Kyoto Nagoriyuki is a 4.9% hefeweizen from Kyoto Brewing Company, based in Kyoto, Japan. Confusingly, it’s part of their year round line up, but also a limited release, so I’m guessing, once they have made a batch of it, no more of it will be made for the year. Perhaps? Nagoriyuki roughly translates into “lingering snow” – the kind of snow that is found at the very end of the winter sports season that doesn’t seem to want to shift. Kyoto Nagoriyuki is brewed with Pilsner and Wheat malt, along with Merkur hops from Germany for bittering and Summer hops for flavour, and what would a beer from Kyoto Brewing Company be without the in-house yeast – Belgian Ardennes.
A slightly sour hefeweizen – an unusual and interesting take on a hefeweizen.
Kyoto Nagoriyuki Aroma and Taste
Most disappointedly, Kyoto Nagoriyuki didn’t come up served with any kind of head. While I usually abhor large amounts of head on my beer, for some reason, perhaps social conditioning or peer pressure, a hefeweizen should have some kind of fluffy white head on top that sticks to just above the top of your lip. It came up a slightly cloudy golden colour as well. As with all Kyoto Brewing Company’s beers, the nose had a distinct yeasty funky aroma to it, but also a slight sourness to it – not quite a lactic acid nose, but something similar. Wheat and banana aroma was broken up by some citrus nose to it as well – perhaps the citrus was confusing my nose and gave it the sour nose.
Yet the body also had a sour kick to it though that was definitely down to the citrus flavours coming through – most definitely leaning towards a lemony flavour. The body was much thinner than your usual hefeweizen, almost verging on a wheat ale-like texture. It had the unmistakeable Belgian yeasty funk to it as well that lingered through Kyoto Nagoriyuki as it warmed up. It finished off with a tart sourness that didn’t last very long.
Kyoto Nagoriyuki The Bottom Line
Kyoto Nagoriyuki is an interesting take on a hefeweizen that would be nice to drink chilled in the hot summer months of Japan.
