Taiwan Beer - Taiwan Tobacco & Liquor Corporation

elmocoso

Nebraska

1/5  rDev -58%
look: 1 | smell: 1 | taste: 1 | feel: 1 | overall: 1

I know that a person is not supposed to review from memory, but this will have to be the exception to the rule.

I found this beer at the 99cent store for 3 for 99C. I was excited. It was about 2 years ago.

I threw um in the fridge and invited a chum over to try the Taiwan beer and he was happy to oblige. I got two out of the fridge and cracked um open. Gave one to my buddy and one for myself. He, being more naturally cautious, sniffed at and looked into the bottle suspisciously. I took a chug. Awful. Terrible. It literally tasted of Soy Sauce. No shit. My friend gets a glass and starts pouring as i took another swig, just for good measure. While the beverage was still in my mouth, i looked at my friends poured version, only to see flakes and chunks swerling around in the glass. I almost barfed and quickly spit my swig into the sink. This stuff is Terrible.

el_mocoso

Serving type: bottle

02-26-2003 20:02:45 | More by elmocoso

lacqueredmouse

Australia

1.08/5  rDev -54.6%
look: 1.5 | smell: 1 | taste: 1 | feel: 1.5 | overall: 1

Pours with no head, and a pale yellow, very lightly carbonated body. Looks atrocious.

Nose is heavy with sickly sweet rice-syrup. Also a wet yeast/bread dough smell. No hops, no fragrance. Not very impressive.

Taste is grainy and harsh, lots of sticky rice and DMS. Very short palate that just delivers its sickly sweet blandness, then disappears - wham bam, thankyou tongue!

This is a ridiculously unappealing beer. This exemplifies all the worst element of Asian lagers. Stay well, well, well away.

Serving type: can

04-19-2008 01:14:36 | More by lacqueredmouse

IronDjinn

Alberta (Canada)

1.2/5  rDev -49.6%
look: 2 | smell: 1.5 | taste: 1 | feel: 1.5 | overall: 1

I have to agree with ism, the design on this blue and white can screams communist utilitarianism, hearkening back a good 30-50 years in style as well. The beer itself is a pale hazy straw colour, a flash of fizzy white head that reminds me of pop. The aroma is a bit boozy, thin like the smell of fermented corn or rice. The flavour is pure sweet rice adjunct, absolutely characterless, somewhat like the packaging. The mouthfeel is thin and watery and quite lifeless. No pulse at all to this beer. If you see it on the shelf, no matter how it is priced, just keep walking.

Serving type: can

04-04-2004 16:37:54 | More by IronDjinn

ism

New Jersey

1.23/5  rDev -48.3%
look: 1.5 | smell: 1.5 | taste: 1 | feel: 1 | overall: 1.5

The best thing about this beer is the sheer utilitarianism of the can. Blue print in several languages cover every bit of printable area. The logo, simply stating (not even proclaiming) "Taiwan Beer" characterizes the contents. It pours a pale off-yellow with no discernable head. Tastes ricey with a playful effervescence that results in some harshness going down.

Not a bad try, as it seems to be aping the standard American macro, but not distinctive either. In the end, I got more enjoyment out of the can.

I think I should also disclose that I had this on a flight from Taiwan, and poured it into one of those tiny plastic cups they provide in coach/economy class. This may have affected my perception.

Serving type: can

03-23-2004 07:16:22 | More by ism

TerryW

Ontario (Canada)

1.35/5  rDev -43.3%
look: 1.5 | smell: 1.5 | taste: 1.5 | feel: 1 | overall: 1

Shoulda known better when I saw the can. Rudimentary graphics, sitting rather lifelessly and forlorn amid all the other gold-foiled or colourful bottles and cans on the shelf. So they saved all their effort for the brewing of this beer, right?

Uh-uh. Wasn't even worth the effort of pulling up on the pop tab. Utterly insipid stuff, devoid of character. Not actively undrinkable, but precious little point in lifting the glass to your lips for this one.

Give it a pass and spend an extra buck on something else instead.

