Konami, Kirin, and SNNAAAAAAKE

If the time I've spent (or wasted) playing videogames and watching anime has taught me anything, the longer the name, the better the product. For example, Metal Gear Solid: Tactical Espionage Action. Unnecessarily long name, good game. Speaking of Metal Gear Solid...
Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots, the latest and last of Hideo Kojima's Metal Gear series, is shaping up to be a fitting adieu. So far (I'm only starting the third act), the game has finally mixed the balls-out FPS shooting that's so popular with current games, with the sneakiness the Metal Gear series has had since it's Playstation(and NES) days.
Not to say that you can just run around Master-Chief Style and become a one man army...it's still a sneaking game at heart.
Along with all the sneaking around, there are a TON of cut scenes, and there's a bit of loading time in between major story arcs of the game. Once, these were annoying wastes of my time....but now...

They're time blocks of the perfect length for trying beer!

And what goes better with a Japanese game about the exploits of an American spy than a Japanese beer brewed by an American Company! Coincidence? I think not...
Said so right on the bottle, brewed in California, owned by the one and only Anheuser-Busch.
Taking anticipation up another notch this "Japanese" beer(specifcally a Pale Lager) has one long name, Kirin Ichiban Special Premium Reserve. Sounds fancy...yet, all my enthusiasm for the beer ended after a few swigs.
Don't get me wrong, it's not a "bad" beer, and cheaper than most other bottled beers (about $7 for a six pack), but if I wanted a lager, I would have just gone with Budweiser, it's cheaper.
I tried to find a pint glass to put this "special reserve" beer in (didn't want to keep it in the bottle), but alas, since I've been gone, my family has resorted to hiring cleaning staff to clean the house, resulting in just about everything I own being misplaced once a week.
Seriously, I found my shower soap in my closet...I don't even know how that's possible, since it was in the bathroom...but whatever.
Anyways, back to reviewing this beer. I drank this one straight out of the bottle(for shame!) Mouthfeel is pretty smooth, with enough carbonation to give the beer some character(let's say, mineral-water esque). The taste, however, is pretty watered down. About mid-way through the beer there were times when I couldn't tell I was drinking anything, since the faint bitter (or perhaps, faintly-yeasty) after-taste somehow overpowers the already watered down main event. This after-taste (or finish if you will) doesn't even linger that long...somehow it just cancels out the flavor of your next swig.
What was nice about the beer was that when it's flavor did find my tongue, it was greeted with a slight sweetness--oddly enough, akin to the suman I had earlier--which canceled out the faint-hops finish, leaving my palate seemingly cleansed of all flavors....yet this happened sporadically.
Lack of glassware and flavor-sporacity aside, it's just not worth the price. The name promises something big, and doesn't deliver. Granted, it's a pale lager... definitely not going to deliver the same flavor as a stout, but this beer just left my taste-buds wanting something more.

Verdict: Looks Japanese, feels American, leaves me wanting more.

P.S. It's my first bad review? Already? I dont' want to be known as a beer snob, so let me just say, this beer was quite drinkable and didn't ruin my day, it made it better...after all, it is beer.