more like macro swill.

White foamy head, clear yellow body, faint citrus aroma, hoppy smooth finish. A very standard and boring beer

Draft @ brewpub. Hazy yellow-gold with nice white head. Decent head retention. Sour aroma is not all bad, just fruit tang. Low carbonation, is nearly flat. Lots of fruity flavors, esp citrus. Drinks easily enough for not being a very good beer.

Hazy straw colour. Footy-funky aroma. Relatively flat. Light straw taste, probably too much acidity. Goes down easy, though.

On tap at the brewpub in Istanbul. Pours a hazy, glowing golden yellow color with a small, foamy white head. The foam is quickly fleeting, and soapy lacing mostly rejoins the body. The nose is heavy on bready yeast, with a pungent, sourdough type note. Floral hops are weak to hardly distinguishable, with just a hint of a spice note. Flavors follow suit, with pungent grains and yeast balanced by faint floral hops. Moderate in both body and carbonation. This beer doesn’t leave much of an impression on me, it’s just kind of "blah".

UPDATED: DEC 26, 2007 Draught at the brewpub. Hazy yellow, small head. Medium bodied with rounded, spritzy mouthfeel. Grainy with very light spicy hops. Quite mellow with low bitterness. A quite messy beer without much pilsener characteristics.

50cl glass from the Balans Brau brewery tap 21-01-07 taken from travel diary notes I added this brewpub to places on the 24th January and I’m pleased to see that its had a couple more visitors since and that the beers that I had have been added. These were my last two beers of the night and of my time in Turkey my notes read ’soft, easy drinking, cloudy yellow unfiltered beer’ (amusingly for both beers)The reason I didn’t rate this at the time was I was unsure whether the beers I had were one and the same (see notes on place) and I had to write the type of the beer down in Turkish I had written Special and Kristal for each one as thats what I was told they were, but hoped that someone else in a less wobbly state could add them better than I did.