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| Head first: The Best Of Team goes to extremes to provide the freshest and Best information for Post readers - even if it means sitting around and drinking a lot of beer to get it (Post photo by Oleksandr Medvedev |
It was only 11 a.m., but the sun streaming in through the window brought
beads of perspiration to the foreheads of the Post's erstwhile Best Of
Team.
In an attempt to be helpful - or perhaps just to escape the oversized
Easy-Bake Oven that passes for our office - one of the gang announced
that he was headed to the kiosk outside.
"Anybody want anything?" he asked.
"Yeah, I'd go for a Slavutych," came one reply.
"Oh, Stella," called another - followed by requests for half a dozen other popular brands.
'That's too many to remember," chirped the vol-unteer. "I'll just pick up some Lvivske. That's the best beer anyway."
That incendiary comment resulted in a debate that lasted until the cool bottles arrived. After a few gulps, emotions were pared, and the Best Of Team became more philosophical. With about 150 breweries, Ukraine produces some very good beers, and while the big names control most of the market, some small regional brewers make admirable efforts.
Is there a single standout, though? And can that standout be determined outside the influence of slick advertising, personal favorites and brand loyalties?
The Best Of Team took a scientific approach to the question, assembling nine of the country best-known beers plus the lesser-known Podil regional brew, and organized a blind taste-test. Team members were given 100 grams of each beer in succession and assigned each a numerical score from 1 (terrible) through 10 (terrific).
In addition to rating the beers, we wanted to see whether people could identify their favorite beers. Surprisingly, in the Best Of test, few could successfully pick their favorite brand from the pack. One member, a Stella fan, was able to discern his brand from the competition.
"I will drink this beer until I bust," he said, holding out his glass for a refill.
Another member was not only unable to identify her favorite beer by taste alone, but actually awarded it a 3 - the lowest score she gave any of the ten brews sampled. She described Tuborg as "bitter."
"It's a beer I'd drink only if nothing else was available," she opined.
None of the taste-testers had ever tried Podil beer before - a fact likely attributable to the micro-brew's limited availability. The group liked the dark beer's ability to keep its head, and some described it as "rich" and a beer with "character." Others, though, thought it too sweet.
With some foreign beers now being brewed in Ukraine, the line between imports and domestic entries is beginning to blur. One tester described Obolon as tasting "like a good foreign beer," and another called Tuborg, a premium Danish beer now made here, as "better than basic - a good drinking man's beer."
Sarmat, which edged out Stella Artois in the blind test, won accolades for its "strong, distinctive" flavor. Its bouquet appealed to several reviewers.
The Best Of Team is pretty bold, but not enough so to sample each of the hundreds of domestic beers available. Besides, with so many alcohol-free, alcohol-fortified, dark, light, wheat and ice beers on the market, judging a single winner would be highly subjective. But based upon the Best Of Team's test sampling, Sarmat takes honors as the country's best beer.