Beer - #413 - Ochakovo - Stolichnoe Double Gold

Da! Ochakovo Stolichnoe Double Gold,  MrsPdubyah thought she was being nice and brought me this from the supermarket, and what finer an example of Russian beer than that which is a  Lager Beer.

Brewed by Ochakovo in the style that is Premium Lager and they are based in Moscow, Russia

Russian Lager!!!

Funky bottle  contains 500ml  of a beer that is 5.5%, 165 calories a serve, and 2.17 stand drink units - Боялся, что будет ужас-ужас. 

" Двойное золотое» необычный сорт пива - пиво «с телом». Плотность 13% и содержание алкоголя 5,5% обеспечивают пиву интенсивный солодовый вкус и крепость вкупе с приятной бодрящей горечью. Особенная горчинка, присущая марке «Двойное золотое», достигается применением уникальных сортов хмеля. Его эфирные масла наполняют пиво ярким и оригинальным ароматом. Пиво имеет также необычный янтарный цвет с золотисто-каштановым отливом "

[caption id="attachment_8888" align="alignleft" width="300"] Selfie фото[/caption]

"Double Gold" unusual beer - beer "with the body." Density of 13% and 5.5% alcohol content beer provide intense malt flavor and strength, coupled with a nice crisp bitterness. Special bitterness inherent in the brand "Double Gold" is achieved by using unique varieties of hops. Its essential oils fill the beer bright and original flavor.

Beer is also unusual amber color with golden chestnut hue."

So Comrades lets begin!

Beer - #158 - Lindemans - Gueuze Cuvée René

Ok don't judge me,  Lindemans - Gueuze Cuvée René. It looked pretty on the shelf.  Brewed by Brouwerij Lindemans in the style of a  Lambic - Gueuze and that in the mysterious St Pieters Leeuw-Vlezenbeek, Belgium

375ml of a 5.5% ABV thing (thats all of a 1.48 standard drink unit) in a bottle.

After 6 months the Gueuze obtains a golden color and a cidery, winey palate; reminiscent, perhaps, of dry vermouth with a more complex and natural flavour. It is often served as an happy hour drink in Brussels. It is the traditional beer for carbonade, as well as a beautifully based beverage with seafood or other salty meals. It's also delicious with cream sauces.
Beside the traditional Gueuze (the Gueuze Grand Cru "Cuvée René"), there is also a more commercial Gueuze that dominate the market. It is filtered, pasteurized and has a more sweet taste.

It's babycham!  No it isn't it's just a sour bubbly drink. And the weird face thing was before I opened it.

There is no expectation with this at all, none. I get what I get and I'll be darned it I know what that's going to be.  Except I should say that my experience with "lambic" beer has been nothing but positive, although I have it in my head that "limbic" and "fruit" beer goes together and that lambic beer is that of being produced by spontaneous fermentation of  the being exposed to the wild yeasts and bacteria. Just like nature.

So you open the cap, and there's a cork. So wasn't expecting that! And it popped like a champagne thing, or a fizzy wine. And there are sour apples on the aroma.

Pours a very pale  golden yellow, and hell's teeth that's fizzier than a fizzy thing. all head and bubbles, in a rush. the aroma is then of dusty mould fruit, apples mostly, but fruit. the taste is sour beyond the pale. This could be a long drink.

I don't know on what menu that this would be something you'd liven up the evening with, this must be a local thing that only about 9 people get, or those that a pretending to get something that isn't a thing.

I've not had a sour beer like this for since ages, and I'm thinking now I wish I'd done my homework a bit more before this managed it's way into the house.

The sourness stomps all over anything that might be considered a sweet, and it had a bitter ping at the end that reminds you that it is control of the all.  I can imagine that if you said this was the  "tradition" and said it long enough you could fool all of the people all of the time.

I can only then judge it in and of itself.  Cidery yes. Sour yes. Sparkles yes. Delicious not for me. The pdubyah-o-meter scouts around and comes back with 8. This is all it says it is. There's nothing that isn't announced or declared, it is the label.

The most bizarre beer I've had for a long long time, one that might take me the rest of  the evening to finish.  I would like it to have had more body and not to have been so thin, but then I’m a newbie to this and this may be the benchmark.

It might be the weirdest and sourest beer I've ever had but it's not unfinishable, close but I'll soldier on.

