Asahi Ichiban Mugi (一番麦）

Brewed by Asahi Breweries
Style: Pale Lager
Tokyo, Japan

Serve in Dimpled mug, English pint, Lager glass, Shaker

send corrections   |   shelftag   |   edit barcodes   |   add pic

Lata. Clear yellow/golden. Mild malty hoppish aroma. Ok mouthfeel. Flavour is mild, maltish and hoppish, mild to medium bitterness. Ok.

My first happoshu ’beer’ and it’s not a great experience that I’ll be raring to follow up. Pours very pale yellow, mental carbonation. Nose is very faint grain aroma and bit of sweetcorn. Taste is the lightest wateriest beer I’ve ever had. Most prominent taste and aroma is of grain husk, tiniest bit of crisp hop bite. Not unpleasant at all but very little flavour for a beer.

Not a bad lager. Smooth with a slight wheaty edge to it. It’s highly carbonated yet pretty smooth. Slight biiterness and mild malts lead to a clean sweet finish. It’s another typical Japanese seasonal beer. Lovely can and lots of special words on the side but in actuality it’s not different from most of the other seasonal ’specials’ . I’d still go for the Super Dry over this. Karakuchi!

The Asahi Ichiban Mugi was my turning point with beer drinking in Japan. It was when I finally realized that I wasn’t going to get anything really engaging to drink from my local grocery store. It was also when I realized that the whole happoshu style was the product of budgets, not of palates. Something this light and ephemeral works as a casual beer for a weekday meal, but I can’t see myself drinking it for anything other than a late-night gyoza chaser or something to bring along to the park to eat with convenience store snacks. You see seasonal happoshus roll out every so often, but really, they’re all in the same vary space of light, carbonated, almost tasteless brews. They serve a purpose, but no matter how they change the art on the can or the name, they never taste special.