Japanese Adventure - The Beer Slant Rant

Japan. A country filled with efficient cars, beautiful mountains, exotic foods, trains that run on time - oh yeah - and the worst selection of beer known to man. I thoroughly enjoyed my 2 weeks in Japan, but it wasn't because of all the amazing beer I had. Of that much I can assure you.

I did my research before heading across the Pacific, and it seemed as though Japan was experiencing a craft beer revolution. New breweries and innovations were popping up all over the place. Blog articles have been written about the top Japanese beers to try while you're there. Let me bring you to reality. Unless you are actually visiting a brewery or are at a bar that specifically specializes in selling craft beer then you can just forget about getting anything other than a rice lager.

In the US you can go into just about any restaurant these days and get something that won't make you want you want to spew or be reminded of yellow fizz. Even at Applebee's you can usually find a Sam Adam's Seasonal or possibly a Blue Moon. I'm not saying those are the best beers out there - but when compared to American light lagers they are downright amazing. After going to Japan I will never again take this for granted. Ever.

A typical Japanese restaurant has 1 beer on tap. If they have a bottle selection it is a rarity. You know what that 1 beer is likely to be? After the first week I could guess with 95% certainty with only 3 tries. It would be Kirin, Asahi, or Sapporo. You've heard of at least 2 of those most likely. You may even have tried one of them while at a Japanese restaurant and felt you were being culturally festive.

Let me help you wake up to reality. These are cheaply made, mass produced rice lagers that taste awful. Pretending you can tell the difference between them and claim one is superior is a pointless game. Wait - you can tell the difference between Bud Light and Miller Light? Holy crap - let me give you an award - and a punch in the face. Those are both awful beers and you shouldn't be disgracing your taste buds with them (unless they are free).

I kind of gave up trying to find good beer midway through my first weekend. I had a brief moment at a restaurant when I found a brown bottle in a fridge that said "HOPPY". All the other characters were Japanese and I couldn't read them but I told the waiter I wanted one of those. He brought out the bottle as well as a glass full of what looked like water with ice in it. I was confused seeing as how you don't typically mix beer and ice water together. I proceeded to drink this "HOPPY" beer only to be very disturbed that it tasted like a very old and skunked amber or brown ale. I later found out when sipping the "ice water" that it was in fact some gin and tonic water. The "HOPPY" is supposed to mixed in to this as flavoring.

The one saving grace was that I received as a gift on my next to last day some beers from Kiuchi Brewery. They started out making Sake many years ago and about 20 years ago starting a beer brewery as well. Their flagship beer is the "Hitachino Nest Beer". It is flavored with orange juice and spice, but after 2 weeks of rice lagers this was like getting rain in the desert!

These 2 pictures below kind of sum up the readily accessible Japanese beer scene.

Selling Asahi beer in a vending machine. No ID required. Just put your Yen in and get your crap beer out.

Budweiser is available at the local Seven Eleven. Yes. It made it across the world tasting no better than it left the USA.

Never take the US beer scene for granted.

-- Ben

A Brief Guide to Christmas Shopping for the Homebrewer

It’s getting to be that time of year again.  Tis the season for giant blow-up Santas, awkward family encounters, and grown adults pulling each other’s hair to get a deal on a TV.  Since Black Friday is a week from today (and Cyber Monday follows it), we decided to put out a list of a few homebrew-related gift ideas.  Whether you’re a brewer and don’t know what you want, or your favorite brewer has sent you this link a few times, hopefully we can assist in making this Christmas a very happy one indeed.  Also, just in case you haven’t been bulking up or doing wind sprints in preparation for Melee Shopping Day, we’ve embedded links to some of this stuff to allow you to do your shopping safely and with a beer in hand.

Homebrew Recipe: Red Ryder Christmas Ale

Red Ryder Christmas Ale

I got this crazy urge last year to brew a beer that tasted like Christmas. I was bringing kegs to my in-laws for Christmas vacation and I wanted something that was seasonally appropriate. This was my first attempt in what I expect to be an ongoing Christmas ale tradition. Many breweries make a Christmas time spiced winter warmer of some sort and they change up the spices a little each year. I envisioned this as being something similar.

Beer Tasting: Allagash Black

Allagash Black

7.5% ABV

Recently one of my local haunts hosted an Allagash tap takeover weekend.  I had limited experience with Allagash's beer, but knowing their reputation I had determined that I couldn't miss it.  Sure enough, the beer was phenomenal and led me on a hunt to basically buy any Allagash that I'd not had before.  I found this little guy, which played ever so nicely into the Belgian kick that I've been on recently.  

Hacksaw Hop Harvest Failure

I know I promised a post on the 2nd half of the Hacksaw Hop Harvest. However... due to my 2 week trip to Japan (future post on that coming) and a week of vacation in Palm Springs California - my hops reached peak picking! Unfortunately I wasn't there to pick them when they were ready and they proceeded to die on me.

Growler Fills: An Inner Turmoil

Draft beer is awesome. Draft beer to go is also awesome. Draft beer to go at the same price as draft beer to stay? Not so awesome. On the one hand, I love the enthusiasm for local and craft beer that comes along with the “growler movement”.  It has even allowed breweries with smaller setups to succeed and gain traction with a lower initial investment and little to no outside distribution. On the other hand, when you look at the ounce to ounce price comparison of beer at the grocery store and beer in a growler, you can’t help but scratch your head a bit.

Homebrew Recipe: Black Gold Imperial Stout

Black Gold Imperial Stout

Brewing Premise: I seem to get involved in lots of trades and swaps involving the exchange of beer for other goods and services. I've even traded homebrew for help replacing brake pads in the past –  but this particular beer was crafted to trade for some old homebrew equipment! A co-worker of mine used to be into homebrewing and has since had multiple children and taken up other hobbies. He still loves craft beer and a good homebrew so I asked him what he’d like in exchange for all his old equipment. He wanted an imperial stout that wasn't over the top on the alcohol. As a new All-Grain Brewer I couldn't wait to figure this one out. I only had a 5 gallon mash tun at the time so the recipe is tweaked a little to help me get the ABV up since my tun wasn't large enough to hold all the required grains.