Quilmes Cristal

Brewed by Cerveceria Malteria Quilmes SAICAY (InBev)
Style: Pale Lager
Buenos Aires, Argentina

19-Feb-06 (12 oz bottle: BevMo in La Jolla, CA) This came in my Beers Of The World 10-pack, so I might as well share my second impression of this beer. Well, it’s pretty much water. Mild cardboard in the flavor isn’t disgustingly strong, but because there is so little flavor here, the cardboard still ends up being the focal point. The lightly aromatic nose is lightly grainy but otherwise uneventful, so this tastes worse than it smells. Extremely thin mouthfeel can’t possibly be any more watery, can it? Medium straw color shows perfect clarity, but no carbonation bubbles ascending through the beer. I guess the only real difference this time around is the beer pours a tall, white head and manages to retain a thin layer atop the beer for as long as I can stand to drink this stuff. And there are a few wisps of lace on the glass too. Oh well, thought a second chance might help, but no not really, this is still pretty awful stuff.

15-Jul-04 (12 oz bottle: Trader Joe’s in Pacific Beach, CA) Less sweet than some Latin American pale lagers, but perhaps even less flavorful (which actually may be a blessing in disguise); Mildly sweet corn, no hops, minimally bitter, with mild cardboard in the fairly dry finish; Thin, watery mouthfeel with some carbonation; Wet cardboard in the nose; Pale yellow in color, but I’ve seen lighter; Almost no head on the pour, and what little shows up is gone in an instant so that not even a small ring of head is retained; Lacing? Ha, that’s a good one, tell me another! (3, 1, 3, 1, 5 = 1.3)

Bottled. Pours a brilliant yellow with a sizable white head. Slight maltiness in the aroma but I really have difficulty finding anything at all really. More malty than I expected but rather bland with a somewhat astringent quality to it.

pours light golden with a minimal white heaad, aroma of grain, malt, typical pale lager smell, flavor is boring, smooth, watery body, blah.

Straw with minimal head. Strong unpleasant skunky, barny aroma some earth settles. Taste is pretty bland with a sweet corn taste, finishes is sticky and sweet.

From a 12 oz. long neck brown bottle with a coded lot/package number on the back label. Made an average appearance, poured a clear pale golden with a fizzy, bubbly white head that reduced to a fine lacing and a minimal amount of sticking. Had a clean aroma, only a faint grainy sweet maltiness. Moderate carbonation and a dry light bodied mouth feel, average drinkability. Has your basic macro lager taste, a light sweet grainy maltiness, a soft sour hop bite and a dry sweet malty finish.

Bottle and draft in BA. Available everywhere in Argentina. Nothing to write home about. Lilght yellow color. White head. Light, watery taste.

(bottle - 12 oz) Clear yellow with a fizzy and soapy white head and lots of sediment. Aroma is sweet and metallic with some dry notes of grass and hay. The taste is watery and metallic at the beginning with some dry and stale tastes of corn and grass but with not much of an aftertaste surprisingly.

In the bottle. Pours straw gold with a large pillowy white head of substantial size. Aroma slightly soapy, possibly a little cork-like as well. lacing is a spider web of residual foam. Almost trabecular in nature. Flavor- nothing there. Watery with a slight metal tingle to the tongue. If you really use your imagination, you might taste a slight bit of honey, but that’s really streching things. There’s just not much here. Visually, this is a very pretty beer.