It’s the start of the Labor Day weekend, and we decided to get Chinese food for dinner. I stopped at Mandarin Garden in Normal, IL to order and take it home. While I waited, I decided to go to the bar for a beer. I think this was the only beer on the menu I hadn’t had yet, so I thought I’d give it a shot.

Location: Poured into a small glass from the bottle at Mandarin Garden in Normal, IL.

Numbers: 5% ABV, ~ 160 Calories

Appearance & Aroma: It’s extremely pale yellow in color with a very thin creamy head. There seemed to be a decent amount of carbonation in it, and it had an adjunct lager-like aroma.

Taste & Feel: The body was very light and the mouthfeel was crisp. There was a very light cracker flavor up front with a bit of crispness. In the middle, some light cracker/bready flavors were present, but were very light. In the distant background, there were some hints of fruitiness in the finish and aftertaste. Overall, it finished crisp and light with very little residual flavor.

Food Pairing: This was light enough that it could go with almost anything. Since it is an Asian beer, I would obviously pair it with Chinese food. I’d go for a dish that’s got a big, bold flavor, such as Mongolian beef, and use this beer to help cleanse the palate between bites.

Overall Impression: As I expected, this beer was very light in body, and the flavors were also very light. This made it extremely drinkable, but the combination of the adjunct aromas and light cracker-like flavors made it fairly bland. The slight hint of fruitiness in the background made it a bit distinct, but I would have preferred more grainy maltiness to come through. In summation, it was a light, crisp, fairly clean beer with not a lot of flavor.

My Rating:

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