Topvalu Barreal Rich Taste

 Uh...rich taste. Rich cardboard taste.

 

 

 

Name: Topvalu Barreal Rich Taste
Ingredients: Happōshu (malt, hops, starch, barley), spirits
Alcohol content: 6%
Tax category: New Genre (liquor)
Origin: Korea

Note: Topvalu is the store brand of the Aeon Group.

Cass Fresh

OMG! This is truly the worst tasting beer I have ever had in my life. It's not happoshu, not new genre, but beer... Imported and sold by Aeon. Are they out of their mind? Tastes like medicine of some sort. No way I can finish this can.

Name: Cass Fresh
Ingredients: Malt, hops, starch
Alcohol content: 4.5%
Tax category: Beer
Origin: Korea
Imported by: Aeon
Note: Can size 355ml. Sold at Aeon.

Mugi no Suke

Probably one of the best tasting Korean imports I have had in the past few months. Give it a try.

Name: Mugi no Suke
Ingredients: Happōshu, spirits (barley)
Alcohol content: 5%
Tax category: New Genre (liquor)
Origin: Korea

Value Fighter Gugutto Nama Kuro

Don't know what to say. Please no more Gugutto Nama. I'd say this one is somewhere between the other two Gugutto Nama versions. It does taste somewhat like stout, porter or whatever you wanna call this kind of dark liquid, but for some reason it just turned my stomach upside down. The only interesting thing about this brew is that it has a 5.3 percent alcohol content. 5.3? How did they come up with this figure?

Name: Value Fighter Gugutto NamaKuro

Ingredients: Happōshu (malt, hops, barley, starch), spirits (barley, rice)

Alcohol content: 5.3%

Tax category: New Genre (liquor)

Origin: Korea

Note: Value Fighter is the store brand of the Yamaya liquor store chain.

Value Fighter Gugutto Nama Rich & Mellow

The only good thing I can say about this brew is that it does not have that horrible aftertaste as its default version Value Fighter Gugutto Nama. Is it too much to expect something better from a liquor distributor like Yamaya?...

Name: Value Fighter Gugutto Nama Rich & Mellow

Ingredients: Happōshu, spirits

Alcohol content: 5%

Tax category: New Genre (liquor)

Origin: Korea

Note: Value Fighter is the store brand of the Yamaya liquor store chain.

Value Fighter Gugutto Nama

Wet cardboard initial taste with sweetish aftertaste. The only reason I finished this can tonight is because I’m all out of beer. Design-wise, probably one of the worst beer can designs I have ever seen. It reminds me of some cheap, sugary soda drink rather than beer.

Name: Value Fighter Gugutto Nama

Ingredients: Happōshu (malt, hops, barley, starch), spirits (barley, rice)

Alcohol content: 5%

Tax category: New Genre (liquor)

Origin: Korea

Note: Value Fighter is the store brand of the Yamaya liquor store chain.

Kurashi More Sounama

Another Korean import. It goes under the “Kurashi More” store brand. I purchased this one at Heiwadō which is a pretty well-stocked supermarket, but I wonder why they decided to unleash this monster on the poor, unsuspecting customers. Let me make one thing clear: “It does NOT taste like beer.” If I wanted to be really polite, I’d say it tastes like peach-flavored cardboard…

Name: Kurashi More Sounama
Ingredients: Happōshu, spirits (barley)
Alcohol content: 5%
Tax category: New Genre (liquor)
Origin: Korea

Note: Kurashi More is the store brand of the Nichiryu Group. 

Topvalu Barreal (facelift 2014)

Looks like they slapped some new paint on the can. To be fair, I like the new design better. However, it is somewhat confusing because while the old can had only Topvalu the so called "private brand" name on it, the new one features both the owner's name Aeon and its store brand Topvalu. But never mind that, it's their can, they can do whatever they want with it.

Looking at the ingredients, nothing really changed. However, the tagline on the front says that it contains hops from the US and bitter hops from Germany. Interesting, I'm guessing that the US hops are not bitter.

Name: Topvalu Barreal
Ingredients: Happōshu (malt, hops, starch, barley), spirits
Alcohol content: 5%
Tax category: New Genre (liquor)
Origin: Korea

Note: Topvalu is the store brand of the Aeon Group.

Gent Plus

OMG! No words to describe this horrific liquid. Starts with some sweetish cardboard initial taste which is followed by some medicine/chemical-like overall taste. Gave me an upset stomach. No way I try this one again.

