Sapporo Premium : Appearance
Glowing gold hue, slightly hazy, but plenty of carbonation constantly visible. Forms a somewhat large, white, soapy head which mostly dissipates but leaves minor lacing on the glass and tends to clump.
Sapporo Premium : Smell
Practically odorless. A mild scent of generic pale lager with a hint of rubber gloves.
Sapporo Premium : Taste
Sapporo is a beer I originally reviewed on tap at a Japanese restaurant three years ago. I didn’t think much of it then and three years later my opinion of this beer is still the same. Let’s face the facts: it’s a adjunct macro lager that’s pretty much brewed by the same method as all the other adjunct macro lagers. The fact it originates from Japan makes no difference (though the version we get is brewed in Quebec by Unibroue).
Beers like this I tend to rate relative to how tolerable they are and Sapporo is quite tolerable. It’s more bland than anything else. Some beers taste like boiled corn or rice or metal or worse. Some actually have a clean, slightly sweet flavor to them. This is right in the middle as it’s perfectly neutral as far as taste. On one hand I enjoy the fact that there’s nothing about it that’s repulsive. But on the other hand my palette needs something to taste and there isn’t much here to do the job. Even if I deliberately concentrate and drink slowly I still can’t find any identifiable flavors other than that generic fizzy yellow lager taste. I’ve had worse. I’ve had better. This is as “meh” as they come.
Sapporo Premium : Drinkability
One thing Sapporo Premium Beer has going for it is the fact it’s not quite as fizzy as most adjunct macro lagers. The mouthfeel is on the thinner side, slightly crisp, but goes down smooth. The aftertaste is clean and it’s slightly refreshing while in the mouth. At 4.9% ABV it has a pretty decent performance value since you can kill an entire king can of it quickly and easily without feeling overwhelmed. There’s no reason for a refill, though.