Hitachino Nest Pale Ale

Brewed by Kiuchi Brewery
Style: English Pale Ale
Ibaraki, Japan

Straight up pale ale. Maintains as mush flavor as a pale can when sent from Japan to wherever to Missouri. English style. Goes down well.

Dark Golden Brownish-orange. attractive color, nice low head, with lacing developing quickly. Fruity, bitterish aroma, lots of hops. A touch of sour, with a touch of malt and sweetness as well. Not hugely aromatic or complex, but satisfying and appetizing. Nice malty caramel flavor, with good fruit, a touch of sweetness, and more malt and caramel than I expected. Pretty strong hop finish. Good bitter kick comes in with the swallow, and last a good long time. This is a very nice pale ale.

Smell is light, flowery and fruity. Color is a reddish golden that looks very appealing. Taste is creamy in the mouth and lightly hopped, with mild bitterness. Goes from hops to sweet malt and back to hops at the finish. Very smooth and enjoyable to drink.

Smells of pleasant flowery hops, some sour notes. Pours a nice copper color with a small white head. Taste is well balanced hops and malts. Some sour notes with nice strong malt notes. A strange aftertaste is present, not sure what it is.

On tap at the Brewery. Kiuchi brewery has a very classy tasting room by the way. It looks out on to a small patio which is adjacent to the company president’s house. Very dark, cloudy, reddish brown body, with a quickly receding tan head. This beer (like all of Kiuchi’s beers I think) is dry-hopped, so the bolder, fruitier hop character of a lot of American Pales just isn’t present. The aroma is a pleasant, sweet coffee, with notes of cedar, cream and rice. Very dark, woody flavor. Some caramel I think. The mouthfeel is very creamy and smooth. I agree, this is probably not their strongest showing in terms of originality, but like all of Hitachino Nests beers, you have to appreciate the Japanese twist (a la cedar/rice) on the English pale ale style.

I really didn’t know what to make of this beer, but I wasn’t terribly impressed with it. It seemed to me to be more cedar-y than hoppy, and while it was a bit unique, I thought the red rice and ginger beer from Hitachino are much more novel. It didn’t satisfy my hop-craving side, but it also didn’t score highly with me on the "new & novel" attribute. Appearance was a darkish amber color, with a good amount of head. Aroma was cedar-y like a cigar humidor. Flavor was some hops, but I really got more woody notes than anything. Mouthfeel was fairly smooth. Not bad, but not as good as some other Hitachino beers I had alongside the Pale Ale.

Very enjoyable, with a sweet hoppy scent and taste, although I prefer the yona yona to this

Beautiful hazy, deep golden color. Coarse, foamy, bubbly, tan head that diminished quickly. Light malty, hoppy, and sweet aroma. Nicely balanced flavors of primarily malt with a nice citrusy, hoppy punch, with spicy and floral hints underneath. Smooth, slightly "silky" mouthfeel--really nice and full-bodied. Dry and thoroughly satisfying finish. Probably won’t be considered top-notch for the style, but still a true gem from the Hitachino Brewery, which surely must be one of Japan’s best breweries.