Plum Ale
Hokkaido Brewing

The elusive happoshu. This a very light soda-like, vaguely wine cooler-esque experience, but with much less apparent alcohol. It’s an attractive beer with its fizzy pale plum hue, blush rose whatever, but it’s ultimately super simple, fruity and moderately sweet, gently fizzy on the tongue, and unremarkable. It’s kind of like one of those zero calorie flavored seltzer drinks I suppose. Happy to have finally ticked the happoshu box, and not sure this is at all typical of the style. Wouldn’t buy
This again (I don’t think) but would try others of the style and from this brewery.

 

(10.14 fl oz bottle, OB2201 TT. 6. 5. 2 code on cap; purchased single off shelf at WineWorks today... poured into my Chouffe tulip)

L: huge pop! when removing crown cap; hazy, rouge pink liquid; finger-high foam stand, slow crumble... little collar remains; no lacing

S: floral-forward scent with prune juice undertones, hints of apple, red grape, maybe even some fruit tree bark... borders on but never quite reaches artificiality in character... plum sorbet?... good to great expression and intensity, but perhaps lacking a little zing

T: plum character shows much more depth on the palate, in fact, the dimension of the plum is mildly astonishing, making me wonder the ratio of plum puree to base beer; front-to-back plum, big in the aftertaste, which fades off after a couple minutes, making way for an almost minty and/or cinnamon gum note, hint of clove as well... again, like the aromas, lacking a little acidity, making it marginally dull - I'm wondering if the ale yeast is getting in the way of it having a more distinct expression... still some fairly unique flavors here though

F: a bit of a sluggish flow, silky body, begging for more carbonation (sampled this too warm?!)... like their Lemon Lager I tried earlier, this leaves me wondering how much the fruit additives are adding to the textures here

O: this one was good, quite flavorful, but not so much moreish; maybe it's better served very cold... I'm actually looking forward to trying all their flavors now (2110)

Pours lilac from the bottle, no head formation or lacing, some visible carbonation. Nose is strawberry candy, Starburst, and overall very sweet. Taste follows - juicy sweet and candy up front; fades to something more flat and grainy through the palate. Mouthfeel is thin with light carb and slightly oily.

10oz stubby bottle into a 12oz glass. Given up trying to make sense of dating.

Looks a bit livelier in the glass than previous Happoshu fruit beers from this brewer. Murky pale fleshy plum body with a little carbonation. Head sticks around for most of the drink, even leaves some wisps of lacing.

Aroma of sweet plums. Clean smell.

On tasting, good plum flavor, more to the sweet side than tart. A little drying.

Mouth medium, finish plum fruit with a dry touch.

Overall, the trademark of these Hokkaido Happoshu fruit beers is to let the natural fruit flavor shine, and to have no evidence of any abv. Not something I would want a session of, but happy to drink now and then.

A - Pink strawberry colored pour with thin white lacing and no carbonation.

S - Sweet plum aroma.

T - Sugary sweet plums from start to finish.

M - Thick silky texture with no carbonation.

O - Cloying sweet.

 

10.14oz stubby bottle (cap stamped OB1902 20.06.23) poured into a pokal glass at fridge temp 5% ABV. The beer pours hazy in a light purple / pink color with faint pink head. The head recedes to a thin ring and leaves a few dots of lacing. The aroma is moderate with plum being up front. The taste follows with semisweet plum and no detectable malt taste. No bitterness, but maybe a hint of earthy hop flavor. The mouthfeel is thin to medium bodied with average carbonation and a mostly dry finish. No off flavors. Overall, good. This is designated as an ale yeast product and it resembles beer more than the previous two lager versions of Happoshu.

This shall be my third of the third mentioned in my New New Trail & Feeling Light-Hearted About Happoshu Beer Sunday (Week 784). I was on a mission to fulfill some of trader @jkblr 's Wants when I realized that there were some that had hit our market that I had NOT yet tried! 8=O

From the Bottle (!): "[B]rewed with Hokkaido Plums".

This time, I was ready for the pin to Pop! off of the grenade & things went much more smoothly. I transitioned into a slow, smooth, gentle C-Line pour, but I backed down & off at the end, anticipating some lees on the punt. There really was not much to speak of in the way of head - it never really developed much more than wisps. Color was a deeply-hazy/lightly-cloudy purplish-pink Rouge (SRM = N/A). This had a fresh plumminess that was highly evocative of a ripe fruit on the nose. Mouthfeel was thin-to-medium, a tad fuller than the others today, but still on the thin side. The taste was rich with plum flavor, slightly tart to offset the inherent sweetness. It made me think that they had incorporated the skins, given the color & tartness. I was simply running through them alphabetically today, but it stood as a really nice follow-up to the white wine vinousness of the previous Niagara Ale. I am NOT implying that this one was vinous, but instead simply that its fruitiness was more evocative of wine as opposed to a fruit beer. Finish was solidly semi-dry, just the way I would prefer most beers to be. Once more, this would make an excellent accompaniment to food. In this case, I am thinking Chinese, something that calls for plum sauce - Mu (Moo)-Shu with pancakes! Yum. YMMV.