The murk of war

Here's hoping Ukraine won't be spending another year plastered all over the news for terrible reasons. Today I have six beers from two brewing companies based there.

First up, Kyiv's Underwood brewery, beginning on a Helles. The plain packaging and plain name of Kyiv Lager suggests that this will be a very sober beer. It's an even 5% ABV and the proper shade of clear medium gold in the glass. There's something a tiny bit off about the aroma and flavour, an intrusive fruitiness, ripe and gooey, like peaches or strawberries left too long in the sun. I had hoped I could ignore it, and concentrate on the refreshing dry breadiness, but the fruit thing grows as the beer goes along, resulting in an overall experience of Not Quite Right. I can't say whether this is deliberate or not: it doesn't fit any off-flavour I recognise, but it doesn't fit any lager style either. I opened this in need of refreshment but finished it glad it was only a small can. 

On to the IPAs, and the lightest is called Amnesia Haze, a 5% ABV job brewed with Citra, Amarillo and El Dorado and branded as New England IPA. They haven't quite nailed the appearance of the style proper, with this being orange coloured and only slightly translucent. The aroma, too, is rather west-coast: hard orange candy and grapefruit. There was still a chance to pull it back in the flavour, but sadly it fails there as well. It's not juicy, as one would expect from the style; nor is it dank, as the name might imply. What you get instead is a weak-bodied pale ale which tastes of satsumas and tea. As such it's nicely drinkable and does a great job of quenching a thirst, but it's not what's promised, indeed not very much of anything is delivered. Despite the American hops I would be more inclined to nod this through as an English-style bitter than anything new world.

That doesn't bode well for the next one being a milkshake IPA, but maybe they'll miss the style parameters again and it'll be good, I thought. They've called it Milky Mango, a name to strike fear into any reasonable grown-up drinker of grown-up beers. It's 5.5% ABV and includes mango and lactose in with the grains and Citra and Galaxy hops. This one really is as expected, the mouthfeel soft and creamy; the flavour sweet. There's a slight clash where the unfermented milk sugar hits against a citric bitterness, but fortunately neither side is so strong that this becomes a problem. In fact, this is rather bland for such an involved recipe. The basics are present but no more than that. I'm not sure that there are better milkshake IPAs out there, but there are certainly more milkshakey ones and more IPA-ish ones too.

More haze comes in the form of Tropicana Punch, this one a double New England IPA at 7.5% ABV. This is an even deeper orange colour than the Amnesia Haze, and clearer too. Sigh. There's a mild savoury breadcrust aroma, which is not at all what the name is offering. That had me expecting something dry on tasting, but thankfully it isn't. There's a lovely oily richness to the mouthfeel, carrying orange sherbet and candied peel flavours: sweet, but not juicy. Being prepared to be wrongfooted by the brewery's description meant I could get into enjoying this quicker. There's a lot of classic west coast about it, and Avery Maharaja is the beer that popped into my head even though I haven't tasted that in well over a decade. The flavour is brighter, fresher and spicier than Amnesia; the complexity helped I'm sure by the extra alcohol. This is tasty and enjoyable, as long as you have your expectations calibrated appropriately.

One ought to be charitable in these times, but Underwood didn't hit the spot for me with any of these beers. Luckily I have a back-up Ukrainian brewery to hand: Ten Men.

"Sour fruited ale" is the innocent designation on their 5% ABV Calm in Paradise:PM. Well, Rosé de Gambrinus is a 5% ABV sour fruited ale so maybe it's like that? It is not. This is one of those beers that pours like a can of carrot soup, devoid of head but saturated in pulpy gunk. It's mango and passionfruit, so at least it's going to be nice pulpy gunk, theoretically. This turned out to be not as sweet as I expected. It's not particularly sour, so points off for that, but there's a strange, unexpected, though not unwelcome, musky spice, like sandalwood and nutmeg. It's like somebody sprayed your grandad's aftershave on a mango. The texture is as thick as it appears, yet the flavour is nicely clean: fruit pulp, spices and nothing else. I'm quite charmed by this sludgy number; at worst it's inoffensive and there's a cheeky character which has nothing to do with sourness but has a complexity all its own. 

Along similar lines is Not For Breakfast, this one being 5.8% ABV and made with raspberry, blackberry and blackcurrant. The purple matte emulsion and lack of head makes it look like finger paint. There's loads of tart forest fruit in the aroma, smelling like a dessert, or indeed a healthy breakfast, rather than beer. Naturally that's up front in the flavour, but there's a different sort of tartness too, much more serious and, like the above, a little spicy. The thick yoghurty texture helps carry it all along, though it still finishes cleanly. I've had many a beer of this sort in recent years, but something about how they've combined the ingredients and balanced the flavours make this a standout. The full half litre presented no challenge to get through.

Helles aside, these are all very contemporary craftonese styles. I think Ten Men has the better handle on how to do them well, however. For Underwood, I wish for some mediocre reviews to be the worst thing that happens to them in 2023.