5th Element Special Edition
Pivovara Daruvar in Daruvar, Bjelovar-Bilogora, Croatia 🇭🇷
Golden / Blonde Ale Special Out of Production|
Score
5.71
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Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 4 | Flavor - 5 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 5
On tap at Craft Room, Zagreb. Pours orange, white head. Malty, caramel notes, pretty watery and bland. Buttery. Some bitterness in the end, but not much.
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 3 | Flavor - 4 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 4
On tap at Craft Room Zagreb. Darker golden coloured, small to medium sized white head, buttery nose with whiff of fruits. Malty, strong buttery diacetyl and light caramel with touch of fruits and some weak hops in the finish. So far not good.
Marko (22181) reviewed 5th Element Special Edition from Pivovara Daruvar 9 years ago
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 4 | Flavor - 4 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 5
Ah, so the 5th Element people were out of one of the hop varieties they usually use, and went on anyway. Some places rebranded this version as the Special Edition and so on and so forth. Let’s see what it did to the ABA, which is in its base form a pretty nice beer. So... this looks good, nice and golden. Thick, small white head. Aroma... ah... now here we have a problem, full on buttery diacetyl blast, but not all that in a bad way to its defense. There’s maltiness underneath and a distinct lack of hopiness. Ouch. Taste... same. Likely diacetlyl-driven buttery notes, but soft and vaguely milk caramel-like, maltiness, a touch of paper and low bitterness. It works better than it should looking at its taste components, and it’s indeed definitely inferior to the regular version. And it doesn’t improve as it gets warm. I really hope they get their act together soon, as the Croatian beer scene really does need ABA in full form as a great gateway beer. Heck... it’s better that this gets slammed than ABA itself in a flurry of rerates and stands as a reminder/warning. Oh... of course - if you can’t feel diacetyl, go ahead I guess.