Beer review: Robinsons Trooper (4.7% England: Robinsons)

Robinsons Trooper is an ale, more specifically an English Pale Ale. It is the official beer of the heavy metal group Iron Maiden and supposedly the recipe was created by the group. It's brewed by a British family-run regional brewery Robinsons. This sounds much more promising than the roots of the Kiss and Motörhead beers. Of course, being the beer of Iron Maiden, one of the most popular metal bands in the world, it's also meant for worldwide distribution. Let's see if this compromises the taste of the beer.

Taste: The Trooper starts with a faint sour lemony taste and then moves on to a medium-bodied sweet, malt dominant taste. It features hints of toffee, honey and finishes with a mild bitterness.

Overall, the Robinsons Trooper is miles above the beers of Kiss and Motörhead. It's not a beer with the most character, but considering the wide distribution and bulk quality of the beer, it's a really nice one. It's available in many Finnish supermarkets and it's one of the better beers there.

70 Good

Beer review: Motörhead Bastards Lager (4.7% Sweden: Krönleins Bryggeri)

The Motörhead Bastards Lager is a lager, more specifically a pale lager, made by Krönleins Bryggeri, a large Swedish brewery founded in 1836. They have sold their soul not only to Kiss, but also to Motörhead and worst of all to IKEA. Everybody's got to make a living somehow I guess, and you never know...maybe it's a positive surprise. At least the label is quite nice in this one as well. Let's try it.

Taste: The Motörhead Bastards Lager is a light/medium-bodied lager that starts with a grainy maltiness. The taste doesn't provide anything special, and unlike the Kiss version which ends with a nice hoppy taste, this one ends with a metallic bitterness. Like the Kiss version, it tastes like a bulk lager because well... it is one.

Overall, The Motörhead Bastards Lager is a beer which reflects the discography of Motörhead nicely. This beer has short moments of promise and even accomplishment but like the most of the works of Motörhead, it ends up being a really average beer. It's kind of fitting that the beers of Motörhead and Kiss are produced by the same company, and thus are very similar, since in my opinion the works of these two bands are really similar as well. The Bastards Lager is better than all of the Finnish basic beers, but it's not worth its price and I personally prefer the Kiss version, because it tastes more fresh.

50 Average

Beer review: Kiss Destroyer (4.7% Sweden: Krönleins Bryggeri)

Kiss Destroyer is a lager beer, more specifically a Pale Lager, made by Krönleins Bryggeri, a large Swedish brewery founded in 1836. They have sold their soul not only to Kiss, but also to Motörhead and worst of all to IKEA. Everybody's got to make a living somehow I guess, and you never know...maybe the KISS beer is a positive surprise. At least the label is quite nice. Let's try it.

Taste: Kiss Destroyer is a light-bodied lager that starts with a grainy maltiness. The taste doesn't provide anything special, but ends with a nice faint taste of grassy hoppiness. Tastes like a bulk lager because well... it is one.

Overall, Kiss Destroyer is a beer which reflects the discography of Kiss nicely. This beer has short moments of promise and even accomplishments but like the most of the works of Kiss, it ends up being a really average beer. It's better than all of the Finnish basic beers, but not worth its price.

50 Average

Beer review: Olvi III (4.5% Finland: Olvi)

Olvi III, is the signature beer of Olvi, one of the major beer manufactures in Finland. It is a lager, more specifically a Pale Lager and it's one of the 'basic beers' of Finland. Made from Finnish malt and Bavarian hop, the beer has received international recognition, winning the gold medal in Barcelona in 1991. It's produced in bulk quantities so one can't expect a mind-blowing experience. In my opinion, when comparing it to other basic beers of Finland, it definitely isn't the worst, though not the best either.

Taste: Similar to all of the Finnish 'basic beers', Olvi offers a medium-bodied malt-dominant flavor. What sets it apart from the others is the faintly sweeter and softer malt flavor. The beer ends with a hint of bitter hop and leaves almost a metallic bitterness behind.

Overall, Olvi III is one of the better choices (at least price-value-wise since it's often the cheapest one) if you ever end up in a Finnish supermarket. If you enjoy a stronger tasting beer, then maybe Karhu III is your choice but if you prefer smoothness and a cheap price, then Olvi III is for you. However, if you don't mind paying a bit more I would recommend Sandels, the premium lager by the Olvi company.

50 Average

Beer review: Plevna Amarillo Weizen (5.0% Finland: Panimoravintola Plevna)

Plevna Amarillo Weizen is a wheat beer, more specifically a Hefeweizen, brewed by a Finnish brewery restaurant Plevna located in Tampere. Koskipanimo Oy, working in the facilities of the brewery restaurant Plevna has been in business since 1994 and their annual production is about 200 000 liters. Plevna Amarillo Weizen is made by using Amarillo hop, an especially aroma-rich hop. Sounds promising!

Taste: From the first taste, it becomes clear that Plevna Amarillo Weizen is a really nice, refreshing wheat beer. It starts with a fruity, pineappley and lemony taste which merges with a nice light-bodied wheat base and finishes with a light, refreshing faint sweetness.

Overall, Plevna Amarillo Weizen is one of the best wheat beers I have tried. It has character, thanks to Amarillo hop used in it and the taste is just what a wheat beer is supposed to be: light, refreshing, yet full of intricate flavors.

