Kilikia - Beer of Yerevan JSC

Dentist666

Russian Federation

2.63/5  rDev -1.5%
look: 4 | smell: 2 | taste: 2.5 | feel: 3 | overall: 3

Pure golden-bodied with resistant white 2-inches head, leaving some nice laces
Sour malt aroma, nothing catchy at all. Typical taste transforms from aggressive hop bitterness to sweet malt, something metallic and than again into hop aftertone. Middle carbonation, rather banal aftertaste. Crisp, but not very pleasant product, only for fans.

Serving type: bottle

01-22-2010 18:16:20 | More by Dentist666

CheapBeerBuzz

California

2.75/5  rDev +3%

05-23-2013 11:08:18 | More by CheapBeerBuzz

abcdefghijkyle

New Jersey

2.75/5  rDev +3%

04-11-2013 00:32:57 | More by abcdefghijkyle

cfalovo97

Ontario (Canada)

1/5  rDev -62.5%

11-13-2012 02:06:00 | More by cfalovo97

UCLABrewN84

California

2.75/5  rDev +3%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3 | taste: 2.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 2.5

Pours a slightly hazy golden color with a foamy orange-white head that settles to a film on top of the beer. Foamy streaks of lace form around the glass on the drink down. Smell is of malt, grain, sweetened corn flakes, and a slightly skunky aroma. Taste is much the same with a weird grassy flavor that is pretty medicinal and bitter with each sip. This beer has a lower level of carbonation with a slightly crisp mouthfeel. Overall, this is a pretty poor beer with a decent smell but the flavor is odd and not very pleasant.

Serving type: bottle

11-09-2012 06:42:00 | More by UCLABrewN84

kgmm77

United Kingdom (England)

2.75/5  rDev +3%

09-16-2012 19:42:03 | More by kgmm77

netshark

Colorado

2.75/5  rDev +3%

09-02-2012 03:33:57 | More by netshark

t0rin0

California

2.75/5  rDev +3%

08-21-2012 21:25:56 | More by t0rin0

rudzud

Massachusetts

2.78/5  rDev +4.1%
look: 4 | smell: 3 | taste: 2.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 2.5

Picked up a bottle at Austin Liquors in Shrewsbury.

A - Poured into my Duvel tulip a crystal clear super light amber with a one finger head that fades to leave a thin halo and clouding. Not bad for an adjunct.

s - Pretty sweet smelling with light grains.

T - Ehhh...not a fan. Waaaay too sweet for my liking in the taste department. Sweet malts overwhelm any other adjunct flavors. Just, all around too sweet.

M - Pretty good carbonation. Refreshing, but again super sweet.

O - Overall this is far too sweet for me to enjoy as a lager. Needs to be toned back big time for my personal tastes.

Serving type: bottle

08-27-2011 02:56:39 | More by rudzud

Daredevil

Switzerland

3.08/5  rDev +15.4%
look: 2.5 | smell: 3 | taste: 3 | feel: 3 | overall: 3.5

on my recent trip to Armenia I had the opportunity to taste a few Armenian samples .... this one was our best standard choice .... a nice beer, with a flavor of roasted malts, not very sweet, lightly bitter ... if served chilled (which unfortunately is not self-evident, especially on the country side) a good thirst quencher ...

Serving type: bottle

10-05-2010 16:13:31 | More by Daredevil

Haybeerman

Colorado

2.95/5  rDev +10.5%
look: 4.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 2.5 | feel: 3 | overall: 3

A: Bright, clear gold yellow color. Poured a 2 finger frothy white head that gave way to a broken skim. Decanted lightly. Laced in thin rings.

S: Green apple, hay and wet grains; pretty straighforward.

T: Sweet bready malt up front. Tart green apples, hop character and crackers mix around in the middle and for a bit too long. A light even bitter struggles to balance.

M: Light body. Ample carbonation. A little coating in the middle before the bitter.

D: Look and smell were promising. The taste was just weird; more complex and les blended that would be expected in a lager.

Serving type: bottle

08-20-2010 18:23:03 | More by Haybeerman

corpulent

Nevada

2.63/5  rDev -1.5%
look: 3 | smell: 2.5 | taste: 2.5 | feel: 2.5 | overall: 3

Hands down the best Armenian beer I have ever had. Period.

