Taiwan Lychee Beer

This is a six-pack of lychee-flavored beer, listed in a can format. The name points to a fruit beer built around lychee rather than a conventional hop-driven style. Lychee beers of this kind usually lean light and lightly sweet, with a floral, grape-and-rose aroma. A soft, pale malt base sits underneath, and bitterness stays low because hops are there for balance rather than character. The label carries the exact ABV, and fruit beers in this category commonly sit at the low end of the beer range. Lychee has a perfumed, slightly tropical sweetness, so the most natural food matches are ones that either echo it or cut through it. Spicy dishes are the clearest fit: Sichuan-style stir-fries, Thai green curry, Korean fried chicken and chili-oil dumplings all benefit from a cold, lightly sweet beer that tames heat. Salty fried foods such as tempura, salt-and-pepper shrimp and fried calamari also work well, as does sushi with a bit of wasabi. Rich or heavily smoked meats will tend to overpower a beer this delicate. Serve it properly cold, roughly 38 to 42°F, which keeps the fruit crisp rather than syrupy; as it warms, expect the sweetness to become more noticeable. Because it comes in cans, pour it into a glass rather than drinking from the can so the lychee aroma can open up. A pilsner glass or a tall, narrow tumbler suits it well, and a wheat beer vase or stemless white wine glass also works, since a narrow rim concentrates the floral notes.