The End of the Week is Upon Us

Well, the weekend is upon us. If you are a frequent visitor of this site, you may have noticed that we don't do much posting during the weekend. This is, of course, due to the fact that the weekends are for drinking beer, leaving the week days for thinking about drinking beer on the weekends.
This weekend will take us to Nagoya where we plan on touring Asahi's Nagoya factory once again, as it has been over two months since I was there last. Like I mentioned before, the tours are free--and I must make sure that nothing too important has changed up there. I'm also crossing my fingers and hoping that they still are serving all you can drink Bass and Asahi Black...for 15 minutes.
Nate and I will also be walking around town looking for new places to find good beer in Nagoya. Last week's discovery of a 'new ' joint in Toyohashi that was right under our noses has me ready to go a-searching in Nagoya. I'm hoping to scare up some Hida-Takayama brews, and maybe some Iwate IPA. My fingers are crossed.
We wish you a Good Beer weekend and when you are drinking your oat-sodas this weekend, stop and remember those in England...where about 60 pubs are closing a day. Shed a tear for them, but for Pete's sake don't pour any out and waste it, that would be stupid.

Also, Nate and I both only have to 'work' half day today....lucky us.

Kompai!

Wikipedia and the Kirin Brewery Company

When I am bored at school I read Wikipedia pages. This is a great way to kill time and learn things that I did not know before. A few days ago, my wiki travels brought me to the Kirin Brewery Company page. There is a warning at the top of the page that says "This article or section is written in an informal style and with a personally invested tone. It reads more like a story than an encyclopedia entry." Well, that doesn't sound too bad. And it wasn't. I stared at a computer and enjoying learning about Kirin's history, from its roots as the first Japanese brewing company right up to 1987 when Asahi introduced Super-Dry. Oh, what a dark year for Japanese beer. Kirin fought on, bringing the beer they knew was superior to the table, but profit margins got slimmer. Says Wikipedia, "Japanese consumers wanted lighter, less bitter beers--Super Dry delivered this; Kirin Lager did not. Kirin eventually, somewhat belatedly, in early 1996, gave in to consumer preferences and changed Kirin Lager to a less bitter, draft beer." It's the last of that quote, specifically "changed" and "less bitter, draft beer", that really tug on the ol' heart strings. The article only gets worse after this, talking about happoshu rising in popularity in the late 90's, early 2000's. For Kirin's sake, I will imagine that their Premium Muroka, which is damn good beer, is a direct descendant of the Kirin Lager that the Japanese population neglected in favor of Super Dry rice water. Just thinking about that poor lost beer gets me all emotional like the time I went to Popeye's and it was closed.

Beer Quote of the Day

"I've never been into wine. I'm a beer man. What I like about beer is you basically just drink it and order more. You don't sniff at it, or hold it up to the light and slosh it around, or drone on and on about it, the way people do with wine. Your beer drinker tends to be a straightforward, decent, friendly, down-to-earth person, whereas your serious wine fancier tends to be an insufferable snot.”

— Dave Barry

BREAKING NEWS!!! MORE CRAP BEER COMING!!

OK, So I'm not going to sit here and say that we are breaking this news--but we are picking it up early. This story was just released two hours ago, and it confirms what we already knew. The Big 4 are continuing to make their crappy beers, and low cost beer 'alternatives'. I don't know what possessed Sapporo to make a 'cool' brew, you'd think being up there in Hokkaido they'd have had their fill of all things cold. Who knows. This brew isn't due to hit the shelves until March--so be warned.

Sapporo to sell beer-like drink that leaves 'cool sensation'

Thursday 29th January, 07:24 AM JST

TOKYO —

Sapporo Breweries Ltd said Wednesday it will market a new “third-category” beer-like drink, which the company claims leaves a chilling and refreshing feeling in the throat after being consumed because of a special aroma ingredient. The new beverage, called “Reisei Sapporo (Cool Sapporo),” due to debut March 25, is expected to retail for around 140 yen per 350 milliliters.

Sapporo senior managing director Fumiaki Terasaka said, “Third-category products will surpass (more expensive) regular beer and low-malt ‘happoshu’ beer in terms of not only sales volume, but also value in the consumer market in the first six months of this year.” Sapporo products have been selling well this month thanks to the popularity of another third-category drink named, “Mugi to Hoppu* (Barley and Hop),” company officials said. Third-category beverages, including those made of nonmalt ingredients, have been growing in popularity due to their lower prices than regular beer and happoshu.

*Also, for another bloggers opinion of 'Mugi to Hoppu' click here. Absolutely Classic..

