Johana Kinu no Kahori, also known as Johana Kinu no Kaori, is a 6% witbier from Johana Beer, based in Toyama, Japan. It was supposedly pulled from their line up but seems to have come back into their bottled and draft lineup as part of their spring seasonal lineup. Johana Kinu no Kahori is brewed with two adjuncts: one not so unusual in the form of yuzu, which gets an immediate thumbs up, and the other one being a peculiar addition of silk powder – yes, silk powder. All the ingredients are locally sourced, and that includes the wheat used for brewing this beer as well.
Silky smooth. Boom boom.
Johana Kinu no Kahori Aroma and Taste
I’ve had some unusual adjuncts in my beer – salmon flakes in Outsider Sockeye Salmon Pale Ale and mushrooms in their Outsider Porter – so seeing silk powder shouldn’t have surprised me, but it did. Johana Kinu no Kahori poured out a slightly hazy golden colour, and a lot of life to it thanks to all the bubbles going crazy, and it had a large frothy white head on top that lingered for a good five minutes before halving in size. There was also a beautiful pungent aroma of yuzu – something that I have grown to love since reviewing beers for BeerTengoku, and it was a sharp, but gentle, aroma. The yuzu was dominant over the wheat, which only really came through once the beer had warmed up a bit.
It’s hard to know what exactly the silk brings to Johana Kinu no Kahori – the only discernible factor I would say would be that the beer was very smooth drinking and I’d love to try the beer without any silk added to see if there is a difference to it. The yuzu was the dominant flavour in the beer by far, and was a sharp citrus flavour from start to finish; however, the wheat was more prominent in the body than the aroma. It was yuzu all the way though with Johana Kinu no Kahori and the aftertaste was more yuzu than anything else.
Johana Kinu no Kahori The Bottom Line
Johana Kinu no Kahori is a really nice yuzu witbier – but if you don’t like yuzu then you won’t like its dominance in the beer.
Where to Buy Johana Kinu no Kahori
Johana Kinu no Kahori can be bought online at the following places:
