Hitachino Nest Japanese Classic Ale

Brewed by Kiuchi Brewery
Style: India Pale Ale (IPA)
Ibaraki, Japan

Review: Straight from the aviary cloister in Ibaraki Japan to my far away state of Colorado comes another offering from a respectable Japanese brewery. The folks at Kiuchi continue to fight against heavy liquor laws in Japan to produce individual expression in brew, and in doing so are the standard bearers for decades of social change. But enough with the trivialities of Japanese law, and onto the foreign beer. It’s a mundane beer by aesthetic standards, sporting a boring clownfish orange coat and a slightly tan, flat head. The smell is only a little more interesting, fuming with orange marmalade and poisoning the nose with a tangible and mismatched skunkiness. The taste is more gripping. A sparkling, pricking ginger leaps onto the tongue with enthusiasm, tap dancing like a good, sweet root is bound to do. It scrapes and cleanses the palate, making the following black tea tones more discernible to a crowded palate. I’m very excited because this is the first time (that I can remember) being able to locate a peculiar earth and soiliness that is most intimately bound with the flavor of good loose leaf black tea. It’s soft and wet, and very savory like a basket of root vegetables. Not to mention the all-natural taste and the sensation of being environmentally friendly. The gentle tea tones take a back seat when the rest of the flavor bits come in, all of them loud and abrasive. A great heap of coriander, orange peel and black pepper besiege the tongue in a hostile takeover, before beginning a linear slope down into a quiet obscurity. If this is an IPA then I am thoroughly impressed. It retains the hoppish qualities that defines a pale ale, but adds much more in a distinguishing display of uniqueness and character development. Again, I have nothing but praise for the earth elements present in the beer, as I think they fit not only the entire style and genre of beer itself but the other qualities present in the Japanese Classic Ale as well. Maybe it stems from the aging in Japanese sugi casks, but whatever the reason, 19th Japanese century beer savants must have been very happy, even in the midst of the Bakumatsu. Nothing like this ancient recipe to wash down 250 years of Feudalism, and a fine way to celebrate revolution.

Bottle, shared with GregClow, Hogtown Harry, Blankboy, Jerc, and Mabel, courtesy of Blankboy. Looks good - dark amber, small foamy head. Neat spicy aroma - unique - pepper, earthy, hops, and well, rice (honestly). Tons of wood and pepper in taste - malt and hops as well. Great tasting unique creation, I quite enjoyed this unique take on an IPA.

on tap at richos lupulin land 2006. served in a hitachino glass...which is nice....its a cool glass.... but you cant see the damn beer. its like ceramic or something.....but anyway best i could tell what you have here is a light amber body with a nice white head. aroma dominated by sweet slightly fruity malt with a nice touch of hops. sweet toasted apricotish malt dominates the flavor with nice spicy hops to balance things out. medium bodied with great creamy carbonation. love the mouthfeel. decent drinkable IPA.

In short: A cedary funky IPA. Very unique and simply fantastic.
How: Bottle 750ml, many times, always consumed as fresh as possible.
The look: Cloudy golden-orange body topped by a large off-white head
In long: Funky and hoppy on the nose. Very yeasty beer with a strong woody taste giving the feeling of drinking sawdust. Thick chewy and dirty body like I love them. Strong honey taste although the beer doesn’t feel very sweet. Very hoppy beer. The hops are piney but with a Belgian twist, hard to describe. Soft caramel and orange round up the flavour spectrum. Cedar presence from beginning to end. That’s a tasty, filling and aggressive beer that commands to be drunken slowly. A Classic Ale? I wish.

Bottle shared with HogTownHarry, GregClow, jerc & mabel -- my bottle courtesy of SecretSanta. Pours a hazy dark orange with a small off-white head. Aroma of yeast, fruit, hops, some wood and spices -- this is a tough one to describe, I like it though. Flavour not as much: It follows the aroma with the yeast, fruit and wood along with a decent amount of spices and a decent bitter finish -- it’s somewhat unique but it’s just O.K. Medium bodied. It’s interesting but I’d say it’s just ’good’ and not ’great’.

Bottle shared with HogTownHarry, blankboy, jerc & mabel - courtesy of blankboy. Slightly hazy reddish-orange with a small head. Odd aroma - slight sour/funkiness, wood, lemon, grain - I sort of like it, but it’s hard to describe it. Flavour follows - strange spice and grain notes, some tart woodiness, pepper and yeast. I had no idea that this was supposed to be an IPA - in that case, it’s definitely way off-style. But I still sort of liked it.

Bottle (720ml). Shared with blankboy, GregClow, jerc and mabel, blankboy’s bottle. Hazy pale orange with a small diminishing frothy head. Peppery yeast aroma with sour lemon and sugary malt. Taste is incredibly peppery, quite sour too - like lemonade aged in green oak barrels. Astringent, sour and thin mouthfeel, with a bitter peppery finish - interesting, but not really my thing.

Bottle. Hazy reddy-amber with a small beige head. Aroma is lightly yeasty with musty muted wood like my old travel trunk, odd grainy notes. Dilute, mild grains, not much bitterness, light astringency in the finish clings to the back of the throat. Average palate is smooth but a touch thin. Meh, not unpleasant but fails to excite me - there is just something about their stuff that does not do it for me. Worth trying nonetheless.