From the internet, this Suntory 100% malt beer appears to be a Japan 7-11 exclusive. The name, Fukumi no Zeitaku means literally “depth of extravaganceâ€, intending to convey the over-the-top rich experience of flavor the drinker is supposed to encounter with this beer. Of course, as has been shown in the past, the best intentions and best technique and best ingredients can still yield a marginal product. I wouldn’t say in this instance the product is sub-par, but it is really just average. On first taste, there is a sweet that hits you – not quite the painful sweet of like the gnasty Sapporo Fuyumonogatari “Winter Tale†beers, but a sweet nonetheless. I’m thinking this is an unattenuated sweet and not a hop sweet. There is a decent amount of hops, as the bitter in the finish is evident, but the sweet really seems like a sugar sweet, indicating unmetabolized sugars from the strong decoction. That’s strong, considering the yeast managed to hit 6.5% ABV and still had sugar leftover when they died. Considering the little yeasty beasties went whole hog on the sugars, it is surprising that the carbonation level is so low. The 100% malt part is borne out in the rich malt flavor that overtakes the sweet through the middle and finish, with that hop bitter co-mingling at the end. It’s a bit of a shame that the initial taste is rank, since the finish is so nice. It’s tantamount to going from homeless smell to frying bacon. Continue reading ‘Beer Is Good – Suntory Fukumi no Zeitaku’
Oh I tell yuu!
Percy, what part of my name in my voicemail message sounds like L/Risa? And I don’t think this is the first time I got a call from this North LA number!
Darn. Shuugaku-sou is closed today, so I can’t go and buy all kinds of titanium stuff.
I noticed a correlation between pre-flight meals and the level of altitude-induced flatulence created on this last trip to SLC. On the way out, I had a home-cooked dinner and only had a beer at the airport: On the way back, I had a big bacon burger at LAX. The result – no issues outbound, but painful gas inbound. So as an experiment, I didn’t get a Whopper Junior and onion rings at the airport terminal BK as I otherwise would have done, but instead stopped at the Gordon Biersch consession and had a pils and clam chowder. The result – a significant decrease in gas. There was some gas (I don’t think you can avoid it completely in the low-pressure environment), but it was manageable. Only thing was shelling out nearly $20 to not get thunderfarts!
The Hawaiian Airlines aircraft I flew to Shin-Chitose was I think one of their first 767’s. The tail number was N584HA, and the bird name was “Kioea†(Chaetoptila angustipluma), which is an extinct honeycreeper. The cabin safety card calls it out as a B-767, and indicates it is valid for tail numbers 584 to 586, so apparently there are three of this generation. According to online aircraft resources, this is a 767-3G5 ER with airframe number 24258/255, so it is an extended range 767-300 with P&W 4062 engines. The airframe was originally built for the German airline Lufttransportunternehmen (LTU) in 1989, and transferred to Hawaiian in 2002, which explained all the German labelling. I’ve been on one of their newer 767-33A ER WL wingletted aircraft on the HNL-KIX run before. Those were built new for Hawaiian and weren’t lease turnovers. None of Hawaiian’s 767’s have individual headrest screens like their Airbus A330-243’s, but the shared screens in these older 767’s were probably upgraded to LCD’s when the aircraft was refitted, as I don’t think something built in 1989 would have come with them originally. It doesn’t appear that the 2-3-2 seating was reconfigured. The seats were roomy and the German-sized legroom was enough to stretch out in. I’m repeating what I said in a live SUAR post earlier, but considering the age of this airframe, it is amazing how odor-free the interior is. I give the Hawaiian Airlines cleaning crew some major credit. All the JAL international flights I’ve been on in the past several years have been pretty stinky.
Thank goodness the horn on the FR-S is decently loud! A Porsche Cayenne/vw/audi almost backed directly into my drivers side in the Koko Marina parking lot. Came extremely close. Doesnt your fancy shamancy car have backup sensors? Sheesh!
170cm of base at Sapporo Kokusai and a forecast of continuing snow and below-freezing temperatures through the New Year means using up those last vacation days, packing up the Hovercraft, and getting a flight up to Hokkaido! I’ll probably hit Niseko over the weekend, and maybe try and get to the “under new management” Onze sometime during the week if I get a late start, or it isn’t off the hook at Kokusai.
Could they have gotten a more difficult set of call letters for a Japanese speaker? Hopefully their transmitter problems are fixed, they seemed to be on no problem the past few days. Their signal isn’t any better though, HD reception is pretty unusable in a moving car in town and anywhere east. Too bad because it seems they are slowly bringing features online, I notice the web based streaming app now lists title and artist for most of the songs. Hopefully they succeed!
OK, here by popular demand, an overall pic of the car with the PlastiDipped wheels. And to fulfill my Racer Boy image, I actually raced at today’s SCCA Solo II AutoCross. It was a learning and entertaining experience. My first run I forgot to turn off the VSC stability control. I realized as I was pulling away from start and could only manage to turn off the traction control. What a horribly frustrating excercise! Throw it into a corner and put the pedal down and the electromom kicks in and the gas goes limp. By contrast on my second run where I did turn all the techno dodads off, I was all over the place! Oh my, these Bridgestone Turanza tires featuring COCS (they need to get together with Easton with their CNT) are quite the squirrelmeisters! I dare say these might be worse than the Michellin “Prius” tires that all the reviewers got on their FR-S’. At least those were summer tires, these are all seasons. When I calmed down and tried to drive more whithin the bounds of the tires, things got better, and actually pretty fun!