The beers of Iwakuni: Asahi Red Eye

I've had an interest in beers with "alternative" ingredients for a while now, this one kind of falls into that category. It's a beer cocktail called a red eye (80% beer 20% tomato juice), so not exactly what I'm looking for in the alternative ingredients category as the tomatoes are not part of the brewing process. But whatever, in concept its like one of those canned Budweiser clamato drinks but Japanese. Who knows, maybe it's good.

It comes in a red can with gold cap and claims "Asahi red eye's silky and refreshing aftertaste goes well with food" and "This product is made from selected tomatoes and alcoholic beverage brewed from finest malt". It is 3.5% ABV. You're actually supposed to turn the can over 2-3 times to mix the tomato up. I'll be using another one of those glasses from my Japanese set. I went ahead and turned the can a couple of times, let's pour this thing.

Nose from the can is like tomato and barley wort. It does not produce a head. Color is the pale opaque red you would expect with a tomato mixed drink. Nose from the glass is a sugary sweet tomato scent. On first sip, It's like if you juiced a fresh tomato and then carbonated it. It does not taste in the least like beer. It has a light body, almost no acidity. This tastes like a tomato soda, there is almost nothing there to say that this is alcoholic. Ok, I'm wrong, I'm getting a light malt aftertaste, but that's it.

Listening to some Deep Purple. While the main riff from "Smoke on the water" is really cool (and super simple to play on the guitar) I think "Space Truckin' " is the better song. I don't know what else to talk about, this drink offers no inspiration. It's like drinking a soda. It doesn't help that everything I've got going on right now is kind of droll.
Final thoughts. It's technically beer, but I wouldn't really call it that. I'm sure this would go well with some food, but so would a V8, or a beer for that matter. If you are so inclined, give it a try, but otherwise it's whatever.