Baltika 3 Klassicheskoe (Classic)

Brewed by Baltika Brewery (Baltic Beverages Holding - Carlsberg)
Style: Pale Lager
St. Petersburg, Russia

Light gold,large off white head.Grainy nose.Faintly sweet watery palate, not much else.

There's some vegetable-ness in this one. Thin, light yellow, fizzy, slightly acidic at the edges, an odd sweetness at the end that mixes with an unknown metal. That said, it's not quite horrible, I've had worse Russsian lager.

Bottled. Thin golden colour, not much head to speak off. Malty, grain, cheep cereal aroma. Nasty larger. Available from the Russian Bar/Restaurant on Clarkenwell Rd.

Rerate, 500 ml bottle, courtesy of Cardinal Pub & Bar, Stavanger. ABV is 4.8%. Crystal clear pale yellow colour, fizzy white head. Very moderate aroma, some pilsener malts and a weak fruitiness. Very light bodied, relatively dry, very moderate bitterness. Cold, refreshing and easy drinking, but boring.

Draft; golden with a small to medium white head. Aroma of corn, malt and hops. Flavor was about the same; not an amazing beer, but it did have some above average flavor for the style.

Pours golden yellow with thin white head...smell is skunky and grainy...taste is a little surprising...skunky grass at first, then turns much spicier than I’d expected...pretty good!!

The smell is sweet, and i thought it was a little dark, but it waspale yellow. NOT bad, but a little sour. Good foam.

A friend and I got together on 1/30/2007 to have a "Salvation" tasting and he brought over a couple bottles of Baltika 3 for us to enjoy with our pizza before the tasting. This was my first exposure to both Baltika and Russian Lagers in general. To be honest, I wasn’t sure what to expect, but overall I was quite pleased with this particular beer. It really hit the spot at the time and complemented the pizza nicely. It pours a pale yellow color with a foamy white head that actually didn’t disappear too quickly and left some light lacing. It had a good amount of carbonation without being over carbonated. The aroma with light malt and delicately sweet like creamed corn or something. The flavor was similar with a modest bitterness toward the finish. This beer was well balanced in flavor as well as mouthfeel. It is a lighter beer, but isn’t compleltely lacking body or some perceptable mouthfeel as an American macro lager would. It was smooth and clean. I enjoyed this introduction to Russian Lagers and I would drink this particular beer again in the future. I will also have to try out the other Baltika beers over time... 16.9 oz bottle (Best before 01.06.06 25KW) from Rob. Thanks Rob. I appreciate it!