I’m sure we’ve all had this experience:  You are walking through the beer aisle sort of aimlessly without a target beer, or even a target beer style in mind.  Your eye catches something vaguely intiguing.  You’ve never heard of it.  You don’t know how it has held up to judgmental tastebuds of beer reviewers.  Yet you buy it.

This happened to me a few weeks ago as a walked down the aisle.  The kooky label is what drew me in:  A bare (no nudity) backside of a woman with a large lobster tattoo on her back.  The name of the beer was as kooky as the label:  “Lobster Lovers Beer.”  The back of the bottle read:  “Has life ever snapped at you?  Grab it by the claws!”  I suddenly became a slave to impulse.  I had to buy it.

Lobster Lover beer is brewed by Rinkuškiu Alaus Darykla, a Lithuanian Brewery.  It should be classified as perhaps a pale or strong lager.  Like I said, it is 9.5% ABV.  Here are my thoughts:

The Pour:

Pours a crisp, golden color, slightly darker than a typical American lager with a decent amount of carbonation bubbles swirling as the glass fills.  Minimal head and lacing.  I was surprised.  the pour certainly did not reveal a 9.5% alcohol content.  In fact, it looks a good deal like Miller Lite.   Hmmm…I wonder if it’s bursting with hop flavor too?  Based off the looks of this beer I was expecting it to be a snoozer like a bland corporate lager.

The Nose:

Grain, grain, and grain…not to be confused with malt, although there is a faintly sweet malt aroma.  The smell reminded me of fresh pilsner grains right out of the mill.  Very slight hop aromas…too insignificant too pick up on a variety.  There was an earthy coppery smell as well, and a slight dairy/buttery aroma.  A little more complex than I had expected.

The Taste:

Looks can be decieving.  There is an initial dirty/sweet confrontation at first swig.  That grainy aroma I smelled earlier comes through on the taste buds.  It is a sweet, bready flavor with notes of grass, moss, toasted malts, some nuttiness, maybe a little honey flavor.   On top of all this there is a salty note that I picked up on after my wife took a sip and pointed it out.  Surpsingly, it is a very thin beer.  The brewer must have let the yeast go to town on these malts!  Also surprisingly is the lack of alcohol flavor.  I even wondered if the brewer stretched the truth a bit in his alcohol claim.  As it washes down your throat, there is all the flavor combine into a weird, funky bite.  It reminds me of a whole wheat cracker with a musky cheese on top that doesn’t tastes as good as it looks, but mixed with a pilsner lager/marzen style beer.

Overall, not bad.  It is way better than I had initially expected, but I doubt I’ll go back for more.  The biggest question I have is…Why is it called lobster beer?

Nate’s Rating:

Overall Satisfaction: ★★★☆☆ 

Among other Strong Lagers ★★★☆☆ 

Among other Lobster Beers: ★★★★★