Every Japanese steakhouse or hibachi seems to offer this beer. Until now, I assumed that it was Japanese. It is, in fact, the first beer that I'm reviewing that is a product of Vietnam. Will that improve the taste? Will that destroy the taste? With that have any consequence whatsoever? I don't really know, as it has been many, many years since I had one of these beers, but I'm going to test it like I would pretty much any beer.
First sip is somewhat sweet with a light, cracker malt. There is bread crust sprinkled in, but it seems somewhat watery. The sweetness is coming from what tastes almost like a corn, but the corn itself is being overpowered by the malt. It's surprising that anything is being overpowered by anything else in the beer that seems relatively pleasant but benign.
Tip-in is watery bread crust and light grains with the sweetness ever present. The middle rocks with sudden carbonation as the sweet corn melds with cracker and the bread crust to drown out the wateriness. The finish is a slow turn to dry as the sweetness is left on the lips and the crackers get a little bit of flowers for the trail-off.
Bottom Line: Perfectly adequate and unfortunately unremarkable.
2.5/5
