Brahma - Companhia Cervejaria Brahma

northyorksammy

Ontario (Canada)

2.28/5  rDev -6.2%
look: 2.5 | smell: 2.5 | taste: 2 | feel: 2.5 | overall: 2.5

A very basic beer, nominally drinkable. Some foam, ligh yellow body. Light mouthfeel. Only slightly acidic for macro. Emergency thirstquencher. Corny sweetness. Some kind of marginal bitterness. Sweet and not too sweet. Brazil version for Canadian market.

Serving type: bottle

11-05-2006 05:20:44 | More by northyorksammy

Phyl21ca

Quebec (Canada)

1.73/5  rDev -28.8%
look: 2 | smell: 2 | taste: 1.5 | feel: 1.5 | overall: 2

Bottle: Poured a golden color lager with a small head that disappeared very quickly. Aroma of corn is quite evident and not that pleasant. Taste is your typical South American pale lager with lots of corn. At least the clear bottle was not skunked. Mostly boring and watery but not offensive in any way and definitely not something I will seek again.

Serving type: bottle

06-05-2006 14:42:18 | More by Phyl21ca

NeroFiddled

Pennsylvania

2.9/5  rDev +19.3%
look: 3 | smell: 2.5 | taste: 3 | feel: 3 | overall: 3

What can I say about this beer? It's from Brasil... at least they have their own beer, right? (Nod to Frank Zappa...). The packaging is obviously what sells it, and to be honest, I'm fairly impressed. It looks good, and it feels good in the hand. It catches the eye!

Beyond that it's a fairly basic golden lager, although I will note that it's not as clean as it could be.

It pours a clear yellow-gold body beneath an average sized head of bright white that drops relatiely shortly into almost nothing, and leaves behind only minor spots and splashes of lace.

The aroma is surprisingly malty, but with a clear adjunct bent to it, and there are also some grassy and herbal herbal hops present. I didn't detect any diacetyl as has been mentioned in previous reviews, although some dimethyl sulfide (cooked corn) is present at low levels. Oddly, or perhaps I should say surprisingly, it was not skunked despite the clear glass bottle. It may be that they're using pre-isomerized hops but I doubt it. I think I just got a good bottle - my sample came through someone in the brewing community, and I suspect that it hadn't gone through the regular distribution channels.

The flavor is as might be expected given the aroma... somewhat sweetish, mildly grainy maltiness with a bit of a toasted, aromatiic malt edge... a firm backing bitterness... some balancing grassy, herbal, and gently spicy hops. It's sweetish, grainy, then hoppy, and finally drying with a smear of hops and a bit of residual bitterness.

Overall, it's an average crisp golden lager that's not as clean as most American versions, but offers a little more character. I find it on par with some of the lesser Euro lagers, but well above many of the eastern European attempts. Not worth seeking out, but if you're in Brazil, hey, what does it matter? - you're in Brazil!!!

Serving type: bottle

12-29-2007 17:32:58 | More by NeroFiddled

Knapp85

Pennsylvania

3.23/5  rDev +32.9%
look: 3 | smell: 3 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3 | overall: 3

This beer pours out the same way it looks in the bottle. The head is there then it fades away kind of fast. The smell of this brew is sweet with corn and grains. The taste is kind of the same but a little more tolerable than most adjunct lagers. The mouthfeel has a crisp and clean feeling. Overall I found it to be average but it could have been much worse.

Serving type: bottle

05-22-2011 21:26:28 | More by Knapp85

jwc215

New Jersey

1.93/5  rDev -20.6%
look: 2 | smell: 2 | taste: 1.5 | feel: 2.5 | overall: 2.5

Pours yellow with virtually no head retention.

The smell is of cooked corn and adjunct sweetness. Mild.

The taste is of cooked corn/veggies. Plenty of water and adjuncts. I suppose that there is malt. It is sweet, but not overly so.

