Obolon Oksamytove (Deep Velvet) - Obolon Brewery

DavidBart

New York

3.03/5  rDev -8.7%
look: 3.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 2 | feel: 2.5 | overall: 4

I was most impressed by this beer's smell. It hinted cherry and smoked aromas. It was actually very pleasant. But that smell didn't translate into flavor which was quite frankly very bland. I was not impressed. With so much stuff to try out there I would not do a take 2 on this one.

Serving type: bottle

07-22-2009 02:46:54 | More by DavidBart

atis

Finland

3.83/5  rDev +15.4%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 4

1 l PET bottle from Estonia, thanks to saintmatty

Pours dark amber with large and tan bubbly head that very slowly fades to buubly layer, downsliding lacing. Aroma is sweet bready malt, bits of roasted, caramel.

Taste is sweetish grain, caramel, very well balanced with mild bitterness that is better felt at the finish, pleasant and long lasting bittery coffee-like aftertaste. Mouthfeel is medium with not too much carbonation and smooth alcohol warming.

I never expected this beer to be so good.

Serving type: bottle

07-21-2009 17:48:24 | More by atis

loren01

Oregon

4.3/5  rDev +29.5%
look: 3.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 3 | overall: 4.5

A: Pours a bubbly dark amber color, small head, slight bit of lace down the glass
S: Smell is sweet and malty little bit of apple sourness
T: Sweet and malty tasting brew, i can taste a sligh bit of apple or pear flavor in there as well
M: Mouthfeel is a bit prickly and overcarbonated
D: Really a pretty good tasting beer, could be a little bit overcarbonated leading to a somewhat harsh moutfeel but overall pretty darn tasty in my opinion

Serving type: bottle

04-29-2009 05:32:16 | More by loren01

yesyouam

New York

3.63/5  rDev +9.3%
look: 5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3 | overall: 4

Obolon Oksamytove is a very sparkling, dark red-brown lager with a soft, dense, mocha-colored head. It leaves nice lacing. The aroma is sweet, like caramel, and there almost seems to be a hint of coconut about it. It is medium-light bodied and reasonably smooth. The finish is slightly alkaline. It is sweet and slightly resiny with no bitterness, save a little instant coffee kick at the finish. It is very mellow and chuggable. I'm impressed.
(rated Oct 11, 2008)

Serving type: bottle

12-19-2008 22:07:54 | More by yesyouam

watchnerd

California

3.78/5  rDev +13.9%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.5

500 ml bottle, poured into a pilsner glass.

A - Dark color colored with a beige, decent head that quickly dissipated, leaving a fair amount of jagged lacing.

S - All caramel and alcohol esters.

T - Strongly dominated by caramel, malt and coffee flavors. A tiny tiny bit of hoppy bitterness, but not much. Well balanced overall, though.

M - Light and bubbly like a dark lager should be.

D - Pretty drinkable for the first 500 ml, but with the strong caramel and toffee/coffee notes, food pairing is narrow, working best with smokey foods like barbecue or chocolate cake.

Serving type: bottle

11-13-2008 04:21:29 | More by watchnerd

PorterLambic

Florida

3.6/5  rDev +8.4%
look: 3.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5

Pours brown with a reddish/orange tinge to it. A small head drops to a slight ring.
Smell is sweet malt, vanilla, light smoke, wheat.
Taste is malt, wheat, hops, caramel.
Medium effervescence was a bit more than expected. Medium body. Good beer but not great (it ain't no Aventinus).

Serving type: bottle

11-04-2008 18:25:43 | More by PorterLambic

canucklehead

British Columbia (Canada)

3.88/5  rDev +16.9%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

A decent malty dark lager with a mid to dark colour and a good head. The nose is subtle but grows as the beer warms.The beer is smooth drinking with a nice malty finish. Not the hugest body of a dark lager but food friendly and well balanced. I prefer the pils but would buy this again.

Serving type: bottle

03-21-2008 23:39:56 | More by canucklehead

DaPeculierDane

Wisconsin

3.1/5  rDev -6.6%
look: 3 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3 | feel: 2 | overall: 3.5

Served at Arbat in Fitchburg, WI in a large glass stein. Bottle is dated 1-08-08.

Appearance: Prune juice purpled brown with no head and almost no carbonation.

Aroma: sweet grains, alcohol soaked prunes, caramel, and pepsi cola.

Taste: Very dunkel like. Sweet and loaded with sweet wet grain flavors, chocolate and caramel, and maybe even Munich malts. Iron.

Mouthfeel: light-medium bodied, flat, sweet, actually kind of velvety in a way.

