Thanks go out to EinWeizenbitte for the chance to try this (apparently he is furnishing the whole of the USA with this Happoshu)! Anyway, I owe him. I like the look of the can. Nice color and I enjoy the way it feels it my hand with the ridged texture. Essentially this is a very, very sweet macro lager. The head and lace are better than the typical American macro lager, but it is reminiscent in terms of its (lack of) hop profile and corny, vegetal feel. Carbonation is soft and appealing....
Notes on beers brewed by
Kirin Brewery Company, Limited
Kirin Light Beer
Well - what do you expect? Amazingly light color (for beer anyway) and an aggresively carbonated, fizzy appearance. Nasty skunk in the first whiff, but this does seem to settle down. There's lots of artificial sweetness and an amazing feeling of consumption of gas with this "beer". Nasty carbonation in the mouth and unpleasent aftertaste. Apart from that, not bad!! Frightening to think that millions of people think this is what beer is!
Kirin Ichiban
Not bad. Pretty much a standard macro look, but better than average taste and drinkability. I don't smell much, but that is not necessarily a bad thing, at least I'm not getting an overpowering alcohol or grain whiff. Pours with a slightly better than average head and retention and goes down quite smooth. Golden in the glass with a clarity about it. Malts mainly dominate, but I don't know that this looks or tastes much like a Pale Ale as the database suggests. Looks more like a pale lager to...