Black and Tan in Japan

Does anyone like Black and Tans? I do. I've tried to make many in Japan using the Black Malts, Yebisu Black, Asahi Black and Stout, and other black beers that I have come across. I usually mixed them with Yebisu (only once and I did not like it), Premium Malts, Super Dry, or some other light lager. Technically speaking, mixing the lager would make a Half and Half, the name Black and Tan being reserved for ale mixing, but when you have to make due... Anyway, I have not come across the black beer in Japan that will float on top of the lighter beer ala Guiness Stout. Luckily enough, Sapporo imports Guiness to Japan and, to compliment that, Asahi imports Bass Pale Ale. Together, these two beers make one fine Black and Tan. Here is a picture of Miyuki drinking one while talking on the phone.

Limited Edition GBCB Earthenware Plates coming soon!

The Good Beer Country Boys and Miyuki have a ceramic artist friend in Japan. His name is Osamu. We know him through a long story involving Miyuki's grandma thinking he was a homeless person stumbling into a "well-to-do" restaurant, my brother (also a ceramicist) visiting Japan around that same time, and plain ol' goodwill toward fellow humans.

For my birthday this past December at Udagawa (the BEST food in Japan), Osamu gave me a plate. He said this plate was the first in a new, super premium, artist series he was developing. From the looks of the plate, I had my doubts. It was very curiously shaped. There were two large, almost oval, indentions, with two smaller indentions positioned close to the bottom, between the larger ones. The surface had many small inverted bumps, like braille, but spaced evenly, especially in the indentions. Close inspection showed many extremely fine lines in random curving and twisting patterns. These were all over the plate, but thicker where the two large ovals met and around the smaller indentions. The plate itself was made of unglazed clay that looked as if it had been put through a kiln a few times. If you haven't figured it out from my description, the plate was Osamu's ass. The 4 indentions are what you think they would be, the inverted braille is goose bumps, and the fine lines are... well, you know. Osamu presented this in front of the whole restaurant and made a big show talking about how cold the clay was on his backside. He went on to explain how his doctor friend, who is a proctologist, had visited his studio and one thing led to another...proctology, butts, plates, etc.

The Good Beer Country Boys, Miyuki and her mom visited Osamu this past weekend to wish him a happy new year. We also brought him some Kentucky Ale from the homeland to drink or display...upside down. That is his new thing this year --to view everything from a different view, specifically upside down. In his studio, this includes gift beers, posters, records, clocks, ceramic making tools, actual ceramics, and more. He would probably mount his potter's wheel to the ceiling if it wouldn't cave in the whole building. Anyway, I noticed 4 more ass plates like my birthday present around the shop. I thought he had been joking about the "ultra-premium artist series" but he said it was no joke. The conversation eventually got around to whether not DH and myself would like to make our own ass plates. Now, the Good Beer Country Boys are not always into it, but are not ones to pass it up. "It" being 'having our own ass plates' in this situation. Osamu prepared the clay and DH went first and then it was my turn. I am not going to really describe sitting my bare ass (and other parts) in clay, because I feel the pictures say it all. It feels about what you think it would feel like, but colder. Much colder.

Osamu told us that the plates would be done in about a month. When that happens, we'll post on here for the world to see. I can't speak for DH, but I am proud of mine. It's gonna make alot of you jealous.

Brew Dog Beer-Tokyo

Ok, it's not from Japan and to be honest I haven't drank any...yet. I just have a good feeling about this microbrewery. Check out their website. It's cool.
Just so you didn't think I pulled this out of thin air, they did make a 12% (dang!) Imperial Stout and called it TOKYO. Don't know why they did, but I sure would love to try one. This beer was aged for 4 weeks on toasted vanilla French oak chips, and while that sounds a little girly to me--there ain't nothing girly about a 12% brew. More to come on these guys and their interesting brews.....

Tokyo Black Porter

You know us Good Beer Country Boys can't leave the night with an article about crappy beer. I won't try and water down what Nate wrote, those beers were crappy--and we can brew up stuff better than that in a tiny apartment here in Japan with limited supplies. 'Nuff said.
Tokyo Black however, is great beer. It is made by Nagano's Yo-Ho Brewing (a pirate's life for me!), and Tokyo Black is only one of many great beers that they make. I am not going to talk about the company or all of their beers, but Tokyo Black is worth your money and your time. It is a great porter with tons of toasted malt taste. Out of the can it is steller. On a Real Ale tap, it's enough to make your toungue slap your brains out. If you can find it, drink it. If you drink one, drink another. If you drink two, send the third one to me. I will drink it. And I will thank you.
This is GREAT BEER IN JAPAN. DRINK IT.

The worst Ji-Biru in Japan!

Niigata Beer is horrible. I have been surfin' 'round the net looking at other "BIG TIME" review sites like beeradvocate and ratebeer to see what they had to say. Maybe I missed something. Maybe I drank some old bottles. Maybe. Their reviewers throw around phrases like "lack body", "needs aging", and "not to my tastes". They all fail to mention what Good Beer Country Boys noticed first. This beer tastes like shit. Straight. Simple. Shit.

