Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 3 | Flavor - 5 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 5

Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 6 | Flavor - 6 | Texture - 4 | Overall - 6.5

Can in Okinawa. Pours clear light golden with a small white head, light lacing. Pils malts, straw, honey, wet grains. Ok

Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 3 | Flavor - 3 | Texture - 4 | Overall - 4.5

355 ml can. Pours clear yellow with a medium-sized white head. Aroma is grainy and papery. Taste is grainy, papery, and watery. Light bodied. Almost no finish. Bad, even for an N/A.

Appearance - 4 | Aroma - 5 | Flavor - 5 | Texture - 4 | Overall - 4

350ml can. Pours pale yellow with a small white head. Aroma is lemon and malt. Taste is light sweet, lemon juice, slightly malty, mineral water. No finish. It's like mineral water with lemon flavouring (3% lemon juice apparently). Not particularly bad, it's just got nothing going for it. Although the marketing says it's the first lemon-flavored non-alcohol beer taste beverage in Japan.

Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 7

Tap at the Hibiya Fest. Low on hops. Tiny bite. Lots of malt, caramel, maybe even some cherry. Bit weird for a red.

Appearance - 10 | Aroma - 6 | Flavor - 6 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 4

Bottle into a frosted glass showing well filtered yellow with a finger of clean white foam. The nose shows a typical malty lager profile. The palate is medium bodied and well carbonated. Lightly sweet caramel malts throughout. Simple macro lager.

Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 4 | Flavor - 4 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 4

Bottle picked up at Tokyo Station’s Liquor Hasegawa. Drunk at home from a pint glass. I bought it for about 470 yen to finish off trying all 4 of their beers as they’d been sold out when I went to the brewery. A very clear light copper pour with a foamy head that lingers for quite a while. Buttery fruity caramel in the nose. Medium bodied with a smooth enough mouthfeel. The taste is obviously butterscotch, some grains, a bit of fruitiness and a slight ascerbic lightly bitter finish. This wasn’t bought at the source and tastes the worst of the three - like it has gone off though it says best by July 3rd, 2014. Drinkable but I’d rather not. Diacetyl is quite prominent.

Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 6 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 7

Bottle from Hasegawa. Chocolate and caramel nose, some soy, raisins, licorice, chewy fudge. Not at all burnt. Black with a low, persistent head. Medium sweetness, low roast, chewy malts, light minerals, slightly fruity with orange. More like a porter, as it isn’t all that burnt. Tasty though, rich malt without being cloying. Pretty good, though not surprising or original.

Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 6 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 7

Bottle from Hasegawa. Mellow, malty nose, biscuits and soft herbal hops. Helles-like. Bright gold with a low, thick head. Soft grainy malts, biscuit, light lemon, grass, a touch of minerals. Nice helles flavor. Light but solid bitterness, malt-forward. Not too sweet though. Nice. Tasty and very quaffable.

Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 6

Bottle picked up directly from the brewery in Numazu for 450 yen. Served in a pint glass, A nice looking dark cola looking pour with beige head that quickly vanished leaving behind little to no lacing. The aroma is one of cocoa powder & chocolate. The taste is nutty, roasty, toasted coffee beans & chocolate but the body is medium to thin for the style with a bit too much effervescence. Not bad. Probably the best of the 3 beers I picked up, alas they were out of their Pale Ale.