Helios Beer

By far the best jibeer that we drank in Okinawa was Helios. Unfortunately we didn't get to visit their brewpub and try all of their beers--but we did drink Their Blue Sky and Sea Weizen and their Goya Dry.

We were leaving from Naha Airport when my girlfriend bought me the Blue Sky and Sea Beer (Weizen). It was a steep 600 yen (airport prices) and I was a bit discouraged from the earlier in the week purchase of Nihede Beer. However, being the sweetheart that she is and knowing how much I like to try new brews, she bought one for me. I popped the top and the fruity weizen smell hit me right away. This beer is fruity, but not over the top--and highly drinkable. I brought one back to Toei that Nate and I tried together and he said the same. You could drink this beer all day and really enjoy doing it. It's got great taste and is simply a well made brew. If I had to choose one beer to drink on the beach in Okiawa--this would be the pick. It is one of the best weizens that I have had in Japan.
The Goya Dry is a gimmick beer. The Goya is a cucumber/zucchini/squash/pimply looking green vegetable that is really popular in Okinawa. It is SUPER bitter and is cooked stir fry style, fried, baked, grilled, smashed--and now brewed. Helios brews a bitter lager with goya added in.

I'm not a big fan of gimmick beers--as they rarely have staying power. Kinshachi's Aka Miso Lager is good--but many of the other gimmicks have failed miserably. (cough...green tea draft...cough)
However...the Goya Dry is good. Surprisingly good. I had my first one walking on the street in Ishigaki and was pleasantly surprised. It has the strong bitter taste of Goya in the dry finish--but has enough taste to balance it all out. I would drink it again--and I brought one home for Nate to sample as well. He said the same--for a gimmick beer--they did well.

I will be going back to Okinawa--I had a great time and the beaches were just too great not to see again. When I do, I'll be drinking more Helios beer and hopefully visiting their microbrewery. Anyone else out there been there? They have a nice website and I highly recommend checking it out if you are heading down Okinawa way.

Sadly, that's all for the Okinawa beer posts. Wish I had more to report--hopefully they will start making some more good brew down there! But, as far as good beer goes--they have two QUALITY microbreweries there that are making good stuff. By my count--that's one more than Aichi has--and we have Nagoya....