Královský Lev Votrok (Lev Lion Lager)

Brewed by Mestansky Pivovar
Style: Bohemian Pilsener
Havlíčkův Brod, Czech Republic

Not much to say about this beer. Its crisp and refreshing but lacks anything that would make you want to write something exciting. Very plain. Pale pour with little foamy head. Goes down nice but flavor is weak.

Poured a bright golden yellow with a thin sticky cap of lace on top. The nose had grainy/orange notes with grassy Noble hops and the scent of fresh hay. The taste started with a light malt sweetness that turns to a raw grainy bite. The end gives off a nice earthy/herbal smack. The finish was clean, spicey and dry. The feel was very smooth, medium-bodied with a clean crispness. A very tasty Chech Pilsner. Clean with delicate hop and malt flavors. Highly drinkable and pallettable.

Looks like any other pale lager, but more cloudy and slightly richer. aroma of malt, bread, and hops. Goes down very smoothly, with a slight finish. Not too carbonated, but somewhat watery, which will make this beer boring by last third of the bottle.

Bottle. Pale golden beer with a little white head. Floral, malty aroma. Malty, earthy, floral flavor. Just a bit of bitterness to keep it interesting. Lingering mineral tones. Refreshing and easy to drink.

Bottle: Pale yellow color, nice carbonation, head and lacing for the style. The nose is spritsy and malty with a light hop floral note. The flavor is moderately bitter with a light malt tail and a sweet minerally body. Very refreshing and that electric feeling bitterness in the end keeps things lively. Very nice pilsener.

Golden bodied, not very lively, and has a halo in lieu of a head. The aroma is faint, consisting of sweet grains and some bitter grasses. Slightly watery. The flavor is a bit more broad, bready malts, a bit grainy, with some herbal hop bitterness. The latter lasts into the finish accompanied by a mild mineral water taste.

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Copper coloured with strong carbonation. Very nice grassy Saaz hop aroma, with a bit of honeyed malt in the background. More herbascious notes in the mouth, and the initial sweetness of the malt fades away into a watery/oily abyss, leaving no grainy notes behind. A bit of an odd berry taste on the finish, but not enough to detract from the hops. Medium bitterness. An inoffensive, but overly watery example of the bohemian style. Definitely smells better than it tastes.

(500 ml bottle: $1.99 at Hollingshead Deli in Orange, CA) Expecting a stale-smelling beer, instead, it’s bready, grainy and sweet, but also slightly hoppy as well. These are duplicated in the flavor -- sweet, bready, grainy, gently bitter -- but there is a bit of oxidation and a slight metallic taste in the finish. After several sips, the accumulated bitterness on the palate actually begins to balance the beer quite nicely. Light-medium body, carbonation is pretty standard with a nice little refreshing zing on the palate from the bitterness. Medium-golden in color and crystal clear through the body, but the small, white head rapidly dissipates, leaving no ring of bubbles or any lace. Nothing great, but certainly drinkable.