The body is light and too watery. Some slickness. Could be refreshing on a very hot day were it not for the bad taste, which fortunately does not linger.

Why bother with this one...There is enough swill here - no need to import more. Not much to it - sub-standard even for the style.

Serving type: bottle

03-26-2007 14:11:45 | More by jwc215

biboergosum

Alberta (Canada)

2.48/5  rDev +2.1%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3 | taste: 2 | feel: 3 | overall: 2.5

I remember the launch of this a number of years ago, and the feeling that it was just a thinly-veiled addition to the BMC club, with a Latin marketing edge. Let's see about that.

The bottle is admittedly pretty cool, its contoured swoopiness fits in the hand quite nicely.

This beer pours a clear golden colour, with minimal white head. The smell is mild sweet grain cracker malt. The taste is sweet grassy malt, with an acrid astringency. There is a bit too much carbonation, and it has a dry finish, with a slight skunkiness. A bit better than average for the category, but one is still more than enough.

Serving type: bottle

01-31-2009 23:29:07 | More by biboergosum

Zorro

California

3.18/5  rDev +30.9%
look: 3 | smell: 2.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3

Pours a super clear yellow fizz with a short-lived white head, looks like any American mass-market beer.

Smell is clear and strong whiff of diacetyl. Slightly sour smelling and faint herbal hops aroma.

Taste is sweetish with a fairly stout hopping level for the style. Clear flavors of corn and biscuit noticeable butter flavor, again diacetyl.

Mouthfeel is good; carbonation level is a bit high though.

Drinkability is good, but not great. I don't think I would buy this again. The 6 pack cost me $10 and this is not a $10 a sixer beer.

Bizarre looking bottle and a rare brew apparently, so how did it end up at Albertson’s in Lompoc, California? I suspect UFOs were involved.

Bottle says 4.8 % alc/vol. so maybe this has been reformulated.

Serving type: bottle

06-26-2005 22:01:44 | More by Zorro

Viggo

Ontario (Canada)

2.9/5  rDev +19.3%
look: 3 | smell: 2.5 | taste: 3 | feel: 3 | overall: 3

Whoo!

Pours a clear yellow/straw, decent white head forms, settles to a thin layer, lots of lacing, looks okay. Smell is sweet and corny, bit of grass and citrus, some peppery spices, but not very much is discernible. Taste is very sweet, corny, adjuncty sugar, wheat, bit of citrus. Mouthfeel is light bodied with medium carbonation. I've had worse!

Serving type: bottle

07-30-2007 00:18:43 | More by Viggo

beerthulhu

New Jersey

2.3/5  rDev -5.3%
look: 2.5 | smell: 2.5 | taste: 2.5 | feel: 1.5 | overall: 2

A: Poured a clear bright gold with a compact, sudsy white head that quickly collapsed leaving no visible lacing. Visible carbonation was moderately strong and feverish.

S: light dried lemon-hay notes with some fresh grains.

T: started out spritzy with lemon peels and a touch of dry grains and hay. Was fairly dry in nature overall with a brisk lemon hopping on the finish.

M: seltzer like, with a strong carbonation, edgy feel and active, but light in viscosity and watery for the most part.

D: Relatively non-offending for the most part flavor-wise with the exception of the watery feel and overactive carbonation in the mouthful which hinders the drinkability.

Serving type: bottle

09-20-2008 19:13:45 | More by beerthulhu

plaid75

New York

3.03/5  rDev +24.7%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3 | taste: 3 | feel: 3 | overall: 3

Poured a medium straw hue with a one finger creamy white head. There was decent retention and good lacing.

The smell featured a cooked corn adjunct aroma with a secondary husky grain.

The taste was mildly sweet which was a nice suprise, with a crisp grain and mellow hop. Not too much corn.

The mouthfeel was light and caronated with a light medicinal finish.

Overall a better than average macro. Tasty served ice cold.

