Zywiec Beer - Zywiec Breweries PLC (Heineken)

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Zywiec BeerZywiec Beer

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764 Ratings

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Ratings: 764
Reviews: 365
rAvg: 3.05
pDev: 20%
Wants: 10
Gots: 50 | FT: 0
Brewed by:
Zywiec Breweries PLC (Heineken) visit their website

Style | ABV
Euro Pale Lager |  5.60% ABV

Availability: Year-round

Notes/Commercial Description:
No notes at this time.

(Beer added by: Todd on 10-08-2001)
Beer: Ratings & Reviews
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Ratings: 764 | Reviews: 365 | Display Reviews Only:
Photo of Lazerlobe
3.15/5  rDev +3.3%

Got as a gift from my neighbor after chasing some prowlers out of his backyard.

Pours a muted straw with a half finger of head that, defying it's own inertia, remain atop the beer for 12 seconds before it faded in to nothingness. 3.5 for that feat!

Smell: Sweet fermented grains (duh, but this particular sweetness I usually find in Polish beers), a slight grassiness and little else.

Taste: Sweet baked bread, skunkiness, and hay. It greets my mouth with a weak handshake, leaving sour malt on the tongue.

Drink: Well, I'm running low on beer so I'll quaff this one down. Nothing to write home about.

Photo of CrazyDavros
2.3/5  rDev -24.6%

Pours gold with a quickly fading head.
Nose shows lots of sweet bready and caramel malt, somewhat dirty. No noticeable hops.
Same story with the flavours in the way of malt and hops. The bitterness seems to be bold at first but is then massively overwhelmed by the sweet malt.
Mildly high carbonation, but not enough to cut through the sweetness.

Photo of BeerNinja007
2.95/5  rDev -3.3%

500mL bottle for $2.49 at Hoosick Beverages in Troy NY. Label has a "beer thermometer" on the back... apparently temperature-sensitive ink turns red as it cools to the appropriate serving temperature. Best before 04.15.2011. Poured cold into a standard pint glass.

A: Crystal clear straw yellow brew generates rigorous carbonation and a thin white head.

S: A ton of skunk, then some light malt, hay, and a bit of citrus.

T: Taste also a good dose of skunk and light malt, but then follows up with a heavier/ darker semi-burnt caramel sweetness that would be more appropriate in a darker beer. Odd to find this in a beer that is otherwise so light. Also tastes like the malt has been significantly diluted with rice. Finishes with skunk, the caramel, and maybe some apricot.

M/D: The dark caramel aspects give a heavier feel that seems out of place. I'd like it better if it were more crisp and light. Carbonation was very rigorous after the pour but soon settled to an appropriate level. Overall there are a few things I don't like about it, but it's not too bad. Pretty typical EPL.

Photo of pwoody11
2.78/5  rDev -8.9%

From notes:

Consumed fourth of July Weekend (03July10 to be exact). Went a buddies house in A.C. I brought some good stuff for me but when I arrived to his place, my beer was a little warm. The main goal of the weekend was to get drunk, so I said gimme what you got cold. He offered me a half empty 40 and this beer. He said a Polish guy he works with left it. I chose the Zywiec.

Poured a clear golden color. Fairly heavy on the carbonation without much head action. The nose was rather grainy. Malt dominated, but some slight floral hops were present in the distant background.

Taste reminded me of the nose. Was rather bitter on the palate and not really in a good way. I also found it to be a little dry. Very simple beer.

Photo of eduardolinhalis
3.23/5  rDev +5.9%

500ml bottle poured in a chalice.

A Heineken after all.

