Tokyo Black Porter - Yo-Ho Brewing (Japan - Nagano) 5.0%

Tokyo Black Porter - Yo-Ho Brewing (Japan - Nagano) 5.0%

Super dark, black and totally opaque in a glass with a brown frothy head. Raisin, grain and coffee, a little dark chocolate and smoke in the aroma.

Delicious dark malt flavours: smoke, coffee, raisins and other dried dark fruit flavours, complete with a dark chocolate backer. The smoke flavour is quite heavy and has a charred characteristic to it. The malt dimension as a whole is thick and delightful, and the mouthfeel is quite smooth and creamy. This porter is not too bitter for all it's smokiness and on the whole is exceptionally well balanced. Tokyo Black is exceptionally good and I heartily recommend it.

Suiyoubi No Neko - Yo-Ho Brewing (Japan - Nagano) 4.5%

Suiyoubi No Neko - Yo-Ho Brewing (Japan - Nagano) 4.5%

Gold in a glass, absolutely clear - not cloudy at all. The aroma is of nectar and malty sweetness. From the aroma and appearance it is fair to say Suiyoubi No Neko is more like a Belgian Blonde Ale than a Beglian White so far.

The taste is sweet and nectary like a Belgian Blonde but with coriander touches and a slightly creamy mouthfeel like a Wheat. While the style may be a bit of a mash-up the flavour is wonderful: sweet and floral with touches of apricot along with the nectar and coriander. It is also well balanced and refreshing. Suiyoubi No Neko really does seem to me like a cross between a Belgian Blonde Ale and a Belgian White but that is a pretty delightful combination and, as a result, this beer is thoroughly delicious. Also the can is incredibly cute.

Yona Yona Ale - Yo-Ho Brewery (Japan - Nagano) 5.5%

Yona Yona Ale - Yo-Ho Brewery (Japan - Nagano) 5.5%

A deep orangey gold colour in a glass with a big off-white head that leaves nice lacing. A pleasantly malty aroma with more than a little roast and some resiny hops.

Quite a sweet taste with nice citrus notes (orange and lemon), a little papaya and a bit of resin all from the hops. This is a very tasty American Pale Ale. Very drinkable with moderate hop bitterness and some light spiciness while the malt gives the ale a bit of a light caramel flavour. Yona Yona Ale is very tasty and would make a great session beer. It would also pair well with many types of food with its pleasant flavour and well balanced bitterness. Not a surprise that Yona Yona Ale has won craft beer awards in Japan.

Aooni - Yo-Ho Brewing (Japan - Nagano) 7.0%

Aooni - Yo-Ho Brewing (Japan - Nagano) 7.0%

A crystal clear rusty orange colour in a glass with a big frothy head with good resilience and it comes in an extremely cool can. A very light hops aroma of resin and cedar.

Quite bitter, a touch metallic, and the alcohol also comes through quite clearly. There really isn't as much in the way of a hops character as I expected; mostly just bitterness and some cedar. The malt dimension is also fairly muted, toasty and somewhat sweet but mostly unremarkable.

This beer is a little bit of a let down. It's not a bad beer by any means but it doesn't have much depth of flavour beyond bitterness with a touch of toasty malt. It is possible that the beer is old and that the flavour has faded but Aooni tastes like it was designed this way; it is not unbalanced and doesn't have any off-flavours. Also, and most importantly, the timing doesn't make sense for it to be too old: it was purchased three weeks ago from a store in Japan and then hand carried to Canada by my fiancee. So I guess it is just a bitter, high-alcohol beer with an otherwise relatively tame flavour, definitely more English IPA than American IPA. However, considering the high-alcohol content, Aooni is very drinkable for a beer this strong.

Hitachino Amber Ale Nest Beer - Kiuchi Brewery (Japan - Ibaraki) 6.0%

Hitachino Amber Ale Nest Beer - Kiuchi Brewery (Japan - Ibaraki) 6.0%

A very dark amber, more like a red-tinted chestnut colour in a glass with a big head of off-white foam that leaves behind fairly nice lacing. The aroma is one of grain and malt, with some sweetness, some caramelization, some hops, a bit of honey and a hint of something faintly citrusy.

The taste is sweet and caramelized but also quite pleasantly hoppy and bitter with some resiny cedar tones and an umami finish that is ever so slightly metallic. This is a bit more easy drinking and lighter on the citrusy and floral hops than an American Amber but it still has a nice bitter hops bite. Kiuchi Brewery's Hitachino Amber Ale Nest Beer would pair well with lots of foods because of it robust flavour and palate cleansing bitterness; quite a nice beer and my favourite out of the three from Kiuchi that I have tried.

Hitachino White Ale Nest Beer - Kiuchi Brewery (Japan - Ibaraki) 5.5%

Hitachino White Ale Nest Beer - Kiuchi Brewery (Japan - Ibaraki) 5.5%

A cloudy, glowing gold colour in a glass with a white head with fairly good resilience. A slight pine hops touch to the wheat aroma of cloves and spice, with some papaya and orange touches: a positively delectable aroma.

