Hitachino Nest XH

Brewed by Kiuchi Brewery
Style: Belgian Ale
Ibaraki, Japan

Bottle at Winking Lizard. The beer is a dark amber color with a medium thick and creamy beige head that recedes slowly. Thin sheet of lacing on the glass. The aroma is vinous and oaky with notes of caramel and malt. Medium body with a strong boozy sake character along with flavors of citrus and malt. The finish has a low alcohol burn and an oaky aftertaste. Overall this is an interesting beer but not something I need to try again.

Bottle. Pours a cloudy, dark copper with lots of particulate in the glass with a nice short-lived tan head. Aromas of cedar, oak, sake?, overall like a sour ale. Taste is yeasty with a sort of acidic aftertaste. Clean finish. Very interesting.

Medium offwhite head. Hazy brown body. Soft fruity peppery metallic wooden aroma with vinegary notes. Dry wooden peppery metallic taste with vinegary fruity notes. Thinnish body. Sharpish mouthfeel. Dry peppery wooden aftertaste with fruity notes. Interesting. (0.33l bottle from KnutAlbert.)

Odd beer. Pours with a large, off-white foamy head and a murky deep orange body with good lacing. A bit of a Gusher. Aroma of ceder, funk, lychee, cheese, cobwebs, ginger, and a lot of spice with a touch of citrus. Taste is of exotic fruits mainly lychee with a touch of gardenia flower. There is a bit of sake element that reminds me of Honjozo sake and must. Fizzy bubbles and a dryish mouthfeel.

Pours with a dark amber hue that sits below a small light brown head that is mostly diminishing. Aroma is heavily of bread, grain, hay, and cereal. A scent of barnyard funk also permeates the air next to the glass. Other smells include peach, pineapple, some spices - pepper, ginger. Medium on the palate with a thin texture, Carbonation is lovely, and the finish feel is bitter and slightly metallic. This beer definitely smells worse than it tastes!

Bottle from NYC. Vinegar aroma with elements of oak. Vinous. Fruit, vinegar, does not balance well, and does not really function as a beer.

it’s a gusher! and like a boozy Orval: hazy yellow-orange-brown body with similar highlight--only brighter; general qualities--light vinegar, light acidity, light alcohol, light sweetness, medium bitterness, medium sourness; flavors or aromas noted--wood, rice, orange, cherry, alcohol; good brew.

Bottle marked X.7.10.2. This was a gusher, foaming out of the bottle immediately after the cap was removed. The bottle had not been agitated at all, so this was not a good sign. Needless to say, the white head over the cloudy pinkish orange pour was huge, foamy, and collapsed quickly. Aroma was funky, sour with some woody fragrances, leather, and a distinctly sour character. I don’t know what a sake cask smells like, but this reminded me of Brett. Medium body, tart and acidic, leaving the palate clean. There was some fruitiness in the flavor, and the sourness and bitterness was aggressive and came on quickly. I can’t help but think that this was infected. I’m not anxious to try another, but I probably will, as I cannot imagine that that this is what it is supposed to be.