Beer # 289 Saison du Japon Hitachino Nest

Beer # 289 Hitachino Nest Saison du Japon

Kiuchi Brewery

Kounoso Naka-Shi Ibaraki, Japan
Independent
Flavoured Saison 
6.0 % ABV 16 IBU
Brown Glass Bottle 330 ml.
$4.30 (Canadian) At the LCBO

Twitter: @kiuchibrewery (Japanese)

Iching Papeda

Any time we can find a Japanese craft beer up in this area of Ontario I get rather excited. And This is one of the better ones to cross the pond. Hitachino Nest is the craft beer line that supplements Kiuchi Brewery's Sake business. Kuichi has been producing fine sakes sine 1823. In 1996 Japan passed a law that permitted microbreweies and Kuichi took that oppurtunity to expand into beer production. 

Tonight's beer is a Saison, a light bodied ale, flavoured with the Asian fruit Yuzu. Yuzu comes from china and it is said to be a cross between a proto-citrus fruit called the Iching Papeda and a sour mandarin orange. Yuzu is a slightly tart fruit similar in taste to a grapefruit with major hints of lemon and orange. It is mainly used as a flavouring in Japan, rarely eaten as a fruit. You can find it in the citrus based soy sauce Ponzu, and it is often zested and used for garnishes. 

Yuzu

 Saison du Japon is a wheat and barley based beer that has been flavoured with yuzu and then given further complexity by adding Koji. Koji is a fermented rice base that is used to start the fermentation process in sake.

Onto the beer...Kanpi!

Pours a rich golden colour with a light off tan head made up of small bubbles. Nose is mineral, citrus, slightly soapy, mildy sweet with some caramel. First sip is tangy and tart, effervescent, somewhere between lemon and pomello. with hints of orange and grapefruit. Hints of wheat with some banana and clove. Aeration brights out some warmth slight hints of rice and sake.

Impressions: Fail, So-so, Pass, Exceptional 


Cost: 5/6 PASS
Colour: 5/6 PASS
Beer Style: 5/6  PASS
Re-Order:  5/6  PASS
Experience: 5/6 PASS

Final Thoughts:

Lovely, well put together beer, good complexity and a nice crisp clean taste. Certainly could enjoy a few of these. Get out and try one while it is still here.

Cheers

CJT

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