Baltika 6 Porter
Beer No: 96
Page No: 627
Category: Dark
I've been slacking on my beer reviews, so I'll be trying to play catch up over the next few days (all of them being back-dated appropriately). For World Cup Day 18, I finally had to abandon my World Cup Beer challenge. I could find no beer from the Netherlands, Slovakia, Brazil, or Chile that was in my book in any local stores. I did, however, find a Heineken Dark Lager from the Netherlands and drank that in place of an official beer from the book. I was actually pleasantly surprised with the beer and the play of the Netherlands. Though the score shows 2-1, the Netherlands easily dominated the game with the sole Slovakia goal coming on penalty kick on the last play of the game. As the score implies for Brazil, they didn't have much trouble with Chile, winning 3-0.
Up next tomorrow: Paraguay vs. Japan and Spain vs. Portugal. Following that, 2 days off, then 2 days of quarterfinals before 2 more days off and then finally 2 days of semi-finals.
Looking at today's beer, from Russia, Baltika 6 is one of many in the Baltika family and the only porter in the family. Baltika started as a small brewery back in 1990, was acquired by Carlsberg, and now dominates the Russian beer scene with over 40% market share. Head brewer, Irina Tlekhuray explains that the porter comes from an old English recipe and the porter indicates the skill of a good brewer. By all accounts, Irina knows what she's doing as Baltika 6 is a strong porter and a nice-drinking import from Russia.
Oddly enough, a google search of Irina Tlekhuray returns just 6 results, and nothing on Google Images. Very odd for a head brewer of a brewery that commands 40% market share in Russia to really have nothing said about her online.
My review, cross-posted at RateBeer.com:
Baltika 6 Porter by Baltika Brewery (Baltic Beverages Holding - Carlsberg)
Aroma: 7/10
Appearance: 3/5
Taste: 7/10
Palate: 3/5
Overall: 9/20
Rating: 2.9 / 5.0
Had from bottle. Pours dark black, somewhat clear with tan head. Aroma is nice - a bit sweet, some roasted malts, toffee, raisins. Taste is similar, not too complex, hints of alcohol go with the malty flavors. Bits of caramel and alcohol linger through the short finish. A good porter, but nothing special.
