Kinmugi (Rich Malt)
Suntory

 

 

 

From a 12oz can, guessing it's best by October of 2024. My Japanese is extremely limited.

This is a fairly clear pouring beer. Golden in color, and a 1 finger white head that had decent head retention. There's a small bit of lacing on the glass.
Slight hint of cereal on the nose.
Taste - The beer has a grain flavor, but it is also very light in flavor. There's not a lot here, but not in a bad way. It's just what it is.
I really like how bubbly this beer feels. It's quite pleasing. The body is somewhat light, but no where as light as I was expecting.
While this beer doesn't have a lot going on, what's there is pleasing. A light and refeshing treat.

Appearance is an extraordinarily clear apple juice color with an inch of foamy white head with decent retention. Aroma is sweet and stronger than I expected. From a foot or so away it almost has green apple vibes, but up close that is a little more muted, with general sweet grains a little more prominent.

Some of the apple juice vibes continue with the taste, but with a little bit of cardboard and general adjuncts. Very light and refreshing.

I'm a firm believer that there's a time and a place for every beer, including light, adjunct laden mass produced ones. This is a very nice beer for a beautiful June day.

Suntory Rich Malt – from Suntory. Received in a retaliatory ninja strike from @snaotheus. Reviewed 08/06/24 (Review 3291). Note that I use DD/MM/YY protocol.
Stamped on bottom side of can “2024,10 2024,02”. Stored at 39 degrees at home. Served at 46.8 degrees F in a hand washed and dried Jester King snifter. The final temperature was 54.1degrees F.
Appearance – 4.
First pour – Pale Straw (SRM 2), clear.
Body – Pale Gold (SRM 4), clear.
Head – Average (Maximum 4.3 cm, aggressive center pour), white, medium density, average retention, leaving an undulating 0.25 – 0.7 cm crown fed by carbonation and a thin partial cap.
Lacing – Poor – just two small islands.
Aroma – 3 – Grainy and slightly sweet. No yeast, no malt, no alcohol (5% ABV as marked on the can).
Flavor – 3 – Begins faintly sweet with rice and dimethylsulfide. No yeast, no malt, no alcohol. No diacetyl. No gastric warming.
Palate – 4 – Medium; slightly creamy; soft carbonation.
Final Impression and summation: 3.5 Tastes like a mass-produced AAL and less cris, but generally better.

New brewery, new beer , new beer style for me courtesy of @snaotheus

Happoshu is a sparkling low-malt beverage produced by Japanese beer companies. To be classified as Happoshu, the malt ratio must be less than 67 percent, or include an ingredient other than malt, hops, rice, corn, sorghum, potato, starch, or sugar. In Japan, the tax for Happoshu is much less than the tax for beer due to its lower malt content, making it cheaper than beer.

Can receive courtesy of @snaotheus and his benevolent generosity , lured into a Monhegan brewing Company glass clear, gold liquid with occasional streams of carbonation ,three finger white foam cap reduces to a craggy mountainous white foam surface

Aroma is sweet adjuncts

Taste is light watery malts, sweet grains

Effervescent mouthfeel and light

Nice beer, suited for hot afternoons after cutting the grass, light and sweet

 

 

(350? ml can, BB? 2023.10, +E/URD5A; picked up in swap with The_Kriek_Freak... poured into my Trillium tulip)

L: polished-clear, gold-amber liquid; much foam on the pour, tight but crackly-crumbly, leaving thin collar, broken cap; no lace

S: interesting unique smell?... Red Delicious apple skin or lightly-oxidized flesh... toasted (bordering on popcorny burnt) cereal grain accent... reminiscent of malt liquor, but not quite like any I've had; wet glass... potency fair, expressions muted or blurred... rating per style

T: malt liquor-like, rounded grain syrup base, with a curiously-long finish; like sweetened cereal meal/flakes... despite sweetish implications, the aftertaste is relatively dry, but with the toasted, caramelized bran-like flavors lingering, as if lacquered to the palate, not going away... moderate adjunct lager-ian spice, but without the bubblegum/clove tones I'm used to; more cider-like?... nutty (brewer's) yeast note builds as it goes

F: nearly devoid of carbonation at the temp at which I tasted it... thin-bodied to a degree; the long finish threatens to leave a sticky film, however, the alc/abv seems to cut and lift it just enough... like most malt liquor, this wasn't intended to be enjoyed less than chilly and/or in a glass... an agreeable degree of quiet heat

O: intriguing, marginally alternate-dimensional flavors of the adjuncted lager; familiar, but just barely foreign enough to give me pause... first foray into the unflavored Happoshu... hate to say I could see knocking back a few of these for a cheap buzz if I had no choice... they can't all be this 'malty', can they? (2121)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pours a clear golden coloration with a medium, fizzy head and carbonation clinging to the glass. Smells faintly of doughy malt, grassy hops and hay. Taste follows the nose, with faint, watery flavors of sweet, doughy malt and grassy hops coming through, as well as hints of citrus and hay. Finishes with no discernible bitterness or aftertaste. Thin mouthfeel with a light body and medium/lively carbonation.

This is basically a Japanese AAL, but perhaps even less flavorfull. Still quite refreshing and bearable if served ice-cold on a hot summer day, I guess.

Pours a completely transparent moderate yellow with two fingers of white, foamy head. Head retention is okay at first and then recedes rapidly. Aroma is rice, floral and herbal hops, and pilsner, bready malts. Flavor profile is spicy, herbal, and floral hops throughout. It fades into a yeasty, dry finish. It has a bready malt to it. Mouth feel is medium-thin with an effervescent texture. Overall, spicy, dry, and interesting. Flavorful for a "non beer, beer", but still a bit off putting.

Served in a 12oz snifter from a 16oz can.

This is a fairly easy to drink beer and given that it's a happoshu it should be judged using criteria for the style. Yes, there is no complexity and the flavor is mild but it's supposed to be like that. A nice beer for the purpose it serves.

Probably yone of the best non-beer beer's I've ever had. Serve cold!!!