Serving type: bottle

05-06-2007 18:44:59 | More by plaid75

biegaman

Ontario (Canada)

1.5/5  rDev -38.3%
look: 2.5 | smell: 1 | taste: 1.5 | feel: 2 | overall: 1.5

The beer's faint yellow colour does little more to hinder clarity than posted speed limit signs do to slow down hurried, impatient drivers. The striking brilliance notwithstanding, its deplorably flat surface requires bulking up before the beer looks truly impressive.

Pretty much all mass, industrially produced lagers employ adjuncts (such as corn syrup or other synthetic fillers) to save on cost, speed up the brewing process and/or ensure product consistency, however not all of them show it to the same degree. Brahma, it must be said, makes it perhaps more obvious than any other beer...

Its aroma is, in a word, repulsive. Quite literally, like opposing ends of a magnet, one quick sniff of it is enough to repel the nose in the opposite direction. It is a wretched, foul, horribly unnatural smell that resembles some kind of corn water that has been left to sit out in the sun for a month... at a garbage site... next to a cesspool.

The taste, likewise, should be awarded some kind of prize for being leading experimental research in the field of sewage recycling. Yes, it really is that revolting and unpalatable. It's like moldy rice and processed corn syrup were left to fester in a cesspit and the resulting liquid was captured and intensified by the world's most advanced flavor chemists.

But in all seriousness, this was made with the same type of business model, through the same industrialized means and with the same inherent values and purpose that, say, a sewage treatment plant or flavor manufacturer operates. It is a product meant to be turned out at efficient, fast pace through a heavily mechanized and unnatural process.

And the result shows (at least to anyone with half a palate). This beer is so much worse than insipid, it is far more offensive than it is ordinary. The cloying, chemical-like flavours, its malodorous smell and polluted mouthfeel not only make for nasty beer - they dishonor our cultural, physiological and historic connection to the beverage.

They also reveal the alarming side about the industrialization of our modern food system, its emptiness and the disconnections we suffer, the extent of the compromises that it demands from us. This is kitsch, a pathetic and twisted mock-up of a true beer. There does exist certain mass, industrially produced lagers that I honestly don't mind drinking (cold) on a (hot) summer day, but Brahma is most definitely not one of them.

Serving type: bottle

07-04-2010 19:07:59 | More by biegaman

Brad007

Vermont

2.28/5  rDev -6.2%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3 | taste: 2 | feel: 2 | overall: 2

Pours a straw-gold color with a very thin head into my pint glass. Carbonation seems average.

Aroma is full of corn with a tad bit of bitterness in the nose. Seems par the course.

Taste is watery and thin upfront with corn and a lot of sweetness. Inoffensive. Hops show up but not much to begin with.

Mouthfeel is full of corn, sweetness and typical adjunct flavor. Nothing to behold here.

Inoffensive and nothing more. You can drink it but I'm certainly not impressed by it. It is what it is though.

Serving type: bottle

03-14-2009 00:33:16 | More by Brad007

Derek

British Columbia (Canada)

3.28/5  rDev +35%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3 | taste: 3 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 4

A: Clear with a slight yellow hue; some white head, very little retention or lace.

S: Only a hint of floral hops.

T: Very neutral flavour. Light bitterness, hint of floral hops, slight sweetness from the malt.

M: Light body is pleasantly smooth; moderate carbonation.

D: Not very enticing for a beer guy, but quite drinkable.

Serving type: bottle

10-11-2007 02:33:52 | More by Derek

ccrida

Oregon

2.68/5  rDev +10.3%
look: 3 | smell: 3 | taste: 2.5 | feel: 3 | overall: 2.5

Dominican Republic bottling, it's a little stronger, 5%, and made here. Poured into a chalice, Brahma is gold with a small white head leaving scattered lace.

Smell is a little buttered popcorn.

