Last week I talked about how everything is world cup branded, and mentioned all the beer I drank with Team Korea prominently featured on the cans. Well, I mentioned that the Hite Prime Max Special Hop 2010 was also World Cup branded, or at the very least South Africa branded, and I finally managed to track down a couple cans.

Let's just say that I was not impressed. I'm not sure if it is the South African hops that make this beer bad, but there is something definitely missing, and it is a big disappointment. I had previously mentioned the Special Hop 2009 was a triumph of Korean brewing, so I expected big things (or at least...you know, 'things') out of the 2010 variety.

Alas, it just wasn't meant to be. Whereas the 2009 brew had a nice, light fruity-ish aftertaste, the 2010 variety tastes like drinking a mud puddle from beginning to end. At first I thought that maybe I had accidentally put out a cigarette in it before drinking, but then I remembered that I don't even smoke anymore, so it was just bad beer.

To put this into perspective, you have to realize that I am completely disloyal to beer companies. I will buy the cheapest beer (adjusting for alcohol content, naturally) available in the store, and I generally have no complaints. Dakota Kick? Never heard of it, I bet, but I lived on the stuff for a few months when it was 7$ for 24 cans at the local beer store (in the US, of course). Lucky Number 7 11 malt liquor? I've been drinking that for years (and at 8.2% alcohol and 8$ for 24x16oz cans, you probably would have too). So I know what I am talking about when it comes to bad beer.

However, this Special Brew 2010 makes either of them taste like a high end microbrew. What I am saying here is that you should not be fooled by the cool looking can and the special branding. Hite Prime Max Special Hop 2010 is one of the most digustingly reprehensible beers you will be able to find. Save yourself the hassle and drink turpentine, not only is it cheaper, but it probably tastes better, too.

There is absolutely no product in Korea that does not have a team Korea endorsement attached to it somehow. The only thing that might rival team Korea in terms of endorsements is Kim Yuna (or however she spells her name these days), and if you have ever been in Korea, you know that is a lot of advertising deals.

The best thing I have seen so far were cigarettes branded with soccer balls (official endorsement? who knows), which I unfortunately didn't snap a picture of. What I did do, though, was get all the world cup Hite put into one place (my belly) for you. It was hard work, but I drank it all just so you could have the chance to see how team Korea represents the brewery. Take a look below.

First, regular Hite comes in orange and green, for unknown (to me) reasons. I'm sure I could find out why if I dug deep, but to be honest, I don't care. Anyway, this is just regular Hite with the world cup branding.






Yes, I forced myself to drink a twelve pack just for my dear readers. It was a dirty job, but somebody had to do it. I also drank a 1600ml jug of the Hite Prime Max so you could take a gander at the branding on that bottle. For some reason it appears that the cans of Max weren't relabeled, but the big jugs were. Either way, this wasn't really fun for me, since I am a can man, and don't really enjoy drinking out of the plastic bottles. But, remember, I did it for you.



Of course all these just taste like regular Hite and regular Max, they just have fancy labels for the world cup. However, I did see the Hite Prime Max Special Hop 2010 while in Lotte Mart the other day. I didn't buy them because it is far from my home and I didn't want to carry around bottles of beer with me all day, but if you recall the 2009 variety was quite delicious, so I would like to give it a try. Did I mention that it is also World Cup branded? It is. So, if you happen to see any Special Hop 2010, pick it up, it will probably be good, and if not...well it is still beer.

It has been a while since I made a beer post. This is due to three reasons. 1) I have been going out a lot more. 2) The supermarket near my home raised the beer prices. 3) The only beers left for me to drink are the really, really bad ones. So, with that being said, let me show off the new Cass. Oh, did I say new Cass? I meant the same old Cass with a new label. Take a look.



To translate the text at the top, it says 'Min Ho and Sandara drink together! Cass-mas'. Ok that was a poor translation. It says like Min Ho and Sandara together cheers, but that makes no sense in English. Anyway, I'm not here for a Korean lesson, so take it as you will. If you are at all a fan of Korean dramas, you will know Min Ho from Boys Before Flowers, one of the worst things I have ever seen on television. You would know Sandara if you are a pseudo pedophile and like the girl group 2NE1. She, actually, is 26 years years old (Korean age), but some other members of the group are middle schoolers, so don't even think about it. She also happened to be a famous actress in the Philippines before moving back to Korea and joining the girl group. Interesting...or not.

The biggest point here is that the picture of her on the side of the Cass sixer is the worst thing that I have ever seen. To make matters worse, she is a very good looking young lady. Why they dressed her up like that is beyond me. Here are some other pictures of her from Cass beer ads. Take a click over to see 5 funny shots of her slapping Min Ho and then Min Ho chugging a beer(incidentally that site says 'Christ-Cass' while the sixer says 'Cass-mas'). Or you can see her in a totally unCass related situation by clicking here. Yeah, she is hot. Anyway, enough about her. This is about the Cass.

Not only did they change the outer look of the six pack container, they also changed the cans. As you can see below, there are two different styles, one is some trees and snow, and the other is a snowboarder acting gnarly. There may actually be more than two varieties, but I only drank six of them, and this is what I saw. I actually got 5 tree ones and 1 snowboarder, so who knows what the situation is.



