Echigo Always A White is a 5% wit from Echigo Beer, based in Niigata, Japan. It first came on sale in June 2018 and can be found in cans only at the time of writing. Not much is known about it – it’s so new that there is nothing on the Echigo Beer website about it. The only thing I managed to find out about Echigo Always A White is that it’s brewed with ginger as well as the usual adjuncts of orange peel and coriander. I drank Echigo Always A White as part of a TBT (Three Beer Thursday) series for our Patreon account – but I’ll still do a full review here!
Echigo Always A White Aroma and Taste
Echigo Always A White poured out a hazy orange amber colour with a plump white head on top. The head faded fast to leave a thin ring of bubbles around the edge of the glass and a small bubble slick on top. There was a pungent ginger aroma straight away from Echigo Always A White with some hints of orange and coriander – but not much! There was a slight sour note to Echigo Always A White – it can’t have been due to it being off as this was only brewed and canned less than a month ago.
The body to Echigo Always A White also had the sour note to it – was it deliberate or off? It’s hard to know at this point but it wouldn’t surprise me if it was the former. The ginger was as present in the body as it was in the nose but more wheat came through in the body than in the nose. The orange and coriander were muted until Echigo Always A White had warmed up but by that point, the sourness had got stronger too. A very peculiar flourish towards the end.
Echigo Always A White The Bottom Line
The adding of ginger was a good idea – shame the sourness and weird yeast flavours dragged it down.
Where to Buy Echigo Always A White
Echigo Always A White can be bought online at
I’ve also seen this at Seijo Ishii/成城石井