Sipped from the bottle-no glasses were available.
The nose was very light, just a hint of malt. Taste was also light and somewhat thin, with a note of what I can only describe as something like lemon zest. Crisp, light-bodied, slight bitterness in the aftertaste, just a touch of skunk.
Very plain tasting overall, glad it was a hot day, and glad I got to try it once.

Serving type: bottle

03-19-2010 17:39:43 | More by corpulent

Beernoisseur

Utah

3/5  rDev +12.4%
look: 4.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 2.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3

I had never heard of this beer until last night, when I saw a couple at the local liquor store. What the hell, right?

Presentation: It was poured from a green bottle into my Stella Artois tulip.

A - This beer is actually quite beautiful. A gorgeous honey bronze, with an initial sudsy one inch head.

S - maltiness with a spray of...lemon? standard grain othewise.

T - The first taste was quite delightful, but as things progressed, it lost direction. Great malt up front, but the hops were some sort of weirdo variety or something. My tongue felt like it was in a Mexican open market, where eager salesmen are all taking you by the arm and leading you into their store. Basically, the different flavors were each trying to pull me in a different direction, and at the end of it all, I ended up where I started.

M - Good mouthfeel, lots of streams of constant tiny bubbles... Always a good sign.

D - This one was so-so. It showed a lot of promise, but dsintegrated rapidly as the glass emptied. It was a constant batttle between the warmth of the malt, and the bitterness of the hops. In a great beer, the two work in tandem, hand in hand. In this beer they were constantly quarreling like little kids.

Serving type: bottle

10-26-2008 16:34:31 | More by Beernoisseur

Globetrotter

Virginia

3.03/5  rDev +13.5%
look: 3.5 | smell: 2.5 | taste: 3 | feel: 3 | overall: 3.5

I sampled this beer on tap at the Beer House Mantashoff in Yerevan. Figured I ought to give it a try in its natural habitat... Came out a clear normal gold under a one finger white head that fades quite quickly to film and collar, but leaves nice lace. The nose is very mild and subdued, with just a hint of malt. The mouth is light and quite prickly. The syrupy sweet opening features a touch of honey, followed by pronounced metallic bitter. The hops are astringent, very dry with an espresso note. That note lasts long after the swallow, leaving a dry ache at the back of the throat. Great by no stretch, it's pretty good by local standards.

Serving type: on-tap

01-12-2008 21:55:44 | More by Globetrotter

pentathlete

Virginia

2.73/5  rDev +2.2%
look: 4 | smell: 3 | taste: 2.5 | feel: 3 | overall: 2.5

Well, this is what a macro lager should strive to look like. Honey glass, with a large tight-bubbled head that stubbornly sticks around before following to a 1/16 inch table. There's even a little stickage on the glass. Things fall off from that point. The smell is wet sweet soggy malt, just slightly chalky. The taste is even more chalky with an overcooked grain flavor. Just a tad on the wrong side of pleasant. The mouthfeel is reasonable for the style, but not anything special. You can finish a bottle but it will certainly leave an astringent aftertaste that will limit you to one of these.

Serving type: bottle

02-11-2007 00:29:57 | More by pentathlete

10bear

Maryland

2.4/5  rDev -10.1%
look: 2.5 | smell: 2 | taste: 2.5 | feel: 2.5 | overall: 2.5

Ok, so if you've read a review of Kotayk and Erebuni, you have a good handle on the world of Armenian lagers. Of the three, I prefer Erebuni and started drinking Kilikia more frequently towards the end of my two year service. It's certainly an aquired taste!

So, what are Armenian beers really about? Replication, replication, replication. The triumvid of Armenian gareejoor is completed with Kilikia (Kotayk and Erebuni are made by the same manufacturer), which is much like Pepsi is to Coke--the feisty challenger.

Feisty is both overstating it and puting it mildly. Kilikia is pretty much the same as Kotayk and Erebuni in color, taste, head retention, smell and general appearance. It's cheaper, giving Armenians more bang for their dram, but tends to taste less clean and promise less consistency from bottle to bottle. You'll get the same funky odor, pale/dirty straw color, foamy white head and bitter after taste characteristic of the other Armenian beers. The flavor is a tad unpleasant and somewhat overpowering--not unlike an unfinished E. European pilsner.

There is nothing exceptional about Kilikia. It competes with Kotayk on a price, rather than a quality basis.

