Hitachino Nest Japanese Classic Ale

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

Bottle at home 7.5% ...copper ... big white head ... sweet little spicy hop ... peppery ... little floral in nose ... big resins hop ... quite fruity with a bitter linger ... definit pepperyness .. quite nice.

Bottled at Monks Café, Sveavägen, Stockholm. Pours out in a deep cloudy amber colour with a rich sticky white foam. Well-rounded and quite hoppy aroma of cedar and orange-peels. Medium to full-bodied with notes of grapefruit, cedar-wood, spices and orange-blossom. Solid yet really rounded smooth mouthfeel. Long medium-bitter finish of cedar-wood and orange-peels.

330ml Bottle (at 7.5%ABV): Aroma of cedar, wood, hops, and slight pepper. It smells like I am standing in a cedar closet. Poured amber in color with a small off-white head that lasted as a small film on top of the beer. Cloudy. Very sparkling. Full of tiny, small, and huge particles throughout. Flavor is slightly sweet and medium bitter. Tastes of cedar, hops, slight caramel malts, and wood. Medium body. Lightly dry texture. Average to lively carbonation. Cedar finish is lightly dry. Like licking cedar chips, but good nonetheless.

Hazy orange, some cider and orange blossom aroma. Woodsy with intense juicy grapefruit. I’m not sure I would notice the cedar finish apart from the label, but I notice it now.

Bottle 33 cl. Courtesy of yespr/Ungstrup. Hazy amber golden with floating impurities with a rough, off-white head. Spicy and rather enticing aroma. Medium body, notes of overripe fruit and some interesting and rather exciting spicy accents that must derive from the cedar casks. Dry and bitter finish. Pretty unique. 200309

Well developed persistent head. Very light honey aroma. Quite malty, but not overly sweet. Hints of honey and a significant but not overbearing woodiness. Finishes lightly syrupy with a rounded bitterness.

Pours hazy orange. Aroma has definite cedar-wood notes, as well as some herbal hoppy notes. Flavor profile is a strange mixture of dry wood, herbs, and minerals. I kept thinking to myself that I wanted to like this brew, since it is, “aged in cedar.” But overall, I am unsure whether this blend works. It has so many unflattering taste juxtapositions (minerals with dry wood??), that overall I found this beer just alright.

12oz brown glass pry-top bottle. Only stamp says J.8.9. (not sure what that means). Appearance: Incredibly hazy orange/tan color with one inch of off-white head that leaves distinct rings of lacing. Nose: It immediately smells like sour oranges aged in oak. Also white grapefruit, citrus peel/rind, there’s a woody note, but not the typical "oak" aromas. Almost a vanilla note, but not quite. It’s like smelling a candle labeled "Clean Mist"...you can kinda tell the individual parts, but can’t quite place all the aromas. Palate: Wow. There’s a lot going on here. For starters, the hops play a big citrus-y roll up front and the bitterness then segues into that sour/wood feeling of a beer aged in exposed conditions (i.e. some outside bacterias + wood ageing). All the citrus from the nose is joined by a burnt coal and a little metallic or chemical thing. Nicely bitter and somewhat sour. Texture on the finish is woody. Notes: This is an unusual beer, but what did I expect from Hitachino? I think I like it, but would like to try it again another day, maybe with some food...but what to pair it with? Yikes!