Kirin is generally the last of the major Japanese commercial beer manufacturers on my list, so you can guess how desperate or bored I was to pick this one up. I’ve had several of the Kirin premium line bottled beers before, and in general these are distinct in flavor profile from the standard Kirin Ichiban Shibori, but they still fall short of impressing me. The Grand Kirin is no exception. The label calls out, “rich malt and dip hop,” but this is not mirrored anywhere on the label in Nihongo in any writing system. I find this odd. There was another similar bottle labeled, “aroma hop,” or something, so the Japanese consumer has to differentiate the two (or possibly more) of the Kirin premium products by the English or label color? Continue reading ‘Beer is Good – Grand Kirin’
Archive for the 'Travel' Category
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I’ve seen this a few times at the supermarket, but have always passed it up because it was an Asahi. With no current varietals from Sapporo/Yebisu or Suntory, I picked one up. Like Asahi’s Super Dry lager, this pilsen doesn’t have any objectionable traits. The pour reveals a slightly deeper color than a standard Japanese lager, hinting at a more intensely flavored decoction, but the head is the expected transient film. On first taste, there is the dry bubbliness across the tongue that Asahi prides themselves on, and as expected the malt flavor is especially rich and is quickly followed up by a strong bitter. Japanese beers are formulated to go with food, and this is no exception: It almost demands an accompaniment! It went very well with my spicy char-siu don. This is a great beer and is on approximately even standing with the Suntory Malts Premium Pilsner. It would be interesting to do a head-to-head with the two! Continue reading ‘Beer is Good – Asahi The Master Pilsner’
While in Noboribetsu, I happened upon a new varietal from Noboribetsu Beer. I’ve had their Ao-oni pilsnener (gold can) and Aka-oni red ale (red can), but this green-labeled glass bottle was a first. Being in bottles instead of cans, I was not taking the chance of bringing any back on the plane, so I just got enough for my immediate use. Named the Kin’oni (gold demon) Pale Ale, it is described on the label as an “American type pale ale”. Cracking the cap, there was only a light hiss of pressure. Since Nobiribetsu Beer’s products are all non-pasteurized bottle/can conditioned craft beers, this worried me a little. These worries were short lived. After pouring the deep amber beer and taking the first taste, my fears were gone. The mouthfeel was the heaviest amongst their other offerings, with a rich caramel malt flavor backed up with a strong hopping. The hops used were both bitter and flowery, giving the ale an overall fruity flavor and aroma. They weren’t being timid with this one! The carbonation level was low. This beer pairs well with salty foods or red meat where the sweetness of the hopping stands up to heavier, savory food flavors, and the bitter finish refreshes the palate, but this beer truly shines when enjoyed unaccompanied. Continue reading ‘Beer is Good – Noboribetsu Beer Onidensetsu Kin’oni Pale Ale’
This is one of the two easily available Moretti products on the worldwide market. I’ve seen it referred to as “Moretti Dark” at Verbano, but a more apt description for this doppio (double) would be “Moretti Strong” with its higher alcohol content and robust flavor. The decoction was strong and the hopping was more sweet than bitter. The initial taste was that sweet that faded into an understated malt, then a slight astringency in the fade to the finish. This doppelbock wasn’t syrupy, but it did have a thicker mouthfeel than the standard Moretti offering. The carbonation was low and head short-lived. The heavier, sweeter taste of this beer works well with veal and heavier marinara sauces, but doesn’t go that well with delicately flavored dishes like carpaccio or pasta or entrees with cream sauces. I’ll still choose a Peroni over either of the Moretti beers if given the choice. Continue reading ‘Beer is Good – Moretti La Rossa’
This is another beer that I’ve seen a few times but never tried. I came across it again while trying to search for Kawaba using “Japanese weiss” as search terms. I shortlisted it for a taste test. All I needed was the chance to get one, and on the way back from Noboribetsu, I got the chance. The “cat beer” can is unmistakable. It does make one ponder who the intended market for this beer is. The same brewery also makes Yona Yona Ale and Tokyo Black beer. Neither of these sounded that intriguing, especially when I already had some special brews from Noboribetsu Beer already in my pack, so I just got the cat.