Drinkability: Not bad. If this were better carbonated I might drink two. It went well with the heavy meal of meat and potato stuff cabbage with sour cream.

The more I think about the more I would relate this too a lot of dunkels I have had. Ok but not worth seeking out.

Serving type: bottle

02-25-2008 20:11:51 | More by DaPeculierDane

Rudgers73

New York

3.55/5  rDev +6.9%
look: 3.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3 | overall: 3.5

Looks a lot like pepsi when poured into my new Spaten Hefe glass. Tan head rushes to the top of the glass before it quickly runs out of steam and settles to a solid 1 inch head that is flush with the top of the glass. It then settles further to a 1/4 inch atop the dark brown beer. I really don't see any carbonation to speak of from the bottom of the glass. The smell is of toasted malt, cookie dough, candi sugar, and mild yeast. The flavor is nothing special but in no way offensive. It has a gentle wave in the flavor profile of toasted grain, sweetness upfront, then a slow and gradual bittering towards the end of the sip. Overall this is a decent session beer if you are in the mood for something similar to a German schwarzbier.

Serving type: bottle

02-25-2008 01:40:39 | More by Rudgers73

Blakaeris

Iowa

3.3/5  rDev -0.6%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3

Pours a rich red brown with a mild tan head head that quickly dissipates to a thin ring.

Aroma dark grain, caramel malt, metallic, and mildly sour dark fruit.

Taste is caramel maltiness, sour dark fruit, metallic, dry chocolate, with a strong musty quality.

Mouthfeel is light-medium bodied

Serving type: bottle

12-28-2007 00:46:14 | More by Blakaeris

bashiba

Iowa

3.6/5  rDev +8.4%
look: 3.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5

Poured a light amber with brown highlights.

Smell is strong with hints of molasses and cedar.

Has a very light flavor with some nice woody malts and a clean grassy lager.

Mouthfeel was light and dry.

Overall its not to bad. Nothing spectacular, but I wouldn't avoid it either.

Serving type: bottle

12-28-2007 00:38:13 | More by bashiba

Amalak

New York

4/5  rDev +20.5%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

I was surprised by the quality. To be honest, I figured this would be similar to a macro. Very dark red, decent head and lace. Very berry-juiceish.

Definitely has a black cherry kind of taste to it. Almost like soda and beer mixed together. Very interesting. Leaves a strange, dull cherry taste right in the back of the mouth.

It's crisp with a good kick. I am a fan.

Serving type: bottle

10-30-2007 03:05:34 | More by Amalak

geokills

California

2.9/5  rDev -12.7%
look: 4 | smell: 2.5 | taste: 3 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 2.5

Acquired at a JONS supermarket in Hollywood, California, the Obolon Oksamytove is presented in an eye appealing green bottle, with gold and red labeling. A "best before" box on the back label remains undated but the bottle and labels are in mint condition. Pouring a deep mahogany brown and featuring a rich 'n tan head accompanied by a dank and slightly sour smell. Upon tasting, the light-to-moderately carbonated smooth mouthfeel is appreciated alongside subtle notes of chocolate. However, as I progress through the glass a tangy bitterness builds, and there is nothing too terribly exciting about this beer that would motivate me to actively seek it or recommend it to friends.

Serving type: bottle

10-02-2007 21:42:49 | More by geokills

sbe1

New York

1.9/5  rDev -42.8%
look: 3.5 | smell: 2 | taste: 1.5 | feel: 2.5 | overall: 2

I picked this up at a place called Brighton Bazaar in Brighton Beach, Brooklyn (1007 Brighton Beach Ave. @ Coney Island Ave.), which is a Russian/Polish (general Eastern Euro and Baltic region) grocery store. I purchased this and two other beers that I have reviewed.

There is a field for a freshness date, but the field is blank on my bottle.

This is basically a not particularly good dark larger. The appearance is one of the best things about it--nice amber color, decent brown head, but from first looks it just goes downhill.

The smell is at best a pedestrian larger smell, nothing at all to write home about.

The taste is at first (again) merely nothing to write home about, but then comes the surprise of a musty and vaguely metallic aftertaste.

The mouth feel is like a million other dark largers.

Drinkability? Well, I'll never drink this stuff again, so draw your own conclusions from that.

Serving type: bottle

04-09-2007 02:32:58 | More by sbe1

BuckeyeNation

Iowa

2.15/5  rDev -35.2%
look: 4 | smell: 2 | taste: 2 | feel: 2.5 | overall: 2

Reddish tawny with orange peel edges. The head is at least four fingers after a spirited pour and is a wonderful shade of golden beige. I like its texture, its persistence, its lace generating powers... hell, I like everything about it. Here's hoping the appearance isn't the highlight of this experience.

