LCBO's ALL-STAR Euro Lager line-up!

JesseM · Post by **JesseM** » Sun Feb 24, 2008 7:44 pm

AM I THE ONLY ONE WHO LOOOOOOOOOOOOOVES THE LCBO'S ASSORTMENT OF FINE GENERIC EURO LAGERS?!?!??!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!?!?!?!?!?!

Ok, Ok, I'm kidding, they bother me too just like everyone else.

BUT.......

Having tried every single one (except Saku or whatever its called from Estonia)(maybe I'm missing out who knows?), I'd actually like to pose the question to everyone, is there at least ONE that you liked or enjoyed at all?

Personallty, Aldaris Zelta from Latvia quickly became my Baltic beer mistress (Beerstress?). It's slightly deeper gold in colour, and I find it actually has a really nice malt body to it that's quite tasty and drinkable. I also liked Okocim's regular lager, which seemed to have an almost oily mouth-feel that went along with the malts (almost).

I didn't much care for any others. Oh, except for Baltika 3 from Russia. The production date on the bottle I got was actually my 19th birthday (I discovered this after I bought it), which I thought was kind of cool (it wasn't by any stretch the worst pale lager I've ever had either)(but this was in August, and my birthday is in April, so we're not talking "fresh" here).

I think what annoys me and probably everyone else, is the abundance of the style, right? But does anyone else besides me have an Eastern European beerstress? You can admit it, it's ok. You're amongst friends.

SteelbackGuy · Post by **SteelbackGuy** » Sun Feb 24, 2008 7:52 pm

I will openly admit to drinking the following on a regular basis:

Svytury's
Lech Piwo
Giolden Phesant

JesseM · Post by **JesseM** » Sun Feb 24, 2008 7:53 pm

Golden Pheasant is actually a step above the others since it's technically a Bohemian Pilsener

. Well, in my mind.

In a satirical sense, only in the last 20 years or so have we had access to these once mysterious "forbidden (beer) treasures" form behind the Iron Curtain

. I just find it kind of neat and funny that who knows what weird Soviet era brewing methods are used to produce these lagers. What crazy adjuncts could they possibly be using? Oh, those crazy communist beers!

By the way if anyone has access to this beer: http://www.ratebeer.com/Ratings/Beer/Be ... erID=19569
Please, PLEASE let me know how I can get it! It just seems so appealing to me for some strange reason. Just read the description and some of the higher ratings. It was at one time the highest rated pale lager in the world.

Belgian · Post by **Belgian** » Mon Feb 25, 2008 12:55 am

There's no shame in drinking any lager, but I rarely venture THAT far east when I can have the many Czech ones or Golden Pheasant, Żywiec, Christoffel, King and Neustadt.

Because I just buy those there is simply no reason I'd pick up Svytury's or Lech but I would drink ANY of those mild, sweet lagers if put in front of me, Ukraine, Russia, whatever. These are the beers of patriotic immigrants.

I can well remember a time I was craving Czech Budvar, Kozel and Staropramen over here and all we had here was the good ol' Pilsner Urquell. We have it somewhat better now! Maybe sometimes we need to line up some liquid lager gold in the fridge to remember that yes, ales are widely expressive in taste but they are not the whole story of great beer...

JesseM · Post by **JesseM** » Mon Feb 25, 2008 1:23 am

I do openly admit that I'm a lager-lover quite often actually. And like I've said in another thread (that I started), Budvar is one of my absolute favourite brews, period, and I can't wait until it goes on tap at the Castle soon

.

Belgian, I always got sort of a vibe that you're not originally from Canada. So, if you don't mind me asking, where are you from? Belgium? Or is that too obvious?

Bobsy · Post by **Bobsy** » Mon Feb 25, 2008 9:17 am

Hey Jesse. At Christmas my inlaws bought me several bottles of East European lager as part of my gift (which also included 4 bottles of wine). Although these are not the beers I'd usually go for, I appreciate that they realised that I liked a beer and made an effort in looking for something away from the mainstream. Anyway, most of them sucked, except one called warka strong. Its a Polish lager with a nice smooth texture, caramel sweetness and warming ABV.

http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/2656/24179

By the way, the bottle label at the LCBO is completely different to the photo. Its a classy black and gold number.

JesseM · Post by **JesseM** » Mon Feb 25, 2008 11:56 am

Regardless of what they brought you, I think that's a pretty cool gift idea, and their hearts were in the right place.

