Hitachino Nest Pilsner

Formerly brewed at Kiuchi Brewery
Style: Pilsener
Ibaraki, Japan

New version, out in Sept. 2008. Got the bottle from Yamaoka in Kyoto. Decent malt aroma with big, not quite huge, hopping, strong cereal character, quite a bit of citrus and some butter. Slightly darkish golden color with tons of bubbles and a huge frothy head. Really looks nice. Strong hop flavor, with good golden malt backing it up. Just slightly buttery, strong citrus fruit, lots of biscuits and cereals. Extremely bitter hop finish. Malt almost rich enough to handle the hops. Very nice, medium mouth feel. Very good, and it got better as the glass went down and it opened up: the citrusy hops just kicked in.