Baltika 3 Klassicheskoe (Classic)

This is one of three Baltikas I sampled recently--the others being a 4 and a 9 (can’t find the notes I took on those, darn it). This was the one I liked least, but it ain’t bad at all. The brown bottle and the fairly simple blue-and-gold label are attractive. Poured with a thin, fizzy head that didn’t stay too long--not much lacing, but many small bubbles in the pale yellow body. The aroma was rather nice, above average for a pale lager, with a fruity, apple-like scent beneath the usual lager sourness. It tasted rather wheaty (though not as much so as the Baltika 9), with a sourish hop bite beneath. The palate was clear but not too watery. This isn’t terrific, but it’s still considerably better than most pale lagers. The price is good too; I paid $2 for a pint-plus bottle. I’d get it again, and I’d suggest it to anyone looking for something decent in the lager line.

Nose of grass, vanilla and hops. Lots of carboantion. Pours a straw yellow colour beer. Taste is fresh and crisp but quite forgettable.

Boring beer with some good qualities like the foamy head that leaves ample lacing on the glass. However, in a category with hundreds and hundreds of others.
Gold with really fizzy head as on a ginger ale, dissipates fast. Sweet yellow cake-like nose with some odd mayonnaise aromas. Soft but high carbonation. Sweet, very sweet, and phenolic finish. Weird stuff.

16.9oz bottle-pours a diminishing foamy white head and yellow color. Aroma is adjuncts, faint light/spicy hops (saaz/continental?). taste is sweet adjuncts/grain, some lemon, light/spicy hops (saaz/continental?) with no bite, smooth, then second half of beer there’s some bite. OK carbonation.

"Classic Beer" That pretty much sums it up. Plain ol’ beer as far as I am concerned. You can tell it is mass produced and you may as well be drinking one of the big breweries of the United States. No quality, no personality.

Yellow with a fairly persistent head. Slight hop aroma. Typical pale lager taste, thin watery with just a bit more malt than usual. Not bad for what it is.

Weak aroma of sweet malts, maybe corn. The color is a very light yellow, almost urine colored. The flavor is bland, but not any more so than most pale lagers. A little bit of corn residue on the palate. Not impressive, but not bad comapred to some other pale lagers.

Name: 3
Date: 08/04/2005
Mode: Bottle
Source: Ale Atlanta

clear pale yellow, nice carbonation, sweet malt aroma, light hop flavor on a slightly sweet malt base, touch of bitterness in the finish, really nice for the style
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Name: 3
Date: 04/06/2008
Mode: bottle
Source: classic city brewfest

Aroma: sweet grain aroma with floral hops,
Flavor: sweet cereal flavor with light floral hops,
Overall: typical pale lager

Aroma: 4/10; Appearance: 5/10; Flavor: 4/10; Palate: 5/10; Overall: 7/20
Rating: 2.1/5.0
Drinkability: 6/10
Score: *+/4