Japanese: 金麦 (kinmugi)
Brewery: Suntory
Style: Happoushu
ABV: 5%
Price: 134円
Strapline: “Enjoy rich taste in relaxing time.”
Back to happoushu. After my last experience I was very, very wary. This appears to be Suntory’s major offering. To my surprise I saw it being sold in packs of six – something usually reserved for the popular, mainstay beers. I felt a bit more optimistic – surely there must be some sort of demand for this stuff if they’re willing to go to that effort, I thought.
And – maybe there is. It’s certainly an upgrade from the Clear Asahi. In fact I would say that if I didn’t know that this was happoushu, it could possibly pass for poor-to-average corporate beer. True, it has a slightly sour aftertaste, but the rest of the flavour really isn’t that offensive. The malts are upper-middle class at best, but they do at least know what quinoa is and are considering double-barrelling their names when they get married.
I came away feeling pretty positive. So much so in fact that, as I got further into the month – and much further into my bank balance – the cheap pack of six looked ever more appealling. Eventually I cracked and swallowed my pride in big, satisfying gulps on a Friday in front of the television; all six in a row and no regrets.
Perhaps my expectations of happoushu are set too low, but I confess I enjoyed this drink. The 75p a can barely registers as a toll on the road to ruin and I doubt that many Brits would even realise that it’s only kind-of-sort-of-nearly-beer, given the paint-thinner they normally drink.
If the rest of the happoushu is like this then my budget adventures won’t be too traumatic, but I daren’t be naive, especially from what I’ve seen of some of the labels. At least I know that my eventual destitution will be mitigated by a soft, welcoming, six-pack pillow of Rich Malt.
Konbini Beer 