Beer of the Week #1: Baltika #8!

I like beer. A lot. Love it even. I go for pretty much all beers. Not so much IPAs on the loving, but I still like them. I know a decent amount about beer, but admittedly not nearly as much as many beer aficionados. So while not exactly a beer connoisseur, I have a great appreciation for it both as a drink and part of our culture.

Anyway, I think this amazing and diverse beverage deserves some formal recognition. To that end, I’ll attempt regular blog posts about beers I think are special for some reason or other. Let’s start out weekly and see where that goes.

Without further ado…

Harrison’s first ever Beer of the Week is: Baltika #8, Wheat Ale!

I only discovered Baltika a few weeks ago; prior to that I’d never heard of it. I dropped off my filthy car for a wash, and had about half an hour to kill, so I decided to take a stroll through the Lee’s Discount Liquor next door. Meandering up and down the aisles, I found my way to the beer section, much as I’d be drawn to the Scifi area of a Borders.

A few rows of beer in funny bottles caught my eye. Immediately I recognized them as something different. Firstly, they were pint sized (which really shouldn’t colloquially mean “small”) bottles with tapered midsections. Secondly, the bottles were numbered 2, 3, and 8 (I assumed varieties 1 and 4-7 were just the less popular ones). Thirdly, their labels were in Russian with English translations.

Near as I’ve been able to tell, Baltika is the brand name, much like Budweiser or Miller, and the eight different beers Baltika makes are numbered, with #8 being their Wheat Ale. I love the system. It’s how I’d probably have named my beers if I owned a brewery.

On a whim, I picked up a #8. I’m a big fan of wheat beers, and figured I’d probably enjoy it. I was right.

I’m not one to get all weak in the knees over “authentic” food and drink. Mostly I just want it to taste good, not be unnecessarily awful for me, and be reasonably priced. I also don’t like being lied to, though (I’m looking at you, Subway), so I was pleased to discover that Baltika’s not some Midwestern America beer with a funny label. It really is brewed and packaged in Russia.

I did a little research and talked to a friend of mine who lived there for a while. When I mentioned the name, he immediately recognized it, and said it was the most popular beer in Moscow. I think that's at least a little bit cool.

I’ve never really thought of Russia as a premier beer location. I think of Germany and Mexico right off the bat. America has produced some awesome brews, like Yuengling and Sam Adams. Even east Asia has some awesome beers. I now add Russia to the list of quality beer producing nations. Since that first one, I’ve tried all eight varieties of Baltika (Khoury’s Fine Wine carries the whole line, as does a larger Lee’s Liquor I’ve gone to since that first #8). The Wheat Ale is far and away my favorite, though all of them are pretty good.

I won’t go too much into taste. I will say it has mild-moderate hoppiness and a smooth finish. I might describe the texture as almost silky. It’s more like a German hefeweizen than Belgian witbiers, which makes sense given that it’s called an ale on its label. So far as I can tell, there’s no orange peel or coriander or anything like that going on here (not that there’s anything wrong with that). I love me a Blue Moon now and again (perhaps ironically), but that’s not what this is.

It still has a light, crisp taste to it, making it a great spring or summer beer.

Plus, the price is not bad at all. At $1.99/pint, it’s actually pretty reasonable. Figure a 12-pack of Corona usually goes for about $22-24, which is roughly $2/12 oz bottle. Paying $2 for a 16 oz bottle which was shipped from much further away isn’t hard to swallow by comparison.

“But why choose Baltika as your first beer of the week?” you might ask, and I might answer:

I’ll assume most people have been missing out on this beer all their lives like I had been. It deserves some recognition. Also, I thought it would be fitting to drink my beer of the week while I wrote the entry on my beer of the week, and I was in the mood for a Baltika, so that chestnut played into the decision as well. In case you are wondering, it’s delicious, and was a good choice.

I definitely rank Baltika #8 among my favorite beers. I don’t think I can say it’s a strong contender for absolute favorite; I have too many beloved beers, and at least one or two which are more obvious frontrunners for that competitive title. It’s definitely got a place in my top ten though, and that’s a damn impressive accomplishment.