Serving type: can

01-20-2004 19:27:14 | More by TerryW

RoyalT

Ohio

1.35/5  rDev -43.3%
look: 2 | smell: 1.5 | taste: 1 | feel: 2 | overall: 1.5

Appearance – Very light orange in color with little head.

Smell – The odor is very mild here, but I can pick up some rotten mowed grass and Band-Aids.

Taste – Oh, this is horrid. The Band-Aids carry the day at the taste, and there’s some sort of God-awful flavor here that curdles the cheeks. I don’t know what it is. It’s kind of like a very flat, stale, weak soda.

Mouthfeel – The cheap fizzy mouthfeel is thankfully offset by a bit of dryness, but this is no picnic.

Sinkability – This is slightly better than the Caguama Light that I had earlier today, but it’s a close race.

Serving type: bottle

03-03-2004 03:01:37 | More by RoyalT

bmacaskill

Ontario (Canada)

1.5/5  rDev -37%
look: 1.5 | smell: 1.5 | taste: 1.5 | feel: 1.5 | overall: 1.5

Wow! It says "Taiwan Beer" on the can. No brand name. It's just beer. The can's white. The print is blue. Someone has to tell these guys about branding.

And boy, does it taste brand-less. It's clearly Taiwan's answer to Budweiser. Come to think of it, Budweiser may have had a hand in this. Or the people who make Blue Light.

Drinkable? Yes.

Forgettable? Uh huh.

Serving type: can

09-13-2003 23:48:29 | More by bmacaskill

aragorn76

United Kingdom (England)

1.6/5  rDev -32.8%
look: 1.5 | smell: 1.5 | taste: 1.5 | feel: 1.5 | overall: 2

Had this in Taiwan. First off the can design, it's about time the company who makes this join the 21st century. The can design is about as uninteresting as the beer. Pours a pale yellow color and a head the goes away quickly, things floating in the beer. The taste, you can tell this is heavily adjuncted with rice. Very ricey with almost no hope bite, an industrial taste comes through. This wasn't a pleasurable beer, if in Taiwan choose an import over this or the localy brewed Tsing Tao, much better.

Serving type: can

09-07-2006 15:40:49 | More by aragorn76

mrmanning

Ontario (Canada)

1.85/5  rDev -22.3%
look: 2 | smell: 2 | taste: 2 | feel: 1.5 | overall: 1.5

LCBO can from 2 years ago. I forgot I had this in my "beer cellar". Let's see how time aged this. Sparkling body with a bleached white head. Grainy tin aroma, corn and minerals too. Sweet malty corn flavour, with some grain. There were chuncks in this? Strange. I hope it doesn't make me ill. Ok.

Serving type: can

11-03-2009 16:11:21 | More by mrmanning

Zorro

California

1.9/5  rDev -20.2%
look: 2.5 | smell: 2.5 | taste: 1.5 | feel: 2 | overall: 2

Giant size brown bottle from the Beverage Warehouse in Culver City California.

Pours a fizzy yellow beer, looks like a BMC type beer to me.

Smell is clean with a lot of corn smell. Mild scents of malt and a little bit of acid in the scent. A little grain and biscuit in the scent.

Taste is flat and noticeably oxidized, lot of cardboard flavor. Flavor of corn and that is about it.

Light mouthfeel.

Yes you can drink this but why? At its best this was a Budweiser clone, but shipped across an ocean it is $1.69 a Giant bottle at the Beverage Warehouse in Culver City.

Serving type: bottle

11-06-2005 22:36:44 | More by Zorro

grandq

New York

1.95/5  rDev -18.1%
look: 2 | smell: 2 | taste: 2 | feel: 1.5 | overall: 2

A gift from a Tennessee friend visiting her family and roots in Taiwan, and for the trip around the world, the taste isn't far removed from the convenience store brands back in the South. The initial Pabst-ness of scent prompts me to drink this grassy macro straight out of the can. Greeted up front by an intense malt sweetness that reveals a whole lot of adjunct behind - if it's rice like I hear, it doesn't taste too far off from the corn in a 40. Doesn't stay long on the tongue - a very thin, fizzy, carbonated mouthfeel that evaporates faster than most IPAs. As a result, it doesn't much slake a thirst. But there's something comforting about the familiarity. It's a small (macro) world after all.

