Tatra (Poland)

Tatra (Poland) 5.5%

Pale gold in a glass with a fast fading head. The aroma is honey with an ever so slightly burnt, nearly acrid touch and faint pilsner-like dry Czech hops. Honey continues in the flavour as does the bitterness - in fact it has quite a bitter aftertaste. Tatra is a sweet pilsner with honey and biscuit flavours at first then followed by a bitter, slightly acrid, finish. Despite being slightly acrid it is not terrible but it's not great; however, considering how cheap it is, it is better than I expected. There is just something about the bitter finish that is a bit off to my taste.

Warka Strong (Poland) 7.0%

Warka Strong (Poland) 7.0%

Full gold with a little amber colour in a glass with a frothy but quick fading head and some lacing. A malty aroma, hints of grain and just a little bit of alcohol. Quite a toasty, very sweet taste. A little caramel and just a bit of alcohol taste with some mild chest warming. This beer drinks more like an amber than the strong lager I expected it to be, and it's actually pretty nice albeit rather ordinary. My usual caveat is to buy locally brewed beers where possible rather than European beers (unless you're in Europe obviously) and that certainly applies to Warka Strong.

Lezajsk (Poland)

Lezajsk (Poland) 5.5%

Gold in a glass with some lacing as well as a frothy head that fades quickly though not as quickly as some lagers. Lezajsk also has a malty and sweet aroma that has a more robust and rounded malt character that many other Euro lagers. A malty flavour with a bit of toasted bread, slightly sweet, moderately bitter (for a lager) with a lingering, bitter (for a lager) and ever so slightly toasted aftertaste.


Not a beer that is going to 'wow' you but I think it's a bit of a stand-out from an uninteresting class. If you like Euro Lagers on the bitter end of the spectrum Lezajsk is worth trying. I always recommend local brews rather than imports but if you're in Poland or you are going to buy an imported lager (like Grolsch) anyway pick one up, you may like it better. If, ceteris paribus, I had to choose between Lezajsk or any of those North American megabrew international lagers I'd have to go with the Lezajsk as it has more depth of malt flavour, a better balance and a better level of overall bitterness.

Euro Lagers - Part 5: The Rest

Being the truly universal beer, lagers are produced in just about every country of the world. In this final part of my five part Euro Lager Saga (tm) I present six Euro Lagers from five countries in Europe not known for their beer production. Although their countries of origin may not be known for their beers and Euro Lagers are not the most titillating style, the last three are actually quite good (especially Kronenbourg 1664)!

Zubr (Poland) 5.6%

Dark yellow gold. Tastes of musty melon, it is sweet and not bitter. Somewhat unusual taste for a lager. Great copy-writing on the back label and a really cool bottle cap.

Viru (Estonia) 5.0%

Gold is a glass. Malty and fairly bitter for a lager - somewhat musty tasting. Thicker on flavour than a typical international lager but bland compared to any other style. The bottle is really cool though, and I quite like the bottle cap.

Peroni (Italy) 5.1%

Smells a little bit malty. Really carbonated and tastes of... barely anything. A little malty, barely hopped at all. If you want your beer to taste like nothing at all this beer is for you... or if you just want its cool bottle cap. Otherwise I would suggest you save yourself for a beer with a flavour.

Birra Moretti (Italy) 4.6%

A dry hoppy, slightly malty aroma. Gold in a glass. Quite a malty flavour with sweetness and toasted bread as well as a hint of caramel and all balanced out by lightly dry hops flavour - not very bitter but just bitter enough to make Birra Moretti work. A very nice Euro lager when it is all said and done.

Mythos (Greece) 4.7%

Quite skunky aroma - likely due to the light green bottle and UVB. A dry, light hops aroma typical of Euro lagers; a little musty perhaps due to age. The taste is mostly of that same dry hops flavour, though in Mythos it is bordering on wood tones with a hint of smoke. A bit of a tang and some spicy also from the hops. Lightly malty and probably more bitter than sweet. All in all, not a bad beer it's quite refreshing because it is dry rather than sweet and would probably pair well with spicy foods and lots of other kinds of fare. A fine Euro lager. Pale gold in a glass with a good head of foam.

Kronenbourg 1664 (France - Strasbourg) 5.0%

A sweet malty aroma with a touch of dry hops bitterness and a fairly strong banana and white grape juice smell too. More flavour to this beer than I expected from a Euro lager: it is still predominantly sweet malt but with a few lightly roasty hints and a bit of dry hops, but also plenty of that same white grape juice and some perfumy herbal characteristics make Kronenburg 1664 much more complicated than other Euro lagers. My refrigerator can be a little cool for ales and higher alcohol beers but the low temperature suits a lager like Kronenbourg 1664 just fine. I don't suggest giving it a few minutes to warm up. Gold in a glass with a good head and nice lacing. I was actually worried it might be flat when I opened it not much gas escaped when I cracked open the can. However, that was only because the can was very full (I might have an extra 5 ml) so there was very little room for gas to accumulate.

 In case you missed it, here are the earlier Parts to this Euro Lager Saga:

Euro Lagers - Part 1: The Czech Republic
Euro Lagers - Part 2: Scandinavia
Euro Lagers - Part 3: Germany
Euro Lagers - Part 4: Belgium, the Netherlands and Austria