9.2

Appearance - 10 | Aroma - 9 | Flavor - 9 | Texture - 10 | Overall - 9

Rating #10,000 is this 12 oz can from AE, canned 5/3/22 (perhaps by me) and consumed fresh off the canning line on the same day.  Plus a bunch of drafts and additional cans to follow. Thanks to Scott, Brendan, Steve, Alexis, Jose, and the rest of the Alternate Ending crew for having me out for the canning and adding the note for #25 to the bottom of the can.  I'm very happy to be an Alt Ender, it's a cool community and a great addition to the local NJ beer scene over the last year and a half.   This one just makes perfect sense to use for 10k, since this beer feels like it was made for an aged rater like myself.  Through all the ticking over the last 14 years (13+ on the website, plus about a year on the old Ratebeer for Facebook app), my preferred style of beer has changed many, many times (sometimes multiple times in the day), but as I join the 5 digit gang and I slow down the ticking, this is the kind of beer I want to be drinking more.   I'm not planning to retire from Ratebeer (I stuck around through the AB destruction, so you can't get rid of me so easily), I'm sure I will still rate plenty, but I expect the monthly output to decrease for sure.   I'll hopefully no longer be the guy looking through the list at the bar for something I haven't had.  I don't want to be the guy jotting down scores and notes in my phone so I can add them all later.  I just want to be the guy enjoying a quality beer, and I can't think of anything that exemplifies this better than a perfectly crisp, full flavored, and easy drinking 2.6% rice lager with a fun Kill Bill reference on the label.   This is that beer, pouring a nice yellowish-white color with a white head.  One that is lemony, grainy, and bright.  Tons of flavor.  Lively and crisp.  Yeah, this if the kind of beer I need more of.   I'm going to leave this long, ranting review here, but just to wrap it up with a few thank you's: Legend Brown & Capital Ale - got me into craft beer in the RVA days. Nick, Justin, & Dave for obvious reasons. Norm's & Gilly's, where I picked up a large number of my early years ticks. Paul, Max, and the rest of the NY/NJ RB crew for welcoming me when I moved up here. TapNY, my favorite festival. Bling Tiger, Rattle, and Ginger Man, where I spent many a NYC day / night. Beer Culture, especially Peter, and As Is where I did much midtown NYC beer drinking. Cork City & The Shep - Hoboken. Paragon in Clark. Most recently, John for the shares.