Solidarność

Today's handsome swingtops are from Browar Staropolski in the vicinity of Łódź. They're both branded as "Worker's Beer" -- Piwo Robotniczo Ludowe -- and feature a dude with a hammer and a dude with a rake on the label to underline this.

4.7% ABV PRL Piwo Jasne is, as the name suggests, the pale one, and to complete our Polish lesson for now is "niefiltrowane", unfiltered. As a result it's a rather murky looking shade of amber. The aroma is sweet and cake-like, so no crisp cleanness here. That's borne out even more so in the flavour. There is a little hint of dry-ish seedcake in the finish but before that it's a sugary dessert, almost wort-like in its sweetness. It tastes wholesome and nutritious, if a little unfinished, so not quite what I was seeking but I'll take it. Maybe better suited to a winter's working day than summer.

PRL Piwo Pełne ("full beer") is filtered but makes up for it with a substantial 5.8% ABV. It's not quite perfectly clear, but I'm taking that as a good sign. It's still pretty sweet to smell, though that's less surprising given the extra heft, and I think I detect a tiny, tinny, hint of hop bitterness. Although the mouthfeel isn't especially heavy, it's strangely unfizzy, with just token carbonation. It tastes strong too, in a kind of concentrated and syrupy way, a bit like the undiluted gunk in a homebrew beer kit. There's a headachey higher-alcohol ester effect which strongly implies that more than one of these would be a poor decision. While not a disaster, redeeming features are thin on the ground here.

I guess they're going for old-fashioned and unfussy with both the branding and recipes of these, to make you feel like you're someone who does a proper job, after a day on the spreadsheets and Zoom calls. The pale one pulls it off but I would be raising the second one with my union representative at the earliest opportunity.