Puffed Rice Chinese Pale Ale
Master Gao Brewing Company
- From:
- Master Gao Brewing Company
- China
- Style:
- Brut IPA
Ranked #23 - ABV:
- 7.4%
- Score:
- 83
Ranked #34,028 - Avg:
- 3.46 | pDev: 8.96%
- Ratings:
- | reviews: 6
- Status:
- Active
- Rated:
- Aug 25, 2025
- Added:
- Apr 17, 2020
- Wants:
- 1
- Gots:
- 1
SCORE
83
Good
83
Good
Like pop corns to Americans, puffed rice is a traditional snack to Chinese. Before they started to vanish about twenty years ago, puffed rice vendors had taken every neighborhood’s street corners. They put rice into a high pressure cooker, and rotated the cooker over a charcoal stove. When inside temperature and pressure reached their targets, they released the cookers’ valve with an iron level wrench. With a big ‘bang!’, all the rice will burst out of the cooker and get puffed instantly when they hit the cold air. It’s amazing for children to watch a cup of 3oz rice turned into a big load of happiness.
When it comes to brewing , the whole grain puffed rice provides a cleaner and crispier body than gelatinized rice starch, and significantly more concentrated rice flavors. As a result Master Gao’s Puffed Rice Chinese Pale Ale has notes of sake & malt balanced with tropical hops and a very dry finish. A most remarkable combination of sake, saison and champagne.
When it comes to brewing , the whole grain puffed rice provides a cleaner and crispier body than gelatinized rice starch, and significantly more concentrated rice flavors. As a result Master Gao’s Puffed Rice Chinese Pale Ale has notes of sake & malt balanced with tropical hops and a very dry finish. A most remarkable combination of sake, saison and champagne.
Recent ratings and reviews. | Log in to view more ratings + sorting options.
Reviewed by MutuelsMark from Kentucky
3.7/5 rDev +6.9%
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.5
3.7/5 rDev +6.9%
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.5
Pale, cloudy yellow in color with a thin white head. Nose is initially white pepper that then fades to a sweet smell. Taste is very sweet, then a green olive flavor that comes to the forefront. Then poof it all disappears!
Aug 25, 2025
Reviewed by flagmantho from Washington
3.64/5 rDev +5.2%
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.5
3.64/5 rDev +5.2%
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.5
Poured from 330mL can into a dimpled mug.
Appearance: medium yellow hue with a moderate haze and a finger of frothy ivory foam. Looks nice, although the head retention is not great.
Smell: a bit of citrus and a bit of dank; it's almost savory in character. Not bad, per se, but unusual in a way that perhaps isn't my favorite.
Taste: the dank, juicy hop elements are better in the flavor than the aroma, especially up front. It's sweetish rather than dry, though; hard for me tho think of this as a "brut" IPA. There's an odd finish to this beer that I find hard to place. Almost like an umami character or something?
Mouthfeel: medium body with a decent carbonation and creaminess.
Overall: I haven't decided exactly what I think of this beer. It's definitely unusual; perhaps it's an acquired taste. I'm not sure I'm going to acquire that taste anytime soon, though.
Aug 11, 2022Appearance: medium yellow hue with a moderate haze and a finger of frothy ivory foam. Looks nice, although the head retention is not great.
Smell: a bit of citrus and a bit of dank; it's almost savory in character. Not bad, per se, but unusual in a way that perhaps isn't my favorite.
Taste: the dank, juicy hop elements are better in the flavor than the aroma, especially up front. It's sweetish rather than dry, though; hard for me tho think of this as a "brut" IPA. There's an odd finish to this beer that I find hard to place. Almost like an umami character or something?
Mouthfeel: medium body with a decent carbonation and creaminess.
Overall: I haven't decided exactly what I think of this beer. It's definitely unusual; perhaps it's an acquired taste. I'm not sure I'm going to acquire that taste anytime soon, though.
Reviewed by BubbleBobble from New York
3.32/5 rDev -4%
look: 3.25 | smell: 3 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.25
3.32/5 rDev -4%
look: 3.25 | smell: 3 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.25
This "Brut IPA" pours a thick, slightly hazy golden yellow, brief 0.5" head, thin ring with minimal lacing. The nose is strikingly similar to The Bruery's Arrrggghhh!, which makes sense, as that was also brewed with rice. Nose is lots of grass, nutmeg/mace, and fresh (not wet) cardboard. Taste is much more interesting than the aroma - there's a fair amount of fruity black pepper, nutmeg, clove, and toasted grain. Alcohol is fairly well hidden despite the ABV. Finish is dry as well, with thin but punchy carbonation. I don't think Master Gao sat down to make a Brut IPA, which is good, because Brut IPAs aren't real. This beer, however, exists, and it's alright.
Jun 11, 2022
Reviewed by MikeWard from Pennsylvania
3.59/5 rDev +3.8%
look: 4 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5
3.59/5 rDev +3.8%
look: 4 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5
12oz can into a teku. 01 etched on base of can. Whatever that means. Was brewed in China, canned in Connecticut.
Looks nice enough in the glass. Hazy bright orange body. Small white head shrinks to a ring and faint covering, very little lacing.
Dull citrus fruit aroma.