A: Clear golden-yellow color. Small white head that dissipates leaving few lacings
S: Simple. Malt, hops and yeasts
T: Simple too. Malt is very evident, nice moderated bitterness and the very traditional Heineken yeasts. Interesting how Heineken is able to be really Heineken everywhere... :)
M: Very light and watery body. Reasonable carbonation. Good bitterness is the really and only positive point
D: Not bad

Photo of riversider76
3.58/5  rDev +17.4%

Pours a clear medium golden with a thin white head. Not much retention, and just a bit of laceing. Aroma is of pale bready malts. Body is light and carbonated. Taste is bready with a sweetness throughout. Crisp finish with hints of honey. Worth a try

Photo of wordemupg
3.3/5  rDev +8.2%

500ml bottle poured into pint glass july16 2010

A clear golden yellow with about as many bubbles as you can fit in a glass, thumbs width of head has decent retention and leaves no lace

S some sweet malts with a little hops and some hay

T not far from the smell with a little bread and some very faint skunk

M feels like another lager, rather thin well carbonated but pretty crisp and nothing to complain about

D this is working well with the sun peaking through my window, basic but nothing bad

simple but decent, I would drink this again but I wouldn't go looking for it

Photo of Bizz88
2.73/5  rDev -10.5%

Poured a nice clear golden yellow with a two fingered creamy just a touch off white head that dissapeared quickly to thin lacing. Aromas of light sweet crackers and grass with a touch of gun metal.Taste pretty much like it smelled on the palette but the metal finish was kinda weird. Medium light bodied with a fair amount of carbonation. Wasn't truly impressed with the overall of this brew but the abv's kept it from a total washout.

Photo of hawks10
3.6/5  rDev +18%

16oz can poured into a pint glass...

Pours a golden straw yellow, completely clear and clean looking with two fingers of fizzy soft white head which leaves some lacing...pretty standard Macro Lager appearance, but really nothing wrong with it...

Standard pale lager aroma as well, mild earthy hop presence, some grass and crackers with a tiny bit of lemon twist and a little spice too...actually, this could pass off as a very low abv% Saison in terms of the nose...

Crisp and clean, slightly sweet, with a bit of a citrus twist...grainy and a very tiny bit of earthy/leafy hops add a touch of bitterness. Actually not that bad...

Light bodied with good carbonation. Crisp and refreshing, smooth and easy to drink...a little unpleasant aftertaste, but nothing too bad...

Pretty pleasantly surprised with this one, would reach for a Zywiec over an American Macro any day of the week...

Photo of Naugros
3.25/5  rDev +6.6%

Looks like a Bohemian pilsner in the glass, complete with clear amber body, fluffy white head and rising carbonation. Pretty beer.

Smells like a lightly-hopped version of a Bohemian pilsner. Translation: weaker in hops and malt presence.

Comparisons to Bohemian pilsners end here so as to not insult them. This is closer to an American pilsner than anything from the Czech Republic or Germany (not including the mass exported crap). You can almost fool yourself into believing you poured this out of a can. The unpleasant aftertaste of non-traditional grains seems to be there and there's a slight tinny aftertaste. Better than American lagers, not even close to Bohemian pilsners.

For mouthfeel, see above for why I was not overly pleased with this one. Still, it is crisp and refreshing, but so is Corona.

The crispness will allow you to drink many of these and the higher ABV will get you trashed faster than with American NASCAR beers and after three or four you'll forget that it's basically an average beer. I'm trying to figure out what the medals mentioned on the bottle were for.

Photo of beertunes
3.78/5  rDev +23.9%

From the land of my paternal family. This beer pours a clean, clear, sharp, yellow with about an inch of white head that had good retention and minimal lacing.

The aroma is mostly a light grain scent, with a hint of soft hops and a slightly sweet finish. That pretty much sums up the flavor profile as well, except for the fact that the beer is a bit sweeter on the tongue.

The body was surprisingly full for the style. drinkability was very good, I'd happily grab a bottle of this to have with a sandwich at the park for lunch. Overall, a very nice brew that's worth a shot if you see it.

Photo of malty
3.58/5  rDev +17.4%

500ml bottle with best before 5-11-10 stamped on back label. Served after 5 minutes of being taken out of an iced cooler - about 40F. The 'Zywiec' logo was present on the glass on the back label - Beer Thermometer. Nerdy gimmick.

Pours a clear deep golden color with a dense, foamy 1" bright white settled head. Lower than moderate amount of visible uprising carbonation. Nice thick rings of lace all the way down.

A few swirls of my thin walled 20 oz. handled mug evoke lemon zest, saltine crackers and a wet stone mineralness.

