Niagara Ale
Hokkaido Brewing

10.14oz stubby bottle into a tulip. Bottled 8/21/21, so 5-6 months old.

Looks nice enough in the glass, like still champagne. Small white head fizzes away, spots of lacing.

Smells like white grape juice.

On tasting, quite grapey. But I'll instead of a strong drying finish, it's quite sweet, which I appreciate.

Mouth medium, finish see above.

Overall, grape in beer is not my thing at all, but the finish saves the day.

Poured from the little bottle, into a Heinken tall ale glass.

Brass yellow, and fairly clear, with quite a bit of linear carbonation. Settles to a pencilled collar somewhat quickly, from an off white forming small one finger head. Sort of looks like a mass market lager with a brighter appearance, but less head creation.

Aroma is quite fruit grape, more like Welches white grape juice honestly. Faint touches of some beer like mass gaseous flavor interestingly. There's a good sense of sugar coming off this.

Palate is quite different than most mass market happoshus. Good body on this or a rice adjunct, with a sense of nearly malt like backbone presence. Real grape Welch sweetness all over though, coming out with a large amount of sweetness and white table sugar flavors. Finishes with similar flavors but even a bit of sweet apple and going into some Martenilli like sparkling wine character.

This far better than most Happoshus I've had, but it's just far too sweet to be really enjoyable for me. Quite refreshing though and unique.

10.14oz stubby bottle (cap stamped OB1904 200111) poured into a tulip pint glass at fridge temp 5% ABV. The beer pours barely hazy in a soft white grape juice / white wine color with nearly white head. The head recedes to a pencil thin ring and leaves no lacing. The aroma is mild with sweet grape juice. The taste is similar sweet white grapes, a hint of malt and no appreciable bitterness. The mouthfeel is thin to medium bodied with average carbonation and a mostly dry finish.
No off flavors. Overall, enjoyable taste and feel. Tastes kind of like sparkling grape juice with the hops adding a bit of balance and the corn & rice syrups drying it out a bit.

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 White Grapes".

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 Pale-Straw (SRM = 1 - 2) with NE-quality clarity, very evocative of a white wine. Nose was very grape-y, quite vinous, but trending sweet. Mouthfeel was thin-to-medium, a bit more solid than its predecessors, but not by a large margin. If the nose had led me to expect sweet, then you might imagine my surprise when it turned out to be semi-sweet, verging on semi-dry! I will be frank - I would have preferred even more dryness, but it was nowhere near as sweet as the nose had led me to expect. The taste was unquestionably of white grapes with a definite vinousness throughout. Mmm. Finish was semi-sweet to semi-dry. I would want this one with food, if I were to have it again. This would pair well with a pasta dish or even just a salad. YMMV.