Y Market Barley Bouquet Oktoberfest is a 5.7% oktoberfest beer from Y Market Brewing, based in Nagoya, Japan. It’s part of their seasonal lineup of craft beer and at the time of writing, can only be found on tap only. While not much is known about the beer, it is, for Y Market Brewing, a rare single hop beer, with imported German Perle hops being the hop of choice.
Quite sweet but lacks lastability.
Y Market Barley Bouquet Oktoberfest Aroma and Taste
Y Market Barley Bouquet Oktoberfest was the last of the beers I had at Bakushu Club Popeye – I was waiting to enjoy something crisp and the beer attendant – well that’s what his name badge said – recommended me this beer as the last one, even though I had knocked back a few IPAs and weizens beforehand.
It came up with a large frothy white head on top, and the body was a golden straw-like colour that sparkled in the light. Y Market Barley Bouquet Oktoberfest had quite a sweet smell to it of caramel, with some hint of bitterness, but neither lasted long beyond an initial smell. A shame really as whatever style of beer Y Market Barley Bouquet Oktoberfest is, it lacked bite.
It didn’t get much better in the body. I was hoping for something sweet to cleanse the palate of hops and bitterness and general mouth cleansing but Y Market Barley Bouquet Oktoberfest never really got going. While it was sweet to begin with, it lacked stamina and the caramel flavours ended up fading quickly away.
Y Market Barley Bouquet Oktoberfest The Bottom Line
Y Market Barley Bouquet Oktoberfest never really tickled my tastebuds and would have been forgotten if it hadn’t had been for my notes.
2 comments
I had an Oktoberfest beer at Y Market in Nagoya in October. I think most – if not all – of their beers are a produced only once, so I am not sure if I had exactly this Oktoberfest, or an other beer with a similar name. Anyway, that Oktoberfest beer that I had, I was disappointed too. A Festbier should be malty, a bit towards the sweet side, with caramel, and that’s it. My version of that Festbier was a bit bitter, and very hoppy. Was it an IPA? Well, Y Market is known for its hoppy beers, but you should not put so much hops into your Festbier. When I was drinking, I told my opinion to the bartender, and he just sighted like “sho ga nai, this is Y Market”.
They seem to be the Nagoya version of Ushitora – more hops is best and not enough is not good enough.