Hitachino Nest White Ale

Craft beer doesn’t come to mind when you think Japanese beer. You would generally think of lager beers that go great with sushi. Don’t get me wrong these beers are good. But yes there is craft beer in Japan. It is growing in Japan and they even have a few American craft there as well. One example of Japanese Craft beer is Hitachino Nest a brand by Kiuchi Brewery. This is a pretty popular craft brewery here in the USA and it isn’t as easy to find but not so hard either. This is Hitachino Nest White Ale, 5.5% ABV, made with spices and orange juice. Hitachino Nest White Ale pours a bight cloudy pale yellow color with a thin one-finger head that fades in seconds leaving nothing behind. There is some light coming through with a nice decent amount of carbonation. The aroma is big with a spiced orange and a faint lemon scent. Hitachino Nest White Ale has a nice semi sweet taste of spiced orange that is a little tart with a yeasty note on the back. The flavor does make this beer easy to drink. I mean it does go down well. The mouth feel is light to medium with a nice semi sweet orange-lemon finish and an after taste that lingers on the tongue with nice refreshing yeasted semi sweet/spice citrus flavors. This is one of the best white ales I’ve had. I say this is A+. I found nothing at all wrong or off about Hitachino Nest White Ale. It is remarkable to find a craft white ale from Japan can be this good. I have to give them credit. I recommend that you try Hitachino Nest White Ale. Cheers! Please enjoy responsibly!

Small Town Brewery Not Your Father's Root Beer

I sometimes try to go for trendy or trending beers and recently one beer in particular has been gaining popularity. I was looking to try this beer but it wasn’t in North Carolina till just a few weeks ago. This beer is Small Town Brewery in LaCrosse, Wisconsin, Not Your Father’s Root Beer, 5.9% ABV. Not Your Father’s Root Beer pours a deep dark brown color with light brown edges and a quarter of thin bubbly head that fades instantly. I found no light coming through with limited amounts of carbonation bubbles. The aroma is sweet with caramel and a bit of vanilla. The taste is exactly what you would expect. It taste like a root beer. Not Your Father’s Root Beer has nice notes of vanilla and caramel with a very faint mint taste on the end. The taste is remarkably similar to a good root beer. I think that the alcohol gives you the faint minty taste on the end, which comes and goes quickly. The mouth feel is medium and Not Your Father’s Root Beer has a nice sweet easy finish. The after taste is of vanilla and caramel that lingers long enough to enjoy them. I think that this Not Your Father’s Root Beer is a great idea as well as a really great beer. I would like more breweries to have a beer or two like this one. I think in my opinion that they would do well. I would say that Small Town Brewery Not Your Father’s Root Beer is A+. This is one easy drinking beer and I could not find a thing wrong with this beer at all. It is exactly like it people hype it up to be. I highly recommend that you try Small Town brewery Not Your Father’s Root Beer. It’s damn good and I will bee having another soon! Cheers! Please enjoy responsibly!

French Broad Brewing Company Gateway Kolsch Style Ale

Find and trying new breweries/beers much fun in my opinion. You can’t always drink the same beer all your life. I have found a local North Carolina brewery French Broad Brewing Co. located in Asheville, NC. This is Gateway Kolsch Style Ale, 5.3% ABV and 32.3 IBU. Kolsch is specialty ale brewed in Cologne Germany. This is a traditional style. Gateway pours a bright yellow color with a clean two and a half white head. I found there to be a lot of light streaming through the glass with plenty of carbonation bubble rushing to the head. The aroma on Gateway is breaded and biscuit like. It has a clean aroma to it. The taste is smooth with a subtle bready/biscuit sweetness that kind of slowly rolls on to your taste buds. It becomes a little bitter as it passes and hits the back of your mouth. The best way to describe the flavor on this Kolsch is thin at best.  But as this beer warms a bit the sweetness subsides and the bitterness comes out. The mouth feel is light, with a faintly bitter but somewhat sweet finish. The after taste is less sweet then the first sip and the little bready flavor fades quickly. I do like Kolsch ales but this was not as good as I was hopping it would be. I would say this a D+ at best. All of Gateways flavors were thin and unexciting. I will that French Broad Gateway Kolsch Style Ale is drinkable. But that is the one good think it has going for it. This was not what I was hoping for. I wouldn’t have this again, nor would I recommend trying French Broad Gateway Kolsch Style Ale. Cheers! Please enjoy responsibly!     

Left Hand Brewing Company 400 Pound Monkey English-Style India Pale Ale

American west coast IPA’s are one of the most popular if not the most popular IPA style here. But we sometimes tend to over look other IPA style such as the original or English-Style India Pale Ale. English-Style IPA’s tend to have earthy, herbal hop notes that are well balanced by bready malt. This example here is Left Hand Brewing Company in Longmont Colorado 400 Pound Monkey English-Style India Pale Ale, 6.8% ABV. 400-Pound Monkey pours a dark golden color with a one half finger thin white head that dissipates quickly leaving very little to almost nothing behind. There is a decent amount of light streaming in through the glass with nice carbonation. The aroma on 400-Pound Monkey is earth and herbal with a touch of breaded malts scents. This doesn’t have much fruity scent that you’d get from an American IPA. The aroma is good though. The taste is first earthy and slightly hoppy then it gets more herbal with a nice malted bready taste that helps keep the hoppy bitterness down. I think that the hops and malts are well balanced on this beer. 400-Pound Monkey isn’t overly flavorful with anyone flavor, it is all around flavorful and tasty. The mouth feel is light to medium with a nice low hop bready semi-bitter finish and nice herbal yet earthy malt after taste that lingers nicely till slowly fading just before the next sip. I rather enjoyed Left Hand Brewing Company 400-Pound Monkey. It isn’t has a nice flavor that isn’t too big like most American west coast IPA’s which make it more drinkable. 400- Pound Monkey is an A. This is a well balance English-Style IPA that has a flavor that makes it nicely drinkable and not all in your face bitter/hoppy. I would recommend trying Left Hand Brewing Company 400-Pound Monkey. Cheers! Please enjoy responsibly        

Foothills Brewing IPA of the Month May (Bentley)

It’s here again, Foothills Brewing IPA of the Month. This is May (Bentley), 5.6% ABV and 65 IBUs (international Bittering Units). Foothills are using Citra and Sorachi Ace hops with grapefruit and clementine orange essence in this May IPA. Bentley pours a hazy looking light yellow/orange color with a three and a half finger bright white fluffy head that is slow to fade into nice whips of fine lacing. There is some small amount of light coming through the glass and I found nice amounts of carbonation bubbles. The aroma smells like fresh grapefruit with a little bit of orange and faint tiny hints of lemon. This May IPA has a nice taste of hoppy lemonade that has nice grapefruit put into it without a huge bitterness. There also is a nice but faint taste of a light orange to it. It’s neither overly hoppy nor bitter but it also isn’t the opposite of that either. The mouth feel is light and refreshing with a little light hoppy bitter tingle on your tongue. May finishes nice a citrusy with a faint bitter hop aftertaste with slight grapefruit. This Foothills IPA of the Month May (Bentley) is good, but not as good as last month (April). This one was more about one or two fruit flavors and last April had more fruit flavors to it. So I give IPA of the Month May (Bentley) an A. It was a good IPA. I recommend trying Foothills IPA of the Month May (Bentley) or any/all in this series.  I have never had a bad one in this series! Cheers! Please enjoy responsibly!