Taste is some sweet corny cereals, with a little buttery diacetyl, which actually provides some character, but it is quickly tiring. There's a dusty quality to it as well. My driver said this is what he keeps at the house. Sorry Julio, it may be the cheapest one at the store, but there's a reason.

Mouthfeel is dry, sharp.

Drinkability is ok, it's a light bodied, dry lager, but on the other hand, the diacetyl doesn't work for me. Below average.

Serving type: bottle

10-05-2011 22:49:04 | More by ccrida

stcules

Italy

2.13/5  rDev -12.3%
look: 2.5 | smell: 2 | taste: 2 | feel: 2 | overall: 2.5

It is of a golden, clean appearance, with few bubbles. One finger of foam. Decent appearance.
In teh smell the typical macro lager notes: malt, some hop, corn. Trivial.
No defect, yes, but also no reason to drink it.
Why have another one?
Banal macro lager.

Serving type: bottle

05-25-2008 17:14:15 | More by stcules

jrallen34

Illinois

2.53/5  rDev +4.1%
look: 1.5 | smell: 2.5 | taste: 2 | feel: 1.5 | overall: 4.5

Thanks to Mike for this Brazilian pilsner tick....The beer pours and unbelievably light color, its almost clear as water, only the slightest tint of yellow. Totally see through. A decent fluffy white head, that tries to make up for the body...Typical aroma for this style sweet corn with skunk...The taste is really light, a hint of sweet and skunk. Not offensive, but can't imagine drinking this for anything but seeking out a glass of water. Could never get my drunk on with this.

Can't recommend this, but if you can't find clean drinking water, this is the next best thing.

Serving type: bottle

01-12-2011 01:08:21 | More by jrallen34

bark

Sweden

3.3/5  rDev +35.8%
look: 4 | smell: 3 | taste: 3 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 4

The colour is deep yellow; the large airy foam is white, it sinks down to a two finger thick head with a massive crater.

The smell is mild; it is dominated by a citric-sour flavour. There are also some simple malty notes.

The taste is candy-sweet with flavours of fruit salad (red apples, pineapples, pears, water melon…) and egg yolks. There is no bitterness at all. The aftertaste is mild with sweet malt.

The carbonation is rather low. Medium sized bubbles.

Normally I don’t like sweet adjunct lagers, but this one had some interesting fruity flavours. Extremely gulpable!

Serving type: bottle

05-12-2006 18:04:46 | More by bark

AgentZero

Illinois

2/5  rDev -17.7%
look: 2.5 | smell: 2 | taste: 1.5 | feel: 2 | overall: 3

A - A simple looking, clear yellow beer, with little to no head that left no lacing.

S - Smells like an AAL, really there is nothing going on here. Some sweet corn malt.

T - Actually, this tastes quite a bit like water, very little taste at all. Some sweetness, that's about it.

M - Weak, watery, light.

D - Can session this, but you don't want to, it's just not a good beer.

Serving type: bottle

12-20-2010 01:33:40 | More by AgentZero

wordemupg

Alberta (Canada)

2.15/5  rDev -11.5%
look: 2 | smell: 2.5 | taste: 2 | feel: 2.5 | overall: 2

355ml bottle poured into pint glass may30 2010

A clear pale straw yellow with very little carbonation and no head or lace

S some sweet grains and a touch skunk

T again a little sweet malts with some sour skunky flavor that's not all that nice

M watery but more carbonation then what you could see in the glass

D nothing special going on here, I wouldn't bother if I was you

I don't see myself drinking this again, another beer that would be cheap to make yet costs a lot of money

Serving type: bottle

05-31-2010 02:43:39 | More by wordemupg

JoeyBeerBelly

New York

3.23/5  rDev +32.9%
look: 3 | smell: 3 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3 | overall: 3

I didn't bother to pour this one, the bottle was made for a hand.

clear bottle / clear yellow beer

smells ok, just a hint of funkiness

it tastes better than some other beers of this same style

it's easy to drink but I won't buy too much of this considering I can get much better craft beers for the same price tag as this.

