I’ve known Coedo’s Beniaka from before. That said, I only had it once, years ago, and I didn’t like it. In a bar my friends and I frequented in Hikone they had the entire Coedo lineup, and the first time I went there I tried them all (quite a pricey way to drink out if you ask me). Beniaka was just too sweet for me – and that much hasn’t changed.

Beniaka is made using sweet potato, that gives it its color and its sweetness. The label says it’s a lager, and I’m not well-versed enough in beer genres to argue about that.

It’s got a clear, amber body with a dirty white, big and solid head. Considering the creamy-looking head, the relatively strong lacing came as no surprise.

The nose is sweet, full of the malts and the potato, but then there is a fresh (slightly bitter, but still sweet) fruity ting as well as some caramel notes.

It’s got medium body and carbonation. It’s full taste is the overwhelming victory of sweetness. There is a chocolate-ish bitterness struggling to stay present, but even that is a sweet bitterness. Once the beer calms down a little, the fruity notes come in the foreground, led by a red berry taste, followed by a honey tone.

Beniaka is still too sweet for me. It’s a dessert beer, something I’d maybe drink with some cakes, but it’s not the refreshing brew I want on a hot summer night.