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My favorite of the SA holiday mixed case. This reminds me; this was also liked by @seanjwalker1 who I haven't seen here in quite a while.
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Splitting the difference between a Modelo Especial Negra (Vienna) Lager and a Köstritzer Schwarzbier is a great place to be! Sapporo Premium Black Beer is an easy drinking dark Lager that you need to hunt down and glug with reckless abandon!

These beers are very easy drinking - I think many of these dark Lagers have a close association with the Golden Lager or Helles versions of regular beer rosters, with just a smidge of Black Malt snuck in. Probably makes sense to do it this way considering the big production will be Golden Lagers of various styles. These aren’t that far off the mark, they’re just much darker.

Sapporo Premium Black Beer is brewed to a typical 5% ABV, right in the middle of easy-drinking Lager range. Some head, some lacing, and a nifty 22 oz can that is so heavy gauge, it is the ’57 Chevy of the beer can world! Don’t do a Bluto smashing this can against your head – this can’s not giving way! A 2.5” round forehead bruise and cranial dent is assured! Chug, Party Boy !!!

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Having a cherry sour at newly local bar (just moved), they have an amazing selection of beer here
The sour has a bit of a funky aroma, but a pleasantly, crisp and very cherry forward taste.

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Also had some of this. Dreams by Bevog Brewery, a 2023 barleywine eisbock, aged in oak barrels. At 19.6%. this thing brings some alcohol warmth, but in a very pleasant and rounded manner. It has a silky smooth mouthfeel, the taste being malty with notes of dark chocolate and dark fruit, predominantly plums. The aftertaste slowly fades away to leave pleasant notes of wallnuts. An amazing beer.

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I was getting so turned on over the Japan beer scene I was ready to hop on a plane to check it out personally! That was until I drank this Hitachino Nest White Ale. Now I think I’m staying home!

At first I was really excited about opening this. I mean seriously, how often do we get tasty Ales from Japan, the available beers I’ve had so far are all Lagers. This is a 5.5% ABV Ale “Brewed with Spice and Juice”.

Well they can keep the “Spice and Juice” in my humble opinion. This beer has a lot of that amateur brewer’s twang of my early batches. That and about a teaspoon of residual yeast trub, murk, gunk, junk, mud, crud or Gawd knows what else found its way into my glass from the tail end of the bottle. I think that’s the stuff to make the beer “white”.

Save your money and go by some Sapporo. For real.

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Splitting the difference between a Modelo Especial Negra (Vienna) Lager and a Köstritzer Schwarzbier is a great place to be! Sapporo Premium Black Beer is an easy drinking dark Lager that you need to hunt down and glug with reckless abandon!

These beers are very easy drinking - I think many of these dark Lagers have a close association with the Golden Lager or Helles versions of regular beer rosters, with just a smidge of Black Malt snuck in. Probably makes sense to do it this way considering the big production will be Golden Lagers of various styles. These aren’t that far off the mark, they’re just much darker.

Sapporo Premium Black Beer is brewed to a typical 5% ABV, right in the middle of easy-drinking Lager range. Some head, some lacing, and a nifty 22 oz can that is so heavy gauge, it is the ’57 Chevy of the beer can world! Don’t do a Bluto smashing this can against your head – this can’s not giving way! A 2.5” round forehead bruise and cranial dent is assured! Chug, Party Boy !!!

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I’ve enjoyed your reviews of Japanese brews, and am in agreement with you about this beer in particular. It is out fn standing.
 
So when is a Japanese Lager maybe not a Japanese Lager? I bought this in the Japan beer section of my local supplier. Says Banzai Beer, Premium Koshihikari Rice Lager on the label. The bottle has kookie looking Japanese inspired artwork on the front. I guess the ‘Murcan 22 oz beer bottle should have been the dead give-away!

Banzai Beer is actually produced by Jackrabbit Brewing out of West Sacramento, California. Hmmm… Well, I guess no worse than Sapporo being brewed in Vietnam. So is it for real or a faker? I’ll let you be the judge. Scouts honor, I did buy this thinking it was a Japanese brew up to about 3 minutes ago!

At 4.2% ABV, the malt bill, er, rice bill has to be modest. Not many 4.2% brews out there. I’ve been known to head South into that ABV territory with my blenders, it definitely makes for a beer lighter on the booze than a lot of drinkers are used to consuming these days.

Funny thing about US Prohibition – when the 18th Amendment was overturned, the first beers approved in 1933 by the Roosevelt Administration were 3.2% ABV. So after a dry spell in the 1920-30’s, and enduring your brother’s no-boil home brew for years, Uncle Sam lets loose at 3.2% Whoopeeee!

So what is 4.2% Sacramento-made rice Lager like? Well the beer has moderate carbonation, head dissipates immediately, grab a photo quick! Zero lacing, light flavor sort of like a lighter cream Ale. It’s an OK beer, a bit BMC-ish, but not one I’d write home about…. this amount is enough!

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That’s pretty
Thanks. And thanks to you and @ThirstyPawsHB for turning me on to this. It’s so good. I took some to a recent HBC meeting and it was a real hit. We hold our meetings at a local brewery and I also shared some with a few customers. They all loved it, with one woman offering to pay me to make a 5 gallon batch for her.
 
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