Rich, deep coloured pink and rose with almost no head at all. Aroma of ridiculously funky malt, alcohol, rose hips and a hint of cleanser. Light-bodied; Very funky flavour of sweet tea, roses, flowers, earth and a lot of fake sugary sweetness with no malt, of course no hops and nothing else of distinction. Aftertaste is funky and odd with the rose flavour front and centre and no break from that, aside from a bit of earth. Overall, a pretty bad beer with the really funky colour starting it off and ending with an odd floral taste and of course the absurd sweetness that shouldn’t be coming from this at all. Overall, a not-so-good offering and a very high price in a city where much better beer can be found for half the price. Steer clear of this one if you are in Hong Kong - there are better options available! I sampled this 333 mL bottle purchased a few hours ago at City’Super in Harbour City, Kowloon, Hong Kong on 04-July-2014 for HK$45,00 sampled in my hotel room here in Wan Chai, Hong Kong on 04-July-2014.

Awful looking deep sea green colour with a thin off-white head. Aroma of grass, seaweed, alcohol, malt and candy sugar. Light-bodied; Super pungent grassy and seaweed flavour with a very fake sugar flavour, some funky malt and a little cardboard maltiness. Aftertaste shows a hint of grass, but mainly sweet funky flavours and nothing resembling a pale lager or pretty much any other style of beer. Overall, an awful choice by colour or taste, but this was interesting to try, none the less. I sampled this 33 cL bottle purchased from City!Super (Harbour City) in Kowloon, Hong Kong on 22-June-2014 for HK$28,00 sampled in my hotel room a few minutes later here in Wan Chai, Hong Kong.

330 ml bottle from The Garden Jiyugaoka, sold at a 20% discount. Pours hazy, light brown, looks like a homebrew. A couple of soapwater like bubbles. Aroma is really bad - metallic notes, something sour. Compared with that the taste is actually almost good. It has some stronger malt backbone and medium full body that contributes for drinkability. It also has some off-flavored metallic notes and some skunky bitterness at the end, so although drinkable, it’s not really good. No reason to buy this beer again - although I suspect that fresh at brewery this might taste better.

I picked up this sweet potato beer at a Mom & Pop shop on Shijo on the way to Bungalow. This is part of my goal to try as many Japanese breweries as I can this year and also because I like fruit beers. Served in a pilsner glass. It pours a light purple with a fizzy pinkish head that vanishes fast leaving no trace behind... is this really beer? Straight from the fridge the aroma isn’t so bad, earthy malts & sweet potatoes. Medium to light bodied, it has a harsh sharp mouthfeel. The taste is cardboard, sweet potato & artificial sweetener like aspartame. Looking at the ingredient list this is a frankenstein like beer, food coloring, barley syrup, barley, some kind of starch, various types of potatoes and hops... I get no hops from this at all. I guess it is technically a beer as it has barley, yeast, hops & water but this is a big miss. More of a crappy alcoholic cocktail than a beer. People should avoid this, especially for 580 yen. It’s a gimmick beer.

330 ml bottle. Pours blue. Blue. Supposedly as blue as icebergs. It doesn’t look very appetising though, looks very thin and artificially coloured. Very small head, only a little foam. Aroma - is not like beer at all. Not bad - but feels more like shochu with some candy - which it actually might even be, considering the look. Taste is weird too, not as bad as it looks - but that is only because it does not have much flavour. Flavours that it does have are quite funny potato shochu at first and then diminishing but ever-present buttery happoshu feel until the end. They shouldn’t have bothered to brew this.

Made with Rosa Rugosa rosehips and less than 25% malt. Light red color. Innocuous nose: slightly fruity, dry. Dry, bitter flavor, not sweet (expected it would be), feels like champagne yeast was used. Maybe the flavor of rose hips is there, not sure. Dusty, bitter finish that leaves you with cotton mouth. Not awful—not good either.

Aroma of fruit, yogurt, and citrus. Sour flavor, with sweetness as well. Creamy, like yogurt, only slightly reminiscent of a lambic. Interesting but basically vile. Like those little yogurt drinks in the plastic bottle.