A third variety recently available at Marukai, Japan brewery Coedos Ruri. Pours a clear gold, weak head that quickly dissappeared. Carbonation persists as opposed to their previous brew I had. I’m wondering if they suffer from ill handling in the supply chain. Notable hoppy note, fairly bitter and dry, persists for a bit, but quite drinkable. Looking into it, the Ruri is a pils, and I do see the style. As it warms up, there’s a little astringent and touch of sour on the sides of the tongue. Perhaps I’m developing a taste for pils? I find this Ruri pleasant and drinkable, and I had a Wernesgruner earlier with dinner too! But I’m not sure if I’d say its worth the premium price commanded at the store for it. One and a half bottles of these Ruri would pay for the sixer of Wernesgruner, and honestly I think the Wernesgruner has a more complex flavor. So I guess I’d give it three out of four hoppy monkeys, except value wise it looses out.  It’s good, but not good enough to make me want to seek it out at the cost in money and time to find it.
Archive for the 'Review' Category
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Former O’ahu MTB-er and surfer Vince “Akron†Labbe was in town last week for the Hawaii premiere of the film, Out of Place, in which he is a featured athlete for the Honolulu Academy of Arts Third Annual Surf Film Festival. He gave a Q&A session after the film and handed out some tee shirts. Chris and the Missus, Ckucke, and I made it down for the premiere showing. The film was well-done, from both the documentary and sports film standpoints. I came away with that awestruck, inspired feeling that I had as a teen after seeing Endless Summer. It will be showing again on Wednesday, 21 July 2010 at the Doris Duke Theater at 13:00, 16:00, and 19:30. I definitely recommend you go and check it out! For more info, go by the Honolulu Academy of Arts website.
I picked these up last year when I was picking up a Snow Peak Spork for Chris at the Snow Peak store in Japan. I personally strongly dislike sporks, so I got the SCT-001 three-piece utensil set instead. I see the utility of having utensils stashed in the EDC bag, since sometimes the krappy low-bidder PRC fork that comes with your Grace’s Inn chicken katsu plate lunch shatters into plastic shrapnel, the disposable spoon that comes with your convenience store ice cream is just not up to the task, or whoever picked up lunch at Yama’s Fish Market only got forks and your #3 plate has poi. I have in the year that I’ve owned this set used for exactly these things and then some. I have so far not used the knife. Continue reading ‘Snow Peak Titanium 3-piece Utensil Set’
I’ve had a Bencmade Model 7 Rescue Cutter for many years. I went out and purchased it and attached it to my snowboard pack shoulder strap immediately after seeing some video footage of a kid slipping out of a chairlift and ending up suspended by his helmet strap. Being able to cut out of a situation like that one handed definitely seemed like a good idea, and not getting impaled by a sharp instrument when subsequently hitting the ground seemed like an even better idea (if you’ve seen Will Smith in I Am Legend, you know what I mean). Conceivably, one could toss a conventional knife after cutting loose, but the reality of the situation is that when you’re falling after being suspended by your pack straps or helmet straps, all intentions aside, you’re more likely to unconsciously clench your fist and hold onto the knife rather than ditch it when that falling sensation kicks in. Thusly, I chose a safety cutter. The Model 7 is a great tool, but it is not cheap, so when Dave at Power Edge told me a less expensive polymer version was coming out, I was intrigued. Continue reading ‘Benchmade 9CB Strap Cutter, Carabiner’
Another new arrival at Marukai from a brewery I haven’t seen before, Coedo. I was debating whether to pick one of these up for sampling since I’ve been battling upper respiratory congestion that has wrecked havoc on my taste, but I couldn’t resist. Its name indcates its a red, they call it a lager, I see a little stick on label puts it at 7% ABV, pretty high. Its a medium dark redish brown, and pours with almost no head. It disturbs me a little how weak the carbonation is. As I feared, I can detect no aroma. This is probably not going to be a fair evaluation. Mouth feel is a bit syrupy and I can detect the sweetness. There actually isn’t an incredibly strong bitter. I’m going to have to reserve judgement, my taste really is screwed up, and I have to wonder if this bottle has suffered in transit. The packaging though is “Beer Beautiful”, nice labeling. Marukai has also brought in another variety, the Kyara. Woah, ok, the 7% is not a lie, I’m hitting a good buzz now, guess I should have taken it slower!
