Shizuku
Sapporo Breweries Ltd.

Ah, happoshu. I remember fondly when I first came to this beautiful land. I was in a bad way then (though soon became better) and it was you, happoshu, who I turned to in my hour of need, and you who provided a brief respite from my tribulations. However, I could get that respite just as easily drinking bootleg fake-vodka from Russia. But I don't. Cause that's gross. And so is happoshu. I've since strayed from happoshu and have spent the extra money for real beer (which is also still, by and large, quite bad). Returning now to this happoshu, Shizuku, is a somewhat nostalgic experience. It's off-smells and off-tastes are comfortingly familiar. Shizuku in particular has a number of off-tastes I'm not equipped to describe, perhaps resulting from its "slow made" quality. In any case, it's got a lot more character than your average happoshu, but it's not necessarily good character.

A - Immediately dissapating head, transparent pale yellow/gold body.
S - Plain grainy aroma.
T - Slightly sweet and clean. No malt flavors, just stripped grain.
M - Relatively mild carbonation. Nice body for the style. Compared to a pilsner, this beer would get straight 1s, but for the style this stuff is really good

This delicious happoshu is likened to a drop of rain, or beer in this case – shizuku...which seems to be a very popular reference to beer in japan. Besides the poetry, this guy is much like the rest of its kind in flavor and appearance. But that’s fine. It’s happoshu after all.

Straw-colored body, a roughly hewn nose of hops and alcohol and a light body with a distinctly nasty taste of beer that’s been stripped of its malt character and left with fizzily carbonated naked alcohol are what happoshu’s contribution to the world are.

For the "style" it's right on -- a perfect 3.

oh boy! a new happoshu! from the crack of the can i can smell that funky sour, tap water odor i associate with the crappiest beer on the planet. appearance and smell typical for the style, unfortunately.

first taste? i almost gagged. i fought the reflex to regurgitate, managed to swallow but soon wished i hadn't. suddenly my throat feels like i have a nasty cold, or that i had spent the last hour of last night puking up my guts. this shit is nasty. acid. giving me an instant stomach ache. AVOID.