Deep River Brewing Co. & R and R Brewing Co. Pickletown Lager

Pickletown Dill Pickle Lager is a collaboration between Deep River Brewing Co., Clayton, North Carolina, and R and R Brewing Co. in Mt. Olive. That is where Mt. Olive Pickle Company is located. Each pint of Pickletown has fifty pickles. This beer pours greenish gold with a one-finger thin white head. The aroma is light, vegetal, with vinegar and cucumber. The flavor is light, vegetal, and vinegary, with a light pickle/cucumber. Not much pickle flavor on this one. It has a light feeling in the mouth. The beer finishes with a light pickle-like vinegar flavor. The aftertaste is a weak pickle. This beer is not bad for a lager, but it does need more pickle flavor. I think Pickletown lager is a C-. I didn’t mind this beer, but I think Martin House Best Made Pickle Beer is more of a pickle beer. But that beer is a Gose, not a lager like this one. I wouldn’t recommend this beer if you are really into pickles, but it is good if you don’t like them so much. If you want to try Pickletown, you can get it at Total Wine and More (totalwine.com). The pickle flavor on this lager is weak, but it is otherwise okay. Please stay safe, be kind to each other, and remember to enjoy responsibly! Cheers! 

Westbrook Brewing Co. Rice Crispy Boi

Rice Crispy Boy from Westbrook Brewing Co. (https://westbrookbrewing.com) is a 5% ABV rice lager with marshmallow vanilla, 2-row, and best Pils malts. It has flaked rice, CTZ, and Saaz hops with lager yeast. This beer pours gold with a two-finger white head. The aroma is big on vanilla sweetness. The flavor is sweet with vanilla and crispness. This has a light mouthfeel. The beer finishes sweet and crisp. The aftertaste is vanilla marshmallow that lingers for a while. I bought a four-pack of pints, and the more I drank, the more it grew on me. I give Rice Crispy Boi a B+. This is an interesting take on a rice lager. I recommend this beer, and you can purchase Southern Spirits in South Carolina (https://www.southernspirits.com). Please stay safe, be kind to each other, and remember to enjoy responsibly! Cheers!

Sapporo Brewing Company Premium Yebisu

Premium Yebisu is brewed by Sapporo Brewing Company in Japan. I first had this beer at the Tokyo airport on tap, in a self-pouring multiple-beer machine. You can choose from a few different beers on one tap machine. Then I had it on the plane from Tokyo to JFK in NYC.

This is a 5% ABV malt or Dortmunderc Lager. As far as I know, this beer is only available in Japan; I have not seen it anywhere. It pours deeper gold with a bright two-finger white head. The aroma is sweet from the malts used and a bit bitter. The taste is a little malted with some bitterness. There is less sweetness hitting your taste buds than you get from the aroma. The mouthfeel is light. Then it has a malty bittersweet finish. The aftertaste is pretty bland and unforgettable. I did enjoy this Premium Yebisu, but I think there are better beers, and I give it a high C+. It is good on its own, especially on tap, and slightly better with Japanese foods. If you ever see Premium Yabisu, then I recommend tying it. It is just a maltier version of Sapporo beer. Please stay safe, be kind to each other, and remember to enjoy responsibly! Cheers!

Oriental Brewery Cass Fresh Lager

I don’t know about macro beer in South Korea. But I was in the Gwangjang market in Seoul, Korea , and had lunch at a spot serving Korean Hot Pots. I couldn’t read the menu because I don’t speak Korean. So I ordered two beers and Cass Fresh Lager appeared. This pale lager is 4.5% ABV. Cass pours a clean and clear gold color with a bright white fizzy head. The aroma is clean, lightly hopped, and crisp. It smells pretty much like every mass-produced lager. The taste is much, but it’s clean, crisp, and has a light metallic taste. The flavor is not so great, but paired with a Korean dumpling hot pot it becomes better. This beer has a very light mouthfeel. Then it has a clean crisp finish. The aftertaste is almost nothing but a light sweet metallic flavor. This is a refreshing lager. Cass Fresh is a D. The fact that it goes well with Korean foods such as a dumpling hot pot helped, otherwise I scoured it much lower. I would not recommend this on its own. Please stay safe, be kind to each other, and remember to enjoy responsibly! Cheers!

Castlemain Perkins XXXX GOLD Lager

I have never seen XXXX Gold Lager in the US before, and I do not think that Castlemain Perkins imports in to the US. This macro lager is a low 3.5% ABV making it a sessionable lager. XXXX Gold is brewed in Milton Queensland, Australia with pale lager malt, Super Pride, Cluster, and Hop Extract. They also use yeast such as Australian Lager Yeast. This lager pours a gold color with a thin clear two finger bubbly head. The aroma is light and semisweet. The flavor is light bodied and full bodied. It starts light bodied then as it passes over the back of your tongue is becomes full bodied. It is smooth as well with a light metallic flavor. The mouth feel is light. This lager finishes soon with a low flavor. The aftertaste is slight sweet and that fades really quick. This is very easy to drink since it is 3.5% ABV. But this is okay, C- It doesn’t have much flavor and it is easy to forget the overall flavor of the beer. I don’t think I would rush back to have a XXXX Gold Lager. Please stay safe, be kind to each other l, and remember to enjoy responsibly. Cheers!

