Hitachino Nest New Year Celebration Ale

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

amber/brown color, foamy off white head, slight fruity smell, nice sweet taste with hint of spice, can also taste the wheat. very nice beer.

Pours murky brown. Strong up front malty aroma. Caramel,vanilla and some spices. Very smooth middle. Bittersweet dry finish. Very good overall. Reminded me almost of a barleywine with some of its characteristics.

*2005* Edition! Shared a bottle of this poured by Kiuchi-San himself on my visit their last Tuesday, (my daughter Rio’s 19th birthday), 16 Nov. This beer has an IPA base but due to the added spices is classified as a Spiced Ale. A deep Amber color with tequilla Sunrise like hues to it. An ample foamy off-white head. Good lacing. An amazing array of scents hits you at once, let this warm to room temp to fully appreciate the complexity of the aroma. I can’t come close to naming everything I smell here. The flavor follows suit, warm and spicy, sweet, fruity, peppery, this is a busy beer! What a treat it was to have a tasting of this new vintage. Kiuchi-San, domo arigatou gozaimashita!

Very interesting aroma... vanilla, caramel, oak. Body is ruby, with a overcarbonated but quickly depleating head. Taste is sweet, mainly because of the alcohol, caramel and such. The body is way too fizzy and kills the beer.

Bottle: Strong caramel aroma. Sweet and malty. Cloudy amber with a white head. Flavor is too sweet. Very sweet caramel with a little tartness in the finish. Honey and syruppy. Too sweet for me.

vintage 2004. cloudy amber pour with a thick, creamy, fluffy, beige head. looks like a rootbeer float, except not as dark. Graduations of big bubbles at the interface of the beer, going up to little teeny bubbles on top. Delicious scent - raisins, oranges, vanilla, holiday spices. sweet and tart at the same time. you can both smell and taste a high percentage of alcohol up front; high hops and an alcohol burn on the tongue; you can feel the heavy carbonation in your mouth. Medicine-like aftertaste. As close to a barleywine as Japanese beer gets. It belches chocolatey. Pepper flavor emerges midway through the beer, with a strong pepper finish. A beer to be consumed with some kind of food - it might be dangerous not to. A relentless oral pounding of Japanese delight - not what we call a balanced beer, and that is just fine. UPDATE 12/06: Vintage 2004 again. Aroma of a spicey indian curry. Lacks lace totally. Head is ridiculously foamy. Crazy beer.

10.31.04 330ml bottle. Dingy copper, cloudy pour. Wow! this is some sweet, sweet beer. So sweet my cheeks pucker. Cotton candy sweet. Blueberry syrup sweet. Japanese candy sweet. Oh. Fascinating stuff.

Appearance: beautiful color, but tough to pin...a dusky tangerine, a brazen peach? One of the two, or both put together...and adorned with a tall, thick, fuzzy, lemon-tinged head. Aroma: AH! Reminds me of Belgian ales right off, with a yeasty, citric, sour element immediately evident, very vivacious. Taste: brilliant hoppiness, searing and delighting the tongue, then the further flavors beyond in the body of the brew are juicier with this rich, spicy, citric twang. Becomes hot on the tongue, too (maybe that’s the 9% ABV we’re dealing with), and that mingling with an additional spiciness tingling through the palate, and the combination of them all leaves an incredibly tasty and rewarding ale. As I continue in, I like it more and more. And the pepper continues, giving off hints of other spices as well, cinnamon, ginger, maybe? This is quite a new kind of brew, full of happy surprises, and a downright nice way to welcome in 2004! Is thing still on? Sorry, I’m still enjoying it, and I finally drain the last drops, I’ve melted into a soppy, insolvent mess that can only utter "yum, yummy, yummers"...