Beer tasting party

Hello again! Sorry for the delay! Work has been crazy as usual. So, as I promised earlier I have taken some note of one of the more recent beer filled adventures I have had in Japan.  Last month I had some friends over and we sampled several beers from around the world.

Kanpai!

Starting on the left we have Coedo from Saitama Japan, the brown is quite good, can't say I remember the blue can as well (good or bad?).  Next we have Satan Red from Belgium, and yes, there was a toast to Satan for this beer. Very metal. It was a fairly strong and heavy taste, a reasonably ABV too.  Following the Satan Red we have a hometown brew for me: The Ypsi Gypsi from Arbor Brewing Company. The Gypsi is a pale ale, with some good flavor, and like some of the other brews I brought to the table, a taste of home. Next there is Samurai from Great Divide Brewing in Colorado. It's apparently a rice beer. Though none of us were terribly fond of it. There was a slight sakeish taste to it, overall an odd drink.  The next two were German, Sorry I have no more insight, no one at the party could read or speak German. I do recall them being fairly dark in color and full flavor as many German drinks tend to be. The next is Mc Chouffe from Brasserie d'Achouffe. It had a slightly fruity taste from what I recall. Not my favorite as some of my readers might note. Overall not a loss though. 

Ben, myself, Tom and Yuki admiring the collection.

Continuing from the left we have several more Michigan brews, starting with  Dirty Bastard from Founders. Personally my favorite from the lot. The Scotch style ale sits at 8.5% ABV. Very solid, great color, with a rich full taste. The next two are brown ales, the first is  Best Brown Ale, from Bells Brewery, another great Michigan brewery The next is Nut Brown from Arcadia Ales in Battle Creek.  A slightly nutty taste as the name would suggest, a full bodied beer with an overall great taste. The next pictured is Siren a amber ale from North Peak Brewing. Very easy to drink, a light malty taste from what I remember. The next two are also from Arcadia, sampler 12 packs are a win in my book. Japanese breweries need to take note of this.  First the is the IPA, 5.9% ABV, with a great hop flavor, and a slight nutty aftertaste. A good IPA, (Then again I'm partial to IPAs). The last one is another Scotch style ale, Loch Down sitting at 8.3% ABV it is a very hearty drink. Slight alcohol taste, not bad, but a little different then most of the previously mentioned drinks. Overall a very rich full flavor though. Likely one I would buy again in the future. 

Yuki, Tomohiro and Mori 

Yuki posing with the cap from the
Satan Red.

As a whole the party went really well! My guests were pleased with the selection of brews from around the world, though not as many as I would have liked, I think everyone had a great time. I hope to get the opportunity to have a similar event soon. Thanks for reading!
Cheers!

Thanks to Sarah for taking all of the pictures!

The Drinks of "Golden Week"

Hello again dear readers. I have had a very busy last few weeks. Leaving me with some good stuff to write about.  First off two weeks ago was "Golden Week", for those who don't know, Golden Week is a week in Japan where many holidays happen to fall. Meaning a lot of the populace takes the time to vacation with their families and relax. Or in the case of Akita. Drink. So as you all can imagine I've done my fair share over the last few weeks. First off I will mention some drinks I did not get the chance to photograph, though I have reviewed them before.

My girlfriend and I were in a park over Golden Week and met up with some local Akita folk. They kindly invited us over to their drinking area and gave us as much as we could drink. Very kind people. I had a can of Kirin, Asahi Dry Black, and a few shots of sake and some shochu.  Shochu is a drink I had not had before, it is made from sweet potatoes. Very different then sake and much stronger.  I purchased a bottle of it recently and hope to review it in the near future.

The next day we returned to the park and met up with some of my co-workers. With them I had a few bottles of Heartland ale (reviewed earlier, and presumably brewed by Kirin). As well as the Namahage bock, which remains one of my favorite Japanese beers to date.

Later on in the week I went on a mini-vacation with my girlfriend to lake Tazawako. There is at least one brewery located near the lake.

One beer I had with dinner our first night at the hotel was Tazawako Breweries Dark Lager. It was as the name implies. A dark lager, not too bad, fairly smooth, though I might add not great with fish. It might have been better with a hamburger rather then sushi. Overall a good drink though, but as all other drinks are, it was about 500 yen. Still pricey.

The next day during our travels I acquired two more beers. The first I was gifted, from a nice American who was an ALT (Assistant Language Teacher), from another prefecture. He said he would give it to me and all I had to do was share the knowledge of the beer.

It says Rauel I'm not sure what else it says, the only other thing I could tell was it has a 7.5% alcohol content. The highest I've seen in Japan yet. The other I bought solely on the picture on the label, it features the red Namahage. Besides the red demon. I couldn't  read anything else on it but "beer". So over the last few days I tried both. As it is, I really enjoyed the Rauel beer. It was a very hoppy IPA. I enjoy IPAs a lot and I was glad to find one in Japan, even if it did just randomly find its way to me. Thanks to the Californian dude who shared with me. *Cheers*  As for the other beer, It had 5% alcohol content like most other beer I've seen here. It was an amber ale with a slightly wheaty taste. Not so bad, but not worth 550 yen.  I would easily pay 550 yen for the Rauel beer though. I guess it's just whatever your preference is.

