King Cobra

Brewed by Kielce Brewery (Kompania Piwowarska-SABMiller)
Style: Strong Pale Lager/Imperial Pils
Kielce, Poland

Serve in Lager glass

UPDATED: JAN 28, 2008 Bottle. Pours a nice golden color with a high champagne-like head. Aroma is banana, malt, and slight slight hop. Taste is banana up front, with corn, earthy, and hop notes as well. Finishes very clean, almost like a more effervescent Stella. I was also surprised at the low ratings for this beer. It isn’t fantastic, but it’s drinkable and smooth.

(Bottle, Mfg 13/08/07) Pours a golden body with a medium off-white head. Aroma of sweet corn, caramel, and grass. Flavor of sweet malt, mild grassy hops, and some English toffee characteristics with a smooth mouthfeel and an alcohol warming finish.

750 at the closing sale of The Good Beer Store, Chapel Hill. I’m very surprised to see how low the ratings are for this beer. Sure it’s nothing that knocks your socks off, especially at the price, but it’s very solid. Beautiful looking for sure, with a lasting head and hyperactive carbonation. A modest fruity nose and some faint spice in the flavor makes it more distinct than the average strong lager. Enjoyable.

This beer was available at an incredibly low overstock price of $3 a 750 ml. bottle at Green’s, so I could not resist. Poured into a Champagne flute, the beer looked a bit darker gold than the real thing, and the carbonation was far less forceful. There wasn’t much of a head to speak of. The aroma was sweet and yeasty with a little black pepper and anise thrown in for good measure. The taste was sweet and tart. There wasn’t much bitterness, but the palette was quite dry after each sip. Not packed with flavor, but definitely resembled Champagne quite a bit in taste. The mouthfeel was medium full and aided by a carbon dioxide tingle. Not a bad beer at all as it serves its intended purpose as an aperitif quite well. The whole experience was made even more pleasurable as I consider the hefty discount I received.

UPDATED: DEC 2, 2007 Pours like sparkling cider with fluffy light head. Nose is bitter, but the flavor is not bad at all, with a touch of sweetness. I’m really surprised at the low score, as this was a pretty good beer, but lacking in the flavor. It hides the % well. It was a bit pricey though, as I am probably one of the only suckers that paid full price for it.

Bottle from Bevmo. I knew when I saw the price on this bottle there was going to be a catch to it since the price was so low. Well I found out what it was once I tasted it and I mean I can’t really complain. The initial aroma is a bland smell of an ordinary macro beer that could be found here in the states as well. The appearance is a thin watered down gold color with a firm topping of head that will retreat to a thin layer of film. In the flavor, a hint of true yeast is detected as well as a signs of authentic European hop and malt. It does sort taste good for being such a plain beer but overall it’s a bland and boring drink to reflect on.

The only reason to drink a beer like this is to forget an old girlfriend, or to forget a slumping hockey team (Leafs). It is during those times that one is very thankful for each of 8 percent of alcohol, and one is thankful of the Polish brewmaster that packaged this beer in the 750ml jumbo bottle. There is nothing indearing about this beer, or offensive. In fact, it is much like Labatts Blue, but just on steroids. So it perfect for these type of nights. Long Live the Maple Leafs, and may GOD bless the Leaf Nation. Cheers.

A Mes rate: Bottle thanks to our Terry.
Clear golden with a rapidly dissapating head that ends up as nothing. Sweet fruity and alcoholic aroma with not much else happening. Tangy flavour with random fruit and hops, topped of with some obvious but inoffensive alcohol. Artificially sweet. As expected not even a hint of Rodenbach in there but it is certainly better than the regular Cobra.