Short Grande Biere Review

I made it through the day. I will say that leaving Shinjuku at 11pm and taking the all night bus back to Toyohashi Station, catching the 6am train from Toyohashi to Toei, riding the scooter 30 min to the apartment and then making it to school with five minutes to spare is not the idea way to start the week. But, I made it.

Tokyo was a great time and I was surprised at all the good beer at the festival. There were several stellar brews and a lot of good stuff. To be sure there were a few that were downright bad. A few of the stellar ones in my opinion were the Minoh Double IPA, Kinshachi Imperial Stout (rep. Aichi!), Stone Vertical Epic, Ushiku's Premium Bock, (I almost told a customer it was Oshiko's!!), Ise Kadoya's Pale Ale, Becken had some good stuff, and many others. The only really bad ones I thought were the caramel beer and some fruity nasty concotion that tasted like the first cider I tried to make a few years ago.

The beer was good and the people were better. I met so many cool cats it's hard to remember everyone to thank. The great thing that I love about beer drinkers is the way that we mesh. I love the fact that some of the beers that people reccomended to me, I thought were terribble--and some of the ones I thought were good--other folks couldn't stand. (Nate, Tim--Hakone's strong ale???) The great thing is that it doesn't matter. As long as we are all together enjoying a few beers and good company--it's time well spent. I also was asked to address the crowd in French, which in my relaxed state I was happy to do. I hope there was no one else at the festival who could speak French.

And you will notice in the picture, I tried to find a manly way to wear the scarf. Chuwy, you will notice Nate did not find a manly way to wear his scarf.

I can't wait to make it back to Tokyo again (SOON!) and I wish I had the pics from my girlfriend's camera to post. I should get them sometime this week, so check back for some good stuff for sure.

I did manage to pick up a new Kirin Ichiban Shibori in the few minutes I had between bus and train in Toyohashi this morning at 5am on my way back home. Haven't tried it yet.

After drinking good beer all weekend (Ise Kadoya, Dusk Ale, and some other Stouts at Bulldog--everything from Baird ((thanks Tom, Tim, Andrew, Koji, Tomoko, EVERYONE else))--not to mention everything at the festival) why on Earth would I buy a new Kirin Ichiban Shibori to drink?

Simple friends, because I can.

Here's to a quick week and a good slow weekend to come.

Kompai.