Stumbled across a new entry at Marukai, this Red Ale from Echigo. Pours a dark amber, with a moderate head. I can’t quite place the aroma, as I sit here sipping it, I can’t help thinking it reminds me of Japan. There’s just something in the smell, and its not a bad thing here. There’s a pretty strong bitter, but not too much floweryness. The bitter does linger for a bit, lending to the mouthfeel of crisp, dry and almost astringent, but not sour. There’s a little bit of roastyness, but not a pronounced smokyness. I keep coming back to the aroma, it intrigues me and ultimately makes this beer for me. I think this is the winner of the Echigo varieties I’ve had. 6% ABV.
I give this a solid 3 out of 4 bouquet sniffing monkeys.
Here’s another goodie I picked up when Fabio ordered from Rescue Direct – CMC Rescue’s Survivor 8 descender. Far smaller and lighter than my CMI Rescue Figure-8, this micro version is designed for personal emergency escape. Forged from aluminum, it is machined to shape and given a mil-spec hard-anodized finish. In conjunction with a lightweight carabiner and a rigger’s belt, a very unobtrusive escape rig can be put together without a massive weight penalty. The figure-8 and a lightweight carabiner can be easily pocketed or stashed in something like a double handcuff case or exam glove pouch on your rigger’s belt. I haven’t had the opportunity to test it out yet on a descent, but put it on some rope to see how it would function. It is designed for smaller 9mm ropes. I tried running some ½†Army green line through it, and it sort-of fits, but the rope will probably rub in the middle, even under tension when this twisted rope thins down. It’s not a good idea to run line this big – better keeping it below 11mm. The 7.5mm rope I ran thorough it looked a lot better. It appears that here would be enough room to run that size doubled, or to even pass it knotted. Continue reading ‘CMC Rescue Survivor 8’
Ok, yes, this is beer from the land that gave you Malk and melamine in the puppy food, instead of puppy food in the melamine. It’s been on the cooler shelves at Don Quixote for more than a month, so I figure if there was a problem with it might have been found by now. All kidding aside, I figure I have to see what it’s like. China isn’t really known for a deep history of beer brewing, but who knows, maybe a pocket of German worked its way into this. OK, I crack open the seal and immediately smell the skunky/muskyness. It’s that strong, I haven’t even poured it. It pours with a moderately weak head that quickly dissappears. If you pour aggresively you’ll get it agitated and it bubbles, but it doesn’t form much of a head. Leave it for a while and all signs of a head is gone. Color is moderate yellow/gold. Continue reading ‘Beer Is… Better than Malk? Yanjing Beer’
Pours a cloudy light amber. Thick. No, I’m not describing the mouthfeel, it literally pours thick, although the mouthfeel is likewise almost syrupy. This is one of SA’s Imperial series where they are pushing the envelope of the types of beer. This is the version of a spiced white wheat ale. The syrupyness is reflected in its sweetness, and the 10% buzz packin alcohol content. This sweetness also puts me off. I think I’ve stated in a number of my reviews that I don’t care for when a brew gets sweet and tasting like a drunk juice “malt liquor”. SA does recommend serving at a warmer range, and indeed it did seem to become more drinkable later as it warmed up. Of course that could also be because of that 10% ABV and empty stomach. And horrors, I squeezed a lemon wedge into mine. Honestly, for a spiced white, I’ll go with a Hoegartan.
Barely 2 out of 4 juiced up monkeys.
Catching up on a backlog of B.I.G. reviews here, I grabbed me a sixer of this domestic. Pours a clear light yellow with light head. I found the first sip to be quite pleasant. A nice grainy/nutty flavor. On subsequent tastes though, the flavor seems to get lost and was left with a clean pleasant drinking beer. If you rest the palate for a while and then come back for a sip you do get that flavor I found so nice again. Surprisingly, from a big name domestic, this gets a favorable nod from me, BUT it is priced at “craft” beer pricing. A couple bucks more I could get me a twelver of Speights which is just as nice drinking.
3 out of 4 “craft” monkeys.