FIRST! Hahahahahaha! Lame.

Happy New Year!

New Year’s in Japan is a major Buddhist holiday and is called Oshogatsu.  New Year’s here is home and family oriented. Most of the country businesses shut down for at least three days, sometimes more. The arrival of the new year is celebrated during the first two weeks of January, during which “firsts” of the year play an important role.  A “first” is called hatsu. Everything from the the first temple visit of the year (hastsumode) to the first business day (goyohajime), is duly noted.  So technically, I can call this my hatsuhihyou, the first review of the year. FIRST!

What I have for this review is Lake Towada Stout, locally made in Towada. 5% ABV in a 350ml bottle. The bottle’s label features a pretty winter scene of Lake Towada’s famous Maiden statue. The bottle cap was interesting, a hybrid between a cap and a pull-tab as seen in the picture. I’ve noticed lot more of these caps in the last several months.

My initial reaction to my first whiff of the pour was “burnt band-aids”.  After doing a little reading, in the future I will use the term “phenolic” to describe a nose similar to this, but I think “burnt band-aids” catches the imagination, even if it doesn’t sound polished.   I was a bit concerned that I got a bad beer and since I was put off by the smell, I didn’t have a drink right away. A few moments later,  the phenol gave way to an almost-but-not-quite-burnt toast scent, along with a a bit of coffee.

Getting the beer into the glass, I found the dark, black-brown color of the beer to be  handsome and very visually pleasing.  The pour resulted in a rich, creamy, coffee colored head rising up, but settling quite quickly.  It was very hard to see bubbles, but they were there.

I like bitter and sour tastes but my first taste of the stout was so surprisingly bitter I was taken aback. For the first half of the glass, I wasn’t really sure about the beer and prior to doing reviewing probably would have foisted it on my spouse or poured it out but I wanted to really work through the beer and challenge myself.

I made sure the beer wasn’t too cold and I took my time with the glass and found that the patient approach paid off . The stout did a reverse-origami sort of thing, several flavors unfolding and revealing themselves. By the end of the glass, I found a  lot of  nice things going on in the brew that I really liked. I was pretty excited and proud of myself for sticking with it!

The carbonation was nicely done; active but not turbulent,  I particularly felt the fizz at the sides of my tongue. Mouthfeel was smooth but not overly creamy with a medium-rich body that was substantial without being chewy.  Almost too bitter at first, although this settled down as I worked through my glass.  Smoky overall with tastes of coffee in the middle, dark toasty malt with perhaps a bit of burnt toast or very dark caramel. Nutty and toasty in the mix as well as a nice touch of hops. Despite the intial band-aid (phenolic) smell of the beer, no weird aftertaste in the very long-lasting swallow.

Near the very end, I enjoyed a piece of gingerbread spice/dark/white chocolate bark with the brew. I love pairing chocolate and beer, but if that’s not for you then this brew might be good with a hearty beef stew.

I got to the end of the glass, and noticed some sediment at the bottom.  Peering into the bottle itself, I noticed a ring at the bottom.  This leads me, in my very inexpert opinion, to think the brew was bottle-conditioned. I’d welcome corrections and explanations if I’m mistaken.

Overall, a solid dry stout, nicely made and good for a chilly, windy New Year’s Eve.

Kampai!

Last night, I was wandering around the local konbenie (convenience store) more or less sight-seeing. I got over to the beer section and was browsing when a green and white can caught my eye. Being born and raised in Buffalo, NY, my first thought was of Genesee Cream Ale (aka Genny Screamers) and my family with their garage fridges full of Genny stubby bottles.  I just about broke out in a cold sweat, even though it’s been some 20 years since I had a run-in (or more honestly, the runs) with Genny. Then I noticed the pretty gold script on the can, elegantly declaring “Ginger Draft.” I got all excited, gave my poor spouse a loud lecture on Genny Screamers, made the store staff nervous, eventually purchased the 350ml can and went home to give it a taste test.

I like ginger. Ginger snaps, ginger ale, ginger bread, ginger beer soda, ginger in my food, Ginger rather than Mary Ann. I am crazy for the stuff. Here’s a neat hint: to peel ginger roots, use a spoon, scraping along the knobby root, in firm pulls.  It ‘s much easier than using a knife and wastes less of the ginger, too.

So here we go with my review of Asahi Brewery’s Ginger Draft. Technically speaking, it’s not a beer but rather something called Happoshu, which contains  less malt than beer.  Happoshu was a way for Japanese Breweries to get around the taxes imposed on beer. However, Happoshu proved to be so popular that the J-Government turned around and created new taxes to be levied on the stuff.

