Being in the mood to try something different I grabbed a couple examples from the Russian brewer Балтика. I picked up this and their #9. I was pleasantly surprised to find their #4 Dark Lager was very enjoyable. That was mostly because of how unique this beer was and I never had anything like it.
This dark larger is malty in a different way than other malty beers. Do you remember those malted-milk candies as a kid? That is exactly what this beer reminded me of.
The bottle says it has a bread aroma and flavor. It sort of does but to me the best description is the malt candy. Baltika 4 poured a medium brown-amber with thin tan head that quickly dissapated. The aroma was malt-candy heavy with some raisin like sweetness. The malt and yeast flavors are front loaded in this beer with the flavor of the grains very warm and inviting. There was also a touch of dark fruit sweetness such as prunes or plums with just a bit of caramel and clove spice. However, this really tasted like malted-milk candy. There was a medium amount of carbonation. The texture was slick and felt oily. This I believe added some uniqueness to this drink. After trying this I looked forward to trying Baltika #9. I did a little bit of research after enjoying this lager. Baltika is from St. Petersburg, Russia. They are also the #1 brand of beer in Russia and #2 in Europe according to the brewers homepage. I attached a pdf file from the brewer.
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