Niigata Le Lectier follows up the fruit range of beers produced by Niigata Beer, along with their Ale de Blue Berry and also their mango beer, neither of which really convinced us of the merits of adding anything other than cherries to your beer. This time around, Niigata Le Lectier contains pears from the Le Lectier family grown in Niigata prefecture. It comes in at 5% and like other beers from Niigata Beer is 100% bottle conditioned.
Contains fresh pears.
Niigata Le Lectier Aroma and Taste
Niigata Le Lectier poured out a golden amber colour with minimal head. I wasn’t expecting much honestly considering the last few fruit based beers from Niigata Beer were relatively poor compared to others. There wasn’t much aroma coming off of it either, but then I guess pears don’t have the most distinctive of smells as they are a poor man’s apple. See I said it. I prefer apples to pears. Somewhere in the mix of blandness there was some malt peering through but that could have been my imagination.
Adding fruit, or any adjuncts such as oak chips, to beer seems a big gamble to me. If you add it in and it doesn’t work, then you have spoilt the batch and need to try again. Niigata is well known for its rice and fruit so someone must have thought “hey, we have an abundance of pears, what would happen if…?” and off they went. Of course, if it pays off, then you have a great beer like Minamishinshu Apple Hop or a Baird Carpenter’s Mikan Ale but at other times you end up with Niigata Le Lectier.
The body just lacked anything really to write about. Niigata Le Lectier was crisp and dry, I’ll give it that, but then so are the mass produced Asahis and Kirins of the world. Niigata Le Lectier didn’t really inspire me to drink much of it nor did it have me coming back in a rush for more.
Niigata Le Lectier One Line Review
Niigata Le Lectier is likeable enough but not really worth spending a premium amount on it really. Best leave the pear on the tree for eating.
Where to Buy Niigata Le Lectier
Niigata Le Lectier can be bought from Kishimoto on Rakuten here. The Niigata Beer online store has now closed down.
