Arsenalnoe Traditional Lager

Aroma: 6 | Appearance: 5 | Mouthfeel: 4 | Flavor: 5 | Overall: 5

Yet another Russian brew to give a shot and as always I will keep an open-mind. The aroma is pretty good with some nice saaz hops coming through as well as some sweet malt character with some grain and hay. The appearance is a golden yellow in color with a very nice head on top that is white in color and bubbly and frothy and diminishes slightly. The mouthfeel is light and airy with some simplistic hoppy character with a palate that is coating but watery. The flavor is malty and sweet with some nice hoppiness with an aftertaste that is a bit metallic and weird and I only wish I knew what this characteristic is with a finish that is at least smooth and easy to drink and not as ruff as some other Russian brews out there. Overall, not a bad brew but just boring with not much consistency and it is at least palateable.

Aroma: 6 | Appearance: 7 | Mouthfeel: 4 | Flavor: 5 | Overall: 5

Is it a bad sign that this beer's name -- when transliterated from Russian -- has the word "arse" right in the front? ;)

But really, I didn't expect much from this 500mL obscurity, and thus, wasn't too disappointed when it didn't exactly liven up my Tuesday early evening.

Starts off on a positive note, with a nice warm golden glow to the body, and some malt in the nose.

But this isn't the first -- and I'm sure it won't be the last -- Russian beer that has had a weird metallic twang to the flavor profile and the mouthfeel. Shame too, since this is one of the very few Russian beers I've had that have had any sort of Czech-ish/ Saaz-ish hop character to it, albeit nothing stellar or anything. But the rusty/metallic character of this beer really keeps it from getting anything but C-/D+ marks from me in the final analysis.

Something that might be interesting to alcoholic Russian teenagers, sucking this down in plastic 1L bottles while ditching school in Downtown Moscow. But for the rest of the world, there are better choices out there, even for a paltry $1.89/500mL....

Music: Finntroll's "Midnattens Widunder"
//TB