New Beers from the Japanese Majors in 2013: Suntory / 日本の大手企業からの新しいビール 2013: Suntory

One more month left to go until 2014. It's time to look around and take stock of new beers brought out in 2013 by the four major breweries in Japan: Asahi, Kirin, Sapporo, and Suntory. I'll discuss them each in a separate post. I'll also give the style, alcohol by volume, and the current RateBeer weighted average score followed by my rating score (out of a possible 5), keeping in mind that most of them have fewer than ten ratings.    

Finally, we'll check out nine new beers from Suntory.


Suntory Kohaku no Kutsurogi - 2013 Version     
(Amber Lager/Vienna 5%)     2.89 /  3.2

Fruity and good roast malt nose, some decent stinky hop in the background. Clear orange//amber color, with a 1-cm head. Opens smooth and then goes to a tangy fruitiness / mid has roast notes and then balance / little licks of bitterness in the finish. Pretty good. All is in order here. Saaz hops. Lively and tasty. Glad they brought this one out of retirement.
 

Suntory Full Body Beer     
(Strong Pale Lager/Imperial Pils)     2.86 / 3.3

Bready, light grass, some stinky hop, and light fumes. Crystal clear, bright medium straw color. Fairly rich initial, with some grass and medium-strength hops. Some minor fumes. Finish is somewhat candyish and then balances as the hops linger. Not a phrase typically associated with mass market Japanese lagers, but it does have a fairly full body. "Strong stimulus"? Is this the beer to celebrate Abenomics?

 

Suntory Royal Blend     
(Amber Lager/Vienna 5%)     2.85 / 3.1

Meaty malt, with some fruitiness, and what really seems to be smoke. Dark amber, off-white head, some lace. Decent caramel and bittering / moves to sweetness in mid / bittering lingers for a moment. Medium body. Not bad at all. A surprise from Suntory (which made a number of interesting one-offs back in the late 90s, but which hasn’t been impressive in the interim). Strong caramel for a lager -- approaching the character of amber ale.

 

Suntory The Gold Class     
(Premium Lager 5.5%)     2.78 / 2.7

Light caramel, flowery hops, and a hint of cardboard in the nose. Medium straw color ("gold," if you are imaginative). Light cake-like sweetness / mild hopping in mid / finished with small bitter tracks. Thin-medium body. Seems to be a blend of a pils and a happoshu (with a cardboard/spirits note), or dangerously close. Not Suntory’s best effort.

 

Suntory Extra Rich
(Pale Lager 5%)     2.77 / 2.9
Slight sewer stink, some metallic notes. Medium straw color. Thick pils-like maltiness / somehow an extract note enters and then a little bittering / finish is balanced and ends with touch of sweetish malt. Medium body. Aroma ain’t much, flavors are okay.

 
Suntory The Premium Malts's Koku no Blend     
(Amber Lager/Vienna 5.5%)      2.68 / 2.5

Warm roast grain nose, with some light extract-like stink. Pretty reddish-brown color. Mild grainy roast malt initial / rises into a moderate fruity tanginess and then flattens quickly / final is a bit unpleasant, with light hop bitterness and some metallic notes. Thin body. Hmmm.... this is a blend of regular Premium Malt’s and Premium Malt’s Dark (two beers blended -- or more likely just dumped together > then lagered > then filtered). It’s like an underdone Vienna. Looks like an amber, but...

   
Suntory Kuchi Doke no Fuyu Komugi     
(Pale Lager 5%)     2.55 / 2.2

Typical happoshu sewer nose, light lemon notes, and no hint of wheat. Greenish, white wine appearance, with an initial fluffy white head that "melts" away in a flash. Light grain, gentle and gradually increasing cardboard, mild sweet finish. Thin body. Pretty lousy stuff, but relatively drinkable. Wheat spirits, no wheat.

 

Suntory Sweet Rich     
(Pale Lager 4%)     2.39 / 1.6

Thin cardboard, light powdery sweetness. Bright lemony color, small head, fat tonic water bubbles. Thin fruit, all watered down, small bitter note in final. Thin body. Really toned down, almost no main flavors (except for the minimal sweet malt, cardboard, and baby hops). Maybe aimed at the distaff happoshu crowd?


Suntory Gran Dry     
(Pale Lager 5%)     2.36 / 1.8
Dog poop and rotten veggies. Light straw, frothy head. Cardboard, some sugary extract-like malty (?) notes. Thin body. Fizzy. Nothing "gran" about it; not dry, either.