Amiraali Export Beer (A IV)

WTF does a beer from Finland's Sinebrychoff Brewery have to to do with Japan, you ask?

It all goes back to the fact that even if the US Navy was not here in Yokosuka, Yokosuka would still be a diehard Navy town. So that means even going so far as importing bottles of this all the way from Finland, merely due to the fact that the label features one of Japan's greatest Naval warfare geniuses, Adm. Tōgō Heihachirō (1847-1934). He was the one that kicked the Russian Navy's ass five-ways-to-Friday in the Russo-Japanese War in 1905, for you fellow history buffs out there.

So, another cash-grab beer by the local Yokosuka City department of tourist affairs it would seem. Is this beer worth a go, whether you find it in Yokosuka, Finland, or somewhere between the two?

Meh.

If you've had any middle-of-the-road Scandinavian lagers in the past, you've had this one by default, too. Nothing inherently "wrong" with this beer (especially in light of the fact that it's traveled far, and displayed out in the open vice in a cooler at a touristy store), but there's nothing that can nor should draw you in here.

Another beer aimed at grabbing tourist dollars (er, I mean Yen!), for souvenir purposes much more than for drinkin' purposes. And I'm sure naval buffs and bottle collectors would eat this up, too. But for good ol' fashioned drinkin' (like on a Saturday night in a hotel room in Yokosuka)? It's okay for that, too.
//TB