While we were out at the lake we went to a restaurant which brewed their own beer. The establishment was called Orae, it seemed a little too fancy for my liking. Everything was very overpriced, including the beer. It was good. But not amazing, and it smelled really bad. It was a slightly wheaty taste. Sadly I'm not too fond of wheat beer.

One of my largest pet peeves in Japan, as far as beer goes is how it is presented. The picture at right shows my beer. I had not taken any drinks from it, yet there is nearly 2.5 inches of head on the top. In my experience I like to see less than an inch. Apparently the people here think it is good looking to get a bunch of foam on top of your beer. This is definitely the case at most restaurants, you pay 500 yen for a drink and 1/3rd of it is head. Not good looking in my book. End rant here.  Overall the trip out to the lake and golden week was great. I purchased some shochu before we left and I hope to write about it soon.

On a final note, my girlfriend and I attended a small sake festival near where we live. I got tickets for 5 drinks and a complimentary sake cup for 1,800 yen ~20 dollars. Not so bad when comparing the prices to everything else around here.  So I tried several locally brewed sakes all of which were very good. Though I learned I don't like dry sake. Good to know. Anyway, thanks for reading all *Cheers!*

More oddities for the collection.

Over the last two days I had as many new beverages. The first was called Sirakami Sansui. This one, like some of the others, had a paper ribbon around the neck of the bottle. Unfortunately the only part of the ribbon I could make out was the number 12. 12th place? Who's to say...

Note the interesting tab cap on the Full Moon.

It tasted like a dark lager. With a somewhat more caramel taste then Labatt Blue or Molson. Not terrible, as I enjoy both of those drinks back home.  Though to note there was a website on the side of the bottle as well as an Email. Something I had not yet encountered. anywhere as far as I can remember. This seems to be the drink of a brewery/restaurant chain. Though as I can't read much on the web site, it will be a mystery for now.

The second beer I had was called Full Moon Beer. Finally! Something with a label I can easily read and understand. On the background of the label, there was a vague description about how the beverage has a more "Full bodied taste, after maturing a complete lunar cycle." Quite interesting I thought, so why not try it?

It had a somewhat sharp and hoppy start followed by a almost sweet and honey-like aftertaste. Very different. I can't say I can compare it to anything. Once I poured it, I was relieved to see the dark golden color. I had been worried it might be similar to Blue Moon. Of which, I'm not a huge fan. There's two more interesting beverages to add to the list. We shall see what the next week brings.

The next experience

The other day my girlfriend came home with a new beer from the same market I got the Bock from. Though to my dismay I couldn't read any of the label this time. Nothing. So I went to pouring it, hoping for the best, expecting...

Well, I expected it not to be terrible, as there was a paper label around the neck of the bottle declaring it had won some kind of award. Anyway, it was a golden brown color when poured and had a slightly wheaty taste. I'm not the biggest fan of wheat beer though so I did not enjoy it as much as others would I'm sure.  Though as far as wheat beer goes, it wasn't awful.

This brings me to my next discovery. Asahi Blue. Basically a less flavorful version of the Asahi "Dry" which I really liked. At 4% alcohol the Asahi Blue is very easy to drink. Noting the large 0 on the side of the can, it might be a light beer. Though it's still better then most light beers I have had to be fair.

Also I have had my first encounter with Japanese sake. It was much better than any I have had in the US. I don't have much to compare it to. Though this region of Japan does produce sake, I'm not sure if it is a local concoction.  I will attempt to acquire some soon though so I have a base line. I like to sample local food and drink when I can, to better appreciate the area.

At any rate it has been an interesting experience thus far. Thanks for reading. Until next time. Cheers!

First encounters of the frothy kind

Looked interesting. Why not?

Bad pic, but I got this from a vending machine!

I've been here for a few days now. So suffice to say I've had a few different beers. The first one was Ashai Super "Dry". Not too bad, I've had it before in the United States. The only difference was I got it out of a vending machine. This is cool. I've never seen anything like that.

I also had a glass of Kirin at a local restaurant. To be fair I actually liked the Ashai more.
Then yesterday I discovered a bottle featuring the red and blue demons who are rumored to live in the mountains near Akita city. The only part of the bottle I can read says "Namahage Bock".  I generally like a good bock, so I tried it.  I was not disappointed. Though the price tag was fairly high (around 550 yen) It was definitely worth it. It had a dark somewhat malty taste. It was similar to Bell's Best Brown Ale. By far the best beer I have had yet. There was a whole section with single bottles for sale at the local super market. I hope to try most of them in time. Anyway, that's all for now. Peace.

What is this about?

I have been given the opportunity to travel to Akita Japan for a few months. So I'm planning on trying the local food and especially brews to see how they differ from the many drinks at home. 

I plan on focusing on beer primarily. Being as it is one of my favorite beverages, I hope to be able to give an accurate description of how they taste and compare to some of Michigan's beers.

If you have any questions or comments don't hesitate to contact me. And feel free to comment. Thanks!