Hitachino Nest Beer Red Rice Ale

Hitachino Nest Beer Red Rice Ale

Style: Red Rice Ale

Alcohol Content: 7%

From: Naka, Ibaraki Prefecture, Japan

Purchased From: Purchased from: Real Ale Shop, Richmond-Upon-Thames
http://hitachinonest.com/

Kiuchi Brewery (木内酒造) is a brewery in Naka, Ibaraki Prefecture, Japan. It was established in 1823 and produces beer, sake, and shochu. Its products combine European beer-making technology with traditional Japanese brewing techniques; for example, its XH Hitachino Nest Beer is matured in shochu casks.

The Kiuchi Brewery was established in 1823 by Kiuchi Gihei, the headman of Kounosu village. His family were in charge of collecting rice from farmers as land taxes for the Mito Tokugawa family. He began his brewing with the idea of using the remaining rice stores in the warehouse. At this time the family brewed exclusively Sake. Mikio Kiuchi inherited the brewery in the 1950's. By the autumn of 1996, the Kiuchi Brewery started to brew beer under the brand "Hitachino Nest Beer" with their own unique owl character logo.  

So this is the first beer that i have reviewed from Japan and am very excited about it. I have always wanted to travel to Japan since taking a sociology module at university on Japanese history and culture. The only thing that has stopped me going has always been the cost. maybe one day i can convince Emma to take me. Wink, wink. Nudge, nudge. 

Colour: On the pour you will be presented with a beautiful pale copper ale, that if you hold up to the light, you will able to see a slight red hue. There is a bubbly white head with will dissipate to a light covering after five minutes.

Aroma: Notes of strawberries and raspberries present themselves instantly. Due to the high level of carbonation in the glass, you can also smell some of the carbon dioxide.

Body: I have now been reviewing beers for almost a year and during this time, I can not remember a beer more heavily carbonated as this Hitachino Nest. It is almost like a fizzy Fosters lager. Luckily, this does not translate into the body. The body is rather reminiscent of a bitter, nice and creamy which makes it extremely easy to drink. This type of body must be created from the red rice that is used in the brewing process.

Taste: The first thing you will taste will be the rich strawberries which are then cut through by a zesty lime. The aftertaste is an amazing mix of creamy rich pudding mixed with slightly sweet burnt caramel. Very tasty! This drink is not very bitter but you can certainly taste the alcohol, so if you buy some, drink it slowly.

Similar to: http://beefsbrewery.blogspot.co.uk/2013/10/magic-hat-brewing-number-9-not-quite.html

Different to: http://beefsbrewery.blogspot.co.uk/2013/08/williams-bros-fraoch-heather-ale.html

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Brewdog International Arms Race

Brewdog International Arms Race

Style: Zero IBU IPA Or Gruit

Alcohol Content: 

From: Fraserburgh, Aberdeenshire, Scotland, UK

Purchased From: Rays Wines, Ashford

Brewdog was founded in 2007 by James Watt and Martin Dickie. The brewery at the Kessock Industrial Estate in Fraserburgh produced its first brew in April 2007. It claims to be Scotland's largest independently owned brewery producing about 120,000 bottles per month for export all over the world. The company moved premises to nearby Ellon in the Autumn of 2012, however it as been announced that the Fraserburgh site will be used as a brewing laboratory for experimental beers.

Brewdog's provocative marketing has been a key aspect of the business, and has gained them substantial international coverage.

Last year Flying Dog issued a challenge to Brewdog for battle collaboration entitled International Arms Race - Both beers are dubbed 'Zero IBU IPA' and the challenge was to brew an IPA style beer using no hops: the hops are replaced with berries, herbs and roots. Now, I have tried Flying Dogs version and it reminds me a lot of scrumpy cider from Somerset. I was not to keen on that but lets see how Brewdog's version measures up.

Colour: On the pour, you a presented with a bright red ale that reminds me of a very old school beamish that my old man used to drink. As the beer settles, a sheen of copper appears in the glass. The head starts off a brilliant white colour and slowly dissipates down to a small amount of foam. 

Aroma: To be honest this has to be the strangest beer I have ever smelt so far. There are so many new and interesting smells rising from the glass, its actually quite hard to know where to start from. Here goes. The first thing you will notice is that this beer smells quite sour. This can be a sign that the beer is off so I had a look at the expiration date on the bottle. To my surprise I had been sold a kipper. The beer had an expiration date of May. However, I decided to pull up my socks and carry on regardless. You are instantly bombarded with notes of cherry, blackberry and mint. There is also a few herbal notes such as thyme and rosemary. Something tells me that this is going to taste funky.

Body: There is a very low/ if any carbonation in this beer. This gives the body the feel of cherry juice that you can buy from the supermarket. This body helps to mask the ABV of this beer making this an extremely dangerous beer to enjoy on a session. 

Taste: On your first sip you will notice hints of gin and tonic mixed with pine and grassy notes. This is undercut with gritty earth notes. Upon the second sip, you can start to pick our herbal notes like rosemary and thyme and a orange peel. To be honest, this drink tastes a bit like a Ricola cough drop. These flavours make sense given that there is no hops in this beer and the herbs have been added to this brew to add flavour and aroma. I have to say I personally did not enjoy this beer very much. It’s an interesting concept by I will not be going back for more.

Similar to: Umm Nothing I've ever tasted or reviewed.
Different to: http://beefsbrewery.blogspot.co.uk/2013/07/erdinger-uriweisser.html

For the latest news on reviews follow me on twitter @beefsbrewery