Niigata Beer
Niigata Beer Co.

 

 

Pours a dark hazy yellow with a very tiny head that disappears quickly without any lacing. The aroma reminds of canned peaches, with some very strong honey and spice notes. Taste is fairly malty, and you can also taste some peach sweetness followed by some mild bitterness. The flavors are fairly mild though and the beer tastes very "watery" in the way some English milds taste.

 

A: The beer is very hazy yellow in color. It poured with a short white head that died down, leaving some lacing on the surface and a thin collar around the edge of the glass.
S: The taste has light to moderate aromas of sweet, bready malts.
T: Similar to the smell, the taste has flavors of bready malts along with subtle bits of sweetness.
M: It feels just about medium-bodied on the palate and has a moderate amount of carbonation.
O: This beer doesn't really taste like a Belgian Pale Ale as the yeast doesn't impart much in the way of aromas or flavors, but it is easy to drink and doesn't have any "off" flavors.

Serving type: bottle

 

 

 

 

Pours amber with a fading, white head.
Nose shows spicy phenols, sweet malt, doughy wheat, honey. Not bad.
Flavours are a shock, with rice, soft cardboard-like malt and industrial notes making up most of the experience. Pretty unpleasant.
Body feels watery.

Bought this from Niigata Train Station!

A-pours a cloudy pale nectar color reminiscent of tropical juice. very impressed that this came out of a can in japan! looks yeasty and hazey.

S-lots of sweet fruitiness. pineapple! lots and lots of pineapple, very peculiar. a slight belgian spiciness in the backdrop and a little funk.

T,M,D- a nice and pleasant beer, but a bit too clean. this can was barely carbonated at all which could have been part of the reason. a bit watery and uneventful in the beginning, but it redeems itself with a tasty floral hoppiness and nice yeasty character towards the middle and end. this beer is not bitter at all, almost to the point where it doesn't seemed balanced. not sure if that is a character of this style of beer or not? could be easily sessionable and despite everything i would still choose this brew in a heartbeat over the run of the mill rice lagers that plague japan!

A very nice, cloudy amber with a smallish white head. Retention is good enough. Looks alright, but the smell is a big surprise. This really is a BPA! If you look at the can (pictured above) it looks like any other crappy J-macro lager. And, in fact, at the store it was next to other lagers.

Bold, yeasty, fruity and spicy smell. Banana, pineapple, orange and bread with a solid maltiness. The taste ends up being a little more bitter than you'd expect, which is a fitting ending for a surprising beer experience.

The body and finish are absolutely luscious considering this is a 4.5% abv J-beer out of a can. Ditto for drinkability. I'll definitely get this again! And the price was very nice, between 250-300 yen.

330 mL can. Purchased in Tokyo. Production date and Freshness Date (6 months apart) on a sticker on the bottom of the can. To see a description and a link to a picture of the can, see the company web site.

This Belgian style, "all malt" ale surprised me. I had purchased the can without knowing what to expect, and frankly I did not expect a Belgian style ale. It was a pleasant surprise.

This ale poured a very cloudy, light amber color, with thin, white foam that persisted til the end. The smell was very nice: fruity (banana, some green apples, hint of grapes), malt, yeast, a hint of sugar? The smell remained until the last drop, and improved upon warming. The taste was initially a bit tart, but then mellowed. Flavors of malt, hops, and some fruit (banana, green apples), and a bit of an herbal and vinous component. The taste was not heavy, but was nice. The mouthfeel was dry, and initially a bit tart and astringent, but this gave way to a nice, mellow, medium-light bodied ale with low carbonation and a slightly tangy, floral, vinous aftertaste. This was a pleasant and interesting surprise from a can. Light and refreshing, almost like a hefeweizen. I will have to make a point to get more of this on my next trip to Japan.