I actually haven't tried the Warka Strong yet. I had a rough experience with the other European strong lager from Poland that's available at the LCBO at a party, and since then I haven't been all that interested in the style. But maybe I'll give it another go.

I'm having an Aldaris Zelta right now actually (breakfast beer), and it's different than the others I've had. Oh those crazy Latvian's, who knows how they're brewing their beer?! I say cheers to the mysterious, often generic, East Euro lagers! Well, cheers to some of them....

Bytowner · Post by **Bytowner** » Mon Feb 25, 2008 12:32 pm

Actually got kinda hooked on Svyturys when I was living in Ireland. Refreshing, pretty crisp with some noticeable fruit flavours (I always got banana oddly enough). I'll drink it in a second.

SteelbackGuy · Post by **SteelbackGuy** » Mon Feb 25, 2008 12:48 pm

Bytowner wrote:Actually got kinda hooked on Svyturys when I was living in Ireland. Refreshing, pretty crisp with some noticeable fruit flavours (I always got banana oddly enough). I'll drink it in a second.

It's pretty damn good IMO.

pootz · Post by **pootz** » Mon Feb 25, 2008 1:35 pm

I buy the Holland Bavaria, Lech, Staroprammen, and Warsteiner dunkel on a regluar basis. These are boiler plate Euro premium beer...only problem is the flavor loss from pasteurizing processing and storage/travel time....still pretty palatable given the large loss of flavor you get in imported bottle/canned beer.

The disgusting stuff is the "Baltika" types of east euro welfare lagers that take up space,

djskip · Post by **djskip** » Tue Feb 26, 2008 1:55 am

re: Saku

I had one this past weekend.

My expectations were met. Meaning that I had no prior elusions of greatness for a brew coming out of Estonia. It was mild with no lingering afterburn. Not in the same league as anything I've ever tried from Germany. A step below Becks' but not offensive. 6 outta 10.

Also, the large bottle was great for combat.

icemachine · Post by **icemachine** » Tue Feb 26, 2008 8:55 am

A friend on another forum has told me that most of these Baltic beers we're seeing are there equivalent of MolBatts. He's suggested some, including Piebalga and Frederik Tosin.

Tapsucker · Post by **Tapsucker** » Tue Feb 26, 2008 1:27 pm

djskip wrote:re: Saku

I had one this past weekend.

My expectations were met. Meaning that I had no prior elusions of greatness for a brew coming out of Estonia. It was mild with no lingering afterburn. Not in the same league as anything I've ever tried from Germany. A step below Becks' but not offensive. 6 outta 10.

Also, the large bottle was great for combat.

Saku is sold here to the local Estonian community based on sentimentality. While the example we get here is also very common in Estonia, Saku does have other better brews it offers there such as Saku Gold and Dark. They are still mostly unremarkable though, just better than what we get.

Estonia like most countries has a great brewing tradition. Unfortunately there are few who have invested in it. After the fall of communism, most of the revival efforts have been commercial rather than artistic. For a small country, even the tourist trade is seen as an important market to serve and for them the lager louts from England and Finland who come to get pissed on bargain alchohol are a big market not to offend.

One notable brewery in Estonia to look out for is A Le Coq. While they also survive mostly on their generic Pilsner, they have some fantastic variations including a decent Imperial Stout and a pretty good Baltic Porter. Both of these are good examples of the traditions of the region.

Alas, I have never seen these on our shores.

Belgian · Post by **Belgian** » Tue Feb 26, 2008 5:56 pm

Bobsy wrote:... warka strong. Its a Polish lager with a nice smooth texture, caramel sweetness and warming ABV.

Warka crosses the line for me a bit.

I didn't mind the macro-esque SAMBOR BROK, and OKOCIM PILS (back when the Oki Pils existed, later came the EXPORT which was rather ugly tasting, blehh... I have no idea what the STRONG is meant to be but - meh)

OKOCIM PORTER isn't really even part of this whole debate, it is a solid beer which supports that East Euros have their serious beers as well.

JesseM · Post by **JesseM** » Tue Feb 26, 2008 7:57 pm

Alright so I'm enjoying a nice tall glass of Saku right now. It's actually not half bad. But get this, the production date on my bottle says: 130208. Correct me if I'm wrong, but does that not mean February 13th, 2008??!?!?!? Is this kind of freshness of an IMPORT even possible with the LCBO? WOW. I'm blown away.