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Beer – #21 in a series – Wigram Kortegast Red Sparkling Ale

Shut up!

the Wigram Brewing Company wishes to advise that our Red Sparkling Ale Full Strength Beer has been crafted from Historical Hops which were discovered still growing on the banks of the Hokitika River. The original hops were grown by a pioneer Hokitika brewer, Mr William CJ Kortegast. His Crown Brewery was one of the very first West Coast Breweries. Remnants of these Kortegast hops have been incorporated into our Sparkling Red Ale, which is red in colour with low to medium bitterness and the aromatic flavour of the Hokitika hops on the finish. WJC Kortegast died in 1897 and the source of his hop supply was lost, although the memory of his famous brews lingered on. This Sparkling Ale is dedicated to WJC Kortegast and the pioneer brewers of Hokitika.

Ok then, so a traditional "red" beer. As an aside I quite like the "Beamish Red" a bit. So this intrigues me somewhat.

It's darker in the glass that you'd think, sparkling isn't really an indication that it's really effervescent, I guess it means not a flat beer (like a Guinness Stout flat), but a darker "heavy" with a fizz.

Just NZ$7.00 a bottle (Pint) and it's a decent "import" strength of 5%. A proper need a bottle opener lid too, it's all on! The bottle is a stock standard brown, no fancy shape, ridges, or giveaways, it looks like a posh home-brew if you want to be mean-spirited.

It's a bit earthy in taste  for me to be honest, doesn't have that creaminess of finish, or color on the head. But it does drink well in the glass, it leaves that ring of progress for each mouthful. Hows that for a technical overview of a beer! Getting a bit good at this aye.

The Wigram Brewing Company then, highly commendable ! they're beginning to make a bit of splash in the beer world, and rightly so, and they have an array of beer that makes me think that I need to persuade someone that beer reviewer would be a good thing to have in a daily newspaper :-)

Not getting carried away however, this is 7 out of a 10 arbitrary stars on the all important and somewhat opposite of influential pdubyah-o-meter. Would I go again? yes I would, but would I pick this first amongst equals possibly not.

oh and a bonus tip, when you're trying to be really clever and show a caramel color of the beer by slightly tipping a full glass (as in the picture above), don't. It never ends well. Trust me.

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Beer – #13 in a series – Banana Bread Beer

Gosh,  This is a very 'fizzy" on the tounge beer this one. And whilst hit smells like Bananas it's not  in a banana way,  more the sort of the banana you get from lolls, a faux banana.

The Wells Brewery say; "This unique brew combines all the traditional qualities and style of a Charles Wells beer with the subtle flavour of banana" and they've been at it since at least 2002 when they won a prize for best in show.

Pdubyah says  "what a weird concoction". The label says it's made with Fair trade bananas so that's alright then, isn't it? It might be that fair trade bananas taste like candy bananas. Who knows.

Not quite the taste sensation that it implies, nor is it something that I think I'd be happy with as a 'Session" beer. For mine it promises more than a passing sense of smell and for that reason on the arbitrary pdubyah-o-meter is's a 3 out of 5 or 6 from 10 if you're old money.

But at 5.2 Alc/Vol and in a pint size I might not care after a couple. And thanks again New World Supermarket Albany you have an amazing selection

Beer – #11 in a series – Renaissance Man

Today it's a bit of a dash with Renaissance Paradox Blonde

Renaissance, a Craft Brewery based in Marlborough, New Zealand. Brews include the Winner of Best Stout at the AIBA 2011. Loving creator of ales for the enlightened palate.

The Paradox Blonde. Well blow me down if this isn't one chuffing good drop of beer. What have been doing dancing around it for so long? The label says, and I have to agree, that this is a Quaffing beer. And in a pint size and at the lower end of the alcohol level (4%) this would be a beer for the evening.

seriously a 9 arbitrary stars out of 10 arbitrary stars on the arbitrary pdubyahometer. Get some at all good places, I got mine at New World, and they have the whole range, this could be an adventure!

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Beer - #1 - Fullers - Honey Dew

Today It's Fullers Honey Dew 'Organic' beer.

It's a bit 'flat' and tasteless but does have a strange under-taste, It could be the honey.

On the Pdub-o-meter it rates an arbitrary 7 out of 10. You couldn't make a night of it and there aren't many redeeming features, but there is  comedy section on the label on the back that has a serve with suggestion.