Kirin Premium Muroka

You know this is a classy beer…., because it comes in a glass bottle! Rock on! This beer just has to be awesome!

But seriously? It may sound like I’m talking with my tongue firmly planted in cheek, but that is actually exactly the thinking behind this beer. When one of the Japanese Big Four put out a beer in a bottle vice an ubiquitous can, it’s fully marketed to be the bee’s fucking knees. So much so that you should feel honored just for being worthy enough to gaze upon it’s penultimate greatness!

Yet another of those odd pull-tab bottle caps that I’ve seen on about 60% of all Japanese bottled beers (as well as a scant handful of German biers).

Pours with a rudy light amber color, and a fair amount of head. Minimal aroma – nothing off-putting, at least.

First impression? Samuel Adams Boston Lager Lite. Very much in the vein of a Vienna Lager, in intent, albeit not execution.

A decent amount of malt keeps this beer from sinking too far down the rankings…., but it’s still a far cry from the [decocted] goodness of what you’ll find from it’s true peers. Only the barest of hints of what could be (but probably isn’t) Munich Malt.

This is non-filtered – which I’m sure gives one or two crusty old Kirin brewmasters absolute fits. But I don’t see the point of it in this beer. The yeast is so well behaved and flocculent, and Kirin (like Coors) is religious about aging/storing/shipping/selling their beer *cold* -- that it’s not like this will age/change/improve with any sort of “cellar’ing” ala bottle-conditioning. So the non-filtering of this beer is a non-issue.

Japanese Craft Beer (or, as it’s called in Japan, “Boutique Beer”) is becoming quite the rage as the 2000’s come to a close. And Kirin is surely aware of this. That’s why I think this beer kinda strikes me as a cash-grab, to angle in on the Boutique Beer shoppers looking for something Amber-ish; something Bottle-Conditioned-ish; something wannabe high-end. Thus comes Muroka to the rescue. Or something. Whatever.

Not really a bad beer all in all – just misguided and kinda pathetic. A lame attempt at a Vienna Lager…, and an even lamer attempt to get a cash-grab/toehold with Japan’s increasingly discerning Craft Beer segment.

“Rich Taste”? Nah.

//TB