Half a Turkish Delight

After my encounter with Love Lane beers, which, for the price, were not too bad, I headed down to Home Bargains again to pick up some more different bottles to try.

I came home with some Turkish Lagers, Efes and FIÇI, along with some Dutch beer called Bavaria. However, I have to say that some Budvar also found its way into my basket, as well.

A bit of a tale of two halves with the Turkish beers, one was just OK but the other one was very good. Not tried the Dutch Bavaria yet, and the Budvar I’ve had before and was excellent.

Two very similar-looking bottles and beers, but very different in taste and enjoyment.

Tuborg FIÇI 5% abv

Before anyone says it, I know Tuborg is a Danish brand but this beer was brewed in Turkey.

This was billed as an all-malt lager and it kind of was, but just a little lacking for me in body and flavour.

You can see by the colour it’s a little darker than your normal lagers, it smelt malty, promising, and definitely looked the part but it was a bit on the thin side taste-wise. A little neutral, I’d say, but better than your run-of-the-mill brands of lager.

There was some malty, hoppy flavour but it was all a bit flat.

Efes Draft 5.2% abv

Now this was more like it, as I said it looked similar to the FIÇI but taste wise it was in a a league above but not quite the Premier league.

Efes Draft is semi-pasteurised for a shorter duration to preserve a fresher, more brewery-serve-like character. Sweet malty aroma, with a little grain.

Great head retention, touch sweet, lots of bready maltiness going on, tasted light though very refreshing and easy to drink. Noticeable honey on the flavour, which was nice.

Overall very Pleasant

I will but more of the Efes but take a pass on the FIÇI.

** I’ve been pretty impressed with the selection from Home Bargains beersand I will continue to make my way through the others in time.