Charger's Wine (and Beer) Club

[Charger]

Charger's Wine Club Beer Edition.

This time we have a domestic beer for a change called Karhu Ruis IPA (which in english means Bear and Ruis=Rye). This is a brand new product from Karhu.
It's a very dark amber brown in color, almost murky. The taste is quite strong and you can really taste the rye in the aftertaste. This also is bit hoppy but not over poweringly so. All in all this is a rather "safe" tasting IPA part from the flavour of rye in the mix. Very typical product from Finland's biggest brewery company.
There is a bit higher alcohol content with 5.3% but you can't really taste the difference.

The price difference between the standard Karhu (Bear) and this is quite big, almost double and I can safely say it is NOT worth it. I'll take a good English IPA over this any day.

* * ½

[Zzzptm]

How much more costly is it?

It wouldn't be the first time I read about a beverage company selling stuff that is marginally better, at best, at a huge mark-up in price.

Worst case was some Johnny Walker stuff a guy found in a Japanese duty-free shop. It was marked up, labeled exclusively for sale in Japan, something like Black Label Reserve Platinum Chateau First Pressing Organic Sun-dried GMO-free Extra Premium...

... and it wound up tasting like motor oil. Total and complete rip-off.

[Charger]

How much more costly is it?

Regular Karhu is about 2€ this was almost 3.69€...

It is quite often the case with these "special" beers that they aren't nearly as good as the original and cost more...

[Charger]

Charger's Wine Club, Beer Edition.

This time we have some Domestic beer again, something called Brewer's Special, Mosaic Pale Ale from the Saimaan Juomatehdas in Mikkeli Finland.
A quite a murky brown colored ale with a hoppy and slightly fruity citrusy taste which is not to my liking.
Citrus and beer should not mix, luckily though in this one there is only a hint of citrus so it isn't what ruins this, but the over all lackluster taste really....and the aftertaste is slightly bitter which is bit odd...
Finns do know how to make good beer...but these Finns clearly don't.

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[Zzzptm]

So for these beers you try out, do you get a single bottle or a pack of several?

[Charger]

So for these beers you try out, do you get a single bottle or a pack of several?

I get a single bottle. Usually from a grocery store.

[Zzzptm]

So for these beers you try out, do you get a single bottle or a pack of several?

I get a single bottle. Usually from a grocery store.

Good job, just in case it's a stanky beer.

I know that one that's very popular in Texas and other parts of the USA is Shiner Bock. Are you able to get that in Finland?

[Charger]

Good job, just in case it's a stanky beer.

I know that one that's very popular in Texas and other parts of the USA is Shiner Bock. Are you able to get that in Finland?

Ever since Richard and the Monkeys did that F100 for Shiner I've been wanting to try their beer...haven't been able to find one yet...but I am looking.

[Zzzptm]

Well, it's in Texas, if you ever get out this way...

Actually, it's all across the USA: https://www.shiner.com/find

[Charger]

Didn't find any Shiner's so went with this one instead:

Charger's Wine Club Beer Edition

This time we have a special beer from Germany called Aecht Schlenkerla Rauchbier from Märzen Brewery in Bamberg

What is special about this is that it has very long roots dating all the way back to 1405. This is also what is called a smoked beer where the hops are dried over a fire which gives them a distinct smokey aroma.
And yes this indeed tastes like smoke...or to be more precise almost like smoked ham. So I would imagine this would work perfectly with a nice piece of smoked ham or something like that. Or why not smoked fish too...
The lager is very dark brown in color and is quite strudy in flavour. But the smokiness is rather overpowering. So honestly as a stand alone beer this is bit too much but with the right food I can imagine this being rather good.
This is something of a curiosity and I'd invite everyone to try this but at the same time this isn't for everybody...not really for me atleast. But a great experience to taste something so different.

* * ½

[Charger]

CHARGER's WINE CLUB Beer Edition!

This time we have a Pale Ale from Ridgeway Brewery in Oxfordshire called Blue.
A deep goldish brown in color and mild and fresh in taste.
You can sense a slight fruitiness in the background but it is by no means overpowering. This is also quite mildly hoppy.

A rather good but also a rather basic beer. There is nothing that really stands out...in good or in bad. This is the kind of stuff that the Brits are known for.
This is also my first ever Glutein Free beer, and I have to say that part is well made as this really doesn't taste different in that regard either.
I'll give the a moderate

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[Thelemech]

Have you ever had Warsteiner Charg??? My favorite import beer.


A fabulous German beer that I can highly recommend!!

[Charger]

No I haven't!

Thanks for the recommendation! I'll see if I can find some and try it out!

[Charger]

Been a while...time to bring this one back!

This time we have something different, we have a pale Lager from China (That's right folks China!) called TsingTao 1903.
This is a very light golden colored beer with a very soft taste with a hint of rice flavour present. This also has a bit higher alcohol content of 5.0%.
One could probably say that this is the chinese equivalent for PBS or Bud. Mild, easy going beer. Makes no fuss about itself. Some might call it bit bland but honestly light flavoured fresh beers have their own place as well.
All in all a very nice basic beer...and it's from China! Like pretty much everything else.

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[Charger]

Charger's Wine Club Beer Edition!

This time we have something very speical...We have a Lager all the way from Thailand called LEO.
I'd like to dedicate this Wine Club post to my feline brother Leo who has fallen ill a bit.
Naturally when I saw this beer at the store shelf there was no way I would not buy it. And sometimes these kind of purchases really surprise you...and sometimes even postively...like this one.
Leo is a very nice golden brown lager with a very nice soft taste. This is not an aromatic explosion in your mouth type of a beer but a very nice solid basic beer...something which I quite enjoy.
Under normal circumstances I'd give this one a three star rating but because of the name I'm giving this one a happy

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