Hitachino Nest New Year Celebration Ale

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

Pours rich amber with a tan head. Aroma is ginger and other sweet spices. Very sweet but has enough roast and thick malt to balance it and keep it from being too sticky. Very smooth and balanced.

Gusher. Caramel orange with a large tan quickly fading crown. Aroma of a mix of my spice cabinet – cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and mild cardboard, probably since it was a bit old. Taste of cinnamon and spice and everything nice, er ginger, fruit, mild vanilla and alcohol.

draft @ redlight redlight. sweet wheat aroma, some citrus, vanilla, citrus liquor. Pours golden orange with a thick white head. Sweet tangerine juice, citrusy, peppery, with some corriander, with some vanilla cream in there. It has a bit of a creamsicle-like flavor. Nice carbonation. And it definitely hides the 9% well, very easy to drink, almost refreshing.

Bottle labeled Commemorative Ale 2008. Pours cloudy caramel color with huge off white head. Aromas of corriander, orange and cinnamon. Wheat flavor with lots of spices. Sweet fruit, corriander and cinnamon. Medium body with effervescent carbonation.

2007 Bottle. Poured a cloudy amber/orange with a huge gusher of a tan head. Aroma reminded me immediately of the pickled ginger you get at a sushi restaruant. Then underneath you could pick up a lot of the spice aromas with just a hint of citrus. Flavor was very intense. Almost like a pumpkn beer, but with a few more notes in the mix. This was a big complex flavorful beer, but it got a little harsh in the mouth. Like all the flavors weren’t playing nicely together.

Bottle in Celebration Ale 2008 guise. Pours a cloudy/muddy dark orange with a HUGE tan head that comes erupting out of the glass (too much bottle refermentation?). Crazy lacing. Aroma of sour white grapes, apple cider vinegar, caramel, musty yeast. Taste at first is apple cider vinegar but soon turns to sour light fruits, spice, and potpourri. I can’t pick out the individual spices nor the vanilla beans. Fairly acidic on the palate. 9% is very well hidden. Not bad- very interesting.

THOUGHTS: Not the greatest beer, but a really nice spiced beer. Hid alcohol fairly well. The spices didn’t dominate. They just enhanced the beer. It really grew on me as time went by. TECHNICAL: Bottle. Poured a cloudy, medium brownish amber with a large, sudsy, off-white head that slowly diminished and left fair lacing. There was nice carbonation. The aroma was orange, wheat, fruit, spice, passion fruit, and moderate earthy, cobweb-like yeast. The initial flavor was sweet and acidic; while the finish was lightly sweet, sour, rather acidic, and slightly bitter with an average duration. There was fruit, orange, spices and other fruits, wheat and yeast. The medium body was sort of syrupy with tingly carbonation and a light astringent and light alcoholic finish.

pours a cloudy amber with a large egg-shell head, and good lacing. smell of pear, apricot, some wheat, citrus, and tangerine. taste is sweet, pear, tangerine, some lemon, malt, ends just a little bitter and sweet. overall too sweet for my liking.