Hitachino Nest Weizen

Brewed by Kiuchi Brewery
Style: German Hefeweizen
Ibaraki, Japan

Bottle at Village Pub, KY. Poured an amber color with a moderate frothy white head that diminished slowly. Moderate sour citrus aroma. Light to medium body. Medium sour citrus flavor with a tart apple finish. Sour tart apple cider brew.

From the bottle (at Kisaku in Seattle).

Pours a hazy orange amber with a nice head. The aroma offers lots of orange peel and cloves, with plenty of weizen yeast and some lemon on the nose. The flavor follows, rounded and citrusy with abundant yeast flavors, enough hops to keep things dry but not too much that the dominant flavors are obscured or that the finish becomes bitter. Mouthfeel is refreshingly prickly with the carbonation.

I’m quite impressed by this interpretation of a Hefeweizen.

Pours a hazy golden orange. Aromas of bread/clove/ and some fruit. Had a taste of yeasty bread with some spice.

Hazy gold with a small, white head. Simple weizen flavor and aroma of wheat, banana, clove, grainy malt, and crisp hops. Medium, balanced body. Just a touch less carbonation than your average wheat, which in this case was a good thing. Nice wheat.

Pours copper with a white head. Strongly smells of lemons and some other citrus. Yasyes tarte with lots of citrussy notes. Good, but somewhat one dimensional. This one has a weak malt presence and something in it made my tongue numb.

Bottle (330ml). Poured slightly hazy light gold with a diminishing white foamy head. Fairly typical wheat aroma of lemon, honey, ashy hop bitterness and mild spices - hints of burnt vegetal straw on warming. Slightly tart citrus on top of the aroma as above - mouthfeel is tingly and watery - pretty nice hefe, actually; no complaints.

This beer is a very authentic, and delicious, Bavarian styled hefeweizen, brewed with the classic Weinhenstaphan yeast strain that produces funky, estery flavors such as clove, and banana. I was very impressed with how authentic this beer tasted, and would have to say that this beer tastes more like it came from Germany than Japan. The malted wheat character of this beer is outstanding, you can really taste it in this beer, and it makes this beer a tart, and refreshing brew. Hitachino Nest Weizen pours to a beautiful, murky, pale golden color, with a thick and creamy white head, and a very vibrant carbonation. When pouring a wezien, always remember to swirl the last ounce or so, to pick up the ring of yeast in the bottle, to insure it makes it into the glass. Yeast is a major flavor component in this beer, and you want this beer to be cloudy, and opaque, from adding the yeast. The nose on this beer is quite impressive, lots of clove and banana estery aromas, marry with aromas of wheat malt. The palate is firm, with very good tart wheat malt flavors, and a nice underpinning of fruity esters flavors of pear. This beer finishes with more tart wheat character up front, then ends with some nice clove and banana, yeasty flavors. This is an exceptional example of Bavarian hefeweizen, one of the most impressive I have tasted in some time. This beer rivals German, and authentic American examples of this style. One caveat though, this beer is very pricey here on the American market. I paid $3.99 for one 12 oz bottle of this beer, making a very high end brew.

10oz bottle at Box Bar. Pours a very clear pale orange like color with a small fizzy white head. Lots of bubbles throughout. Nose is light with some honey and wheat. Taste is very thin, some light honey and wheat notes here as well, a light gag reflex on the bitter swallow and and overall dirty mouthfeel.