SABECO 333 Premium Export

333 Premium Export is a Lager brewed by SABECO Brewery in Ho Chi Man City, Vietnam. I have not seen much of this in the US, but I have seen it before. This is the first canned beer in Vietnam brewery first in 1985. 333 uses Hallertau hops from Bavaria and is preserved at 10 Celsius or 50 Fahrenheit. This lager is 5.3% ABV and pours a deeper gold color with a one-finger white head. The aroma is light, sweet, and malty. The flavor is clean, sweet, malty, and light. This is malted the Bia Saigon Special. This has a light mouthfeel. Then it finishes clean with a bit of sweetness. There is not much aftertaste other than a light malt note. This is not bad but it doesn’t blow me away. This a C+ beer. It is worth a try because I don’t see it very often. It has more malt than an average macro lager but it is not overly malty. Please stay safe, be kind to each other and remember to enjoy responsibly! Cheers!

SABECO Brewery Bia Saigon Special

We do have Saigon Beer in the US, but we don’t Bia Saigon Special, a one hundred percent barley malt, hops, and water lager beer marketed toward young, dynamic, and successful consumers. This beer is 4.9% ABV and brewed by SABECO (Saigon Alcohol Beverage Corporation). This beer is only sold domestically in Vietnam. This lager pours a gold color with two finger bright white lager head. The aroma is clean and sweet aroma or malts. The flavor is crisp, clean, sweet, and has a bit of malt to it. This lager has a light feel in the mouth. It is a refreshing beer. It has a nice malted sweet light finish and a light clean malt aftertaste that doesn’t stick around long. This is an average beer much like macro beers in the US. But it is slightly better. I give SABECO Bia Saigon Special a C+. It has decent flavors but nothing to write home about. But I had to try seeing that I might never have a chance to have it again. Please stay safe, be kind to each other, and remember to enjoy responsibly! Cheers!

Paulaner Bräuhaus Singapore Beach Rd. Lager

Beach Rd. Lager is made Exclusively for The Raffles Hotel in Singapore by Paulaner’s Singapore Bräuhaus and is only sold at the hotel. This beer is 4.5% ABV and uses premium Franconian barley malt and Mandarina Bavarian hops. From what my waiter told me, this beer is made right across the street from the Raffles, named after Stamford Raffles, an English colonial official and governor of the East India Company who founded Singapore for the British in 1819. This beer pours an amber color with a one-finger white head. The aroma is malts and some light hay-like notes. The flavor is smooth and lightly malted. It has more carbonation than most lagers I’ve had. But that does not necessarily make this bad or good, it just is. This has a light mouthfeel. The finish is a touch bitter with light malts. The aftertaste is slightly less carbonated. This was not bad. I found this beer interesting, but I give it a C+. It was good, but Paulaner makes other better beers, and that is why I think it doesn’t get any higher than a C+. It is worth a try if you are in Singapore at the Raffles Hotel. You might never have it if you don’t. Please stay safe, be kind to each other, and remember to enjoy responsibly! Cheers!

Highland Brewing Company Seasonal Cerveza Lime Lager

From Highland Brewing Company in Asheville, North Carolina, Seasonal Cerveza Lime Lager is only available February through June. This beer is 5% ABV with Mt. Hood, Hallertau, Mittenfruh, and Perle hops. There is Vianna, Pilsner, and Dark Munich malts as well as Lime in this Lager. This lager pours a gold color with a one finger white head that fizzes away quickly. The aroma is zesty with lime and crisp on the nose. The flavor is tangy, lime, malty, and crisp with a light body. This has a light feeling in the mouth. This lager has a fruity lime finish and aftertaste of the same lime zest. This is a good crushable beer that is an A. If you like Mexican style beers, then look no further. This beer is good without trying too hard and it’s refreshing. The lime flavor does not overpower the beer in any way. It complements the overall flavors of this lager. Please stay safe, be kind to each other, and remember to enjoy responsibly! Cheers!

Wrexham Lager

This is an English Lager produced by the Wrexham Brewery from 1881 to 2000, when the brewery closed. Then, two years later, in 2002, Martyn Jones (a former employee), a member of Parliament for the nearby Clywd South constituency, bought the original building for one pound in 2001. Fast forward to 2024, and the current co-owners of the Wrexham F.C., Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney, and the Allyn Family purchased the majority stake in the brewery. Now this lager is distributed in the USA and Canada. This lager is 4% ABV. That is lower than the average lager beer. This beer pours golden with a two-finger white head. The head is semi-quicky to face into some lacing. The aroma is barely crisp, clean, and with a light bitterness. The flavor is refreshing and bitter with a clean/crips barley flavor. This has a light feel in the mouth. Then, it has a crisp finish with a slightly bitter bit. The aftertaste is resting and light, with a good, clean flavor that lingers with a hint of bitterness. This Wrexham lager is good but average. I give Wrexham Lager a high C+. It’s worth a try, in my opinion. The bitterness is okay but not something I like in a lager beer, but I’d still return to Wrexham Lager. Please stay safe, be kind to each other, and remember to enjoy responsibly! Cheers!