Sapporo Reserve

Hmm, Sapporo Reserve. I was really looking forward to this one - the can’s a very classy curvy shape that was nice to stroke, hold, and sit on my deck in the sun with… and I have developed a little bit of a penchant for Japanese beer of late. So I had very high hopes.

Alas, the can was probably the best thing about this beer. It looks pretty when you pour it into the glass, and keeps it’s carbonation well enough. But I can make pretty bubbly things with a chemistry set, and they’ll be more fun because they’ll possibly catch on fire or explode. This beer did neither. It tasted smelled and tasted just like factory lager. I don’t think I’ll bother reviewing macro-brew lagers out of tins any more. It’s pointless.

Nice cans, though.

JBB6 Rating: Middle Of The Road

Koshihikari Echigo Beer

Like some strange episode of the Twilight Zone I found yet another new friend today, standing proud but chilly at the back of the beer cooler in Uwajimaya. There he was in all his glassy brown glory; a tall-ish bottle of Koshihikari Echigo Beer from the Echigo Beer Co of Japan.

Now, while the cap says it’s made with “selected malt and hops” I’ve got a sneaking suspicion there’s some rice action going on in that brewing process as well. For starters, the label’s got people planting rice on it. For secondses, Koshihikari is some kind of rice, and for Third? Well. For third, you can taste it. Pretty conclusive, I reckon.

Whether that rice thing is true or not, I like this beer - it’s a pale golden pour that comes out of the bottle, with a strong head that quickly fades, (like Dug after a half pint of PBR). There’s a slightly acidic tang to the regular lager flavour, which you probably wouldn’t notice too much if you weren’t on the look-out for it. One stand-out is the carbonation… not much to look at in the glass, but this would definitely be mighty refreshing on a hot day. It doesn’t take long for me to polish it off on a cool northwestern night either, and it leaves me looking - sadly, in vein - for another.

JBB6 Rating: Will Buy Again

Hitachino Nest Red Rice Ale

Ahhh, Kiuchi Brewery again… this time it’s a cheeky bottle of “Red Rice Ale“, a Belgian-style brew with an attractive amber glow, a slight yeast tang, and a drinkable flavour that would have had me reaching for a second bottle  as soon as I finished the first - if I’d happened to have one in the house. Shame I didn’t, because there’s a 7%ABV kick here I’d like to carry on with… no such luck.

Apparently there’s some rice action involved in the brewing process, and there’s definitely a sake-ish hint to the palate, which lends the beer an intriguing air. The more I think about it, the more I like this one…

 

I’m determined to work my way through everything Hitachino Nest have to offer, so look for more Nest News in the coming days… I’ll probably wrap it up with a Top 5 drink-off where we go through all of them again and see if we can come up with the definitive list of Best Nests. How’s that for something to look forward to?

Hitachino Nest Japanese Classic Ale

Well, I didn’t enjoy the  Hitachino Nest Weizen I had a couple weeks back as much as I’d hoped I would, but as today’s lunch was gonna be Tom Yam soup and sushi I thought I’d give my not-quite-friends-yet at the Kiuchi Brewery another chance with a small bottle of Japanese Classic Ale. Turns out to be a good choice!

First impression is of a deep orange-amber ale with plenty of bubbles and a decent head, that mostly stays as the beer slips down. A fine taste on the tongue, and although my super-spicy soup tries it’s hardest to overpower the beer, it fights back strong and provides a fine complement to the meal. Here it is, in all it’s ill-lit glory:

There’s probably some nonsense I could string together about hops and IPAs, and how the Japanese brew-team have come up with a winning formula for maturing the beer in cedar casks (who knew?) but really: there’s not a lot more to say.

This is a good beer, with a good-to-great taste. It looks and smells nice. At $4.65 for an 11oz bottle at Uwajimaya the price is a bit over the top, but I figure this was a tasty treat that I’ll have again. Just not too often…

Hitachino Nest Beer: Weizen

Saturday! Even better than Friday night, sometimes, especially if the rain’s lashing down outside (surprise!), the fire’s raging in the hearth, and there’s a bit of a Japan-fest going on in your house. Youngest son has developed a strange obesession for repeat watchings of Kingu Kongu no gyakushu, and everything else from the Land of the Rising Sun. To develop his education a little further, I think a trip to Uwajimaya is in order.

An hour later and weighed down with bags of strange candy, spicy baby octopus, a pack of raw sea urchin and enough sushi and sashimi to feed a small army, I come across the beer fridge. Intriguing! There’s a lot here that’s familiar (the predicatable Sapporo, Kirin, and so on) and a lot that’s not. Basing my choice pretty much solely on the label, I plump for an extortionately priced $9 bottle of Hitachino Nest Beer in Weizen form from the Kiuchi Brewery in Naka-shi, Ibaraki, Japan. Even if I don’t like the contents, the 1 pint 5 oz bottle and the Owl label are pretty darn cool.

A couple hours later, and it seems I do like it - at least a bit. An attractive cloudy golden amber pour develops a head that’s an inch high, but which rapidly fades away to nothing much. Taste-wise it seems to lack a little of the body I wanted, and there’s a yeasty, acidic finish that I’m not really in the mood for today. But it’s refreshing enough, and there’s plenty of the spicy coriander notes and lemony tang that you’d expect to find in a decent hefeweizen.  By the end of the second glass I’m wishing I’d bought more than one bottle, but given the price… I’m not sure I would.

There’s plenty of others in their recipe-book that I’ll be sampling, though, and next time I’m in Japan, I think I’d like to pay them a visit.

 Edit: Now I remember what it reminds me of… Hoegaarden! I wonder if I can find that here in the States…