Stary Melnik Temnoe

Brewed by Pivovar Moskva (Efes Russia)
Style: Amber Lager/Vienna
Moscow, Russia

Serve in Dimpled mug, Lager glass, Shaker

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An amber beer with no head. The flavor is sweet and slightly bitter. An OK beer - but nothing special.

Bottled. Chestnut brown, Richly malty with soft mouthfeel. Still it gives a bold and clumsy impression, and points are also deducted for the syrupy finish and lack of complexity.

Brown-amber color. Regular dark beer with a lot of caramel, but not impressive (and tastes a bit like old beer).

Bottled (dated 03.05.2005)
Dark ruby color with nice big brown head. Malty, caramelly, roasted aroma. Quite liquerish mouthfeel, sweet sugary. Sweetness overcomes 6.5% alcohol count. The best of the 5 Stary Melniks.

500ml bottle (Rimi, Tallinn)
Dark red, brief head. Understated malt aroma - some burntness. Rich toasted malt taste, yes it’s quite stout, but neither chocolatey nor coffee-like. Sticks to the tongue, so a roasted finish. Covers 6.5% very well, helped by a bit of sweetness.

Quite an odd beer. Similar to a malt liquor, but lighter. There are strong alcohol notes and a chemical nastiness in the finish.

bottled. purple coloured, soft texture, chocolate porridge aroma, quite tasty - ovaltine. much better than expected

Bottled(500ml). -dark ruby coloured, little pale brown head, sweet malty and light roasted aroma with slight toffee notes, too sweet syrupy finish

This is pre-Pilsner style lager, chocolate dark and lightly touched with a ruby red glow; though it has more in common with a sweet stout than a lager. It is very hard to get any information at all on this beer - it took the help of a Russian friend to track this down to the Efes brewery in Moscow (the place I bought it had the brewery down as Old Miller) - but the same brewer has a pale version of this called, simply, Old Miller. The nearest beer I've had to this would be Negra Modelo from Mexico, but this has more character - more chocolate, more roasted barley flavours, more melting barley sugar and little dazzling displays of citric fruits star dancing across the tongue: now lemon, now grapefruit, now lime. Wow! A beer to die for. This is one to seek out.

(Bottled) Dark red color with a small but lasting head. Quite dry, malty and ashy aroma. Chalky and neutral, somewhat sweety-sugary, malty flavor. Medium-bodied, smooth-carbonated palate. A very nice and tasty, sweetish and quite full-bodied brew. Definitely worth tasting, while not quite earth-shaking.