We'll start with the Edinburgh Ale. DH bought a bottle in the Great Nagoya-Area Street Drankin Store, Spirits. This is susposed to be some kind of English-style ale? A ratebeer reviewer said he tasted "raisins, figs, malt" in this beer. Miyuki, DH, and I all tasted vomit in the back of our throats. The first drink brings a "Oh, that is different" reaction while the second drink invokes the gag reflex. There is something in the aftertaste of the beer that is just not right. The small bush outside Spirits that drank the second half of the beer probably feels the same.

This past weekend, at a GaRiBa's (great liquor store with great bourbon prices) in the outskirts of Toyohashi, DH and I purchased a Niigata Expresso Beer and a Golden Kolsch, respectively. We drank the Expresso Beer outside of an Atsumi Food Oasis later that day. This beer boasted 8% alcohol and expresso. I won't lie, I like dark beers and I was excited. Alas, while the beer was dark (like dirty motor oil), the body wasn't there and that same aftertaste, the gag reflex inducing one, was present. DH, blasphemer that he is, said the beer was reminescent of the Hickey Bros. Kentucky Common, sans the aftertaste. I almost slapped him for comparing our homeland's nectar to this swill. After the passion subsided, I agreed that the taste was somewhat similar in the beginning, but that was it. While the Hickey Bros. Kentucky Common has a smooth slightly sour finish that invites another drink, the Niigata Expresso Beer invites you to puke up your two previous beers.

The last Niigata Beer I will ever drink is their Golden Kolsch. This beer is 7% alcohol and cuts an impressive figure before it is open. In a glass, the head dies immediately and the taste is little better than mediocre homebrew with the same, though less intense, gag reflex flavor. I think it must be the yeast that this company is using that gives all of these beers the same awfulness. I invite you, whoever is reading this, to try these beers. They are terrible. If you don't think so, tell me. We will disagree and I will fight you.

Some Free Advice:

It's true people. We are in a recession. The almighty dollar doesn't go as far as it used to, which sucks for all of you making dollars instead of YEN! HA! Didn't see that one coming did you? And while it is true that the yen stretches further in the US these days, sadly in Japan...1 yen is still worth 1 yen. However strong the Yen may appear these days, the crunch is hitting Japan. Add that to the fact that many Japanese people are steering away from beer, and we could be in for troubled times in the future. The economic crunch is going to make it harder for small breweries to stay in business, but rest assured that the big boys won't be affected too much. However, they are trying to help out the little man with his thin wallet, and at the same time are making crappy beers. The big four have realized that people want to drink beer, get a buzz and penny pinch at the same time. So, drinks like strong seven and other piss waters have invaded the shelves of your local conbini. No doubt you've encountered some kind of "70% off", or "free" beer on the shelf. Be warned people. These drinks aren't even beer at all. Most of them are water flavored to taste like beer, with some kind of grain alcohol added to make sure it gives you a buzz. Basically this is the instant coffee of the beer world. And wouldn't you know it, it was a Japanese dude that invented instant coffee as well.

Who knows what this year will hold for micro-brewers, not just in Japan, but around the world? Surely they are feeling the crunch as are bar and pub owners everywhere. I offer this bit of Good Beer Country Boy Advice to you:

1.) Always buy locally produced (as close as possible) micro-brewed beer instead of the Big Four's crappy brews.
2.) As much as is possible and convenient (no pun intended), try to avoid conbinis and buy from private family owned stores and shops.
3.) For God's sake, give up buying something else--but don't give up buying beer.
4.) Never do this:


Keep Drinking Good Beer.

Available only in Hokkaido*

What a find! I must be the luckiest person on the planet! Either that, or someone at the Asahi brewery is a liar. At a local shop near my girlfriend's house in Kozakai, I found this limited edition Asahi Brew AVAILABLE ONLY IN HOKKAIDO. Now, I'm not geography major, but I will tell you that Hokkaido is one fair piece from Kozakai.
The beer was tasty, had much more malty flavor than any other Asahi product that I have tried.

The beer's label clearly reads: "Kita no Shokunin Choujuku Rich Taste" which means: "This beer is available only in Hokkaido and ONE TINY STORE in Kozakai...oh yeah, and it has Rich Taste."

Of course that is a loose translation.

New liquor store!!!!!

I slacked big time last week. But, I do have a decent excuse...It's hard to not drink beer--but even harder to not drink it while I'm thinking about it and writing about it. I went a strong Sunday to Friday without a brew...and when I cracked that first one on Friday night...what a taste.

This week we are back in full effect with a bunch of beer news to bring your way. Among the many things to tell: the worst brewer in Japan, new beer update, next ji-beer trips, butt plates...and more.

First, I have got to inform the masses about a new liquor store that has been lying under our noses for two years now, but was just discovered Friday night.