Now as to the brewery, the katakana on the can has them as “Yahou”, like as you’d call out from a mountaintop. The website listed on the can is the romaji “yohobrewing dot com”. When you go to the site, they use the romaji “Yo-ho”. Seriously? Do they not know themselves what their own company name is? Continue reading ‘Beer is Good – Yoho Suiyoubi no Neko Belgian Ale’
The Coca Cola company has introduced a bottled Yerba Mate drink in the Japanese market. Sold as an unsweetened tea, there is no indication on the bottle that it contains caffeine, so you’re left to your own knowledge as to what Mate contains. The specific Yerba Mate they use is fairly mild: It is lightly smoked, so it doesn’t have the “green” taste of unsmoked leaves common in American health-food markets nor the strong smokiness of traditional Argentinian leaves. If not for the label, you might think you’re drinking a lighter houji-cha. I like it. The English, “Latin biorhythm Mate, Play! Eat! Drink Mate,” marketing text is a little weird though. Go figure – this is Japan!
I’m lying head downslope in knee-deep powder looking up the underside of a leafless tree canopy, the sharp pain in my front leg beginning to dull with the onset of the adrenaline rush. I manage to get my board untangled from the ice-ball rock garden that I have wandered into and try to rub out the Charley Horse in my right quad. I know from the dullness this isn’t going to be a minor injury, so I focus on getting the board under me and traversing out of the sidecountry and onto a groomed course before I go shocky and black out in the worst-case-scenario. I am a little wobbly, but the leg doesn’t fold under the weight. I complete the drop into the little bowl I was S-turning down onto when I found the icy Linga of Death, crossing a little gulley and toe-siding out to the Echo course. After a little breather, I ride out to the base. Continue reading ‘Oh, Snap!’
Back from dealing with buffet sensou with yelling Chinese tourists in Noboribetsu. Figured going to a less-known property would be a safer bet against the throngs of foreign tourists, but apparently where we went was specifically marketing themselves toward the package foreign market. Onsen itself was not bad, though the scenery was lame, and the baths themselves set in the concrete industrial underside of the hotel. Had some good gyutan for lunch in a new place in the basement of JR Sapporo-eki, North of the Mexican restaurant. Dinner was at an unremarkable ramen-ya. Organic, but not all that good. If you like niboshi-based broth, you’ll like it, but if you lean more toward chicken bone or pork bone bases, you’ll find it painfully fishy. I guess I’m not too upset I forgot both my camera and phone in the rush to get dinner. It’s in Maruyama, around the corner from the second location that Bozu was in before he went under. The place screams, “former salaryman with a dream to open a ramen restaurant”. There was a centimeter or two of new snow in town, so that might be enough to get me motivated to catch the bus out to Kokusai tomorrow.
Yesterday’s high was between +5C and +7C. The wind was pretty minimal. Patagonia Capilene 2 long bottoms under Marmot Hatteras nylon canvas pants were fine. On top I had a Capilene 1 silkweight tee, a Capilene 3 quarter-zip long-sleeve, and R1 hoody. That ranged from about right to too warm. The zippers on both the long-sleeve and hoodie helped regulate the temperature. It would be nice if there was a R1-weight piece with the lighter-weight micro-grid fabric on the entire back for use with a pack. In the evening on the walk to dinner, I deleted the Capilene 3 long-sleeve since I’d be indoors for a long period and didn’t want to overheat. It was a bit cold, as the temperatures dropped toward the evening low of +2C after the sun went down, and the wind came up to 5-10 m/s. It was fine for the short walk, but anything more would have been uncomfortable. As a side note, the Capilene 3 long-sleeve doesn’t play well with the R1 fleece – their surfaces bind against each other, making it hard to put the R1 on without the baselayer sleeves getting all bunched up, or the fleece’s back getting hung up across the shoulders. Continue reading ‘Layering Test 5’
The warm weather has made all the unremoved snow in the streets melt and the vehicular traffic has churned it into a brown slurry. The snowpack on the sidewalks are corny slush in the sun or slick ice-slides in the shade. I’ll never understand the half-measures in this city. It’s not like it has never snowed before. It’s not like they don’t have front-end loaders and dump trucks. They’ll clear the center turn lane and the inner traffic lanes of a four-lane highway, but leave mountainous piles of snow in the outer lanes. I can understand just getting some lanes open immediately after a blizzard, but that’s where the work stops. They don’t clear the remaining mess in subsequent days and it just keeps piling up. When the temperatures drop next week, all that slush in the streets will harden up into an ankle-twisting egg-crate of ice. Continue reading ‘Wet and Messy’