Efes: Draft Beer (Turkey: Premium Lager: 5% ABV)
Visual: Bright clear gold. Absolute mass of carbonation in the body. Medium sized loose white bubbled head.
Nose: Wheat. Toffee. Slight black liquorice. Crushed shredded wheat. Light cream.
Body: Quite thick bodied. Dry fudge. Slight black liquorice. Slight fizzy lemon sherbet. Some hop oils. Orange sherbet. Slight real ale like hop feel.
Finish: Toffee. Slightly dry. Slight flour. Hop oil sheen. Vanilla. Some bitterness and hop character. Some black liquorice. Some real ale like hop feel.
Conclusion: This is not bad. High praise I know – “not bad”. I best hold back lest I go overboard.
I was worried by the absolute mass of carbonation in the body when I poured this thing, fearing a horrid soda stream like, stomach punishing thing – but on sipping in the body it came across more like a kind of sherbety fizzy feel than anything painful.
In fact the body’s main impression was of something fairly malty in general with toffee and fudge notes, with those sherbety lemon and orange notes over it. What I find odd, and with that most interesting about it is it has a slightly, I dunno, slightly sulfur but gripping hop feel that reminds me more of the traditional middle of the road real bitters than it does a lager’s general use of hops. It isn’t bad just … unexpected. Beyond the maltiness it has a certain weight of body and character I did not expect.
So, with all that why am I only saying “Not bad”? Mainly because there is not much else there outside of that. Solid malt, nice sherbety character, odd but intriguing real ale like references – but not a point that grabs it and makes it a must have beer. Also, and this is a personal preference thing, there are dry black liquorice notes. Not always a bad note, but often, like here, a kind of crappy note to get in a lager.
So, I’m not complaining about having it, heck I may even have it again some time as it is interesting, but far from a must have. Make of that what you will.
Background: I cannot remember if I have ever had standard Efes before. I probably have, but have no firm memory of it. Anyway, this caught my attention for two reasons. 1) This is a less pasteurised version of the beer, so has a shorter shelf life, but hopefully more flavor for that. Saying that it still has a year best before date so its not like its a Stone brewing short dated IPA. 2) The bottle looks like a brown water cooler and that amuses me. Yes, once again I am that childish and easy to sell to. Anyway, another beer grabbed from Independent Spirit. Went back to the ever excellent Miracle of Sound: Level 12 for backing music. Apparently he is touring soon so hope he comes nearby.