90 Exceptional

Beer review: Lervig / Nøgne Ø We Love Wheat (7.9% Norway: Lervig Aktiebryggeri)

Lervig / Nøgne Ø We Love Wheat is a wheat ale, more specifically a wheat Indian Pale Ale, brewed by Lervig Aktiebryggeri, a relatively small brewery from Norway. The combination of being an IPA made out of wheat is an interesting one since wheat beers are among my favorite kind. On the other hand, I'm quite picky about IPA's and only prefer their hoppy taste to a certain extent/depending on the kind of hop. Let's see how they have succeeded in this interesting combination.

Taste: The We Love Wheat beer starts with a fruity mango-ish flavor typical to some wheat beers. However, its hoppy character overrides the fruitiness and a wheaty, strong taste of hop with some bitterness steps in. The beer finishes with a relatively smooth taste, at least for an IPA.

Overall, the Lervig / Nøgne Ø We Love Wheat is a really nice beer. It succeeds in combining the good qualities of a wheat beer and an IPA, being mildly sweet on the start and then moving on to a hoppy bitterness. Yet the hoppiness is not too dominant. If you are into IPAs and wheat beer, this is definitely your choice!

85 Great

Beer review: Young's Bitter (4.5% England: Wells & Young's)

Young's Bitter is an ale, more specifically a bitter, produced by Wells & Young's, the largest private beer brewery in England. In addition to the strong hoppy character of the beer, it promises nutty, fruity and lemon flavors. Let's see how well it redeems these promises.

Taste: Young's bitter is a medium-bodied ale, dominated by a strong hoppy character. On first taste the beer offers a sour lemony taste and after the hoppy-dominant malty base it finishes with a relatively soft nutty flavor.

Overall, Young's Bitter is an OK beer but, in my opinion, it's missing the real bitterness and is too strongly dominated by its hoppy character.

50 Average

Beer review: Chimay Triple (8.0% Belgium: Chimay Brewery)

Chimay Triple is a strong ale, more specifically a Tripel, brewed by Chimay Brewery, a brewery located in the Scourmont Abbey in southern Belgium. It is one of the ten breweries in the world to produce Trappist beer. All of the profits from Chimay products go for the benefit of the monastery and to charity. Finally a way to do charity while practising a hobby of mine! Considering that it's a monastery brewery, the annual amount of Chimay products being brewed is staggering, 12 million litres reported in 2005. That has to be a sign of something exceptional, let's find out what it is.

Taste: Chimay Triple is the driest and most hopped of the Chimay products. This is apparent in the taste, which is medium/full-bodied yet quite soft. The taste is dominated by a herbal grassy taste of hop.

Overall, Chimay Triple was a bit of a disappointment for me. Chimay Blue is one of my favorite widely available beers, and therefore maybe I expected too much of the Triple. I have to admit that I am generally quite picky about strong hoppy beers. Chimay Triple offers a nice hoppy, yet soft taste but in my opinion does not stand out in any special way. I'm not saying it's bad, when the beer is a Trappist it's bound to be good but I expected a bit more.

75 Good

Beer review: Chimay Blue (9.0% Belgium: Chimay Brewery)

Chimay Blue is an ale, more specifically a Belgian style strong ale, brewed by Chimay Brewery, a brewery located in the Scourmont Abbey in southern Belgium. It is one of the ten breweries in the world to produce Trappist beer. All of the profits from Chimay products go for the benefit of the monastery and to charity. Finally a way to do charity while practising a hobby of mine! Considering that it's a monastery brewery, the annual amount of Chimay products being brewed is staggering, 12 million litres reported in 2005. That has to be a sign of something exceptional, let's find out what it is.

Taste: Chimay Blue is a very sophisticated and mature beer, with a malt dominant, medium/full-bodied yet soft and smooth taste. The aftertaste of Chimay is pleasant, finishing with a warm, mildly sweet, almost liquorice-ish malty flavor.

Overall, Chimay Blue is worth its reputation and its understandable why it's so popular. It's available in almost all of the alcohol stores in Finland, which is a good thing because it's one of my regular picks. If you haven't tried Chimay Blue yet, do it!

95 Legendary

Beer review: Leffe Brune (6.5% Belgium: InBev Belgium)

Leffe Brune is an ale, more specifically a dubbel ale, brewed by InBev Belgium. Although it is a monastery beer, receiving its name from a monastery, it is quite obvious that the bulk quantity of Leffe production means that the monastery is present only in the beer's name. The company which produces Leffe is part of the Anheuser-Busch corporation, the largest beer corporation in the world. Leffe is brewed under a license from the monastery and it receives royalties from the product. However, being part of a big corporation, being produced in a factory, yet selling under the name of a 'monastery beer' is a bit dubious, at least in my books. Let's not let that affect the review of the taste of Leffe Brune.

Taste: Leffe Brune is a very sweet ale. It is medium-bodied, soft and a bit fruity, although less so than the Blonde version of Leffe. The taste of sweet bready malt is quite dominant, and a faint aroma of smoke is present as well. Leffe Brune finishes with a sweet sugary and almost creamy malt flavor with a tiny hint of hops.

Overall, Leffe Brune is a very likable beer and is easily available. In my opinion, it's one of the best beers in wide distribution in Europe. It doesn't provide any mind-blowing taste experiences, and personally I prefer the Blonde version. However, they're both good bulk beers and I'm jealous of mid-Europeans for having this stuff in their supermarkets. + I guess it's a good thing that some of the profit goes to the monastery.

70 Good