One thing that hasn't changed about the beer is the taste. Even with a nice, new winter wrapping, it is the same old Cass inside. Is that a bad thing? Definitely not, I drank Cass for the first three years in Korea. However, I always like new beers, so it was a bit disappointing that they didn't unveil some new recipe.

I finally ended up picking up a new sixer at the store. Normally I go solely with the Korean brands, but I wanted to get another beer up on my blog without buying the 2x (2% alcohol) or Cass Lemon (eww). So, I went with something that I know. Sure, instead of the 8,160w I have to pay for a Korean sixer I had to pay 8,950w, but the extra 75c or so isn't that big of a deal. I got MGD. Now, if I were in the US, I would be a High Life man, but unfortunately that isn't available here. I had to go with what I could get, and what I could get was MGD.

The main reason I bought it is because the price is really cheap for an imported beer. That, coupled with the fact the can labels are in Korean led me to believe that Miller had opened a plant over here. However, when I rolled into the supermarket to buy it, I found out otherwise. Take a look at that big sticker advertising its roots.



That's right, Made in the U.S.A., baby! I guess I don't have to tell you about the quality, since it is bound to be the same stuff you probably drink every weekend. However, I thought it was funny that they had to slap that label on there. I guess the Korean people made the same assumption I did when they saw the Korean labels.

I have nothing to write about, so I went to the grocery store looking to profile a new Korean beer for my western audience. Unfortunately, I have done all the decent beers in the low price range, so I had very little to choose from. The options were to get Cass Light, Cass Lemon, Cass x2, or mini cans of Hite. The mini cans wouldn't cut it, I hate myself, but not enough to drink Cass Lemon, and Cass x2, despite its wonderful name, only has 2% alcohol. So yeah, the only choice I reasonably had was to get Cass Light.

I also figured that since Tuttle himself drank it, it couldn't be all that bad. The truth is, it isn't that bad. I mean, don't get me wrong, it isn't as good as original Cass or Max, but it isn't bad. It tastes more or less exactly like a Miller/Bud Light, so there is nothing I can really complain about. There is also nothing special to say, if you have tasted one light beer, you have tasted them all. Sadly, this means that I have nothing even moderately worth drinking for this beer section anymore. But anyway, this is what I got for today, we will worry about the future when it comes. Take a look:

When I first moved to Korea, I was a Cass man. I don't know why, but it was the first beer I bought, and it was the beer I stuck with for several years. However, when Max came out, I made the switch, for no particular reason. Now, of course, I would always buy the beer that was on sale or the one that came packaged with a free snack or was on sale, don't get me wrong. However, all things being equal, I would go with Max.

Things just changed, though. Typically, six packs cost 8,160w. Alcohol prices in Korea are noncompetitive. Pretty much anywhere you go, beer costs what beer costs, and that is that. That has all changed, though. I was just in the supermarket right now, and saw that OB and Cass products are all priced at the 6,600w per six pack price, making them much cheaper than the Hite products. Interesting, isn't it? It appeared that this was their new standard price, and not a sale thing, so that being said, I am back on the Cass bandwagon. Besides, it isn't really fair to get a six pack of 6.9% alcohol Cass Red for 6,600w, or a six pack of 4.5% alcohol Hite Prime for 8,160w. Where is the value, people!?

It started out as The Hite, then came Hite Prime. This was followed by Hite Prime Max. Just when I thought a beer's name couldn't get any longer, I walked into the convenience store this evening and saw a jug of this new stuff. Hite Prime Max Special Hop 2009. Now that is a name that would satisfy any discerning beer drinker.


Let's forget for a second that it is made by one of Korea's big 3 breweries (Actually, it might be Big 2, being that OB and Cass share web addresses). This is actually the first 'seasonal' beer I have ever seen in Korea. Sure, it is labeled as 2009, so isn't exactly seasonal, but the idea is still there. Up top it says 'Special Edition: Nelson Sauvin New Zealand' in English and Special Edition in Korean. On the bottom, it says Made from all malt and naturally fruity and floral hop. In Korean under that it says 'We use Nelson Sauvin hops from New Zealand'. Definitely an interesting thing.


I know that I broke my six pack convention, but the grocery store is the only place with six packs, and I didn't see any of the special stuff there, so I had to venture to the convenience store instead. I also broke my rule of not writing anything, but that couldn't be helped today, anyway. But, since I am at it, I might as well explain my new goal. I plan on drinking every Korean beer available (that includes the Budweiser and possibly MGD that is brewed here) and photographing it for posterity. Later on, if Im not too intoxicated, I will write reviews about each one.


Sure, some of them will be tough, like Cass Lemon (putrid), and the new Cass 2x. Cass 2x isn't 2x the alcohol, sadly. It is 2% alcohol, who knows where they got the 'x' from. But yeah, I don't look forward to that at all. Nor do I want to drink the fiber added stuff (is that the Exfeel? I get them so confused), and the stout isn't that great either, but I will do it. For you guys, I will.


Anyway, since I am writing here, I will say that this Hite Prime Max Special Hop 2009 is not a bad beer at all. It isn't really fruity or floral, but it has a nice flavor added that Korean beer is often lacking (Cafri excluded). Not to mention, Max is also the only Korean beer that is made without rice, so it has that going for it. All in all, not a bad change of pace, even though I do have to drink it out of the 1,600ml jug, rather than my preferred method, the wide mouth can. Unavoidable, I guess, and on that note, I am going to get back to drinking myself into a stupor. Have a good one, everybody.