The wet stone scent I was getting translates pretty acurately in the taste deptartment. The hops add a good amount of dryness that further accentuate the chalky, mineral flavor. The crisp lemon zest is there with a musky, light handed malty component in there too.

Mouthfeel is a shade heavier than light bodied with a semi-oily but still very crisp feel. The dry texture lasts a bit longer than the flavor, but it all ends bitter and clean.

Drinkability is very good. I would have no problem sessioning this on a warm summer afternoon.

Overall a good lager with a nice hop presence. The dry/chalky mouthfeel is great. It's clean and nonintrusive. It's simple and satisfying.

Photo of hmk22
3/5  rDev -1.6%

I bought a 4-pack of 16.9oz cans for $4.99 at the famed DeCicco's in Ardsley, NY and drank two post-haste. The only real problem with Zywiec IMO is that it has an unpleasant alcohol-y edge that makes it taste spiked, as if they tried to take a shortcut and enhance the ABV by means other than fermentation. (A brewer would probably be able to diagnose this better than I can). If it were possible to separate that aspect this might be a decent European-style lager; as it is, I'd pass it by for any number of better offerings.

Photo of meeekyh
3.15/5  rDev +3.3%

I will note that this bottle claims a 5.6% ABV so maybe its not the same...

A 330ml brown bottle (yea for brown bottles!) into a tulip glass (to concentrate the smells, duh). The beer pours a light golden honey with a white head of about one finger. Lacing is minimal.

Smell is like many a large brewed beer; slightly metallic and grassy, not much in the way of malt or hops but plenty of yellow beer smells. I note a bit of diacetyl but not as much as in the Urquell.

Taste is much like the smell with not too much aftertaste. I note mostly clean flavors and a bit of that buttery taste.

Mouthfeel is light and crispy with plenty of carbonic acid and fizz. I like this part of this beer best and I figure the carbonation makes for much of the tangy taste and the dryish finish.

I think this a drinkable enough beer and expect the Summer may usher a few more of these beers my way.

Not a stunning beer but easialy on par with the Heinis, Becks and Fosters of the world, better in my opinion.


Photo of garuda
3/5  rDev -1.6%

Pale clear yellow, thick white head that dissipates quickly, but leaves a thin ring on top of the liquid. No lacing.

S - Grainy, with a slight sweetness towards the back.

T - Follows the nose with a touch more sweetness.

M - Light body, high carbonation.

D - Read the definition of a Euro Pale Lager and this is what you get. Nothing that particularly stands out for the beer, but also nothing offensive about it either. Just gets average scores across the board from me.

Photo of kkoz
2.25/5  rDev -26.2%

I was in Chicago and the nearby clientele must be Polish, because they had 4-5 different types of Polish beers. I just decided to pick one and went for Zywiec.

The bottle doesn't indicate what style of beer it is, it simply says it's a "Polish Prized Original Beer" The bottle also indicates that it's 5.6% ABV.

When I poured it into the glass, it had an extremely thin head. It was very, very pale yellow and super clear. It had sort of a skunky kind of aroma, sort of like a Heineken (which makes sense after I saw it was a Heineken brewery), along with a bit of fermented corn sugar smell.

It was crisp and a bit sharp on the tongue, and had a bit of the Heineken type skunky bitterness. However, the aftertaste was a bit bready or yeasty, like a pilsner.

I'm sure it would go well with almost any food, and would probably go down like water on a hot day. It was interesting to try something different, but it's not one that I'd likely buy again.

Photo of Petrislav
3.33/5  rDev +9.2%

12oz poured into pint glass

A: Pours a clear pale yellow, very yellow, topped with a white pillow/cloud like head

S: Smells heavy of grains and malt, not too much hops

T: Sweet grains and malt, a plain sweet lager

M: Super light, refreshing, palate friendly

D: A higher abv session choice

Photo of woodychandler
4.1/5  rDev +34.4%

Major props to my county homie, Tone77, for being on the lookout for new CANs for me to try. Trades for us are simple - I just stop by his place of work to drop off CANs for him and he hooks me up. CAN you dig it?

