Kirin Chuuhai Frozen Unriped Plums /キリン チューハイ氷結青ウメ

Alcohol: 5% (17.5 ml)
Quantity: 350 ml
Sugar:  24.85 g
Calories: 199.5 kcal
Price: MSRP 148 yen (129 yen at Kakuyasu)
Official Site: http://www.kirin.co.jp/brands/hyoketsu/index.html

Kirin’s retooled their plum chuuhai by fruit juice from unripened plums. The net effect is that their ume chuuhai now tastes a bit more sour than before, though I don’t think much has really changed. The Kirin Hyouketsu Ume is still rather light on body and taste but still high in sugar and calories while only offering five percent alcohol. I don’t hate this, but I don’t like it much either.

 

Kirin Chuuhai Frozen Gentle Fruit 3% Sicilian Lemon Limited Edition / キリンチューハイ氷結やさしい果実の３％シチリア産レモン 期間限定

Alcohol: 3% (10.5 ml)
Quantity: 350 ml
Sugar:  21.35 g
Calories: 150.5 kcal
Price: MSRP 148 yen (129 yen at Kakuyasu)
Official Site: http://www.kirin.co.jp/brands/hyoketsu/index.html

Kirin’s Gentle series returns with Sicilian Lemon, not a flavor I’m too hot about, and delivers gentle, lemony goodness, that tastes like in has no alcohol at all.

Kirin Wine Spritzer Rose / キリン ワインスプリッツァ ロゼ

Alcohol: 6% ( 21 ml)
Quantity: 350 ml
Sugar: 18.55 g
Calories 196 kcal
Price: 108 yen at AEON
Official Site: http://www.kirin.co.jp/brands/winespritzer/index.html

I thought it might be possible for the Rose to be better than the previous white wine version . I thought wrong. Way wrong. I simply don’t understand how a company with such a constantly good track record like Kirin can put out these sour and bitter cans of swill. T_T

Kirin Hyouketsu Sparkling Chardonnay / キリンチューハイ 氷結シャルドネスパークリング

Alcohol: 5% (17.5 ml)
Quantity: 350 ml
Sugar:  21.7g
Calories: 189 kcal
Price: MSRP 141 yen (108 yen at AEON)
Official Site: http://www.kirin.co.jp/brands/hyoketsu/index.html

This sweet chuuhai from Kirin really does recreate the taste of chardonnay white wine (even though its base is vodka) by its clever use of white grape juice for flavoring. It’s a bit high in sweetness, but with 5% alcohol it will get the job done, and of course, it is cheaper than actual white wine.

Suntory Calori Limited Edition Early Summer Green Apple / サントリー カロリ。 初夏限定青りんご

Alcohol: 3% (10.5 ml)
Quantity: 350 ml
Sugar:  3.5 g
Calories:  77 kcal
Price: MSRP 141 yen (108 yen at AEON)
Official Site: http://www.suntory.co.jp/rtd/calori/

And here’s the second early summer flavor I’ve found. Kirin’s green apple does taste like green, not red nor Fuji apples, and is light on the palate, though I didn’t find it as crisp as green apples tend to be.

Chuuhai’s Not Everything : Kirin’s Cafe de Paris Sakura Sparkling Wine

Café de Paris is the name of a cocktail. Kirin has hijacked it for the name of its fruit-flavored sparkling wines. Just in time for the cherry blossoms (sakura) in April, this tasty, 6.5% sweet sparkling wine offers the fragrant smell and flavor of the flowers. This year it has a really nice bottle design, too. Very metropolitan!

 

Kirin Wine Spritzer / キリン ワインスプリッツァ

You might think Kirin’s Wine Spritzer is a good combination of white wine and vodka… and you would be very wrong. Cheap, bad white wine and cheap, bad vodka unite here in an unholy union which is gross and leaves a very tart impression on the tongue. To sum it up in a single word: disgusting.

Recommended course of action: avoid at all costs.

Alcohol: 6% ( 21 ml)
Quantity: 350 ml
Sugar: 18.55 g
Calories 196 kcal
Price: 108 yen at AEON
Official Site: http://www.kirin.co.jp/brands/winespritzer/index.html

I.W. Harper Highball Ｉ．Ｗ．ハーパーハイボール

Alcohol: 7% (24.5 ml)
Quantity: 350 ml can
Calories: 182 calories
Sugar: 8.75 grams
Price: 168 yen at Kakuyasu
Official Site: http://www.kirin.co.jp/brands/brandhighball/

Although not a bad whiskey, this one didn’t appeal to me much. After the Four Roses, I find it too plain and smooth. In a word, uninteresting. I.W. Harper is a big whiskey brand in Japan (now also brewed by Kirin) but it seems to have lost all of its significance in its home country, the USA.

Four Roses Highball フォアローゼズハイボール

Alcohol: 7% (24.5 ml)
Quantity: 350 ml can
Calories: 178.5 calories
Sugar: 8.75 grams
Price: 168 yen at Kakuyasu
Official Site: http://www.kirin.co.jp/brands/brandhighball/

This fizzy, pale golden highball has an American whiskey which is extremely difficult to find in America. Kirin now brews Four Roses Bourbon for the Japanese market. Four Roses has a flowery taste and aroma. You can really detect hints of flowers and fruits, and even a bit of spice, in the whiskey. I am not a big whiskey fan (the only one I drink often is Jack Daniels, and that has such a distinctive sugary flavor it’s almost like whiskey-rum), but I really enjoyed the taste of this RTD highball. I might have to go out and buy a bottle of Four Roses now. Oh wait, I just did.

Kirin Whiskey RTD Double Pack : Four Roses Bourbon (Black Label) and I.W. Harper Gold

Buy them both, get free bag ‘o mixed nuts. Tasty!