Friday night found Nate and I walking around Toyohashi hitting up all the conbini's looking for some interesting brews. But, much to our chagrin, we are in a dry spell in Japan. Most of the conbini's are phasing out the Black Malts and Beer Chocolat, and all that they have in stock are the regular big four and Happoushu.

However, Nate and I stumbled across a liquor store located near the east side of the station, staffed by one old lady that looked about 70, and another VERY old lady that looked 700. The 700 year old lady was busy carrying kegs around when we entered... We entered the shop and starting browsing. Immediately Nate's Ji-Beer radar went off and he headed to the back to the beer cooler. In it were several types of Ji-beer, and some other interesting things, inculding Yebisu Black in the bottle.

I snagged a Ginjo Kura Brewery's Oseno Yukidoke wheat ale that was DELICIOUS. It had it all, taste, body, finish...a true diamond in the rough. After Nate tasted it, he went back into the shop and bought the other bottle that they had. I will admit that I know nothing about this brewery, but I am doing some research as we speak to try and find out what other brews that they offer. If you see this brew in your local store--buy it!

This little shop also had Moto-Moto sake, which avid readers of this site will recall as "The sake made by the Good Beer Country Boys". They had three varieties, the regular, the nama, and the nigori (which I had never seen before!) We each snagged a bottle of the nigori to support this shop and our badass buddy Syutaro who makes Moto-moto.*

No doubt this will not be the last time we invade this little shop and its two old ladies. I hope they restock their ji-beer supply after we decreased it significantly--and I hope they keep suporting Moto-Moto.

I will be adding this shop to the Good Beer Country Boys Map of Japan available by link on the left hand side of this page, when I get a chance... Stop in and tell them that we sent you!!!!

*After buying the Nigori Moto-moto, a guy that worked at the shop explained to us in lighting quick Japanese that this sake must be opened slowly. I have no idea what else he said when he rambled on for about 5 minutes, but the one thing I got was to take care when popping the top. Of course when Nate took his bottle home, he forgot to relay the message--resulting in a nigori sake shower for Miyuki's grandmother. Of course I scolded him and told him that WE WERE WARNED by the sake shop's owner. After going back to Toei, I recieved a call from my girlfriend who told me that when she opened the bottle of Moto-moto nigori sake at the dinner table with her mom and dad--the sake exploded all over the table just like the guy said it would--only I too forgot to warn her.

As a general Disclaimer: IF YOU BUY MOTO-MOTO's NIGORI SAKE, OPEN IT SLOWLY!!!!!!!

What to do when the weather's cold

I love beer. Nothing is better than a cold beer on a warm day. But sometimes the days are not warm. In Tahara, the days in January and February are cold and windy thanks to the wind patterns across the Atsumi Penninsula. Thawing out after a bike ride home from school, it is not a beer I reach for, it is Blanton's Single Barrel.

I am from Kentucky and I love bourbon as much as I love beer. Sometimes, in the Winter, I love bourbon more than beer. A bottle of Blanton's in Kentucky puts me back $45 to $50. But in Japan, I can get it for roughly $25 at a Nagoya area international store located outside of Nags station and Kanayama station. I can also get the 80 proof Black for the same price, the Silver for $30, the Gold for $45, and the Barrel Proof for $41. Only the regular Blanton's is available in America. DH told me that he saw the regular for $20 and the gold for $35 at a liquor store in Hiroshima. Unbelivable.

What I am really saying to all you ex-pats out there is this: You are in Japan! This country gets the BEST bourbon! High grade bourbon in America is middle grade in Japan! It is dirt cheap, check the prices.

If you can't support this guy...

Time to Celebrate!

An occasion like today calls for a brew. I mean, that's what he would do...

Tateshina Grand Hotel's relabeled Suwa Roman Beer

Miyuki's dad works on big ships all over Japan. He supervises maintenance work and this has him visiting different parts of Japan every week. Recently he brought back some Takinoyu Tateshina Roman Beer (the first bottle). It is 'specially' labeled for the Tateshina Grand Hotel in Tateshina, Nagano. The Reijin Shuzo Company, which has been making sake for 200 years, brews this beer and normally sells it as Suwa Roman Beer (the second bottle), but it gets a facelift (and probably a price up) when it goes through Tateshina Grand's marketing department. Also, the 'Roman' part of the beer name has nothing to do with Centurions and persecuting Jews, this is Japan! It is short for 'romantic', of course.

We drank the Kolsch and the Rindou beer. Suwa makes many more beers (I believe I have drank a Suwa smoked beer before) but these are the only two brews that are also sold through the hotel. I am not exactly sure what Rindou is. It's probably not spelled Rindou either, that is just how it translate into English letters. I thought it meant Lind and that it was some sort of fruit or nut but, according to Wikipedia, Lind is a city in Washington state. Either way, it doesn't give the beer any crazy flavor to make it taste like it's not beer, so no harm, no foul.

