Asahi Beijing Beer
Asahi Breweries Ltd

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

630 ml brown glass bottle with foiled-over standard pressure cap served into a thimble glass in me gaff in low altitude Los Angeles, California. Reviewed live. Expectations are very low. Acquired at Ranch 99 market in Chinatown.

Served refrigerator cold and allowed to warm over the course of consumption. Side-poured with little vigor as overcarbonation is expected.

A: 1.5 finger head of white colour, poor thickness, no real cream, and bad retention. Colour is a clear pale yellow. Not particularly appealing. No yeast particles are visible.

Sm: Rice, clean barley, and stale cream. A mild strength aroma. Not at all appealing.

T: Rice and barley. Not at all complex. Weak and lacking a full body. Not layered or subtle. Boring and bland. Empty. Some cream. It doesn't have any bad flavours per se, but its lack of flavour makes it a poor beer. The cream is somewhat nice, I guess.

Mf: Too smooth and artifically wet, with a weak tingly sensation on the finish. Entirely too thin on the finish, but thick and lumpy throughout the body. Overcarbonated.

Dr: Hard to drink on account of its lack of flavour. I wouldn't get this again. Bad even for the style. Another poor offering from Asahi. Leave this one on the shelf, lads.

D

Served in a can, in Beijing, at room temperature. I was nervous about the temperature since in my experience this style of beer is better served cold.

In any case, adjunct poured forth in the aroma. Corn starch being the dominant contributor. The aroma was similar to the flavor with lots of adjunct, however it was palatable considering the temperature. Very little bitterness at the end. Overall better than I expected, but still no where near a quality brew.

If this is the right type of Asahi that I had, then all I've got to say is heck yes! This should be called the champagne of beers. No, there's not much head, but the carbonation and bubbles make up for that. It really tingles the pallet, and I enjoyed that.

The color is a bright yellow gold. It doesn't look like it would have much taste, but these Japanese beers always trick you.

Overall, I would like to find this at more bars/restaurant/grocery store, because I want more pf it.

Serving notes - cold, drank from plastic cup
A - no hops or malt, very neutral.
A - clear, yellow. Almost no head.
M - light to medium body, medium carbonation.
T - some corn and adjunct flavors. Some malty sweetness, but no hops.
D - decent light lager. I would take it over bud.

Hand-delivered from Beijing to Moscow (thanks, Egon), this can is silver and blue, with little more than script, most of which is in Chinese. There is an English slogan ("The beer for all seasons.") and a side panel with specifications in English. Apparently this is brewed for Asahi in a Beijing suburb. Ingredients include rice and corn starch. Best before 2/16/06, I opened it on 5/2/05.

Pours a clear and fairly deep gold under a short-lived 1/2 finger white head that seems to disappear miraculously almost before it builds. There is almost no nose, with just the slightest hint of some corn malt. The mouth is syrupy, yet somehow also light and quite prickly. Sweet corn dominates the taste, without any hops spice to break it up. Much too sweet, almost soda-like in finish and aftertaste. No thanks.