Name: Gent Plus
Type:
Ingredients: Happōshu, spirits (barley), carbon dioxide
Alcohol content: 5.5% 
Tax category: New Genre (liquor)
Origin: Korea    
Notes: Sold at B&D.

Prime Draft

Zero initial taste followed by some sweetish spirits-like aftertaste. One of the worst Korean imports I have ever tried. I even have trouble finishing this can.

Name: Prime Draft  
Type:
Ingredients: Happōshu, spirits (barley), carbon dioxide
Alcohol content: 5% 
Tax category: New Genre (liquor)
Origin: Korea 
Notes: Sold at Don Quijote.

Super Prime

Super Prime used to be my daily beer for a couple of years. Actually up until Suntory's Kinmugi came out. I cannot make an impartial judgement about it now, because I used to drink it for years and I got tired of it. Let's just say, it is a great drink for budget drinkers. Taste-wise, it is in the high-end category among Korean imports.

Name: Super Prime  
Type:
Ingredients: Happōshu, spirits (barley), carbon dioxide
Alcohol content: 5% 
Tax category: New Genre (liquor)
Origin: Korea  
Notes: Sold at Liquor Mountain.

Mugi no Koku

Wow! It has truly minimal initial taste. Its bitter aftertaste reminds me some flu medicine rather than hops. Whoever did the design must be a great fan of Sapporo's Mugi to Hop. The main design is true knockoff of Mugi to Hop. Same font, same font size, same barley stalk decoration and nearly identical can color.

Name: Mugi no Koku
Type:
Ingredients: Happōshu, spirits, carbon dioxide
Alcohol content: 5% 
Tax category: New Genre (liquor)
Origin: Korea
Note: Sold at Liquor Mountain.

Style One Shine Malt

The first sip was kind of sweet, but the rest was just like cardboard soaked in rainwater followed by some metallic aftertaste. Only sold at Circle K and Sunkus stores as far as I know. Compared to Mini Stop's Barreal and 7eleven's The Brew, this is by far the worst store-brand beer. Take them off the shelves if you want to stay in business!

Name: Style One Shine Malt
Ingredients: Happōshu, spirits (barley)
Alcohol content: 5%
Tax category: New Genre (liquor)
Origin: Korea
Note: Style One is the store brand of Circle K Sunkus.

Topvalu Lager Beer

Well, this one is a strange fella. It's a store brand Korean import. But if you think "it must be new genre-type" then you are wrong. It is real beer and considering its background it tastes pretty good. But I think they should have put a little more effort into coming up with the name though. As a real beer, I give it three stars*** out of five.

Name: Topvalu Lager Beer
Ingredients: Malt, hops
Alcohol content: 5%
Tax category: Beer
Origin: Korea
Note: Topvalu is the store brand of the Aeon Group.

Topvalu Barreal

Despite being a new genre-category beer, it doesn't taste that bad. Kinda taste like a toned down version of Sapporo's "Mugi to hoppu The Gold." I give it three stars*** out of five. By the way, according to some super secret PR materials, the name Barreal is the combination of the words "barley" and "real." Nevertheless, they should really come up with a better name.

Name: Topvalu Barreal
Ingredients: Happōshu (malt, hops, starch, barley), spirits
Alcohol content: 5%
Tax category: New Genre (liquor)
Origin: Korea

Note: Topvalu is the store brand of the Aeon Group.

Awamugi

For 83 yen, I expected it to taste like wet diaper. Actually, for this price it is not bad at all. Cheapest on the market as far as I know.

Name: Awamugi
Type:
Ingredients: Happōshu, spirits (mugi, rice)
Alcohol content: 5%
Tax category: New Genre (liquor)
Origin: Korea

Kodawari Rinmugi Nama

Arghh!!!

Name: Kodawari Rinmugi Nama
Type:
Ingredients: Happōshu, spirits
Alcohol content: 5%
Tax category: New Genre (liquor)
Origin: Korea

Kai Hai

Despite the weird name (Kai Hai), it's a nice beer-tasting beverage. Goes down smoothly and is an excellent thirst quencher on hot summer days.

Name: Kai Hai
Type:
Ingredients: Happōshu, spirits (mugi, rice)
Alcohol content: 5%
Tax category: New Genre (liquor)
Origin: Korea