Baltika 4 Dark Lager

Baltika Breweries are based in St. Petersburg, Russia (the home of one of my favorite writers, Fyodor Dostoevsky). They are a very large Russian brewer.  I think it is fair to say that they are like the Budweiser of Russia.

(I tried to put a link to their US website here, but the site was blocked by my virus protection, so I did not put it, guess they need to update their site and make it more secure).

This 5.6% ABV beer pours a reddish brown in color with a tall quarter-inch of creamy head that is off-white to light brown in color.  The beer leaves a medium amount of sticky lacing down the glass as the beer is consumed.  The aroma is very malty, caramel and sweet potatoes.  The taste is slightly sweet, deeply malted, caramel, some roasted and toasted nuttiness, a touch of the sweet potatoes, but with a nice dry finish, with enough bitterness to keep from being overly sweet.  If you don't like a malty beer, and I mean a very malty beer, then you would not like this, but I think it is pretty good as a dark lager.