Darn. Looking through my pictures, I must have forgotten to take pictures of the Suntory Premium Malts Koku no Blend half-and-half I had earlier. Guess I’ll have to drink another!
(0)Monthly Archive for November, 2013
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The “red can” Yebisu Kohaku is back again, and retains the same wonderfully balanced, full-bodied taste that I enjoyed before. The 100% barley malt has been roasted to a rich, caramel color, yielding a deep honey amber decoction. The hopping is distinct, with a noticeable bitter note at the end, but not as strong as the drier regular Yebisu or the latest iteration of the “blue can” Suntory Malts Premium Pilsener. There is no significant sweetness of floweriness to the hopping. The malt flavor still stands true. The carbonation is more pronounced than other Japanese production beers. It will hold a head a little longer, due to the heavier decoction. Even as the head goes thin, there are still visible bubble trails, and the carbonation blooms in your mouth. This is still one of my favorite JDM production beers.
Three-and-a-half out of four wafuu monkeys
Highly recommended
5.5% ABV
Here’s the review of the 2010 version
More pictures after the break
Continue reading ‘Beer is Good – 2013 Yebisu Kohaku Amber Lager’
Went all the way to Obama, but didn’t see the Obama castle ruins, Myoutsuu-ji, Wakasa hiko-jinja, and Wakasa kokubun-ji. Wakasa hiko-jinja was along the way to Mantoku-ji and Jinguu-ji which I did see, but time ran out.
Went all the way to Kyoto, but didn’t get to Rokudo Sannou-ji to see Yajirou’s well.
Went all the way to the Osaka Aquarium and didn’t see a giant isopod.
Autumn is rolling in a little late this year in Kyoto, and even though it has already rolled through Sapporo, the leaves are only beginning to turn in the old capital. Many of the temples popular for autumn color viewing also open at night for a whole different experience. The main building at Chion-in was closed for extensive renovation, but the grounds were open for night viewing. They even had the stairs to the interior of the main gate open so the inner chamber could be viewed.
More pictures after the break.
Well, at least some of these rooms suck a heck of a lot more than others! This is a good example of terrible 1970’s Japanese commercial architecture. There was a onsen on the top floor, but it was for men only. There was a tiny women’s onsen, but you had to go to the front desk and leave a deposit for the key. The design was awful from the outside too.
Wow. I don’t think I’ve ever had a stuck like that in Japan before. After landing at CTS last night, the plane stopped on a taxiway to wait, as the gate we were supposed to come in at still had the previous flight at the jetway. There was a lingering thunderstorm over the airport, so the tower wasn’t letting anyone take off, even though our flight and several after it had landed without incident. After nearly half-an-hour, and with other planes stacking up behind us (that’s a guess, since I really couldn’t see what was going on, other than what I could see out the left side windows), they had us taxi over to the ramp for us to wait for a gate to clear around the same time the rain subsided. The pilot shut down the main engines so we wouldn’t suck in anything. Another half-hour passed, then without warning, the tractor that had ninja-ed in and attached itself to the nosegear towed us into our newly assigned gate. Of course all this happened without me seeing any planes backing out of their gates or moving away from the terminal. We had actually landed early, but deplaned over an hour late. Continue reading ‘Stuck’
I heard the rumor that the Mayor of Obama-shi, Fukui-ken was going to have a statue of Uncle Barry made, but I was hoping that it would be a professionally-made full-sized bronze. This is what we got instead. Sort-of looks more like Tanaka Kunie with a suntan than the C-in-C. It’s painted concrete, and I hope it’s something the art club of a local school did and not something the city paid for.
The only “I (heart) Obama” goods I could find were some phone straps, neck lanyards, manju, and senbei. I really wanted a shirt or stickers, but since we’re into the second term and Barry can’t run again, the whole connection between the city and the man will fade, and the production of goods will cease. That probably goes for a bronze statue too: This probably isn’t a temporary solution until the bronze arrives with only a few years left of the administration. I think I missed the boat on stickers or a shirt. The senbei were funny, since it had the image of the face on the front, and the back of the head on the reverse. Those definitely wouldn’t have made the trip from Obama to Osaka, no less the bustling around Osaka and the various flights to Sapporo and Honolulu.
More pictures after the break…
Uh oh, boarding, we are surrounded by babies and kids. Good thing not planning to sleep!
Brrr it’s cold, 3F right now this Sunday morning. Going to participate in a Road Rally before we head out. Not sure how much will like it, but guess we’ll try it out.
The RallyCross was a blast! There was only a few inches of snow on ground, but it made for me trying to learn to drive the WRX I was in a total challenge. Just call me Mr. Donut! In fun runs when I jumped into a Civic I was much more at home. Posted times 30 seconds faster, doughnuts take lots of time to make nice, you know.
Having breakfast. We helped set up the rallycross course yesterday afternoon on the snow covered Alaska fairground field. Complete with moose tracks. It’s cold. 15F. Thankfully Palmer was a reputation for strong winds, but it is calm today. And shaping up to be sunny!