Sunday Night Suds - Baltika #4 Dark Lager

This week's Sunday Night Suds looks at Baltika #4 Dark Lager.

To me, the Baltika Brewery was a mythical place which found itself on the OK list of kosher certified products, but I had never seen it in the United States with hashgacha...until I found myself in Oliver's a beer store beyond belief located in Albany, NY.

What was I doing in Albany? It was a work related trip, but every time that I travel to a city outside of my local area, I check BA for well reviewed beer stores where you can mix a six or buy singles for a decent price. So when I got sent up to Albany in February I did a search and found that Oliver's had excellent selection and prices and knew that I had to make a stop. In truth, I actually stopped in twice, the first time on the next to last day I was going to be there, but the staff talked me out of buying that day because it was going to be in the 20s overnight and they thought the beer would freeze. So I came back the next day after bought the beer we were going to use for shalach manos, along with many other bottles which have been (and will be) reviewed on this blog.

The Baltika #4 calls itself a dark lager, and there are some darker wood/caramel aspects to the brew. The beer poured (from an oversized 16.9 oz bottle) was more amber than a traditional lager and there was some malt and breadiness. Having said that, the flavors of the brew were not overly complex and the alcohol content (5.6% abv) was in line with the style of beer.

The Baltika #4 Dark Lager is under kosher supervision by the OK, but I am not certain if every beer produce by Baltika is under kosher supervision. For a list of the Baltika brews currently under supervision, please click on the link on the left side of my home page for my latest Kosher Beer List.

To see what the experts on Beer Advocate think about Baltika #4 Dark Lager click here beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/401/2235.

As always, please remember to drink responsibly and to never waste good beer unless there is no designated driver.

If you've tried this beer or any others which have been reviewed on the kosher beers site, please feel free to post your comments (anonymous comments are acceptable).

Please Note - if you are reading this post more than six months after it was written, please note that it is possible that the product is no longer still certified kosher. To verify that the product is still certified kosher, please click on the kosher beers list link on the top left corner of the blog.

If you have seen this post being carried on another site, please feel free to click www.kosherbeers.blogspot.com to find other articles on the kosherbeers blogsite. Hey its free and you can push my counter numbers up!