Transnistria Beer Hunting

Tiraspol & Bender

9/10/11/12 September 2014

Twitter @ball_sup

I could have called this "On a Bender in Bender"

First purchase was in a Sheriff Supermarket in Tiraspol. I trawled the shelves & fridges. Despite having a bit of an idea what I was looking for. Despite having a good grasp of the Cyrillic alphabet. I couldn't find any Transnistrian beers.

So, I reverted to Google Translate & a very helpful shelf stacker who led me to 2 ticks. Both in 1.5 litre PET bottles.

#1
Cлободзеuское светлое at 4%.

I'm pretty sure it comes from a town in the South called Slobodzeya.

Svetloe is a description I'm used to seeing on Ukrainian beer. In my head it means light, blonde, bright or that sort of thing.

A nice tan colour. Not much of a head to speak of. The dominant taste is sweetness. Smells nice & rich & deep. Not borne out in the taste. There is a bit of mouthcoating. But it feels a bit thin. 

To be fair a bit of malty allspice does develop.

It is on the way to being a Vienna Lager. But its got a long way to go.

#2
Blonder Beer from Старгород (Stargorod) Brewery at 4.5%.

Very appealing amber colour. Nice initial foaming head. Deep sweet aroma. All the taste action coming from the malts. Sweetness dominates. Just on the bearable side of overpowering. The taste is rich and mouthcoating.

Look. That's far from being my style of choice. But it's a nice enough simple sweet, mid range abv beer.

Second purchase was in another Transnistrian town called Bender. I was pointed here by Dorin. I take information from Ratebeer without knowing too much how it works. But Dorin is something like the Moldova Editor for Ratebeer.

Way out of town. I'd have it as shop 45 in set of kiosks 29/1 on 40 Let Pobedy str.

Trolleybus no. 1 from Bender stops there. It's a single table single room affair. It's sort of a tap house for Stargorod (Старгород). There was Svetloe (light, pale, bright) & Temnoe (dark) on keg.

#3
Benderskiy Temnoe Beer abv not listed.

Not black. But darker than an English bitter. Good mouthfilling flavour. A bit of initial roast. A nice bitterness coming mainly from the roast. Pleasant enough. Not too sweet.

#4
Benderskiy Svetloe Beer abv not listed

Looks unfiltered. Initial citrus burst. Very refreshing. Develops some orange & mandarin. A grower. Strike me some passion fruit as I get down the glass.

That's the standout beer of the 4.