Saturday, September 22, 2012

Drinks of summer ahoy!

Hello readers. Thanks for checking in! Again, sorry for the lack of updates. I have been very busy the last few months and I have had some good drinks I would like to share. So let's get to it.

Trying an "Africa pale ale".
First off I would like to mention the Akita Craft Beer Festival. It was a fun way to sample some of Japan's micro breweries. Allegedly there were around 70 different companies represented. Several I had heard of before, including Akita's own Tazawako and Aquila breweries.

I sampled about eight or so different beers. I enjoyed the setup, however I thought it was a bit expensive. Something like four 200ml drinks for 1000 yen. I also purchased a small drinking glass to remember the occasion.

As a whole, the beer festival was fun. Though not as nice as the Michigan Beer Festival in Ypsilanti. In my opinion the Akita one has some growing to do.

I would guess there was around 200 people on Sunday, when I went. I understand that the first day had more beer, which was rotated every few hours, and a lot more people. As a whole though the day was perfect for drinking, and my friends and I had a good time.


Displayed left is a shot of some drinks I have recently tried. I might not have a super accurate description of all of them though, I need to start taking notes.  We will start on the left and go right.  The furthest most can is Yona Yona ale.  It is from a microbrewery in Japan. I don't remember where exactly, but I do remember having one of their beers on tap at the festival. Not bad. The second is Brekle's brown ale from Anchor Brewery in San Francisco. The bottle had a brief account of the brewery's history. Over all it was not my favorite brown ale. It was not as flavorful as I would have liked.
The third is a "seasonal" from Asahi, it tastes a little better then normal Asahi and has 6% alcohol. for the price, I suppose it's not too bad, something like 180 yen. The third is Chimay a very strong triple ale something like 8% or more. It had a full rich flavor too. The last of note is the dark Yebisu. Pretty much a dark stout by one of the better large beer companies in Japan.

On a separate note I have located one of my favorite Japanese beers in a local store, the Aooni beer which I had thought to be seasonal. Apparently not. At any rate, that's all for now. Thanks for reading!
Cheers!