Serving type: can

07-21-2006 03:09:51 | More by grandq

wl0307

United Kingdom (England)

2.03/5  rDev -14.7%
look: 2.5 | smell: 2 | taste: 2 | feel: 2 | overall: 2

Got a chance to taste it again as two cans of this beer were brought by my friend from Taiwan as gifts. If only those new micro-breweries in Taiwan would bottle their beers soon, for the time being the Taiwanese people still couldn't escape the overwhelming influence of this sheer "national brand". 24/01/2006 produced, 24/07/2006 expired. Served lightly chilled in a slim lager glass.

A: pale straw colour, very fierce carbonation like a soda, with huge bubbles ejecting from the bottome like a hot spring~~ the loose beer head dissipates quite fast.
S: ashy, faintly lemony and a touch of star-fruit juice from hops(?), on top of mild corn-ish or rice note of grains. Overall very timid and unremarkable, but there's nothing horrible about it either.
T: sharply gassy on the palate, followed by a very intriguing dryish sweet grainness of pong-lai rice, which unfortunately tastes much better in the bowl than in this beer...; giving way to an almost chemical-paint and plastic taste (no, I haven't tasted real plastic!)... no suggestion of hops, with only a dryish and faintly bitter finish.
M: very gassy and watery texture, this beer is in the league of Michelob which once famously/unashamedly quaranteed "no aftertaste" what-so-ever... But different from the canned version I last had some 10 years ago, at least this one doesn't have undesired residual sugary flavour nor metallic taste.
D: to my best recollection, Taiwan Beer in the past had more malty entry, but the one I've just tried surprisingly is even lighter on malts; instead I could sense much more rice in it?! From this observation, I dare presume that Taiwan's joining WTO has turned out a strong boost for the micro-brewing scene in Taiwan after all and simultaneously a blow to the TTL which had dominated Taiwan's beer industry way too long. And now the TTL preserves this beer purely for the brand's sake, while further watering down the ingredients simply to cut the cost for what's worth in their declining share of the market? If that's true, I'd say it's a good start to gradually phase out this bland national brand and open the door for much more varieties of brews (by the TTL and micro-breweries alike) to enrich Taiwan's beer scene.

Serving type: can

03-30-2006 02:04:25 | More by wl0307

BlackHaddock

United Kingdom (England)

2.05/5  rDev -13.9%
look: 3 | smell: 2 | taste: 2 | feel: 2 | overall: 2

Green bottle, 600ml, claiming to be a Gold Medal Beer, whoever voted for this beer was got at!

Paler than a pale thing, on international pale day, this lager looked like Euro fizz, but even paler, light, no very light, almost a see through watery, urine after a heavy day of drinking Bitburger (you must be pissed if you think I've done that).

Taste-less, aroma-less, mouthfeel-less, drinkable-less etc, etc.

If I am stuck in an Island with a dead bloke and a crate of this beer, I would drink rain water before I would open a bottle of Taiwan Beer.

Serving type: bottle

01-14-2007 23:23:50 | More by BlackHaddock

JohnGalt1

Idaho

2.08/5  rDev -12.6%
look: 2.5 | smell: 2 | taste: 2 | feel: 2.5 | overall: 2

Douglas88 sent this up in trade.. shared with the normal folks...

12oz can .... Pale yellow... short lasting white head... no lacing.

Nose is pale grains and nothing else.

Flavor is standard "Bud very light" .... probably lesser Bud... but we are getting down to a scale where "Bad=Bad".

Drink this before you drink the water... I guess.

Nothing good to say, but really, what should you expect?

This review will probably be much better than the BA average, but I have to say.... for what I was ready for, this was better.

Thanks Doug for a new country. :-)

2.5/2/2/2.5/2

Serving type: can

03-25-2012 07:43:58 | More by JohnGalt1

dbaker61

Ohio

2.13/5  rDev -10.5%
look: 2 | smell: 2 | taste: 2.5 | feel: 2 | overall: 1.5

Brew Date: Sept. 8, 2010. Best by Sept. 8, 2011.