I drank this beer back in the summer as Suwa Roman Beer and remember not being that impressed with it. This time around it was pretty good. The beer has a wholesome rounded taste that is a bit fruity. This, plus the dark, almost ruby color had me thinking a Rindou must be something like a grape. This is a good beer. Not great, but good. The Kolsch is pretty damn good for a Kolsch. I am not the biggest fan of Kolsch. It always has to ride bitch when all the German beers carpool. But this one packs some tastes and hoppy flavor into the light German beer that it is. I will definitely drink it again. Well, the Rindou too for that matter. Miyuki's dad bought us three of each.

While Miyuki and I drank this beer last night, we also ate OH!LA!HO Bi-Ru Kure-, or beer curry. OH!LA!HO is another microbrewery in Nagano that makes decent beer, though we have yet to review it on this site. Miyuki's neighbor brought this curry back for us a few weeks ago. Each box has 3 of the ready-to-go packets that you submerge in boiling water. I expected great things from it. The box reads "This taste already belongs to the gourmet's world. I am sorry to have trespassed their territory." Gourmet? Trespassed? These are big words and this is good curry, but not great. I couldn't really taste the beer that was susposed to be in it and I don't want to know how much this box cost. My advice, buy some regular curry and dump your favorite beer in it.

The 2 Week Hiatus

For the past three years starting each January I have tried a New Year Detox program. The new year is a good time to stop and think about what one wants to accomplish in the upcoming year, and it is a time to forget the trials of the past year. Often, this can involve a prolonged period of sobriety. Usually, this comes after the heavy drinking Christmas season. One year in particular I can remember me and the boys hit it pretty hard from Thanksgiving until the New Year--and that can put a strain on a feller.
The 2 Week Hiatus originated from a classmate when I was in grad school. This young gentleman returned to school on Monday from a long weekend of drinking, only to inform us that he had been so drunk all weekend that he was, "Utterly disgusted with myself." The only solution was for this young man to embark on a "2 week hiatus from drinking any alcohol." I was so moved and amused by this honest admission that I have since adopted the 2 Week Hiatus as my own.
I googled "beer hiatus" and was surprised at how many people out there are doing or have done the same thing. Some say that it is a way to cleanse the body, others say its a way to lose weight and to rediscover why they love beer so much. Still others say it is goo to stop drinking beer for a bit just to make sure that you still can.

Last Thursday I decided that I would start my hiatus, but had to break it this weekend. I did make it about 36 hours without any beer though, and that's pretty good. I had to break the streak because I went to Michi's parent's house for dinner, and they had some brew waiting on me when I arrived. The next night we went to Nagoya with Nick and Michelle, and of course we had to drink several pitchers of Kinshachi's Imperial Chocolate Stout on draught at Beer Circus.

So now, I am starting the hiatus again. Maybe I'll just make it a consistent M-Th hiatus for several weeks? No matter what, it's good to make sure that we still have control, and beer lovers out there will know what I mean when I say that first sip of beer after you have been gone a long time is amazing.

Soooo....Beer--I'm not turning my back on you, I'm just saying that I need a little alone time...until Friday.*





* As a side note, I have never ACTUALLY made it the full 2 weeks. The 2 Week Hiatus is more of a ceremonial symbol of sorts and usually lasts about 3 or 4 days...give or take 2 days.

Chocolat Brewery Beer from Sapporo

"Chocolate" beer is taking Japan by storm. Beer Chocolate, Kinshachi's Imperial Chocolate Stout (AMAZING-more to come on that soon!) and other darker malted brews are finding themselves onto shelves and into coolers around the nation. This latest brew, limited edition from Suntory, doesn't look like it will be sold in stores, but only online. Below is the description from Japan Marketing News.

"The headline reads "A chocolate drink for adults, from Sapporo and Royce.*" Mmmm. Exactly the thing for people addicted to both.

Japan's Sapporo Brewery and domestic confectioner Royce will start selling Chocolat Brewery, a limited-edition beverage, starting next Wednesday, January 14. The bitter malt brew is infused with chocolate flavor and will be available order-only through the Sapporo website until just January 23 (with deliveries around February 10). A three-pack is priced at 1,480 yen, more than $5 per can."

Sapporo isn't one of my top Japanese brewers, but I think I will order a pack of this interesting way to con me out of my hard earned money...I'll let you know how it goes...

Hickey Bros. Kentucky Common is what I drink!

