Proper Sake – Liger King – Sake Lager Hybrid

Before opening: I’ve had lagers (at this point in time) in my earlier years. I’ll have to brush up on my lager tastings to see how my thoughts stack up to this review later. Palates change and I need to refresh what the lager taste palate is! However, I give my best shot based on memory below!

Alc by vol. N/A
Bottled: 2020
Style: Lager (Sake Hybrid)

Ingredients: Koji, Rice, sake yeasts, lager yeasts, wheat malt, etc.

Liger King – Sake Lager Hybrid From the Proper Sake website: A marriage of fermentation science and magic of mythical proportions. This multiple parallel fermentation introduces sake and lager yeasts, wheat malt to koji and rice for a doubly powerful brew that is blurring the lines between what is possible in fermentation.

Poured from 750ml bottle into a whiskey tumbler (lowball) glass.

Appearance: Pours dark and dirty. Dirty blonde like. Hazy. Moderate head retention and dissipates to a nice rim of bubbles. Laces nicely.

Aroma: Light floral nose. Sweet smelling and delicate.

Taste: Tastes lighter than it is. Crisp and sort of biscuity – could be the umami taste. Mellow and smooth and cruises nicely across the palate.

Finish: Off of the initial taste, it’s sort of funky and soothes out to light and bitter lift. Leaves a great coating of the palate and flavor behind that I’m having trouble deciphering. I’ll have to update this later when it comes to me. This lager really lacquered the mouth layers.

Summary: This lager is SUPER INTERESTING. I consider this a rare treat. The lager that stick out in my mind when some mentions “lager” is Red Stripe. Of course, there are MANY lagers out there, so there is variance. However, most never truly satisfy my palate now-a-days unless I’m doing some sweating outside somewhere. This lager wouldn’t care where you are cause it’s so delicious. That magic mentioned in it’s description did some got-dang work! I feel like Jushin Lager himself just suplexed the lager style into submission on the koji’s behalf. If you wanted UMAMI you got it! I’m going to miss Liger King when it’s gone. This would be an immediate request for myself when I’m hankering for a lager. This lager has had the best flavor I’ve had in a while with this kind of style. I dig the flavorful jazz that is the Liger King.