Hitachino Nest White Ale

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

bottle. pours cloudy golden with thin white head. Aroma is yeasty with excellent apricot like nose as well as a strong coriander scent that leans on the spicy ginger. Taste, fruity mouthfeel of apricot, plenty of coriander spicy. A nice and welcome change form the usual citrus. The high presence of the coriander give the beer a very apricot like palate that ends crisp with light bitterness.

Sampled from a 12 oz brown bottle this beer poured a hazy pale yellow color with a large yellow-white head and a number of small floaters. The aroma was tart citrus and a hint of dry spice. The flavor was dryish, tarty and had touches of dry spices and citrus. The middle was tangy and a touch musty and the finish was medium length with dry and tart citrus. Decent.

From the bottle poured hazy straw color with a good amount of head. Nice citrusy flavor with a quick finish.

Cloudy yellow with a fizzy white head. Orange and bread aroma and taste with notes of apricots and spices. Crisp dry palate.

Bottle at Nya Tröls, Malmö. Clear yellow coloured with a small white head. Fruity aroma dominated by coriander with notes of spices. Fruity flavour of citrus, coriander and spices. Spicy finish. Too much coriander, but an OK witbier.

Bottle. Pours a pale golden body with a white head. Obvious wheat notes, coriander, bananas, light lemon zest. Ginger accents and citrus as well as some dry floral hops. Decent brew.

A very legitimate Belgian Wit although not quite a standout. Yellow in color with a fizzy white head. Aroma is lemony and not particularly strong. Flavor is dominated by lemon, also notes of orange, banana, coriander, mild funk, and ginger. Refreshing, crisp, and tasty. One of the best Japanese beers I’ve had, but far from the best overall.

Love Hitachino Nest’s label designs. This particular one has a sky blue motif with slightly psychedelic writing dripping down around the owl. This is a popular standby beer for this brewery and it’s not my favorite style, but the cold weather changes my tastes here and there and this seemed like a nice choice for tonight. I’ll begin with the flavours of this beer...warms up with some zesty lemon/lime type of thing happening, then trickles off with some melon notes, apricot, hints of black pepper, spice, banana, and rose petals. The carbonation kinda spoils all this; although there is a nice tingle on the tongue. The finish is rather abrupt but has a semi-earthy funk to it (as do most of Kiuchi’s brews) and the colour is really cloudy and murky...as if it rained in the cider jug. Comes across as a hybrid between a weizen, a farmhouse ale, and melon soda.