Front taste is sweet bread, amber malt, orange zest, notes of hard fruit candy. Aftertaste is Cointreau cordial, bitter earthy hops, fruit pie, dry finish. Medium body. Mouthfeel is hot, round, slightly sticky, quite astringent all across.
Rinkuskiai has a reputation for offering off-the-wall, high gravity beers - at least in America - and this beer is certainly no exception. This is a unique beer that is difficult to pinpoint.
Judging it as a strong bock - double (doppelbock) or triple - it's mostly true to category. It's sweet, malty, and low carb. However, its failing is its strong astringency. What we have is a powerful beer that definitely smells and tastes like it, for better or worse. Judging it otherwise - for example, as a barleywine - it fits well in category and actually has a pleasant taste among its peers. It's malty sweet with mellow citrus tones, from beginning to end, and its strength is never in doubt.
Bottom line as always, would I drink it again? The answer is a resounding yes. In fact, the bottle I'm tasting for this review is my third time enjoying this beer. It certainly helps that the price point is low. This 16.9 oz. bottle cost me $3.99, a price that is strangely often found with quality, old world beers. I would have easily paid double the cost.
If you like sweet, malty beers with a high gravity, stop reading and run and grab a bottle right now. If you like bold, old world European brews, the kind that most American craft breweries are afraid to make, stop reading and run and grab a bottle right now. If you like bitter hoppy beers, or beers with more finesse and nuance, this is not for you. If you are automatically turned off by low-priced beers - like most folks on Beer Advocate or Rate Beer seem to be - this is not for you. Myself, I land in the first category. I like beers that taste malty sweet, almost like young wort, with the high abv as a bonus of sorts. If you're like me, you'll absolutely love it. Well recommended.
From the brewery:
"Brewery Rinkuskiai was established in the year 1991 in Birzai region known as Beer Country in Lithuania. Rinkuskiai beer quality is the result of old traditions of Beer Country, experience of the past generations, and innovations of the modern days. That makes Rinkuskiai beer one of the most exclusive in Lithuania. This beer is naturally fermented."
[source: bottle]
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