Serving type: bottle

03-24-2007 01:47:08 | More by JoeyBeerBelly

tone77

Pennsylvania

3.28/5  rDev +35%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5

Poured from a clear bottle into a weizen glass. Has a golden color with a small head. Aroma is slightly sweet with hints of corn. Taste was not bad but rather bland. Feels light and watery in the mouth. Drinkability is o.k. Overall a very average beer.

Serving type: bottle

06-30-2009 22:56:25 | More by tone77

Suds

Pennsylvania

2.28/5  rDev -6.2%
look: 3 | smell: 1.5 | taste: 2.5 | feel: 2 | overall: 2.5

From a clear 33 cl bottle, this brew poured with a nice, fluffy, white head. The color is a thin yellow, and the brew is average in appearance. The aroma is faint to the point of near nonexistence. There's a bit of grain and a distant floral note, but that may be me grasping for any stray scent. The taste has a little malt and corn-like adjunct flavor. It's more flavor than the smell telegraphed. Semi-dry and straightforward. The beer is light and fizzy. Nearly no bitterness, and a watery finish. All in all, it's not exactly 'bad', but drinking this beer certainly isn't a particularly enjoyable experience either.

Serving type: bottle

10-13-2007 19:12:42 | More by Suds

KarlHungus

Minnesota

3.13/5  rDev +28.8%
look: 2.5 | smell: 3 | taste: 3 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5

This beer pours a clear pale straw color. The head is a half inch white cap which recedes quickly into sparse lacing. The aroma is of faint bready malt and hints of caramel. The taste is like the aroma, but a little stronger. The finish is a nice lingering light caramel. The mouthfeel is light bodied with lively carbonation. It is nice that the carbonation isn't so high that is masks the taste the way it does for most beers of this style. Overall, this is a pretty good adjunct lager. I could drink this again.

Serving type: bottle

01-08-2009 01:39:24 | More by KarlHungus

IronDjinn

Alberta (Canada)

2.13/5  rDev -12.3%
look: 2.5 | smell: 2.5 | taste: 2 | feel: 2 | overall: 2

A fairly hefty price for a 6 of these around here, more expensive than any of the local micros. And the woman in their commercial, while they are aiming for sensuality, has far more clothes on than the rest of the Brazilian beers I've seen advertised. Then there's the curiously curved bottle, made for an easier and firmer grip on the bottle I suppose.

Came in a clear 355 ml bottle, 4.8 abv% listed on the neck label, best before date of Feb/27/06 stamped on the shoulder. Pours out a rather pale clear golden colour, but with a decent head that lasted close to a minute, and leaves a bit of lacing. Impressive to see on such a flaccid looking body. Grain and sweet malt can be picked up on the nose, very slight herbal hops well into the background, it doesn't seem very offensive, but also doesn't leave much to go by either. The flavour, however, is very fizzy and watery, only a slight bit of grain can be detected, not much flavour to be detected. In fact I had a couple of these previously right from the bottle, and the flavour seemed to be a bit more off drinking them that way than this almost neutral taste I'm getting from out of the glass. The mouthfeel is also fizzy and thin. Personally I wouldn't be going back for any more of this stuff, especially for the price of it, there's not much of a product here to consume. Generic all the way.

Serving type: bottle

10-09-2005 16:02:20 | More by IronDjinn

rarbring

Sweden

2.17/5  rDev -10.7%
look: 2.5 | smell: 2 | taste: 2 | feel: 2.5 | overall: 2.5

A very pale straw colored beer, some white head and some lacing.

Very weak smell, slightly sour and sweet.

Sweetish, very distinct corn taste, some acidity. nearly no bitterness.

Little carbonation, rather refresh to drink.

A very canoe type of beer.

Serving type: bottle

07-25-2010 22:42:40 | More by rarbring