Archive for category Beer
Beer Review – Yebisu Chouchou Jukusei (120th anniversary)
Posted by bradinator in Beer, Beer Tasting, Japan, Photography, Travel on August 6, 2010
Name: Yebisu Chouchou Jukusei (120th anniversary)
Origin: Japan
Style: Lager (6%)
Appearance: A dark, clear yellow colour. This lager pours with a medium head, but lacks any retention at all *
Taste: This special edition Yebisu smells strongly of copper and citrus. Its flavours are very bitter-sweet and citrus based, such as oranges and grapefruits, though there are some bitter piney notes in the background. It finishes with a bitter, grapefruit like aftertaste that lingers on the tongue.
Mouth Feel: An very smooth, balanced lager. Medium bodied, soft on the tongue, medium carbonation.
Final Thoughts (3.5 out of 5): As far as lagers go this Yebisu is very good. Again the day was spent in the sun, during the standard extra hot, extra humid Japanese summer so this icey cold lager was very, very nice.
Beer Review – Kai Hai
Posted by bradinator in Beer, Beer Tasting, Japan, Photography, Travel on August 4, 2010
Name: Kai Hai
Origin: South Korea
Style: Lager (5%)
Appearance: This is a standard looking lager, being pale, gold and clear. It pours with a big head but lacks any retention.
Taste: There are some small notes of fruits in the aroma, but mostly it smells like a normal lager, being grassy and copperish in odour. The taste is bitter and grassy, but has some flavours of its grains and wheaty malts. Kai Hai finishes bitter and citusy, with some linger notes of lemon on the tongue.
Mouth Feel: An easy, crisp drinking lager. It has a light body, with a sharp mouth feel.
Final Thoughts (2.5 out of 5): Overall a very standard lager, being easy drinking and a straight flavour. This is the cheapest beer in Japan and on a +35c day spent on a boat, very, very nice when straight from the fridge.
色々 お世話になりました！
Beer Review – Chocolate Brewery Bitter
Posted by bradinator in Beer, Beer Tasting, Japan, Photography, Travel on August 2, 2010
Name: Sapporo Chocolate Brewery Bitter
Origin: Japan
Style: Chocolate Stour (5%)
Appearance: This stout is a very dark, very black colour that even light cannot pass through. It pours with a big head, but due to the intense humidity of Japan suffers from nearly no retention.
Taste: The aroma is strongly of chocolate and cherries. Their are obvious notes of chocolate in this beer. Some fruity notes, mostly cherry-like. The beer finishes with a cocoa, coffee-like bitterness. Aftertaste lingers.
Mouth Feel: Soft, yet highly carbonated. The beer is filling with a light body.
Final Thoughts (3.0 out of 5): An interesting brew, but too sweet for my palette.
Beer Review – Syuzan Kaido Beer Weizen
Posted by bradinator in Beer, Beer Tasting, Japan, Photography on July 29, 2010
Name: Haneda Sake Breweries Syuzan Kaido Weizen Beer
Origin: Japan
Style: Wheat Ale (5%)
Appearance: A cloudy yellow-peach like colour. Nice medium head.
Taste: The aroma is smells strongly of flowers, insence and banana. The flavours are powerful and rich sweet fruity malts, with strong notes of banana. It finishes slightly bitter, but mostly sweet and fruity.
Mouth Feel: Soft mouth feel, not overly filling. Medium body.
Final Thoughts (3.5 out of 5): A very rich, fruity wheat ale. The banana like flavours are very strong and would be most people off… But most people are put off by wheat ales in general.
I drank this in the movie theatre watching a Miyazaki movie!
Beer Review – The Master Pilsner
Posted by bradinator in Beer, Beer Tasting, Japan, Photography, Travel on July 28, 2010
Name: Asahi, The Master Pilsner
Origin: Japan
Style: Pilsner (5.5%)
Appearance: It pours with a medium head, that has decent retention. Its a dark gold, clear colour.
Taste: The aroma consists of copper and grasses. This is a very bitter beer, with strong herbal flavours, some earthy notes. It finishes bitter and ashy.
Mouth Feel: A sharp, strongly carbonated mouth feel. Light bodied.
Final Thoughts (2.0 out of 5): As far as canned pilsners go, this is no master.
Homebrew – Moved to Secondary, added oak chips
Posted by bradinator in Beer, Home Brewing on July 25, 2010
The lid on one of my plastic fermenter buckets is not the best. It does not make a seal so I am always hesitant to leave my beer in it for longer than a week. This is a good reason to move my beer to the secondary carboy, which will give me a cleaner looking final product.
I decided to take this as an opportunity to pitch 1/2 oz (about 10g) of french oak chips I had sitting in my bag of ingredients. I could not begin to guess how old they are, but being wood I doubt they go bad.
The gravity reading was a perfect 1.010. By the time I return from Japan this beer will be ready for bottling… Though I doubt I will have the energy to do this after the long flight….
Beer Review – Victoria Bitter
Posted by bradinator in Beer, Beer Tasting, Hiking, Photography on July 25, 2010
Name: Victoria Bitter
Origin: Australia
Style: Lager (4.56%)
Appearance: A dark gold lager that pours with a very short-lived small to medium head.
Taste: The aroma is mostly metallic and copper-like. VB is a very light tasting beer, with most of its flavours coming from its bitter, herbal hops. There are some very subtle grain-like notes. It finishes bitter and metallic, with a very short aftertaste.
Mouth Feel: A medium carbonated beer with a light body and short-lived aftertaste.
Final Thoughts (2.5 out of 5): This is a very plain-Jane lager. It’s not bad and its actually a very easy drinking and refreshing beer, but it lacks character. Still, its leaps and bounds better than Fosters. I gave it a +0.5 because it really hit the spot after spending the day in the sun on top of Old Goat Glacier.
A veiw of the valley carved by an Old Goat