United Nations of Beer

Five Star beer

by David Friesen
(Beer Delegate, China)

Five Star beer
China

Whilst on my supermarket jaunt recently I picked up some Five Star Beer. This beer was described as a "wheat beer", so I was fairly excited as I had not had a Chinese wheat beer before.

Initial signs when opening the 350ml can were good, with the beer exuding a pleasant wheat smell quite full of fruit. The beer also looked good when poured, with a very pale and slightly cloudy essence to it.

The beer was quite low in alcohol at 3.6% ABV, but I was definitely looking forward to tasting this brew.

First signs on tasting the beer were also good, with a bitter and satisfying wheat taste to begin with. However, the aftertaste was quite strange and a little metallic.

I am not sure if this was because of the can or something else, but it really spoiled the good points. However, as I had a few more sips the taste became less pronounced and was balanced by that refreshing quality so often associated with wheat beers like Hoegaarden and Erdinger.

This beer definitely grew on me and despite the aftertaste it is definitely one of the better beers I have tried in China. Being a wheat beer it makes a nice change from the others.

Five Star Beer definitely gets five stars from me: if I had a star rating system in place of course!

We do now! Ed.