On tasting, strong orange with so.e lemon mixed in. The latter adds a dryness, which is the only evidence of a brut ipa. Bittersweet, but the citrus almost becomes cloying.
Mouth above medium, finish strong citrus and drying.
Overall, citrus notes a bit over the top for this palate.
Jan 30, 2022Looks nice enough in the glass. Hazy bright orange body. Small white head shrinks to a ring and faint covering, very little lacing.
Dull citrus fruit aroma.
On tasting, strong orange with so.e lemon mixed in. The latter adds a dryness, which is the only evidence of a brut ipa. Bittersweet, but the citrus almost becomes cloying.
Mouth above medium, finish strong citrus and drying.
Overall, citrus notes a bit over the top for this palate.
Reviewed by GreesyFizeek from New York
3.81/5 rDev +10.1%
look: 3.75 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.75
3.81/5 rDev +10.1%
look: 3.75 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.75
This one pours a just slightly hazy dark-ish yellow color, with a small white head that fades quickly, and a little bit of lacing.
This smells like sharp grassiness and clove, champagne yeast, white grape, lemon, and grapefruit.
I don't really like Brut IPAs all that much, but this does seem like a good (enough) rendition of the style. It's very dry on the finish, with a nice fruitiness up front - grape, lemon, and grapefruit mainly. There's a touch of sweet malt, but the finish is razor-sharp and dry, as you'd expect from this style.
The bitterness lingers a touch on the back end, maybe a little too much, but it's still pretty drinkable.
I can appreciate this is a solid stab at the style, even though I find the style flawed and unnecessary overall.
May 08, 2020This smells like sharp grassiness and clove, champagne yeast, white grape, lemon, and grapefruit.
I don't really like Brut IPAs all that much, but this does seem like a good (enough) rendition of the style. It's very dry on the finish, with a nice fruitiness up front - grape, lemon, and grapefruit mainly. There's a touch of sweet malt, but the finish is razor-sharp and dry, as you'd expect from this style.
The bitterness lingers a touch on the back end, maybe a little too much, but it's still pretty drinkable.
I can appreciate this is a solid stab at the style, even though I find the style flawed and unnecessary overall.
Reviewed by jrc1093 from Connecticut
3.61/5 rDev +4.3%
look: 3.75 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.25 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.75
3.61/5 rDev +4.3%
look: 3.75 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.25 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.75
No canning date shown
Pours a hazy, dark golden lemon body capped with a finger and a half of tight, soapy white foam; decent head retention yields a veil of cap and a chunky collar of froth, along with a short-lived display of moderate, webby lacing.
Aroma presents a foundation of sweet herbal spice, soft with tropical notes of guava, papaya, and mango, with deft, deepening accents of blueberry and further underlying touches of Concord grape developing over time; the back end rounds out with a prominent champagne spritz and suggestions of dry rice as a counterbalance to the medley of sweet fruits upfront.
Taste of overripe mango opens upfront as ruby red grapefruit and black cherry provide an eclectic detail before peaking at a vague yet intriguing straw and fruit sorbet mid-palate; a quick sweet pineapple and guava finish laced with touches of prosecco closes out a profile fading out before coming much to fruition.
Mouthfeel brings a light body accompanied with a dry, fluffy, higher-level carbonation; a spritzy, easy dryness peaks quickly over the mid-palate with a mild chalky grit before a slight juicy quality touches up the finish/swallow; impressive lack of alcohol presence.
There is sincere potential to this beer, and thus the notion of a Brut IPA in general, that really shines through via the bursts of harmony between ripe tropical sweetness and bone-dry champagne quality (NEIPA meets Brut IPA even). This is already a quietly hyper-drinkable refresher, and with further refinements would only continue to highlight the best of the Brut IPA style; a solid overall effort.
Apr 17, 2020Pours a hazy, dark golden lemon body capped with a finger and a half of tight, soapy white foam; decent head retention yields a veil of cap and a chunky collar of froth, along with a short-lived display of moderate, webby lacing.
Aroma presents a foundation of sweet herbal spice, soft with tropical notes of guava, papaya, and mango, with deft, deepening accents of blueberry and further underlying touches of Concord grape developing over time; the back end rounds out with a prominent champagne spritz and suggestions of dry rice as a counterbalance to the medley of sweet fruits upfront.
Taste of overripe mango opens upfront as ruby red grapefruit and black cherry provide an eclectic detail before peaking at a vague yet intriguing straw and fruit sorbet mid-palate; a quick sweet pineapple and guava finish laced with touches of prosecco closes out a profile fading out before coming much to fruition.
Mouthfeel brings a light body accompanied with a dry, fluffy, higher-level carbonation; a spritzy, easy dryness peaks quickly over the mid-palate with a mild chalky grit before a slight juicy quality touches up the finish/swallow; impressive lack of alcohol presence.
There is sincere potential to this beer, and thus the notion of a Brut IPA in general, that really shines through via the bursts of harmony between ripe tropical sweetness and bone-dry champagne quality (NEIPA meets Brut IPA even). This is already a quietly hyper-drinkable refresher, and with further refinements would only continue to highlight the best of the Brut IPA style; a solid overall effort.
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