Appearance: Pale yellow color, had less than a finger of soapy-looking foam from a vigorous pour. Short retention time, leaving a thin ring of bubbles. Very little lacing.

Smell: Very light sweet aroma, somewhere between malt and rice.

Taste: Just on the bitter side of the sweet-bitter dichotomy. Can definitely taste some rice in there. A fairly typical, and unexciting adjunct lager.

Mouthfeel: Not much. Has about the same body as water. Crisp finish, adequate carbonation.

Overall: Another ho-hum adjunct lager. Nothing special about this one. I think I'll pass on this one next time; there are just so many better beers to have.

Serving type: can

04-23-2011 14:07:24 | More by dbaker61

whiteskittlz

California

2.17/5  rDev -8.8%
look: 2.5 | smell: 3 | taste: 2 | feel: 1.5 | overall: 2

Bought this at 99 Ranch Market in Irvine, CA. When i saw how cheezy the cans looked, this 20.4 oz bottle looked pretty nice, with a claim to "Gold Medal World Monde Selection Bruxelles". In a pig's eye!!!

looks: not bad colouring...a golden that fades to piss towards the bottom of my pilsner glass. not much fizzle and absolutely no head retention.

nose: not bad. slight maltiness... maybe the lack of carbonation is limiting the bouquet, though I doubt I'm missing much.

taste: not bad for the style (riced macro...like the US's big 3), but the finish is just rough. the sweet maltiness is probably the only redeeming quality.

mouth: again, rough. Im glad there isn't more carbonation.

drinkabilities: I would rather drink it than an american macro, but feeling the grassy gassiness rising in my stomach makes it pretty damn unlikely.

-ajh

Serving type: bottle

10-12-2008 01:17:18 | More by whiteskittlz

Amalak

New York

2.18/5  rDev -8.4%
look: 2.25 | smell: 2 | taste: 2.25 | feel: 2 | overall: 2.25

A. Clearish semi-dark gold color. See through with lots of bubbles. There's a slight bubbly white head but dissipates quickly and no lace.

S. Very, very mild malt scent.

T/M. It's your basic malty lager. Basically an American macro. But not sour. It's carbonated and bubbly. Light body.

O. It's your basic, mass-produced lager. Nothing special, but not horrible like some of the American Macros you might find.

Serving type: can

01-23-2013 20:25:11 | More by Amalak

Shiloh

Ontario (Canada)

2.2/5  rDev -7.6%
look: 3 | smell: 2.5 | taste: 2 | feel: 2.5 | overall: 2

Expected more somehow...but failed to deliver...just hoping.
Oh well...Arrived a thin golden colour with large bubbled carbonation and a very short head.
Body is very thin with a slight yeasty scent.
Taste is weak, dry and of cardboard.
Boring yet consumable after a large meal due to its light qualities...Geez that sucks, as does this brew.

Serving type: can

07-10-2004 01:37:47 | More by Shiloh

FrothyBeverage

Pennsylvania

2.23/5  rDev -6.3%
look: 2 | smell: 1.5 | taste: 2.5 | feel: 3 | overall: 2

Purchased a 22oz can from 7-11. Poured it into a funky bamboo shaped glass. It has a very pale golden color with a very frothy head. There is a very faint smell and has a somewhat metalic odor. There is very little taste at all. I do taste hints of rice and corn. The mouth feel is its best quality, goes down very smooth. I do not find this beer that drinkable, but since i am in taiwan and it is everywhere, i may drink it again due to availiblity. I would consider this the asian coors light.

Serving type: can

03-14-2009 02:26:24 | More by FrothyBeverage

AaronHomoya

Indiana

2.25/5  rDev -5.5%
look: 3 | smell: 2.5 | taste: 2 | feel: 3 | overall: 2

Interesting can with very little english on it except the words "TAIWAN BEER".

Golden, darker straw yellow color with a pretty good-sized, white head. It quickly dissapates, however, into a thin cap.

Not much aroma from this, maybe a little sweetness. Taste is pretty bad - a little malt sweetness, a rice-like quality and a soapy flavor as well. No hop flavor, although there is a bit of bitterness in the finish that would suggest their presence.

