Geopolitical beers

The beer and breweries of Ukraine don't get quite the same attention as they did a couple of years ago, even though I'm certain the businesses are experiencing the same problems. Today's three are presented as snapshots in time, though of 2022 more than 2024. I bought them last year in Little Beershop, an off licence in Utrecht.

First, commemorating the UK's early support for Ukraine against the Russian invasion, is a milk stout called JohnsonUK, by Pravda of Lviv. The erstwhile Prime Minister features on the label though he was gone from office by the time it was bottled in January 2023. It's a dark brown shade, rather than black, and is a sizeable 5.8% ABV. I got only a low-intensity sense of coffee from the aroma, and the flavour is on the plain side, delivering broadly sweet mocha up front, set on quite a thin and fizzy base. The finish is more nuanced with wafer biscuit, rosewater and a more concentrated bean-like coffee roast. A supporting metallic bitterness suggests English hops. It was underwhelming at first, but I decided by the end that it's subtle and enjoyable, balancing the flavours well and not over-egging any of them. Yes, I would have liked a little more substance, especially given the strength, but it does make for easy and unfussy drinking, which is a role to which milk stout can be well suited. I therefore deem Johnson to be adequate. You can add your own satirical quip here.

Also by Pravda is вiд сяну до дону, Vid Syanu do Donu: "From the San to the Don", the rivers which colloquially mark Ukraine's western and eastern edges respectively. It is, with intended irony I'm sure, a Russian imperial stout, and 10.3% ABV. That's borne out right from the start in the aroma, which is boozy and bitter, strongly implying a stickiness to come. It's thick but not excessively so, and it goes in for bitterness far more than the more fashionable sweet side. I get very grown-up notes of marjoram, cardamom and aniseed on a backing of burnt caramel and woodsmoke. Gentler coffee and nougat marks the finish. I liked it. It's close to how I imagine the British originals of the style should taste: strong, yes, but assertively bitter with it, free of chocolate and candy add-ons.

For such fripperies, there's this solidarity beer from Portuguese brewery Lupum, called Tractors Tow Russian Tanks. It's a 14% ABV beast of an imperial stout, with added blueberries and maple syrup. It pours jet-black and oil-thick with a deep tan-coloured head. They haven't skimped on the blueberries because there's an instant compote sweetness in the aroma, alongside a slightly more serious dark coffee roast. The berry reappears in the foretaste, joined by gooey treacle and plain chocolate. It's not bright or artificial blueberry but the real thing, with similarities to raisin and cherry. The super-dense mouthfeel allows the foretaste to last a long time, and I had given up on the maple syrup before it arrived in the finish, tasting authentic again, adding a woody, smoky dryness. It's delicious, delivering all the things that the spec promises. While it might be fairly pegged as a pastry stout, it's one of the better sort, with a properly serious side to it.

Dark times make for dark beer but all three of these provided comfort, reassurance, and a reminder that the war hasn't ended yet. Slava Ukraini!