I wasn't planning on writing a post tonight. I'm still unpacking from my trip home. Everyone knows that it takes a week minimum to unpack. And it is best done slowly while drinking beer (Aren't most things done best that way?). Opening the fridge, I spied with my little eyes a 15 way back in the corner (well, not too far back, it is a Japanese fridge.). In Good Beer Country Boys language, a 15 is a Hickey Bros. Kentucky Common. The 14 numbers before it were beers from winter and spring '08. They are all gone except for 15 bottles of 10. 10 is a bitch that is about 10% alcohol. 10 blew chunks all over my ceiling while he was still in the fermentor. 10's real name is not something I will repeat on this website.

I poured the Hickey Bros. K.C. into a big ass Yamachan mug and admired the nice inch and a half head holdin' steady. We, at GBCB Brewing, pride ourselves in our attention to homebrewing detail. 15 in a glass shows a priming job that is not too little, not too much, but just right. Also, for those of you who don't know about Yamachan, it is the Nagoya version of Buffalo Wild Wings and they keep Ginga Kogen on tap.

I really love Kentucky Common. I drank my first one at the New Albanian Brewing Company in Indiana this last summer. They are located on the Ohio River right across from Louisville, KY where this style originated. New Albanian only brew it as a summer seasonal and it is only on draft at their pizza pub and their public house. As far as I know, this is the only place it is made beside homebrewers whipping up a batch for consumption or a traditional style competition. The second Kentucky Common I drank was GBCBs own. As was the third, fourth, fifth, and on and on.

Hickey Bros. Kentucky Common pours a dark, but thinner color. In the glass, it is identical to a Yuengling Black and Tan. The taste is a combination of brown ale and sour mash. If you have ever toured a Bourbon distillery (Being from Kentucky, I've toured seven) you know the smell of sour mash fermenting in the giant cypress vats. A couple of the distilleries, Maker's, 4 Roses, Wild Turkey, will let you stick you finger in and taste the mash. It is this smell/taste, combined with a flavorful brown ale that is Hickey Bros. Kentucky Common. To make this beer, we started a mini sour mash with a pound of malted barley, a pound of flaked corn, 1/2 pound of flaked rye, and yogurt culture, soured it for 2 days, strained it, and then made the beer as normal. This really comes through in the taste.

I apologize for talking about Kentucky Common so much. I think this is the fourth post that praises the greatness of this lost fermentation. I'm sorry. I'm a fanboy.

Kure Beer

Kure Beer is located in the Kure (not just a clever name!) about 2 minutes from Kure station. That simple fact means extra points from the start. Just walk out of the station and take a right, you will see Kure beer on your right just after you cross the bridge.
Kure Beer is somehow associated with the Naval museum in Kure, but I am not exactly sure how. I know that somewhere that info is available, but it is probably in Japanese and will remain hidden from foreigners until I can get my girlfriend to read the site or I decide to start studying. Don't hold your breath for either of those to happen anytime soon.
All of the beers have a maritime theme, and many Japanese Navy goods can be purchased at the gift store inside the restaurant. They make four beers: an alt, a weizen, a kolsch, and a pilsner. The Alt and the Kolsch recently took home gold medals from a 2008 international beer competition and the Pilsner finished respectably with a bronze. Gold medals are usually a good sign of good beer, and this case was no different. The Alt was the best I have had in Japan, and the Kolsch was interesting and flavorful and made me change my opinion of Kolsch style beers somewhat. I stress somewhat. This Kolsch was very cloudy like a weizen but lacked the fruity punch. I didn’t have a chance to taste the weizen, but the pilsner was ordinary but still good—very well suited to the Japanese taste for beer.
The beers were served in custom glasses that were big. Finally! Full they held about 700ml, although when poured correctly is worked out to about 500ml beer and 200ml head—perfect.
We drank our beers with some very average food (we were there for the beer, but the food at Ebisu no Utage is MUCH better) and then took some pictures. While checking out we asked if the master brewer was in, and to our surprise we were asking the master brewer! Sasaki-san is extremely nice and let us take a picture with him while we all three wore the real medals that his beer won in the international competition this year!!! Amazing! We talked a bit about ji-beer in Japan and he was very excited to learn that foreigners would read this about his beer.
If you are in the area you must visit Kure beer. First, the beer is great. Second, because Sasaki-san is a badass who deserves our support. Stop in and ask for him. Tell him you read about his beer on this site. Maybe he will give you a free beer!
Kure beer is also a 5 minute walk to the harbor where there are Japanese naval ships that you can tour. If we had arrived ten minutes earlier, we could have toured a huge Japanese submarine, but we were a tad bit too late. The sub tour is free, and I’m not sure how much entrance is to the other ships. There is a huge department/supermarket near the submarine that sells Kure beer, but it is 80 yen more expensive per bottle to buy the beer there. At the restaurant the beer is 500 yen per bottle, and there are many gift packages that you can buy.
Kure beer is by far the best beer I have had in the Hiroshima area. The alt is very good, and you need to drink it. Their specialty now is HOT ALT. No joke. They heat the alt to 50 degrees Celsius and bring it to you in a mug. After you taste it first they put cinnamon sticks in the mug. After the second taste they add sugar to the mug. I opted to drink my Alt the cold original way, and passed on the Hot Alt. (Actually I was going to try it, but when we started talking to Sasaki-san I forgot all about it!)
Hot or cold, Kure beer is delicious. Add to it the fact that the beer is associated with history and it just gets better. Pile on that the Kolsch beer’s name is “Kujira Beer” or “Whale Beer” and you have a winner. Good beer with a good name.
It doesn’t get much better than that.

