Tag: Christmas Beers
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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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Helios Brewery, Santa Beer, Christmas Beer, 7% ABV
As spring approaches here in Japan cleaning our house has taken center stage as we say goodbye to winter. As I was cleaning the refrigerator I found a beer hiding in the back behind the well expired left overs that were starting to take on the features of a misguided science experiment. During Christmas I…
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Twelve Drummers Drumming. Fukizakura Heights Beer, Rauch
Traditionally the Yule log was burned through the Christmas season. It seems only fitting that we end with this holiday tradition. On the last day of Christmas the Yule log would be completely burnt and this season would come to an end. To mark this occasion we finish with a distinctly unique style of beer. …
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Eleven Pipers Piping. Sierra Nevada Brewing, Barrel Aged Narwal
Ken Grossman the founder of Sierra Nevada began his brewery in 1980. In a time where small breweries were few and far between Ken took an unique approach to build his brew house. Taking up-cycled dairy equipment he developed a pale ale beer that was much bitter than any of the light lagers that existed…
Luke Pernotto 