Bia IPA - Birrificio Del Ducato (Italy)

Bia IPA - Birrificio Del Ducato (Italy) 6.5%

Full gold in a glass with a slight haze. The head faded fairly quickly leaving minimal lacing. The aroma is sweet, honey and grain with hops that smell of tropical fruits: papaya, nectarine and maybe some peach.

The taste is quite sweet with touch of candi sugar and caramel while still having a bitter bite and finish. To my taste this beer is heavily loaded with drying hops that you would expect in a pilsner or European lager; there are, no doubt, other hop types used as well since the hops character of this beer features more than dryness and some hops spice but also subtle tropical fruit flavours. However, this heavy use of pilsner hops stands out to me because its use in an IPA in conjunction with other types is interesting and I can't quite think of another beer that does it to this extent. Combined with the sweetness of this IPA, the hops come across as more nectar than resin with faint fruity notes of peach and tangerine that remind me of a zinfandel wine. Bia IPA is an interestingly subtle IPA that still packs in the hops but is different from those North American IPAs that tote loads of cedar and resin flavours.

G. Menabrea E Figli - 150 year anniversary (Italy)

G. Menabrea E Figli - 150 year anniversary (Italy) 5.0%

Musty, malty, sweet, a touch bitter and a little acidity, very light hop tones as well. Amber, almost brown, more flavourful than other Italian beers I have tried and it has a beautiful bottle cap.

La Tabachéra - Birra Amarcord (Italy)

 La Tabachéra - Birra Amarcord (Italy) 9.0%

A dark, scorched looking gold colour in a glass. A strongly malty aroma, some alcohol, banada and some faint fruit esters. Strong malty taste, some alcohol taste and a chest-warming sensation but a very nice mellow mix of fruit flavours: pear, white grape juice, and hints of apricot. Nectary, sweet; the faitest bit of green and some biscuit tones. Quite nicely and carefully crafted to have such a delicate balance while boasting an ABV of 9.0%.

A very nice Belgian style Pale Ale and a wonderful departure from the only other Italian beers I have tried.

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