Tag: bloganuary
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Eleventh Beer of Christmas, Chatan Harbor Brewery, Lager
The Eleventh Beer of Christmas brings us back to Okinawa where we started. Chatan Harbor Brewery started in 2016 and is part of the Terrace Hotel Group in Okinawa. The brewery is located just north of American Village on the west side of the island of Okinawa. American Village is a shopping area just outside…
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Tenth Beer of Christmas, Kizakura Brewery, Kyoto Beer, Golden Ale
As we come to the end of the twelve beers of Christmas we return to the Kizakura Brewery. Like many beer breweries in Japan Kizakura has its foundation as a sake brewery. This beer is even more unique as it has been brewed with koji mold spores that are usually used to brew sake. Koji…
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Ninth Beer of Christmas, Echigo Brewery, Niigata Koshihikari
Today’s beer is made by the Echigo Brewery that I highlighted Flying IPA earlier in the beers of Christmas. This lager is a repackaging of the brewery’s regular line up beer Niigata Koshihikari. The art work on the can highlights the characters or mascots of the towns in Niigata. In the Japanese culture there is…
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Eighth Day of Christmas, Baren Brewery, Coral Island Sunset Lager
The Eighth Day of Christmas Beer celebrates the 10 year anniversary as Friendship Cities of Morioka and Uruma. The Baren Brewery is located in Iwate Prefecture where Morioka City is located. If Japan is viewed as a Dragon with Hokkaido being the head facing into the Pacific, Morioka is located in the dragon’s neck. Uruma…
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Seventh Day of Christmas, Yo-Ho Brewing Company, Tokyo Black, Porter
The seventh day of christmas beers takes us back to a previous brewery. Yo-Ho Brewing has produced an English Porter that is just as much to style as the earlier Yona Yona Pale Ale. Earthy bitter hop aroma on the nose. Spicy hop aroma with a slight pine resinous scent. Really the smell if you…
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Fifth Day of Christmas, Kizakura Brewery, Kyoto Beer, Brown Ale.
Kizakura Brewery takes its name from a cherry tree variety that blooms later than others and has a yellow flower. This is different from other cherry blossoms which bloom white or light pink in the spring. Kizakura Brewery produces several lines of beverages. These are Lucky Brew, Kizakura Sake, Yuzu High-Ball, and Kyoto Beer. In…
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Fourth Day of Christmas, Karuizawa Brewery, The Karuizawa Beer, Clear
The Karuizawa Brewery takes its name from Karuizawa Japan. This mountainous region in Nagano Prefecture has long been a summer retreat area for the Japanese to escape the summer heat. Situated at the base of Mount Asame the cool temperatures have welcomed those that are trying to escape the summer heat. In 2011 the brewery…
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Third Day of Christmas, Echigo Beer Company, Flying IPA
Echigo Brewing Company titles itself as the “Oldest Brewing Company in Japan”. In 1994 Japan revised their licensing requirements to operate a brewery. Before that year a brewery was required to produce 60,000 mL to receive a license. After 1994 the requirement was lowered to 6,000 mL. Uehara Seichiro received his liscense to operate a…
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Second Day of Christmas, Yo-Ho Brewing Company, Yona Yona Ale
Yo-Ho Brewing company is located in Karuizawa Nagano, Japan. A relatively young brewery having been founded in 1996 Keiji Hoshino. His goal was to produce more of an American style craft beer instead of the German style beers that dominated the Japanese Market. Since then they have produced several fantastic beers that are very much…
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First Day of Christmas, Helios Brewery, Sheequarsar White Ale
The first beer of Christmas starts here in Okinawa Japan. The Southern most province of Japan. In 1961 when Okinawa was still a Military Protectorate following the Second World War, Tadashi Matsuda started the the Helios Distillery. Originally he sought to “Produce a Product Made of the Finest Locally Grown Ingredients”. This product was initially…
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Beer & Book Review: The “Vierka” Wine Book, English Version, Friedrich Sauer KG Stuttgart, 1960s
I came across this book, really pamphlet, with a larger stack of beer books I bought from an older gentleman from in New Jersey. The book appears to be a publication by a yeast manufacture (Vierka). While I was unable to find their yeast in any of the major online homebrew websites upon further research…
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Beer & Book Review: Ancient Brews, Patrick E. McGovern, 2017
I have read many descriptions of Patrick McGovern. The one that I enjoy the most is of a beer version of Indiana Jones. While the theatrical imagery is great to have, I understand that Patrick McGovern is less leather jacket, fedora, and bullwhip and more scientific procedures to determine what is in the ancient vase.…
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Lunar New Year: Flaviar Japanese Whisky Tasting;
Today, 1 February, is the Lunar New Year. Growing up this was often referred to a the Chinese New Year. Having lived in Japan several times I am now wise enough to call it the Lunar New Year. This is due to the multiple Japanese people who have corrected me that it is not only…