The expected (and tasty) white ale flavours are there, seeds of paradise and coriander, and orange zest, as well as papaya, some spice and a fairly bitter taste from that same hops flavour of pine that I detected in the aroma. The bitterness depends on how much sediment ends up in your glass. I got a fair amount so I found Hitachino White Ale Nest Beer ended up tasting like an American White Ale but a pour that leaves more sediment in the bottle may present a more classic white ale, sweet and fruity. After reading the label I realized I could pick up a little of the nutmeg they have used too, it's probably the source of some of the spicy touch as well as some of the bitterness.

Hitachino Nest Beer Pale Ale - Kiuchi Brewery (Japan - Ibaraki) 5.5%

Hitachino Nest Beer Pale Ale - Kiuchi Brewery (Japan - Ibaraki) 5.5%

A light cedar hops and malt aroma. A pleasant looking burnt orange hue in a glass. This English style Pale Ale has a fairly bitter taste with a toasty and sweet malt flavour at first as well as a nutty edge. A dry hops character with some light cedar notes is late arriving, builds a little as you drink and rounds out the taste nicely. All in all a tasty beer. If you are in Japan and in the mood for a craft brewed beer this is a fine choice. I'm looking forward to trying the other two beers from Kiuchi Brewery my fiancee brought back for me when she returned from her recent foray to Japan.

The Premium Malt's - Suntory (Japan) 5.5%

The Premium Malt's - Suntory (Japan) 5.5%

Gold in a glass with a bubbly white head with some staying power. There is something about the heavy tappered bottle and the gold label that seems very Eighties chic to me.

The aroma is malty and sweet but there is also a dry hops character to it with some skunkiness, likely from being light struck despite the heavy and dark brown glass bottle. As regular readers of the blog may recall, I don't really mind a bit of skunkiness. Even though I know it is technically an off-flavour, I think it can bring out the hops nicely in the right beer.

Quite a dry bitter taste with some genuine hops flavour that is green, somewhat spicy and almost bordering on pine. Some light malty sweetness for balance but there is quite a backing of hops. This a very nice Pilsner actually, I must say I am pleasantly surprised by this beer. I would definitely have a Suntory Pilsner Beer again if I were in Japan and the situation called for a Pilsner!

Asahi Super Dry (Japan) 5.0%

Asahi Super Dry (Japan) 5.0%

A lightly malty, lightly hopped aroma. Asahi pours a shade paler than full gold with a head of respectable. The taste is quite sweet, lightly malty (a bit like the way canned corn smells) and lightly bitter but with a more bitter than expected finish. Basically Asahi Super Dry is a typical international lager but I'd choose it over Budweiser or Molson Canadian if I was at a Yomiuri Giants game at the Tokyo Dome (and those beers were my only choices). Also it comes in a can that is frankly adorably small and perfect, I suppose, for the commuting salaryman.

International Lagers From Around the World

International lagers are a constant in the world: travel nearly anywhere in world and someone (seemingly often owned by InBev) will be brewing a bland, yellow, fizzy beer. In this post I review four of them all of which except for Polar Bear are available in beer stores pretty much everywhere.
Cheers!


Sol (Mexico) 4.5%

Gold in a glass. Smells quite malty, a little skunky probably because the clear bottle doesn't protect the beer from sunlight like a brown bottle would. Taste is very mild, quite sweet, fairly malty. Essentially no aftertaste.  A nice bottle cap and label. If you are just looking for something yellow, fizzy, refreshing with very little flavor Sol beer does the trick. On the other hand if you are looking for a beer with an interesting flavour look elsewhere.


Red Stripe (Jamaica) 4.7%

Sweet, not very bitter. Not as carbonated as most international lagers, smoothly malty and with a slight metallic and umami finish. Not much to it but a distinctive bottle. Because of this bottle and especially the country of origin I'm always disappointed when I remember Red Stripe isn't a ginger beer, oh well.



 Sapporo (Japan) 5.0%

A very light gold colour in a glass, this Japanese beer (brewed in Guelph, Ontario) is very, very light tasting. Slightly malty, slightly hoppy aroma. Slightly malty flavour but it somehow manages to not come across as watery, which is nice. Eminently drinkable: you could pound back a ton of these with ease and I'm sure it would go with just about any type of food because it's so bland. Sapporo must be popular with Japanese salary-men as it makes such a nice after work beer because it's so refreshing. However, there just isn't much to Sapporo other than being yellow and fizzy: a typical international lager but a good one if that's all you are looking for. The can is also really cool with a raised logo and Japanese characters stamped into the side of it.


  Polar Bear (Iceland) 4.7%

A really normal international lager: not overly malty, sweet or bitter. Distinctly indistinct.

Kirin Ichiban (Japan / USA - Los Angeles) 5.0%

In honour of MLB 2012 Opening Series in Japan and the giant billboard in right field of the Tokyo Dome featuring Ichiro holding a Kirin Ichiban, I review the beer (though the version in North America is brewed in the USA).



Kirin Ichiban (Japan / USA - Los Angeles) 5.0%

An Anheuser-Busch product, this Japanese beer is actually brewed in Los Angeles under the supervision of the Kirin Brewery from Japan and it tastes like a slightly more bitter than average lager, not much to distinguish it other than a stylish label and a great bottle cap.