Reviews & info on some beers, bars & pubs in Japan (mainly Tokyo/Yokohama area) - with an extra large serving of nonsensical jibbbbah jabbah thrown in:

Monday 1 June 2009

The 'new' Yebisu - really?

I was cycling around the neighbourhood tonight, when I came across a new beer. I quickly wiped off the can and proceeed to the checkout to purchase said can.

It was the new yebisu.

Yes, they went and made another one.

So, what's the verdict?

Pours a foamy big white head on a translucent chestnutty body.
That's not meant to sound like an artistic erotic movie, rather my first impression upon seeing the amber fluid flowing freely. Okay, now I'm venturing into German erotic movies - or am I?
As usual, I never know when to stop (I think a few people would have said 'before starting this blog, perhaps?').

Here's the beer him/her/itself:
It's supposedly lagered for twice as long, has 100% malt content, uses Bavarian aroma hops and is made using Yebisu yeast. 6% alcohol and tastes it too.
Not a nasty tasting beer but not much of anything, really. Tastes a little tinny, though I'm not sure if that is actually because of the can or not.
Smells like a Yebisu (what a suprise) but the aroma of alcohol is present, not in a nice way.
Not sure how much Bavarian aromoa hops are in there.
I was quite impressed with the head rentention. Easy there, cowboy. I've almost drank the beer as I type this and there is still a faint lacing of head on the surface, though nothing down the glass.

Overall another dissapointment.
Yet still I continue trying the new beers, every time one comes out.

Oh well, another hope bubble burst.

The new 2009 Yebisu seasonal: 4-4.5/10 - tastes flat, even though it isn't.

4 comments:

  1. Man, you're a sucker for punishment trying those Japanese beers. Mind you, even I tried The Master. Oh what a fantastic beer it was - NOT :)

    Homebrew Japan
    http://homebrewjapan.wordpress.com/

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  2. I remember the days when there were only two yebisu...now there seems to be a new one every few months and they get worse and worse.

    The green yebisu is not too bad though. Tasted like a weizen (!?).

    I might have to try that new one ... just for the hell of it!

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  3. Chuwy blogged:
    > Pours a foamy big white head on a translucent chestnutty body.
    > That's not meant to sound like an artistic erotic movie, rather
    > my first impression upon seeing the amber fluid flowing freely.
    > Okay, now I'm venturing into German erotic movies - or am I?


    Maybe. I'm showing one of the better ones, "Secret Passions" [1979] [a|k|a "Das Haus der Geheimen Lüste"], directed by Hans Billian, on Monday, 13 July.

    In this, a repowriter exposes a sleazy politician for being a hypocrite.
    We view in livid, explicit detail. (Unless you live in Japan, where some of these details would have to be mosaiced.)

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  4. At first, as I poured and got the intial smell, I had some hoped it would be a nice. Then as it warmed, I didn't really like it that much. I did serve it at slightly warmer than refridgerator temp. A temp I thought would be great but perhaps it could have been a little colder, to compare how it tasted when chilled (which is perhaps what most of these lagers are 'designed' for) and when it got to a sensible temperature. I thought they all (Yebisu) tasted basically the same (in a 'Yebisu fmaily base DNA' kind of way), with what could amount to just a drop or two of special flavour and fake colour, added from a small pipette of chemicals. Don't know why they have to make many kinds of Yebisu. Using the brand name? Trying to make a family of them? I doubt if they sell very well. Is it worth it for them? Why don't they make a completely different beer and not reuse the yeast or ingredients from Yebisu? I've always been a German beer drinker (started loving weissen and helles). Then it was British ales, then the American hop crazy IPAs, then DIPAs. I'm gonna try these Westvleterens I have in my tiny beer cellar under the kitchen floor. Who nows, maybe they will give me a reason to research the complex, insane virtual seperate ecosystem that is Belgian beer?

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