The Quest pt12: Kirin Ichiban

The bottle tells me the lager in the bottle was made from the first pressing of the wort, and carefully hand crafted in the Japanese Style (by Lion Nathan in Sydney - the same group that makes Tooheys bulk vat lagers)



Can anyone tell me what the non-English script means?

The beer pours a very pale yellow - almost a piss-yellow after you take a lot of B group vitamins. The lager is fizzy in the glass and has a big head that fades slowly to a thing lace, and clings to the glass.

First sip: Very fizzy, with a lot of grain and a very faint malt. Light on hops but that hoppiness persists for a long time. My first reaction was "Oh no! Another pissy beer!" but after a few more sips I got used to it. It's actually not bad; a nice, mild, smooth, refreshing beer, with a nice, mild after-taste. A nice beer.

The mild after-taste is a blessing. It has a very faint, almost but not quite undetectable whole-tongue echo of the Tsing Tao nastyness. Not enough to spoil the drink, but it's there. This beer really does need to go with food to kill that taste.

Kirin Ichiban First Pressed Beer
Kirin Brewery, Japan (brewed under licence by Lion Nathan Breweries, Sydney)
5.0% alc/vol
330ml



Same again, sir? Um... no.