Bands, festivals and the lot are releasing branded booze by the dozens these days. GRIMM makes it its mission to get to the bottom (of the bottle) of this trend with insightful reviews and extra backgrounds. So sit back, PICK YOUR POISON, and discover all you need to know about your favorite band’s alcoholic brands!
Poison Fact Sheet
- Band: Behemoth
- Poison name: Heretyk
- Poison Style: beer – Red Ale / American Amber
- ABV: 5,5%
- IBU: 50
- Brewery: Browar Perun (Poland)
In order to find the Behemoth Heretyk we went straight to its country of origin, Poland. We found it on tap in Beer Heaven (Foksal 16, Warsaw), a beer bar in the capital we warmly recommend every tourist and beer lover. You might see people staring at the walls. This is not due to an overconsumption of alcohol, but because almost all of the walls and ceilings are covered in bottle caps creating fascinating drawings or patterns. With a closer look you will find some caps of rather exotic and unique beers. Beer Heaven is larger than you think and it runs further around the corners on a lower level as well. All the little alcoves provide you with some privacy and give the whole place a kind of speakeasy vibe. So there is enough space to enjoy your beer from one of the over 90 (!!) taps together with some pizza and finger food freshly prepared in the bar. The reason we stumbled upon this place was because the Perun brewery was so kind to provide us with a map of purchase locations after I contacted them on Facebook. Browar Perun is a family-run craft brewery founded in 2014 who do not want to follow the well-trodden path. They decide to take Perun, Slavic god of thunder and lightning as their patron and to immediately establish their name they cooperated with Poland’s foremost metal export product Behemoth. They brew standard and unconventional styles of beers with international and domestic hops. Besides their own range of beers they already released four Behemoth beers of which Heretyk is the third announced late 2015.
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- Beer Heaven (Foksal 16, Warsaw, Poland)
Tasting
The Heretyk was served in an English pint glass. While it quickly loses its thin foam head, the lasting visual pleasure of this beer is in its beautiful deep red-brown colour. The colder Polish weather had given me a cold and prevented me from fully taking in the aroma, but my best estimation would be on an earthy aroma with a whiff of resin. The first flavors are roasted malt and a sweetish hint of burnt caramel. The overall finish is quite bitter with mostly American hops (Simcoe, Citra, Mosaic). The amber ale is quite low on carbonation. Overall, the Heretyk does not blow you away as it seems to be missing a final punch or a certain uniqueness. However, it does retain its tasty flavor until the last sip, which you will most definitely want to have. A very pleasant beer within its style, highly recommended to try if you ever have the chance.
Packaging
Since we found the Heretyk on tap and was served in a standard English pint glass, we didn’t get to see the packaging for real. But looking at the design of the label they definitely put a lot of thought and effort in it. Check out Behemoth and Perun’s commercial video of the beer below to have a visual idea of the bottles.
https://www.facebook.com/behemoth/videos/10153347401852872/