Serving type: bottle

11-16-2005 06:32:28 | More by 10bear

SwillinBrew

California

2.42/5  rDev -9.4%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3 | taste: 2 | feel: 2.5 | overall: 2.5

I had this beer at Zov's Bistro in Tustin... I just had to try an Armenian brew. It came in a green bottle.

The color was a light honey color that poured with about 3 fingers of solid white head... looked very appeasing. This brew had a metalic scent to it with notes of shale.

As I quaffed, a strong mineral skunky taste hit my taste buds... ugh, just wasnt pleasant and I knew i would not be finishing this beer. The body was light, dry and crisp.

For some reason, this brew made me think of the Gordon Birsch line that i'm not too fond of.

Serving type: bottle

03-26-2005 07:51:44 | More by SwillinBrew

gueuzeonhigh

Maine

3/5  rDev +12.4%
look: 3 | smell: 3 | taste: 3 | feel: 3 | overall: 3

Six green bottles huddled in the confines of a hasty shrink wrap, begged my dredge desire along its quest to scoop little known brews from the dusty recesses of store shelves.

Brought forth to view, the embracing sextet shrouded themselves in mystery: I could read: “beer”, I could read “dark” and “Kilikia”. The rest, a possible moniker composed of tiny curves and traces indecipherable to my eyes, left the country of origin unknown. Surely it must be a place where few know beer is crafted let alone exported. Alas, rather diminutive golden Arabic letters heralded the country of origin-- Armenia.

This beer is not dark but amber- the color of many common ales perhaps. But this is a lager- “dark” given these circumstances has merit. The head a well proportioned grouping of density and foam made repeated attempts at lacing the walls of my glass. The struggle clinging to the great walls let gravity gain the upper hand and sinking back to it’s well of amber left little trace of it’s original intentions. .

The nose a faint mixture of caramel malt, with some notes of hops whetted my desire for more song, less dance.

The flavor greeted me with a bitterness reminiscent of hops’ signature. The script now blurred, faint and faded I could discern the greater majesty of its potential, but its true worth escaped my palate.

Notes of caramel emerged from behind the curtain--present but they too, having run out of show, decided that their seats were better kept warmed.

Alas my palate was left with a lasting memory-- clean, clear tasting the foot steps of flavors and complexity not to be.

Serving type: bottle

09-29-2003 04:53:44 | More by gueuzeonhigh

freed

Oregon

2.5/5  rDev -6.4%
look: 2.5 | smell: 2.5 | taste: 2.5 | feel: 2.5 | overall: 2.5

Publicly owned eh? Time for a shareholder intervention. (its on the cap, yo)

So maybe I was looking for a weird beer. Yeah, its in a green bottle, its a lager, but knowing what I know now, I wouldn't have paid so much.

Its a cute green bottle, takes a minute to tell where its from. Armenia? It pours dark, almost orange color. bizarre head that keeps its thickness throughout the beer. Smell is tart and adjuncty. Taste is also tart and adjuncty. The 11oz bottle is enough.

Serving type: bottle

07-22-2003 05:16:58 | More by freed

Jason

Massachusetts

2.7/5  rDev +1.1%
look: 4 | smell: 3 | taste: 2 | feel: 4 | overall: 3

Presentation: 12 oz slender green bottle with a freshness date around the label, foreign characters make most of the label impossible to read. Odd Viking ship icon on the label.

Appearance: Sweet grainy malt in the aroma, cooked veggies with a used up hop smell which most likely came from the pasteurization.

Smell: Pale bronze colour, clarity is flawless and clearly shows the tiny bubbles rushing to the top of the glass. Appropriate head retention that dons a long-term yet thing white lace.

Taste: Stable moderate body, crisp snappish and lively mouth feel. Quick glance of a stunning malt character that soon gets misplaced. Hop bitterness tastes weathered and stale with flavours of veggies and grass. Grain gets coarse a bears down on a light level of astringency that almost borders overwhelming, oddly the warmer the brew gets the more palatable it is. Around cellar temperature the beer seems almost balanced, light toasted grain is pleasant yet the hops still seem cooked and drawn-out. The after taste is a reflection of the past and withers away in a astringent finish.

Notes: This beer shows a better profile of flavours when it warms to cellar temperature though it still is not a totally clean brew either. Pasteurization has taken some of the life from this beer.

Serving type: bottle

10-23-2001 23:57:16 | More by Jason