Everyone's favourite Yebisu - I can't tell you the number of times folks have raved about Yebisu to me, and these include brewers themselves, so that's certainly saying something - has a really cool Creative Brew program which gets its younger and emerging brewers try their hand at coming up with something unique. I really like this idea of allowing these up and coming brewers to give their take on things and express not just themselves but also bring something refreshing to the beer scene - it's a good opportunity for them and at the same time keeps the brand relevant, and for us it's always nice to pick up something new.

Ryota Aritomo.

So today we've got Yebisu Creative Brew #3 Citrus Blanc, helmed by brewer Ryota Aritomo, and very interestingly focuses on Hop & Lemongrass. Certainly haven't tried lemongrass in a beer before, and that goes for Yebisu as well, which says that they've never used the ingredient in their over 100 years of history!

The idea here was to create a refreshing Spring and Summer beer and thus the brewery wanted to focus on something citrusy. Having tested with lemon juice and lemon peel, they concluded on lemongrass which they felt retained the lemon-like aroma better. Once they decided on lemongrass, they even tested out various regional varieties of lemongrass and landed on Egyptian lemongrass which they felt didn't carry with it an overwhelming spiciness. Once that was done, they then added Citra hops (after testing over 30 different hops) - the IPA community's forever favourite - which adds to the citrusy vibe.

Very exciting, let's give this a go! Onward!

Yebisu Citrus Blanc Creative Brew | サッポロビール ヱビス シトラスブラン - Review

Tasting Notes

Colour: Gold

Aroma: Nice rich maltiness, some rustic cereal and wheat, and a gentle aroma of orange peels and a faint grassiness. Some nuttiness of sacks of rice as well.

Taste: Full bodied, rich and still buoyant. It’s not overly dense or heavy but has a nice heftiness to it. There’s honey, it’s really malty and rather buttery, and with some light orange peels, along with some orange pith tossed in too. Backed up by more wheat and sacks of rice.

Finish: Light bit of savouriness which fades into denser chewy glutinous rice. Clean and crisp finish.

My Thoughts

Very enjoyable full bodied and rich brew from Yebisu - it’s got that signature malty buttery quality that comes with the brand. Here it’s given a more distinct citrus twist with orange peels and pith. It does give it an understated but more flavourful touch beyond the classic Yebisu, and it goes really well and is well-integrated into the Yebisu richness and maltiness. I like how it remains rich and full bodied but isn’t heavy or dense, still keeping some of that buoyancy. That said, I don’t get much of the lemongrass - but all said, still very tasty. I think this really aced the mission for refreshing summer (because there's no spring where I'm at) beer - big citrusy interpretation of the classic Yebisu.

Kanpai!

@111hotpot