Kirin Brewed in California? I Thought WE Won the War.
by - Written: Sep 12 '01
|
Product Rating:
|
|
|
Pros: Light and inoffensive, balanced
Cons: Doesn't stand out at all.
The Bottom Line: An unremarkable beer, good for regular drinking.
|
|
|
| remf2112's Full Review: Kirin Lager |
As nearly everybody must know by now, Kirin is now brewed by A-B in California. This is part of an odd trend of foreign beers being brewed under license in the US and Canada. It isn't just Kirin, either. Lowenbrau (New York), Guiness (Canada), Carlsberg (Canada), Sapporo (Canada), and Killians (Colorado) are other examples. Carlsberg and Lowenbrau are merely a shadow of their former selves. Guiness and Killian are doing much better. I'm afraid that Kirin falls somewhere in the middle here.
The only time I drank large amounts of Kirin in my life was for about a 1 month period in the fall of '80, when I and a bunch of friends drank this during and immediately after the network showing of the miniseries "Shogun." Can you guess why? I opined at the time that this was not as good as San Miguel (the Asian favorite), or even OB (Korea), Kingfisher (India) or Taj Mahal (India). I've had all four recently, too. They're still better than Kirin. Still, there was some ambience to having Kirin and watching a saga of medieval Japan. In fact, we were drinking Kirin at Anderson headquarters in Cleveland when we began throwing popcorn at Carter's visage on the screen during the Cleveland debate (Carter had vetoed Anderson's participation).
Kirin pours to a medium, quickly dissipating head. Its color is a rich gold, rather like Michelob. The taste, both initial, medial and final is of hops predominantly, but you can certainly get the hint of the hops all the way through. There is some rice sweetness, but not as much as you might expect. Japanese palates seem to abhor aftertaste, and this has none. Just as an aside, remember the Japanese-led dry beer craze. Again, no aftertaste. This is directly malty, but with sufficient hops to create some complexity.
This is an import-like beer to the broad American taste. As it has no extreme taste, it won't turn off even a "beer barbarian," although the price might. Anyone should give this a try, although I warn that it is just everyday beer. It is very similar to Michelob and Pacifica Clara, only certainly inferior to Pacifica.
This can be found, in the Great Plains anyway, only in the larger liquor stores.
As an addendum, this may be my last epinion for awhile. My Army Reserve unit told me this morning to pack up my equipment and uniforms. We're apparently going to be moving out soon. The US Army now has General Order #1 on mobilizations, which is "no alcohol." As I can really only rate beer so far, this is sort of fatal to my writing. I rate with some of the drink right in front of me. I cannot do that on deployment.
Until next time, whenever that is - Auf Wiedersehen!
Recommended:
Yes
|
|
|
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
