Sapporo Yebisu Kohaku

Brewed by Sapporo Breweries
Style: Vienna
Tokyo, Japan

Serve in Lager glass

UPDATED: JAN 12, 2012 Rerate at Yebisu Bar in Kagurazaka. Served very clear light brown colour with nice white foam head. Taste is very grain husky, touch of toastiness but a light lagerish body and crisp bite. Biscuity malt but it lacks anything else.

The can is awesome every year. Last year they only had the Yebisu logo and got rid of all of the other text, so it was simplistic and awesome. This year they went with the wild text thing, but I still like the flavor. Definitely something to look forward to every fall.

Tokyo is notorious for its high fashion, high technology and high prices. A combination of import costs and tax laws pushes prices for beer up, evidenced by the surging popularity of brews made from rice and other grains, where the tax rates are much lower. Still, the big Japanese breweries continue to release their standard line of macro-beers to consumers unwilling to save a few yen by drinking something that vaguely resembles a beer. But even these consumers are settling for middling lagers - the Kirins, Asahis and Yebisus flowing at Japanese izakayas are the same pale lagers that craft beer drinkers stateside tend to decry. However, these same brewers see fit to release beers tailored to the seasons. Just last week Yebisu released the Yebisu Kohaku, or the Yebisu Amber. For a beer drinker thirsty for craft beer after Seattle’s elysian fields Japan is a desolate, hapless place. But even the Yebisu Kohaku strikes a note of familiarity. True, this beer is mimics stylized craft beer, like Killian’s Red or Blue Moon, but it stands out in refrigerator cases packed with all the same, bland pale lagers. There’s a lot of carbonation in this brew, but little head, and the aroma is typical of an amber, with some cinnamon and sugar present, but both in lighter quantities. The taste is also predictable - bitter at first, sweeter as it goes over the palate with touches of apple (also expensive in Japan) and then a gentle fade into a carbonated touch. It’s not bad, but it’s a much better than most of the super market varieties, and vastly, vastly more affordable than the craft beers available in Tokyo’s specialty stores.

Can. Amber, bright, clear with relatively thick and stable beige head. Nice looking for a swill! Aroma is sweet malt, some orange and rum. Clean, soft palate. Dry finish and has good malt character. Is not a bad beer.

Amber. Bright. A little bit of head. A toasty, crystal malt aroma. Reasonably full body. Biscuity, chewy, crackery but overall kind of lame.

Japnese beer rating at Tiddes, sponsor Kras, 2009-11-27, can AP: darker golden, high white head. AR: malt, hops, herbs F: malt, hops, herbs and sweetness (sugar)

Draught at the Beer Museum. Clear amber - white head. Caramel, piney, grass, toasted, grainy, hay, light butter caramel, light synthetic, hay, straw.

Pours golden orange with thin head, falls leaving just a halo, little lacing. Nose is good, floral hops, slight belgian esters, cereal grain, spicy, etc. Taste, hint of white pepper, very dry, slight caramel sweetness on the middle, tastes like a watered down american amber. Nice hop bitterness.