Back in the late 1890s, an American entrepreneur and a German brew master jointly founded Kirin, which today is a massive company in its very own right. If you visit its website you’ll find interesting information in both English and Japanese. There, details of the company can be found, including the recent buy into San Miguel’s stake.

To those of you that might not be aware, the Kirin advertising hype states that the beer has a rather full-bodied richness, a unique taste and it’s hugely popular amongst the Japanese. To many, the latter is doubtless true but to some this is a fairly light pleasant beer but very remarkable indeed. Kirin is a fine yellow beer and has some sort of crispy hop finish. A relatively strong later, its ABV comes in at an impressive 5%.

Kirin is almost certainly best served ice cool and goes extremely well with a range of foods. Naturally, the Japanese themselves have it along with their famous sushi, shabu-shabu, shasmi as well as Kobe steaks and even Western-inspired dishes. I personally find it goes remarkably well with stir fried dishes and with a Western-style grilled dish. It would also very nicely accompany casseroles or stews and it seems perfectly fine along with a Pizza or Lasagne too.
Kirin is commonly available in many Asian countries with a large Japanese expat population e.g. Singapore, Malaysia and of course Thailand. It can also be found in certain supermarkets and off-licences across the UK and elsewhere.

For more information, visit www.kirin.com/