The State of GBCB Brewing

Good Beer Country Boys Brewing made 4 beers in the late Fall / early Winter of 2008. They were the Hickey Bros. Kentucky Common, the Blessed Bitters, 3 HOs Holiday Ale, and Miyuki's Amazing Ass Steam Beer (named by Miyuki). Hickey Bros. Kentucky Common, which was the first ever Kentucky Common brewed in Japan, sprang directly from Kentucky river towns in the early 1900's to the tastesbuds of DH, Miyuki, and myself. This is the taste that once satisfied the Kentucky working man but has since been replaced with BudMillerCoorslite. Hickey Bros. K.C. is not for everyone. This is a taste that has been absent from the Beer Timeline for a good 80 years. An initial sourness followed by a wave of malty goodness (thank you chocolate malt!) that is balanced out with Cascade hops awaits inside every bottle.

The Blessed Bitters was originally called Back-up Plan Bitters because it was the back up plan if Kentucky Common failed miserably. The K.C. didn't and the bitters turned out to be good.

3 HOs Holiday Ale is spicy beer full of ginger and cinamon that begs to be drank alongside a Christmas ham. Too bad the holidays are over and there is no Christmas ham to be found in Japan. This beer is just in the wrong place at the wrong time. In fact, about 5 gallons of it are in the wrong place at the wrong time. No matter though, it will be drank...

Miyuki's Amazing Ass Steam Beer was bottled days before I left for Kentucky. It is waiting for a top to be popped.

2009 will bring more amazing Good Beer Country Boys Brewing --At least another 6 batches. In the works are Hickey Bros. Kentucky Common version 2.0, the Shooo-Weeee WeizenBock, and the mysterious Camel Bear Ale. This beer will be availible in my apartment in Tahara with limited releases in Miyuki's house in Toyohashi and DH's apartment in Toei.

New additions to GBCB's brewing arsenal for 2009 include a whole bunch of different specialty malts, courtesy of DH's KY apartment, The OK Corral, and me driving to get them the night before my flight back to Japan. Also new for 2009 is an old ass coffee/flour mill that looks like it survived the Great Depression. It's previous owner, my mom, was using it as an 'old timey' decoration and understood my urgent need for such a device. GBCB's method of cracking specialty grain in Japan did consist of double bagging and a hammer. Now, we are running with the big dogs.

If he drinks beer, I'll buy him a case.

A school record 54 points and the trouncing of the dirty Tennessee volunteers. I always have hated Tennessee and now that I think about it I can't name one good beer or drink that comes from there. I never drink Jack Daniel's simply for the reason that the orange bastards from below make it. (When the stewardess brought me some on the plane when I asked for bourbon, I almost slapped the taste out of her mouth. Since I was on a plane for 14 hours and didn't want to go to jail, I didn't---and I drank the Jack Daniel's. But that doesn't count. And I didn't like it--on purpose.)

Jodie Meeks deserves a brew after that. And so do I.

Suntory's The Malts Snow White

The Black Malts is a manly beer. Black beer, black matte finish on the can. Everything about it screams testosterone. But, Suntory might have made a mistake when they put out the Malt’s Snow White brew.
It’s not the Premium Malts, just the regular Malts—so I guess it’s ok… But this beer didn’t do too much for me. It tasted exactly the same as the Malt’s, and could very well be the same beer in a “fun” can designed for the winter. I hadn’t seen this beer in Toyohashi or Nagoya, so I gave her a twirl. I didn’t pour it out, but I wouldn't buy it again either.
Bad beer, girly name. You have been warned.

