Echigo All Malt Beer

Brewed by Echigo Beer Company
Style: Pilsener
Nishikanbara-gun, Niigata-ken, Japan

350ml can. Lively when poured. Amber colour with a thin wide white head that settles. Malt aromas dominate with a dry finish and low bitternes level. Smooth to drink.

Clear pale gold color, small head that vanishes leaving just a trace of white bubbles at the edge of the glass. Scent of lawn clippings with a light canned corn sweetness. Nothing special, a bit sweet with a spritzy feel. Better than most of the macro swill but a few notches under the good Ji-Biru.

Nearly clear golden color, with some large bubbles coming through...perhaps an indication of artificial carbonation? Minimal, rapidly dissipating head. Sweet malty, grassy aroma with light hints of hops...very macro-ish. Maybe even some hints of corn and/or rice. Flavors were primarily malty, with a detectable aspect of corn. Some trace of hops in the finish. Very watery palate, very prickly from the carbonation. Not absolutely awful, but not very good either.

Gold, 350 mL can (From SANTA - IslandHaole): Crystal clear, pale straw. Outrageously quickly diminishing head, decent size, but gone completely to a still looking beer in about 3 seconds. Macro-swill aroma of mashed, stale corn, tired wheat and other adjuncts. Watery palate absent of any depth and filled with sourness and wheaty grist. Certainly, not my favourite…

Can. It was a real struggle to find out what the can said. I bought a three pack of cans from this brewer in the basement of a department store in Tokyo. This can was gold. It had a dark yellow color with a cider aroma. It was somewhat thicker and had more palate than the other two. It was a deceptively better and more complex than it appeared. I heard that Echigo makes some great beers including a smoke beer, but I never found any.