Obolon products have a distinctive smell. Unfortunately, it isn't a good smell. Deep Velvet is brown malty and doesn't otherwise resemble good beer. I can't quite put my finger on the offending aromas. Metallic, stale and musty will have to do. The small gold box below the words 'best before end' is empty, but I have to believe this is a reasonably fresh bottle.

I'm still not impressed since the flavor follows the nose step for step. My first thought is cigarette ashes mixed with chocolate. It isn't nearly that bad, but that's the general direction things take on the palate. How in the world can four simple ingredients (presumably) taste like this?

Several more mouthfuls reveal the essential beerness beneath the nastiness and it's easy to see the direction the brewers were headed. Oksamytove is more bitter and dry than it is sticky sweet, a welcome change from most poor quality dark beer from Eastern Europe. The six gold medals and one silver medal that are depicted on the label have to be a joke. I'm not laughing.

I never expected it to be, not for a minute, but the mouthfeel is nowhere close to deep velvet. It isn't quite as off-putting as the rest of the beer's attributes (appearance excepted) and therefore deserves a slightly higher score.

Call me naive, but I actually thought Oksamytove had a chance to be the best Obolon beer of them all. Maybe it was the impressive label, maybe it was the intriguing 'Deep Velvet', who knows? I suspected that I was mistaken on the pour because I smelled what was entering my pint glass. These guys need to go back to the drawing board. Better yet, they need to close down and save the taste buds of a few million Ukrainians.

Serving type: bottle

01-30-2007 15:10:49 | More by BuckeyeNation

wl0307

United Kingdom (England)

3.58/5  rDev +7.8%
look: 4 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.5

Purchased at a Baltic food shop in SE London. The front label has the English translation instead of the original name in Ukrainian: "Deep Velvet" it is. 5.3%abv., BB 16/06/2007, served chilled in a pint glass.

A: mahogany to reddish brown, coming with a phenomenal rocky and frothy beige hill, that sustains extremely well and gradually settles to a 0.5cm layer staying throughout the drink. Very lively carbonation stays underneath.
S: upfront there're plenty of boiled Chinese red beans, red date jam and a touch of raisins, burned sugary sweetness of amber malts, on top of a mild touch of ashy smell coming from the thick foam. Quite pleasant.
T: plenty of burned sugary maltiness upfront, smoothly-textured... more caramely sweetness as of Munich Dunkel and an oaty taste like Chinese red-bean paste gradually prevail, backed by a delicately sour touch of lager malts on a par with mildly bitter-sweet hoppyness manifesting in the very end.
M&D: unlike the fiercely fizzy outlook, the mouthfeel is really very smooth, standing up to the beer's name. All's well, very enjoyable, but the flavour profile is slightly too simplistic to make it a real impressive beer. Still, well worth a try!!

Serving type: bottle

10-18-2006 20:18:48 | More by wl0307

ernie

Russian Federation

4/5  rDev +20.5%
look: 4 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.5

Full dark Vienna Lager. Great color - dark ruby & mahogany. Intruguing aroma. Full and complex flavor with lots of roasted malts and caramelized sugar. Slightly sour finish, rich afterstaste. Obviously not designed for consummation in large volumes. Recommended!

Serving type: bottle

06-08-2006 09:03:05 | More by ernie

scottum

Vermont

3.85/5  rDev +16%
look: 3 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

Pours a red brown with a short lived bubbbly tan head. There is a very pleasing malty chew to start things off, followed by some nice hop balance. Not sweet and a good mouthfeel means I enjoy this brew. Tastes keeps with the front of the mouth long after a sip making mouth want more. A decent beer; I'd drink another.

Serving type: bottle

06-21-2004 06:34:39 | More by scottum

Globetrotter

Virginia

3.5/5  rDev +5.4%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 4

Comes in a tall brown half-liter bottle with a tapered neck and a pretty plain dark label featuring a coat of arms and six medals the brew was supposedly awarded. Ingredients conform to the purity law. Best before 2/18/04, I opened it on 10/18/03.

Poured a clear reddish amber under a thin off-white head that faded quickly and left no lace. While chilled, there is only just a hint of aroma in the nose - sweet malt, if anything. As the beer warms, the malt nose gets more pronounced. The mouth a slightly prickly with a medium body. Caramel opens the taste experience, mild and even. There's a mild but sufficient hoppy bite in the finish, leaving a nice bitter and sweet (but not bittersweet) aftertaste. This beer was a bit thinner than I had hoped, but not bad at all.

Serving type: bottle

10-19-2003 08:49:54 | More by Globetrotter