Nov. ’13. A 0.5 l bottle from Vrutak store, Zagreb. It poured lightly hazy copper body with big ivory head. Sweetish aroma of dog food! After the fiasco with their pale lager now this! Flavor worked in its favor though, lightly bitter herbal hoppy with some caramel in the background, rather fine. Still medium to thin in body. Finish pronounced the hops even more. Not a bad beer, this one, apart from the nose obviously
However, looking at both of their beers, I was not only disappointed, but angry on extremely high price (higher than most craft, real ale in the, say, States) and such a clever marketing that made this, I dare to say crap end up in virtually every posh bar on the Dalmatian shore. Surely in Istria as well, where it’s from. It might be the batch, I reckon, but I doubt it at least for this red lager.

Pours a slightly hazy golden color, topped with a hefty white head that stays for a long time. Some malts and some grains in the mild aroma. The taste is nicely balanced finishing with decent bitterness. A very nice and enjoyable beer.

Pours a very deep black color, topped with some nice cream colored head. The aroma is very nice - roasted malts, lots of nice chocolate and caramel. Nice. The taste starts slightly sweet with some chocolate, roasted malts and nice bitterness in the end. Very drinkable and smooth. Tasty, but the taste is not too strong. Great.

Gyönyörű fehér sparkling hab, hirtelen szökne a pohárból. Lágy keserűség, kicsit visszahúzódó. Jobban kifejthetné magát. Nem kell ilyen szégyenlősnek lenni.

Opálos, borongós, vöröske. Tömzsi, hirtelen szökő hab, könnyed üdítő söröcske.

Bottled 500ml. -from Svijet Piva Zagreb. Almost black coloured, medium sized creamy off-white head, quite pleasant light roasty and hoppy nose. Roasted malt, some hops and touch of coffeein the finish. Bit too light but not bad at all.

Rerate (2016:)I’d kept the ratings from the best bottles I’ve tasted for the three main Servolo beers, not wanting to diss a brewery that dared enter a market that was heavily stagnating at that point. Tried them several times since and never, ever got near the same quality or it was a hit&miss thing with far more misses. Had the chance to rerate all in a blind tasting that included others. Now rerating. What’s fair is fair. Dark brown body tinged with amber, off white head. Light orange notes, agrumes in the aroma, light maltiness. Not bad, bit subdued. Taste... Meaty yeastiness dominates what’s mostly a dryish taste, solid, but not complex maltiness, perfume-like grape notes, prickly carbonation. Still better than the other two, has some nice things going on, but ruined completely by the yeastiness. 6/4/4/2/10 I’m averaging the score between these two and rounding up now to be more fair than I should be... Rate (2014):0.5l from Svijet Piva (and a thanks to Krešo for getting this for me as I don’t have the time to trek halfway across the town right now). Pours a murky daaaaaark body, almost black but tinged with red, carrying a medium sized off white head. The nose initially struck me with a slightly sweetish strong herbal hopiness, almost unheard of thus far in a Croatian lager, jammy notes with slightly roasty soft undertones. The taste is... hummm... interesting. Soft, velvety but altogether subdued soft malty background carrying fleeting notes of orange, with roasty and nice, but slightly subdued hoppy notes up front, but missing some bitterness to balance the slightly too high Ends somewhat ashy and herbal. All in all soft, just a tad dull and soapy, but nevertheless a well executed, aromatic, drinkable dark lager - the best beer from the brewery. Weak bitterish hoppy aftertaste forms later on. Only vaguely yeasty - definitely didn’t interfere with this bottle. The price is, however, definitely insane at what, 25kn for 0.5l? There are way better craft imports at that price and cheaper. But hey, if they think that they can pull it off, let ’em try. I’ll be the last person to complain about the appearance of a genuinely good beer on the Croatian market. 7/4/7/3/14

Pours a dark amber color with a medium white head, with almost no retention. Heavy on the carbonation. The aroma is nice - caramel and sweet malts, some fruity addition also. The taste is straigtforward bitter, but not on the bad side. There are some spices also present, although very weak. Drinkable with a strong taste.