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beer reviews Poland

Okocim Mocne – is it more than tramp’s brew?

A break from the Belgian binge write-up to blog about this while I remember.

Most of the cornershops round our way stock a large selection of fairly similar Polish lagers. We blogged about the similarity of the light lagers (usually called “piwo jasne”) in one of our first ever posts.

There are a number of Polish lagers describer as “mocne” or strong, which I’d always assumed were little better than tramp’s brew. This assumption was based partly from bad experiences of Warka Strong on tap in Poland, and partly on the fact that any British lagers with “strong” on the tin are only drunk by gentlemen of the road and bingeing teenagers. But a comment by The Beer Nut a while back, together with positive reviews of Warka Strong on BeerAdvocate, made me think that perhaps I’d been a bit harsh.

okocim_mocne_beer_small.gifSo, looking for a lager to go with my chilli, I took the plunge and bought an Okocim Mocne from the offy down the road. Described as “malt liquor” on their website, it’s7%. I was hoping for perhaps an Oktoberfest style beer, or at least a drinkable “doppio malto” like Peroni Gran Reserva.

Initial aroma was promising – appley and slightly hoppy. Unfortunately the taste and body were very disappointing. It’s a very thin beer, not what you’d expect for this strength. And the only flavour I could detect was sweetness. No hops or anything else to note. It wasn’t even particularly refreshing.

It’s not revolting, but I can’t imagine a situation where I’d drink it again. Most cornershops stocking this also stock Lithuanian Svyturys, which is a better bet for cheap, convenient lager. And if I want to drink to drown my sorrows, I’ll do as the Polish tramps do and go for wodka instead.

However, if you do spot Okocim Palone, or the even rarer Porter, snap them up. In fact, does anyone know if the Porter is even still in production? I haven’t seen it for years, but the Okocim website seems to suggest it is.

5 replies on “Okocim Mocne – is it more than tramp’s brew?”

*Sniff*. Each to their own. I’m surprised you’d rate Å vyturys higher. I thought it was terribly dull and closer to Zywiec or Tyskie in Polish terms.

My cheap, convenient East European lager of the moment is Carpatia. Verging on Munich-like, IMO.

Wilson – I’m jealous.

Beer Nut – I think I prefer Svyturys because it has slightly more hop flavour, a better body, and a weaker strength than say Zywiec or Tyskie. In general, dull Eastern European lager is not my thing, but it is especially not my thing when it’s 7%! Also for some reason I get really bad Zywiec hangovers but not from Svyturys…

We’ve seen Carpatia around, might give that a go…once I’ve double checked the Warka Strong and the Debowe Mocne in case I’m missing any hidden classics!

My god that stuff is awful. I once mistakenly bought two bottles from the food and wine shop next door the the Lord John Russell in Bloomsbury. I somehow thought it would be a dark lager.

@ BeerNut As beer nut mentioned, each to their own, I am thankful for a fairly local off licence selling this lovely brew at the moment, tasteful for a 7% can and the strength and body working well together with no nasty aftertaste, unlike some of the strong types of cans that are available.

@ Boak And as Boak mentioned Debowe Mocne, in my dreams, I just wish for another chance to enjoy that one, that is a very nice strong beer, and the Oak Tree on the can is a lovely reminder of strength, I wish it was still available locally.

@ Wilson, I would just love to try the Porter,,,,,,,,,, aww, sounds so good, lucky to have a local public house with a fantastic locally brewed Porter on draught at the moment, with a good hint of coffee and chocolate aftertaste, it’s like being a child in a sweetshop

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