Light body with medium carbonation. Could barely drink this due to the soapy flavor, though. Possibly the worst beer I've had, though Natty Light might be worse.

Serving type: can

01-28-2007 14:19:20 | More by AaronHomoya

metter98

New York

2.38/5  rDev 0%
look: 2 | smell: 2 | taste: 2.5 | feel: 2.5 | overall: 2.5

A: The beer is clear yellow in color and has a very slight amount of visible carbonation. It poured with a thin head that quickly died down, leaving only delicate lacing covering the surface.
S: There are moderately strong aromas of musty corn in the nose.
T: The taste is similar to the smell and has a light amount of bitterness. It’s not skunky, just musty.
M: It feels light- to medium-bodied on the palate and has a moderate amount of carbonation.
O: This beer has a good amount of flavors compared to others in the style, except that the taste isn’t that good.

Serving type: can

08-06-2012 01:34:11 | More by metter98

DogFood11

California

2.4/5  rDev +0.8%
look: 1.5 | smell: 2 | taste: 2.5 | feel: 2 | overall: 3

Picked up a tall bottle at beverage warehouse that I would geuss to be 16-18 ouncer although nothing to indicate exactly the size. No freshness date to speak of. The bottle is tall and slender, tinted brown. The label is very generic green lettering on an off white background. It states just below the name "tawain beer" that this beer won the "grand gold medal of the 1997 world monde selection.

Malted in the nose with the expected grainy clean smell.

Quite refreshing. More of a sweet malt presence than I'm used to in the style. Crisp and clean all around. Light watered mouthfeel that gets saved by a medium carbonation sizzle. Somewhere in the middle of each drink I got a hop twang that tasted like a cheap adjunct filler.

I found this to be an average macro lager that would be good for sessioning. A slightly sweeter version of US domestic versions.

Serving type: bottle

10-26-2005 02:32:03 | More by DogFood11

arizcards

Arizona

2.4/5  rDev +0.8%
look: 3 | smell: 3 | taste: 2 | feel: 2.5 | overall: 2.5

My co-worker from Taiwan visited and brought a couple of 500 ml cans back.

Beer poured a straw color with very little head on the pour. Nose is light, hints of hops and not much else. Taste is light on the malts and hops, not overly impressive. Mouthfeel is light although the carbonation does make it refreshing. Overall drinkability is below average although it is quenching a thirst built up after hanging out with the grandson this weekend! This is very much like most other international lagers I have had in the past.

Serving type: can

03-02-2008 23:05:49 | More by arizcards

tai4ji2x

Massachusetts

2.42/5  rDev +1.7%
look: 2.5 | smell: 2.5 | taste: 2 | feel: 3 | overall: 3

because of the political issues dividing the economies, this is technically an "import" here in mainland china, and thus there's a slight premium on price.

pale, light, golden straw color. some head, but soon fades to a wisp and thin ring. lacing doesn't stick.

aroma is clean, very faint malt and just a trace of the fact that this is a fermented beverage.

this is pretty damned bland. hops are negligible. at least there doesn't seem to be any DMS or off-flavors.

at least it's not TOO thin, but it's nonetheless a bit watery. carbonation is about the same as any other macro lager.

eh... i guess it's fine to wash down some greasy stir-fried chinese dish. but certainly not worth paying anything but the local price in taiwan.

Serving type: can

05-29-2008 14:48:20 | More by tai4ji2x

vince4953529

California

2.48/5  rDev +4.2%
look: 2.5 | smell: 2.5 | taste: 2 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3

Maybe I'm biased, but I've lived in Taiwan for 10+ years and myself being a "rednecky" Tawianese. This is the default beer for every place here. Had it on tap and countless bottles and cans, this competes with Budweiser and Coors who fancy "imports" over domestic swill, obviously nationalism is not fashionable here..l i digress.

Fizzy yellow lager beer, national-owned brewery, not much to savor here to be honest. It's easy to drink for the working men here, the blue-collar appeal is certainly a plus. Much cheaper than the invading macros from the US, and does not taste any worse either. This is the national Taiwanese beer and not much else, it's inoffensive but honestly it just isn't that good.

Serving type: can

11-18-2010 00:00:33 | More by vince4953529