Hitachino Nest Red Rice Ale

Brewed by Kiuchi Brewery
Style: Traditional Ale
Ibaraki, Japan

In a chilled mug: pours a strange, opaque, peach-tea color with a small, quickly dissipating white head. Fine particulate matter is suspended throughout. Aroma is vaguely fruity, with a touch of rice, and difficult to detect. What a strange taste...I guess it’s the rice that makes this unlike anyother beer I’ve tried and really defies a specific description. In any event, it’s good. It’s mild yet flavorful, spicy yet nicely balanced. Really enjoyable. Try it.

Courtesy of DYCSoccer17. Weird, hazy purple-orange appearance. Yeasty, meaty, miso-like aroma. Also some roast beef. Flavor: earthy, cigarette ash, slight mintiness, thin malty note, slight sourness. Charred aftertaste. Very odd.

Bottle. Pours a light red with a thick off white head. The aroma has just a hint of citrus from the hops, a touch of rice, but not much else is really coming through here. The flavor is interesting. A little bit of hops, what I am guessing is rice, some hints of spice. The most compelling thing about this beer is how complex the flavors are, but in a very subtle way. Nothing really overwhelms you, but it is all very balanced.

Bottle. Pee-pee. I completly wasted my money on this. I am going to bitch the store owner out for having this on the shelf. I poured it, tried it and promptly poured it down the drain. Perfectly unappealing.

Bottle, brown; 11.2 fluid oz. Pours a shade lighter than burgundy with a thin, dissipating head. Faint, peachy redolence. Although seemingly benign, the rice fermentation lends a subtlety that’s easily overlooked. This beer is definitely more aromatic than flavorful, but I can see how one could take to its smooth, billowy rice aftertaste. While I may not go back for seconds, I’ll definitely keep an eye out for more rice beers. My curiosity is piqued.

Bottle. Aroma was like dirty dishwater somewhat stale. Murky red body with head that disipated quickly. A sour lemon flavor. Also had a yeast presence and decent balance. Little heavy down the hatch to be a good football watching beer but decent nonetheless.

Pours a clear, good red with a lasting head. The aroma is like sugarfree bubblegum, floral and estery. The flavor is a little thin and sweet, but it’s not bad. Just like the pink orbitz gum.

Bottle. Hazy red color with a thin white head (bad retention). Yeasty with some cinnamon in the nose. Flavor is much more mild than I anticipated... slightly sour, very different, with a slight earthy/musty quality. Nice on the palate, bubbly and quite refreshing. I don’t know what to say about this one, other than I won’t have it again.