(Hyoketsu Fukuoka Amaou | Hyoketsu Fukuoka Strawberry Cultivar)
General Description
It's getting chillier and chillier each day, but it's not too cold to enjoy a chilled drink. And we can enjoy some winter fruits too! Today we're looking at two seasonal entries in Kirin's chuuhai line, Hyoketsu.
...Which makes me realize I've never talked about what a chuuhai is, despite having featured some here before (notably all the Mottainai we've been looking at). The word chuuhai comes from the words shouchuu and highball (or rather the Japanese word for it, haibooru). While highball generally refers to a mix of a bit of alcohol with another drink, haibooru refers to just whisky and soda. Chuuhai was traditionally a mix of shouchuu and another beverage, but vodka is often used now.
And Kirin's Hyoketsu uses vodka! ...Which also reminds me that I probably should mention what kind of alcohol is in the drinks we look at. Whoops. Anyways, a bit about Hyoketsu. Hyouketsu (氷結) means "frozen," but in this case it's also a combination of hyouten (氷点, "freezing point") and touketsu (凍結, "freezing"). According to Kirin's website, they use "Hyoten Toketsu technology" to keep the strong, fresh flavour of the fruit used. Kirin also highlights how they use "clear fruit juice" to create a juicy fruit taste without off-flavours. Clearly the fruit flavour is important here!
But does the flavour come through? Let's jump in and find out!
Review
- Price
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126 JPY (350ml can x 1) - Taste
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The kiwi flavour has a genuine but subdued kiwi taste. It's sweet with a tart aftertaste, not learning strongly either way.The strawberry flavour is mostly sweet with a slight bitter aftertaste. It honestly tastes like a Hi-Chew candy with its slight creamy taste. Definitely tastes more like a candy than a genuine fruit. Still clearly tastes like strawberry. Since kiwi has that natural bitterness to it, it masks the candy-likeness more.
Although it's sweet, it's not like juice. Rather like a soda. It keeps the flavour light and refreshing. The alcohol taste isn't very strong.
- Texture
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It's carbonated, but it is not strikingly strong.
- Smell
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The kiwi flavour has a sweet kiwi smell. The strawberry flavour has more candy-like strawberry smell.
- Overall
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It's good. This is the exact kind of thing I go for when I want a cooler. It's got that sweetness that I like but still goes down easily. It's definitely something you can enjoy a few of in one sitting. While it's not doing something outstanding or new, it's a solid choice. - Would I try again?
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Definitely!