I initially got two foamy, soapy fingers' worth of bone-white head that settled down pretty quickly. Color was a beautiful golden-yellow with NE-quality clarity. Nose had a soft hoppiness, present but not in-your-face. In fact, it really smelled like lager should, no adjunct scents to get in the way. Mouthfeel was medium with a lager sweetness on the tongue. I have not had Zywiec since my Bloomfield Bridge Tavern days and it brought back fond memories of their Red and White dinner platters, sitting around with Stosh, drinking Polish and Baltic beers. Finish was smooth, soft, very lager-like. This was quite the hook-up and very welcome in my cooler at the beach!

Photo of mothman
3.23/5  rDev +5.9%

I have had this a few times. My friend from Poland always brings some to the states when she visits. Finally getting around to reviewing it.

Poured into a pils glass.

Pours a little over a finger of creamy white head. Fades down to a thinner layer. Leaves a lot of splattered lace. Color is a clear straw yellow. Lots of carbonation bubbles in the glass.

Aroma: a lot like the typical American macro lagers. Grain and corn flavors, with a lower quality of grassy hops. Some light citrus zest with some pale malts.

Taste: Not as enjoyable as the aroma. It is very bready. Lots of pale malts and grassy hops. It is a bigger beer than I was expecting. Some grain and corn flavors.

Mouthfeel: Thick and chewy for the style. Crisp as well. Medium bodied with a decent amount of carbonation. Ends very dry and grainy.

Overall, it is always fun getting to try new beer and a Polish beer is never an exception. This tastes a lot like American macro lagers, but it definitely has that European tough to it with the hops and malt flavors I can taste. Relatively drinkable.

Photo of chickenm
3/5  rDev -1.6%

Pours a pale golden color with a white head that quickly disappears. Aroma of malt, grass, yeast, and a slight metallic smell. Taste has some sweet grains and more grass. Average body for a lager, with mild carbonation. Not too bad, but not something I'd buy again. There are better Euro Lagers than this.

Photo of mrmanning
3/5  rDev -1.6%

Pours dark golden colour with a thick white head. Hoppy aroma with grains, also with some floral accents. Both fairly faint though. Taste is malty sweetness,grassy hops, honey, and for some reason reminds me of a malt liquor. Decent. Bottle from the LCBO.

Photo of corby112
2.88/5  rDev -5.6%

Pour a clear and very pale golden yellow color with a thin frothy white head that immediately fades leaving no lacing behind.

The aroma is pretty bland with some pilsner malt notes with a touch of wheat and very faint light crisp fruit, mostly apple and pear.

Again, as in the aroma, the flavor is pretty bland. Very soft carbonation up front with pilsner malt being the most prominent flavor. There is also a touch of the light crisp fruit notes from the aroma and subtle grass/straw.

Photo of 12puebloyankee
2.95/5  rDev -3.3%

A-Poured a bright and clear golden straw color with a finger of head that dissipated quickly. Very low carbonation.

S-Mostly malt up front with grassy hops in the background.

T-My initial impression was a German pils. Nice malteyness and a definite hops bite. I haven't had one in some time but my the first sip of this brew brought me straight to a memory of a beer fest in Germany.

M-Full bodied and smooth but a bit low on the carbonation.

D-Definitely tasty but a bit on the heavy side so I can't see myself drinking more that two or three of these.

Photo of mostpoetsdo
3.5/5  rDev +14.8%

A: Vibrant yellow, with a booming white billowy head.

S: Malty and sweet.

T: Pretty tasty, actually. Malt up front and finishes off with a slight caramel sweetness.

M: Thin, but has a creamy quality to it that goes well with the carbonation.

D: High, but the store I went to had this beer price ridiculously marked up.

Photo of Vancer
3.48/5  rDev +14.1%

Bright yellow straw pour, nice white head that leaves a thin lace ring in the Sammy Adams freebie glass.

Pure malt in the aroma, straight forward and enticing. Transfers into the quaff nicely, big malt backbone with some light grass and hay notes. Very nice pilsner beer to enjoy with the Saturday football, not an average beer at all.

Zywiec Beer from Zywiec Breweries PLC (Heineken)
71 out of 100 based on 764 ratings.