Hokkaido Brewing is nestled beside Otaru’s fishing harbor where they make brews rich in individuality and resourced from local ingredients. It is said that the island of Hokkaido is where full-scale brewing first started in Japan.
Their Lemon Lager is a 5% ABV fruit beer. It’s part of their all-year round range of craft beers though rather than using locally sourced lemons, they are using Hiroshima lemons.
I first came across this beer at the Beer Under The Big Top festival in Philadelphia. It was surprisingly refreshing, I just had to find another bottle and get a proper tasting done of this one.
I couldn’t have picked a more perfect setting, down the shore, perfect weather, just hot enough that this lemon lager was intensely refreshing.
Now, for one of the shortest beer reviews I have yet to write. The pour pretty much what you’d expect a carbonated lemonade to look like. Intense lemon aroma from the glass. The taste? Alcoholic lemonade.
Yup. That’s it. Now, I just happen to be a HUGE fan of lemons and lemonade, and on both days I had this it was pretty hot, and this was wonderfully refreshing to drink.
That being said, I’m not too surprised reviews for this beer are sub-par. It’s certainly not a traditional beer, and because of their process of adding lemon juice to a lager base, rather than brewing with ingredients that impart the lemon flavors, it really doesn’t retain any beer-like qualities.
I could still see myself grabbing a few of these as a break from traditional beer when I’m on vacation down the shore.
- ABV: 5%
- Style: Fruit Beer
- Rating: 3.6/5.0
- Untappd Reviews
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