Hitachino Nest New Year Celebration Ale

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

11.2 oz. bottle, consumed on 1-23-09. 2004 vintage. Yeasty, floral, barley-wine-like aroma features citrus, yellow plum, and fruitcake scents. Rich and appetizing smell. Pours a light to medium brown or dark amber with a large amount of thick, fluffy, long-lasting, beige head. The liquid is hazy with many small bubbles. Good looking beer! Rich and spicy flavor features licorice, lemon zest, orange, cake, caramel, and toffee notes. Tastes like a bitter barley wine. Long, dull, lightly bitter aftertaste. Light to medium body (I didn’t expect it to be this light). Heavily carbonated, fizzy, and frothy in the palate. Hitachino Nest New Year Celebration Ale 2004 is a unique and tasty treat.

Huge head. Flavors of lots of citrus, quite sweet, and a very pleasant good balance of spice. Finish is dry and it hides the alcohol well. Excellent beer, quite delicious.

Commemorative 2008 so I suppose 1 year old. Pours a very fizzy glowing unclear orange color. I poured about a third into a large snifter before I had to stop because of the huge head... while I was looking at the glass the bottle continued to form a billowing 5 or 6 inch tall column of foam before toppling over on the table. I poured another 1/3 into the glass and sure enough the the column reformed. I put the cap back on the bottle only to have sudsy head aggressively seep out... ridiculous! Lovely aroma, lots of candied orange peel, coriander, nice botanicals, I can smell a hint of the rich vanilla bean, definitely a wheat beer. Sweet rich super flavorful first taste. This beer has amazing depth and full flavors. Its like biting into a juicy slice of blood-orange. Definitely one of my new favorites. So Delicious. Lightly tart orange and candied wheat that quickly turns to spicy nutmeg, touch of pepper, faint floral hops and then bitter while mixing with the vanilla. Orange finish with a lasting vanilla aftertaste. Medium/light bodied with tons of fizzy but soft fluffy carbonation, almost meringue like, with a bit of chalkiness. Reminds me greatly of Lost Abbey Red Barn, very quaffable, no trace of being 9%. Fantastic!

Bottle from Windmill Farms. Pours a hazy orange/brownish color with a sizable head. Strong herbal aroma with some strong Belgian qualities. Fairly dry peppery nose. Very sweet up front with dry peppery qualities and some Belgian yeastiness. Very fruity. Nice and spiced. Tastes like a BSA of sorts.

Appearance: Pours a clouded coppery-brown color capped with a dense, foamy cream-colored head. Smell: Good gracious, me. What a rich, dense aroma! The nose is exceptionally malty, and abundant with potent scents of caramel, cherry, ginger, and orange zest. Taste: The rich malt bases delivers a very clean, pure caramel flavor further enhanced and rounded out by notes of orange sorbet, vanilla, brown sugar, and various other spices. Yet, it still manages to finish slightly dry. It’s delish! Mouthfeel: Medium-full body with a smooth, velvety texture. A bright effervescence helps to prevent the beer becoming syrupy. Drinkability: Definitely a palate pleaser with such a depth and range of flavors. Particularly wonderful.

Another winning seasonal from this well established Japanese brewer. Pours a hazy golden orange with lots of orange peel on the nose. Very spicy in it’s taste and had me grabbing another. High alcohol content was very well hidden. Yabai!

Bottle. Commemorative 2009. Happy New Year! Pours a bubbling hazy orange-red. A towering frothy white head. Pineapple, cinnamon, Belgium yeast on the nose. Vanilla, pineapple, cinnamon. Wheat like flavor too. A nice sweet whMouth is a little creamy, especially the vanilla flavor. Dry finish. Very enjoyable beer!!

Poured from bottle (as kiuchi brewery commeretive ale 2008 = cool bottle)Malt/toast/pineapple aroma. Cloudy mahogany, head persists. I taste malt, vanilla, alcohol, pineapple, plum, spices. Has Belgian characteristics, would be great except for a slight oily aftertaste. Finished well. Redefines my opinion of Japanese brews.