Hitachino Nest White Ale

Brewed by Kiuchi Brewery
Style: Belgian White (Witbier)
Ibaraki, Japan

Fine, white head, under a hazy pale yellow body. Nose is full, fresh, perfumey,floral, stuffed with citrus, and spice and a hint of orangepeel. Mouthfeel is sharp, then smooth, and refreshing. Great hops, good balance. Crisp, uncomplicated, and delightful. Is it worth drinking? Yes. Is it worth buying? At around $6.50 for a 24.3 oz. bottle, you’d be better off with a 6pack of Wittekerke or Hoegaarden. Only for completist nuts, or kooky bottle collectors.

Pours a murky yellow that reminds me of unfiltered lemonade. Quickly disappating head but lots of carbonation. The smell is a sweet and sour citic blend. Tingly on the tongue with flavors of sweet orange, medicine and lemon sourness. Definitely tastes like nothing else I’ve had; this is worth checking out.

Lemon yellow hue with a mixture of small and medium-sized particles and a sudsy white head that faded fairly quickly. Spicy aroma of ginger, coriander, pepper, oranges, lemons, and grassy/floral hops. Tangy, ginger spice and citrus flavor with some honey tones, although not exceptionally sweet. Medium grassy bitterness. Subtle medicinal quality, but then again, this probably is medicinal. I think I just staved off a cold while drinking this. Interesting spicy twist on a wit. An unusual and amusing beer that takes some getting used to, but is not bad at all.

Quite well carbonated, the cap makes a loud sound as I crack it off. The beer is a hazy straw color, that is topped by a thick white head that is held up by the ample carbonation. The aroma is spicy (with notes of lemon, ginger, and pepper), and a bit musty. It really has quite a rich intriguing aroma to it. The beer is well carbonated, which in combination with the spices gives this a peppery-spicy start as I take my first sip. This is actually quite tasty, and quite a bit different (either because of the spices used, or a combination of the yeast used and the spicing) than your average Wit type beer. There is some solid spicy notes here that seem to be driven by ginger, and perhaps some pepper. It is quite dry and light on the palate. This beer must be super spicy when fresh. This would be a great beer to pair with sushi, more places need to pick this up, it is quite tasty, and with its spiciness would pair quite well with food.

Color is a mostly hazy dark yellow to orange rather than the usual milky pale yellow. Head is white, thin yet lasting, lacing is not too convincing. Huge funky spicy and grassy nose. Tons of orange, branches, coriander, marjoram and nutmeg flavors. You could easily name a few others here (ginger, mint, cardamom), like nothing you ever smelled anyway. Flavor is also an experience. Long flavor development, mild spicy bitter finish to balance the mostly sweet and citric palate. Very malty, fruity, pineapple and orange like. Develops a piney woody flavor. Creamy bubbly mouthfeel. Great for spices amateurs, avoid if it’s not your type as this may feel like spice juice, what can I say, to me, it works like a charm here. This is to witbier what their new year celebration ale is to eisbocks.

10.05.04 720ml bottle is a crazy shape and a deep evergreen color. Pours a very pale yellow with small head for a white. Aroma is all lemon, orange zest, cedar (?); it’s wild smelling. The first sip is very citric acidic. If Dorwart hadn’t mentioned juniper in his review, I may have spent a half and hour trying to figure out just what that aroma/flavor is. Ginny indeed! At times, it’s almost lemonade-ish, the citrus is so potent...but it’s also quite drinkable and never gets cloying or thick. The palate is moist and clean with nice finishing acidity. Fresh nutmeg lingers, but is never overpowering and, as I delve deeper, I’m starting to think that what I first thought was juniper/cedar is really more akin to very recently cracked coriander seeds. That corriander lends to the lemony flavor as well. An interesting, tasty, enjoyable brew. Fun times talking to the owl on the bottle, too.

Bottle from Whole Foods, Chicago. After reading in "All About Beer" about their cedar-aged IPA, I had to try this, even though it’s not the same beer. It has a very pale and cloudy color. Kind of lemony like a hefeweisen, but then I picked up a big nutmeg taste (before I knew there was nutmeg in it). Coriander makes an appearance, too. And I do get a cedary taste with this beer after all. It’s good to see some craft beers coming over from Japan and discovering brews beyond Sapporo and Kirin.

Great big white head. Head reduces quickly. Aroma dominated by juniper berries. A little bit of wheat and yeast in there also. Color is a hazy light gold. Flavor is light and crisp. Some corriander and pine/spruce in there also. Bit of a wheat backbone. Some lemon also. Gets considerably more spicey as it warms and ginger becomes the prominent flavor. Finish is clean and pretty refreshing. Bit more spice and the nutmeg becomes prominent in the aftertaste. A decent belgian white and not exactly what I expected coming from Japan but I still liked it a lot.