I've had sapporo in Tokyo and I can say definitively that the swill we get here in the U.S. is not the same beer at all. I wasn't aware of the fact that it was brewed under license, but that explains a hell of a lot. Great review as always guys! Spot on.
“Swill” is such a hilarious word to use as a beer descriptor lol I love it. I may steal that one. It makes sense, all the beers I’ve had that are brewed under license by inferior breweries have been subpar. Stella Artois is another one that is brewed in Canada by Molson here and doesn’t compare to the US brewed one. Let alone the real Belgian version which apparently is miles above the rest.
i hope you make a deep dive into Czech and Slovak beers. local breweries are not possible to uncover all, of course. But i just found out Prague has Blue Moon... i don't get how can the Blue Moon beer can be called Blue Moon when it's made in Prague's brewery.. does that even count? i wanted american belgian-ish beer so bad today...
More and more bigger brands are having other breweries brew their beers under license for them in different countries. To save on shipping costs. It’s unfortunate because the beer you get isn’t the one you know.
Escondido, CA, and Richmond, VA, are the Stone Brewing locations, and that reminded me that they were bought by Sapporo in 2022, and that made me sad. Tbh I don’t think I’ve ever had this. If I go to a sushi place and they have it, I’ll get one Sapporo Black, but otherwise I’m drinking sake or a local IPA.
I know man... it's so sad. Now they're even making "fizzy yellow beer." Sapporo Black is pretty tastey, I like that one. Can't go wrong with sake either. It's a must when it's available.
This beer is not nearly as good as it use to be when you could get the Japanese imported 500 ml cans. The Canadian brewed stuff is not very good at all. Pretty much Budweiser like you said. Sleeman is a terrible brewery and most of their beer is almost undrinkable, so it's not surprising.
Yeah...I've always really disliked Sleeman's beer so was not happy to hear that they started brewing Sapporo under license. It shows, for sure. I remember the Japanese pint glass shaped cans! I think it's pretty safe to say it was a much better product back then.
It's definitely strange that you couldn't find much info on the history of this beer 😂 I've never had a Japanese beer but I'm curious what it tastes like.
Sapporo used to actually be the BEST of the Japanese beers. Now Asahi is definitely superior since Sapporo started contracting theirs out. Asahi is contracted out too, but for some reason it hasn't suffered as poorly as Sapporo. It's weird because the tallboy single silver Sapporo cans (at least here in the States) are brewed in Vietnam and the six packs are Canadian brewed. I think possibly Japan is the only place you can actually get Japanese brewed Sapporo. The big silver tallboy 'pint glass' cans used to actually be brewed in Japan, but now it says Vietnam on the can. It's very odd.
I’d agree with that completely. We really enjoyed Asahi when we reviewed it recently. It hasn’t suffered as much at all. I looked into it recently and I think you’re right. It seems like Japan is the only place where you can get locally brewed Sapporo now.
![Beer Brackets [🍺]](http://yt3.ggpht.com/10jo7sf0gMs7cukB0UFYg_L8gRef1FDfUlyBVmfQ8C7m5Jkj_0VRNMz1WZ5wXT41RW1BMv3YBg=s48-c-k-c0x00ffffff-no-rj)
The 8-bit Cheers theme at the end got me 🤣 great ending
Haha it was only a matter of time
The addition of "other beers in this category" is a nice touch.
🙇🏻thank you good sir
Agreed!
I've had sapporo in Tokyo and I can say definitively that the swill we get here in the U.S. is not the same beer at all. I wasn't aware of the fact that it was brewed under license, but that explains a hell of a lot. Great review as always guys! Spot on.
“Swill” is such a hilarious word to use as a beer descriptor lol I love it. I may steal that one.
It makes sense, all the beers I’ve had that are brewed under license by inferior breweries have been subpar. Stella Artois is another one that is brewed in Canada by Molson here and doesn’t compare to the US brewed one. Let alone the real Belgian version which apparently is miles above the rest.
Every time I've heard the story of Sapporo, its been told to me different. A mysterious foreign Budweiser to be sure.
😂😂 that’s hilarious
I love Sapporo and even more so, Sapporo Reserve (all malt) and Sapporo Black.
Sapporo black is very tasty! I really enjoyed it when I had it a few months back.
I think I’ve only ever had this on tap before at different restaurants. I think I agree with the food statement
i hope you make a deep dive into Czech and Slovak beers. local breweries are not possible to uncover all, of course. But i just found out Prague has Blue Moon... i don't get how can the Blue Moon beer can be called Blue Moon when it's made in Prague's brewery.. does that even count? i wanted american belgian-ish beer so bad today...
More and more bigger brands are having other breweries brew their beers under license for them in different countries. To save on shipping costs. It’s unfortunate because the beer you get isn’t the one you know.
Escondido, CA, and Richmond, VA, are the Stone Brewing locations, and that reminded me that they were bought by Sapporo in 2022, and that made me sad.
Tbh I don’t think I’ve ever had this. If I go to a sushi place and they have it, I’ll get one Sapporo Black, but otherwise I’m drinking sake or a local IPA.
I know man... it's so sad. Now they're even making "fizzy yellow beer."
Sapporo Black is pretty tastey, I like that one. Can't go wrong with sake either. It's a must when it's available.
This beer is not nearly as good as it use to be when you could get the Japanese imported 500 ml cans. The Canadian brewed stuff is not very good at all. Pretty much Budweiser like you said. Sleeman is a terrible brewery and most of their beer is almost undrinkable, so it's not surprising.
Yeah...I've always really disliked Sleeman's beer so was not happy to hear that they started brewing Sapporo under license. It shows, for sure. I remember the Japanese pint glass shaped cans! I think it's pretty safe to say it was a much better product back then.
This. Sapporo hasn't been the same since they started contracting out the brewing.
It's definitely strange that you couldn't find much info on the history of this beer 😂 I've never had a Japanese beer but I'm curious what it tastes like.
Do stella artois cydre please
Unfortunately I can’t get that one where I am in Canada, but will keep an eye open for it next time I’m in the states! Thanks for the request
Sapporo used to actually be the BEST of the Japanese beers. Now Asahi is definitely superior since Sapporo started contracting theirs out. Asahi is contracted out too, but for some reason it hasn't suffered as poorly as Sapporo. It's weird because the tallboy single silver Sapporo cans (at least here in the States) are brewed in Vietnam and the six packs are Canadian brewed. I think possibly Japan is the only place you can actually get Japanese brewed Sapporo. The big silver tallboy 'pint glass' cans used to actually be brewed in Japan, but now it says Vietnam on the can. It's very odd.
I’d agree with that completely. We really enjoyed Asahi when we reviewed it recently. It hasn’t suffered as much at all.
I looked into it recently and I think you’re right. It seems like Japan is the only place where you can get locally brewed Sapporo now.
Sapporo is just a mid beer. It is good, no doubt but it is a far cry from a top level beer.
Agreed!