Hitachino Nest Red Rice Ale

Brewed by Kiuchi Brewery
Style: Traditional Ale
Ibaraki, Japan

Pours amber with a thin white ring of bubbles around the rim of the glass. Smells fruity with some sweet malt liquor like undertones. Taste is of fruit, spices and some rustic farm qualities I can’t quite describe. Finish is very sweet. Very palatable, but not something I’d want to revisit.

11.2oz bottle. Pours a hazy orange/amber with a small short lasting white head that leaves no lacing. Aroma is sweet and fruity with spicy yeast phenolics. Taste is the same with some earthy tones at the end. Thin mouthfeel and finishes dry and tart. Different but not bad.

bottle: pours a mercy red brown with a very small lively head. aroma is sweet and fruity mango like with a little tartness also. flavour is of spice sweet fruit. some earth tones that ends dry. overall not to bad very drinkable.

Bottle. Hazy reddish amber beer with a slight pinkish head. Earthy aroma. Sweet tropical fruit flavor - lychee & passion fruit - with some earthiness. Somewhat dry. Fruit fades to some earthiness. Something different, but not bad.

Pours an orangey pink with a relatively significant head, loose and white. The nose is a bit unimpressive. Light and fruity with a touch of spice. No sign of hops, and a little sweet. This beer has a thin body, with middle of the road carbonation and relatively sticky or soapy. The flavors are the strong point. Lightly sweet with a little bit of fruit (strawberry?) and some lightly spicey zing. Finish is even fruitier with some acidity in the aftertaste. Not a bad beer, though I don’t think I’d buy it again for the price!

Aroma of sweet rice and carob on the nose of this light brown pour. Sweet apple follows more rice flavor on the body with a tart/sour finish. Like this one a lot, but too pricy.

I had this at a restaurant based on a bartender recommendation. It struck me as being pretty good, tasting to me a bit like a rye beer, but wasn’t really all that exciting or different from American beers. Appearance was a fairly deep red, with a medium amount of head which dissipated quickly. Aroma was lightly fruity with some malt backbone to it. Taste was somewhat cedar-ish, with a lot rye flavors. Mouthfeel was grainy or chalky in its character, which I didn’t particular care for. All-in-all, I enjoyed this beer, but didn’t have an extraordinarily high opinion of it.

Red, bubbly and sweet are three words to describe it. I prefer the bigger size with the painted label. It looks like a raspberry iced tea. Not much head. Its a unique though. Kind of reminded me of a cupcake because of its syrupy aroma.