Sunday Beer Spotlight: Lucky Buddha Beer

As I understand, Buddha was not a fan of alcohol, but the enlightened one doesn’t have a team of lawyers on retainer, so … Lucky Buddha Beer! The bottle is an eye-catcher, the kind of thing that will hold a place of honor in frats and dorms across America. It’s heavy green glass with The Teacher smiling right at you, delighted you chose him over cotton candy-flavored vodka.

Originally brewed in Australia -- Lucky Buddha now comes from the Hangzhou Qiandaohu Beer Company in China –which is partially owned by Japanese brewer Kirin. After all that world travel, I could use a beer.

Lucky Buddha pours a very, very pale yellow with a thin, white head. Somewhere between a Bud and a Heineken, Lucky B is so mild as to be almost flavorless. Coming from China, it’s a very ricey brew with just the faintest hint of malted barley. At the finish, a lingering alkaline finish like a pinch of baking soda.

Lucky Buddha is just a novelty beer, nothing awful, but nothing special either … and at $10 a sixer from Target, not worth trying more than once. The Lucky Buddha bottle feels hefty, which makes me wonder which costs more to ship from China’s eastern coast – the little hollow statues or the beer inside.