Sapporo Reserve

Brewed by Sapporo Breweries
Style: Premium Lager
Tokyo, Japan

Bottle. Apparently contract brewed out of Canada. The yellow was a bit richer in color than I expected, but the fizzy head died off quickly. The aroma and flavor are very standard for foreign lagers, though this is a bit drier than I expected (despite the tinge of syrupy palate suggesting sweetness), and a metallic edge to the finish was an additional "down" note. Pretty unenjoyable, even for what it tries to be.

This is great, and perhaps even better than regular Sapporo. A great session beer that you can just sit there and drink all night and feel great. Pours a really light golden color, that like in other ratings looks slightly like a champagne. Lots of carbonation, fruity and sweet. Has a tasty malt character, with just a bit of hoppiness in the finish.

Gold with a small white head. Grainy, sweet corn aroma; Malty lager flavor, but you can taste more hops than typical American macros, a little bitterness in the finish.

(22 oz can: $2.49 at BevMo in La Jolla, CA) Date stamped on bottom of can: L1105, which I presume is 11-Dec-05. Expecting another bad imported pale lager, Sapporo Reserve in the fancy can is actually not bad at all. It’s clean, somewhat crisp, quite grassy, lightly sweet, and grainy, but mostly, it just has a nice, pleasant, drinkable flavor that I wish all pale and premium lagers had. I’m really appreciating drinking a beer of this style that shows obvious hops and malt rather than adjuncts and unpleasant bitterness. Grassy, grainy, malty nose isn’t remarkable, but certainly pleasant enough. Light-medium body is more than sufficient for the style, and with moderate carbonation and light crispness, this is clean and refreshing on the palate. Medium straw in color with excellent clarity, I would like a few more carbonation bubbles rising through the beer to maximize the beauty of a beer like this. The very bubbly, snow-white head doesn’t quite reach a full inch in height and settles by the bubbles merging together into larger bubbles, but eventually settles to a normal ring. Compared side-by-side with Kirin Ichiban, the Sapporo Reserve is better tasting and more flavorful by leaps and bounds. For the style, it just doesn’t get a whole lot better than this beer.

Specimen colored, but cool can. Sapporo continues to impress with their packaging. So-so to better-than-average. Fairly dry, moderately hoppy. Tangy hop and peppery finish, which clings a little too much.

The Quintessential lager gold color on the pour, planetary sized head, could be because I dropped the can twice, head is bright white, frothy in texture with the lace a thin white curtain to seal off the glass. Archetypal lager clean and crisp malt laden nose, sweet malt start, top is light in feel. Finish is crisply acidic and the hops apropos to the style, an average beer at best.

22 oz Can. Aroma starts out like an aluminum can. By finish smells like a urine sample. Appearance is murky yellow also with a good white head. Doesn’t have that over bitter wet corn malt to it. A rather smooth beer to drink wondering what all those drunk Demacrats will do next. A calming influence I guess.

This is nothing at all like regular Sapporo. Its more like one fantastic premium lager. It’s really smooth and complex. I was very pleasantly surprised by this.