It's my alcohol free week, so I'm going to be reviewing a few alcohol free beers (technically beer like bebverages). Tonights "beer" is Kirin Ichi 0.00% by Kirin brewing out of Yokohama, Japan. I've written on Kirin before, so refer to previous posts for information on the brewery. Japan has very strict impaired driving laws (you can get a DUI on a bicycle here). You are officially over the BAC limit if you blow a .03%. This, and an appreciation for malt flavor, has led to a relative wide variety of non alcoholic beers and beer like beverages. You might ask, what is the difference between non alcoholic beer and a beer like beverage? Non alcoholic beer starts life as regular beer and then has the alcohol cooked out of it, but it still technically has about half a percent in it. Beer like beverages are made from the same ingredients as beer, but they are brewed more like a tea and have the sugars yeast would usually remove separated from them either before or after brewing, depending on the process, and then they are carbonated. Because they are never fermented they cannot technically be called beer, so in Japan they are called Beer like beverages. I suppose you could call them beer soda, but that would not be good for marketing as these products are supposed to be purely non alcoholic stand ins for beer. Every major beer brewery in Japan has it's own line (if not several) of beer like beverages that sell at a similar or slightly higher price point as hopshu. This is mostly from still containing the same taxed malt content as beer, but is easier to create.
I have this on in a 100ml cream colored, gold top, tall boy can.The label art features the Kirin unicorn, a couple of symbols I don't know, the word Ichi (meaning 1) in English, and ALC. 0.00%. It has a neat minimalist gold colored barley design in the background. I will be using my Japanese heady bear glass for this one.
Nose from the can is a little malty with a marinara sauce scent underneath, maybe a little sweet corn. Pours clear and golden with a white fluffy head and plenty of small bubble agitation. Nose from the glass is like pasta. On first sip, It is light and malty with apple and a strange acid flavor. Body is very light, verging on malted mineral water (which, is kind of what it is) and medium acidity. As you drink it, the acid flavor starts to go away and it tastes more and more like the light pale lager it is made to imitate.
I put the power brace and front strut tower bar on my 180sx. I finally got around to driving it today and certainly noticed a difference in handling. The car felt more solid, but also heavier. There wasn't as much roll to my turns, and that felt very weird after having driven this car for a few months. I wonder what it will be like when I get all of the other braces on? It already feels like I'm driving a different vehicle. I don't know If I like it, but I know it's better for the car, so the braces are staying on.
Final thoughts. As a non alcoholic beer imitation, this is the most accurate I have found. As a beverage, there are better tasting "beer like" drinks. I wouldn't go out of my way to find it, it's adequate at best. If you want a beer but have to drive, go ahead and give it a shot, it's harmless.
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