Hiroshima Heiwa Beer

When you think of Hiroshima, most don’t think about microbreweries and great food. I highly recommend visiting Hiroshima both to those who are living in Japan, and to those simply traveling through. The atomic bomb dome and the memorial museum are simply breathtaking and a part of history that you must see.
After that, try some Hiroshima Ji-beer. When my girlfriend told me that she was taking me there for my Christmas present, I immediately started looking for info on the Internet to help me learn more about beer in Hiroshima. Not surprisingly, there isn’t much at all in English to be found. I did discover Heiwa beer and Kure Beer, both of which we found with relative ease.
Heiwa beer is brewed in ‘downtown’ Hiroshima near many shops and restaurants. The shopping district of Hiroshima has enough to keep you busy for hours, and a day of history and shopping is best topped off by a great dinner and micro-brewed beer. Heiwa beer’s brewing operations aren’t open to the public, but the restaurant on the floor above the brewery serves two beers on draught: A Brown and a Gold. Names aren’t too clever, but the beers are pretty good.
Ebisu no Utage is the restaurant where we drank Heiwa’s brews, and I think it is owned by the brewery, but I am not 100% certain. We knew the general area where the restaurant was located, and a huge sign across the street announcing ji-biru helped us find the restaurant with ease. The place was pretty crowded, and we had a short wait to get a table for two. If you are planning on going with a large group, reservations would be a good idea.
I drank the brown beer and Michi had the gold. The Gold was very fruity weizen which neither of us cared for. It would have suited a warm summer day much better than a cold Hiroshima night. The Brown beer was a very tasty brown ale that I could have drank all night. It went great with the food and had tons of malty goodness and taste. Of course I would have liked to have seen a few more types of beer, but two is better than none.
The beer was good, but the food was stellar. We had kim-chee nabe which was absolutely amazing. We also tried some of the house sake, which was also great.
Beer – B-
Food- A
As we were leaving from Hiroshima station, Michi also spotted Heiwa Carp Beer, brewed for the local professional team. To my knowledge, no carp was used in the making of this beer, which I seem to recall was a pilsner, but honestly I can’t remember. The bottle looks cool on my shelf though.
If you are in Hiroshima, Ebisu no Utage and Heiwa Beer should definitely be on your “must do” list. It is only about a twenty-minute walk from the A-bomb dome to the restaurant, and you will be walking through the shopping district the entire way. Also, it is only a twenty-minute walk from Hiroshima station as well, so either way it’s very easy to get to.
Surprisingly, I didn’t find this beer in any convenience stores, which means you have to go to the restaurant to buy it, and you can buy bottles to go.
Overall it is pretty good beer. Not the best in Japan by far, and not the best in the area, as that award goes to Kure Beer.

Back in Japan and already missing the beer

I am back in Japan and this is my first post in a long, long while. We have the dial up at my house in Kentucky so I would rather wait for Japan than wait 20 minutes for a page to load. I haven't had time to drink much beer yet but I do have a something to tell you.

For a long time, Flying Dog has been my favorite American beer. What they produce is just good. When I buy a Flying Dog mix pack I look forward to drinking all the beers in it. Doggie Stlye Pale Ale, Snake Dog IPA, Old Scratch Amber Lager, Tire Bite Golden Lager, In Heat Wheat, and Road Dog Porter are all outstanding beers. I love all of them. When I bought my third sampler pack of the break, the two Road Dogs had been replaced with two Woody Creek White Ales. Was I excited about this Flying Dog seasonal? Yes. Was I pissed that they had taken BOTH my beloved Road Dogs? Hell Yes! Flying Dog Beer is like hearing Lick It Up by Kiss on the radio, it just gets me goin'!

And why shouldn't it? It's delicious. They make a Steam Beer and disguise it as an Amber Lager (America's native beer styles also get me going). And Ralph Steadman does all the artwork. If you don't know about Ralph Steadman, you should. Like I said, Flying Dog is my favorite American beer and has been since college.

During the winter break, I strayed from the nest. It happens when you are a beer drinker. You go into Liquor Barn and there are all these choices. Before you know it you are walking up to the register with a Breckinridge sampler, or a Sam Adams Winter Pack (Fuck Sam Adams Winter Pack! I'll explain in a sec.). You drink this beer but there is always a moment when you think your favorite beer is better than this beer. Apparently this is not the case with Great Lakes. I picked up one of their samplers after my brother Evan masturbated in my ear about their Dortmunder Gold.

Damn. Great Lakes is good. From what I read on the labels, they enter all their beers in National and International competitions and only brew repeat gold medal winners. There beer is so consistently good that it makes all other beer worse. When I was drinking there pale ale, porter, lagers, etc., I felt that beer envelope was being pushed in my mouth.

Flying Dog is still my favorite beer. We have a history together and I am not a fickle person. I'm just saying that in an non objective blind taste test, I would pick the Great Lakes every time.

Oh, about Sam Adams Winter Pack. Sam Adams Boston Lager is a standard. It is always good. Old Fezziwig is a nice coriander and orange peel holiday brewed treat. The Cranberry Lambic is lie. That beer is as lambic as I am Japanese. It's a wheat beer with some flavor syrup. The Holiday Porter tastes like burnt. Just burnt. The Winter Lager is ok but my friend JR said something about how it being on tap at Galvin's made him depressed. And the one shining star that made the sampler worth buying, the Black Lager, was replaced with the sub-sub-par Cream Stout. Bad form, Sam Adams, bad form. And seriously, the only thing that Holiday Porter is worthy of is the sink drain.