The pour was had a light, foamy head that wasn’t long lasting, floating on  clear, light yellow brew.  The drink was bubbling, but not overly vigorously. I would say it was active without being fizzy. There was some slight lacing as the head  settled.  The bouquet was thin and light with a whiff of hops and a disappointingly light hint of ginger and something I swear was a bit “slighty worn socks” – not offensive, but not clean either.

The initial mouthful had a nice, appropriate level of carbonation with a very thin mouthfeel and an interesting, cooling sensation in the mouth. If you have ever had eucalyptus cough drops or gum containing Xylitol, you know the feeling.  My mouthful was not too sweet, not too dry and unfortunately, not too gingery.

The ginger taste shows up towards the middle of the swallow but doesn’t crash the party.  Instead of being the wild and crazy gal with the lampshade on her head, it’s the retiring wallflower who won’t look directly at anyone. It’s a suggestion of ginger, with a tiny bit of dirt taste.  I probably should say “earthy” instead of dirt, but I already mentioned dirty socks, so why be delicate now?

Being new to all this, I forgot to take a reading of the beer’s temperature right when I intially poured, but I promise to do better next time. I’ll tell you that it tasted better colder, even though I recently learned that most people drink their beer too damn cold. When the beer hit the 52 degree mark, there was a bit more of the ginger present but also more earthiness. Earthiness has its place but it wasn’t in this brew.

If it wasn’t for the weird, weak ginger-dirt thing going on, you could mindlessly drink quite a bit of it.  Mostly, I was disappointed with the lack of ginger.  I wanted the bright, piquant zing that I adore in various food and drink.  Ginger Draft didn’t deliver a flash or even a trouser drop.  “Meh” would be a good word, even if it isn’t terribly articulate.

So while I didn’t like this beer, it wasn’t poorly made as far as craftmanship goes, but I have a sneaking suspicion the Asahi marketing department had more to do with this beer  as an attempt to attract the flavored alcohol/alco-pops/mixed drinks under-30 crowd than a brewmaster did.

Kampai!

An American, living in Japan, drinking a beer from a traditional African recipe that’s commercially brewed in Belgium. Isn’t globalization terrific?

I’m new to reviewing. I welcome constructive criticism, tasting suggestions, and my thanks for the opportunity to drag you all along on my tasting adventures.

I’ve been jealously reading the winter/holiday beer reviews since I can’t get the seasonal stuff where I am. I chose Mongozo Banana Beer for my first Belching Monkey review. Banana? Monkey? Get it?

A lot of beers have interesting bottles or labels. Sometimes, I will buy an untried beer, wine or other spirit because of interesting packaging and sometimes this strategy lets me discover a gem!    Mongozo’s packaging is plain but it does its job: BANANA. BEER. 4.8% ABV. Did I get a gem? Read on.

Pouring the beer, there was a big cloud of creamy BANANA! and vanilla fragrance that smelled good if very sweet and not very subtle.  Also present  in the fragrance there was whiff of yogur and a  hint of taffy.  No scent of anything artificial, chemical or phenolic. Still, not a complex or interesting bouquet.

According to the creator of  Mongozo, the traditional “glass” is a calabash (gourd). Even with global trade, I didn’t have a calabash handy, so I used a regular glass. You can find Mongozo-branded beer glasses that mimic the calabash shape. The beer in my glass was  slightly hazy yellow ale with a  small, white, creamy and dense head which didn’t stick around long. No real lacing, which isn’t suprising, since I don’t believe there are hops in the beer.   If there are, I missed them completely.

Despite its smell, I was expecting Mongozo to be sour and was surprised by the candy-like sweetness of my first taste. The sweetness  didn’t put me off the beer entirely but it gave me pause.  As the beer warmed up – I may have served it too cold – a bit more of a sour note came up, but not enough provide contast or balance. I had a hard time finishing the beer because of the sweetness. Mongozo has a soft mouthfeel that veers dangerously towards flabby. I prefer a brew with spine. I decided the banana beer was a one-trick pony as there wasn’t much going on other than BANANA!  Mongozo seems competently produced;  there’s just not much there with which to work.

Foodwise,  I would pair with spicy dishes.  Mongozo Banana might work as a dessert beer, although I suspect there are better choices.  Mongozo could be a fun one-off “Hey, let’s try this!”

I wasn’t crazy about Mongozo Banana Beer, but not having had African-style beer before, it’s only fair to to plan on revisiting the style, if not this particular beer. It also made me feel to good to know that Mongozo is a  fair trade product. If you have friends who are allergic to gluten, they can have this wheat-free brew.

If you try it, let me know what you think!

Kampai!