Japan's Valentine Beers in review

For Valentine's Day I received and gave many 'chocolate' beers. Now that we are moving out of the chocolate craze and into Spring, what were the best 'chocolate' beers? The worst? For the sake of Japanese marketibility, I am using 'chocolate' to refer to brown ales, porters, stouts, dunkels, black beer, bubbling cold cocoa... anything that got a V-Day push in the stores.

At the top of the heap sits Kinsachi's Imperial Chocolate Stout. I had this 8% goodness street drankin' outside of Spirits, on draft at the Real Ale Fest, and finally in my apartment. This beer boasts the trinity: the alcohol, the malt, and the hops all in harmony. I wish I had another one.

Sankt Gallen probably pushed V-Day impulse buying harder than any other Ji-Beer company. A trip to that fancy store underneath Nagoya Station revealed their Imperial Chocolate Stout, Orange Chocolate Stout, and Sweet Vanilla Stout, all decorated with labels declaring Valentine's Day 2009! Sankt Gallen, a heavily favored and much hyped contender this V-Day, fell short in the moment of truth. The 2009 Sweet Vanilla Stout paled in comparison to the 2008 version I drank last year. I remember TimE making this same comment. The Orange Chocolate Stout was nothing to shout about and the Imperial Chocolate Stout was, well.... Let's just say the Imperial Chocolate Stout was Great Hanshin Earthquake to the Sankt Gallen foundation in my mind. At 8.5%, this beer had alcohol, malt, and hops but no balance what-so-ever. A sip brings burnt black patent to the palette, followed by an unnessesary hoppiness. Compared to Kinsachi's offering, Sankt Gallen needs to hang it up.

Hitachino Nest's Expresso Stout (with V-Day label!) was good for a stout infused with coffee. The problem is that I don't get down with flavored stouts. I feel the flavoring cheapens the taste of what a stout should be. The best stouts I have ever drank are made with water, malt, hops, and yeast (and maybe aged in a whiskey barrel!). That said, if you like coffee stouts, I bet you will like Nest's Expresso Stout.

Miyoshi Becken Beer put a nice pink ribbon on their special 7% Dunkel. A ribbon makes the bottle look nicer to prospective buyers, but doesn't change the taste of soy sauce to chocolate. I should have just bought three Kirin Stouts for the price.

In a Tokyu Hands in Ginza (Ginza Hands!), Miyuki and I bought an Imperial Chocolate Stout that was made by Rogue and for sale by Ezo Beer in Japan. While this beer did not feature a V-Day label, I can guess why it was prominently displayed on Feburary 12. At 10% alcohol, I had high hopes that this Rogue creation would flatten the Japanese competition. Alas. What's up Rogue? What's with the chocolate extract? Your unnatural flavor additions have pissed off my palette! To reiterate, the best stouts are water, malt, hops, yeast (and whiskey barrel aging).

Finally, we come to Hansharo Beer's Stout. This is a regular little guy at 5% that had a teeny tiny v-day sticker on the bottle's neck. Kawano-san, our homebrewer friend, gave it to Miyuki and I. Kawano-san is the man behind Rainbow Brewing's Dusk Ale, which is contract brewed by Hansharo. Anyway, this beer was chilling in Miyuki fridge, waiting, until Miyuki's grandma drank it while we were snowboarding two weeks ago. She initially told us that it tasted horrible. Turns out this was just a lie so we wouldn't be pissed at her. She liked the beer and we don't know where to get another one. This is her taunting us with the bottle.

Did you drink any of these beers with a loved one? Or without a loved one? Any other Valentine beers you love or hate?