Hitachino Nest New Year Celebration Ale

Brewed by Kiuchi Brewery
Style: Spice/Herb/Vegetable
Ibaraki, Japan

2007 bottle. Pours light brown with a monstrous fluffy white head. Aroma is very sweet, with the vanilla and orange coming out most. The taste is pretty sweet as well, with vanilla as the dominant flavor, followed by the citrus elements as it heads to the back of my tongue. Slightly boozy. Relatively heavy palate with a sweet finish.

a caramel colored beer with a creamy head. aroma of orange and honey. citrus, nutmeg, and vanilla combine for a delightfully sweet, honey spiced beer. I quite enjoyed this as a lunchtime treat.

Bottle. Pours warm orange-amber with a massive, lacy head. Actually, the initial pour was all head, one tall glass of foam. I eased some more in after it calmed down a bit. Aroma of orange, spices, yeast. Medium body and carbonation. Sweet, spicy yet soft and round taste with fruit, tea, vanilla. This is a nice beer, and doesn’t suffer from the astringent quality that I seem to find in other spiced beers. Or maybe they just have the spices dialed in to my level?

when you can make a veggie type brew palatable with genuine sweetness and adequate flavor in my book you have a ccomplished something. the spices and the balance is the key to this beers attractiveness. it still ain’t exactly my type of brew but it is good brewmanship. a nice palate and quite adequate carbonation deveops in short time and it is somewhat satisfying.

Bottle of the 2007. Out of control head, tons of carbonation. Nice spices but they seem a bit washed out. Need to find a fresh bottle.

,33L. ’08 opened brand spanking new. Pours a deep burnished coppery dark amber with a thick, fluffy off-white head and plenty of spotty lace. Odd sour wheat aroma working with the spices. Medium body, some tingly carb. The pie spice definitely comes up for the finish, but the mid-palate is more a mix of light caramel, some wheat, and faint pieness. This is very subdued compared to, say, an OSA, but it’s beautifully done and perfectly in balance. Nice, if not possessed of knockout power.

Bottle, #346 Hazy brown pour with humongous head. Aroma of some sort of spice and citrus hop. Complex flavor profile of citrus and spice. Good to try, but wouldn’t grab it again. A bit over carbonated.

bottle.. had to do two pours because of large amount of head.. great aroma - nice spice/orange smell. GREAT taste - nice level of complexity with the spices balanced. orange and vanilla stood out the most, but not too much. overall - delicious :)