Hida White Beer is a 5% white ale from Ji-Beer Hida, based in Hida, in Gifu, Japan. It’s part of their all-year round range and can be found in bottles mainly. At the time of writing, we’re yet to see it on tap anywhere. Though Hida White Beer is supposed to follow a German wheat beer recipe, it’s an “original” beer that uses locally grown rice in the mashing process.
Hida White Beer Aroma and Taste
I had read somewhere – the brewery homepage – that this being an original recipe would no doubt mean that it would be something weird. Seeing a buzzword like “original recipe” makes me think of two things:
- Someone had fucked up in the brewing process and needed to label this with something quirky so they could still sell it.
- Someone didn’t know what the style of beer was they’re supposed to be making. Go see point 1 again.
Hida White Beer filled both those option with aplomb. On first look, it didn’t appear to be anything like a hefeweizen – it’s clear golden straw body and small white head looked more like a golden or white ale. But it had the aroma of a golden ale, white ale, or a weizen. It’s weird funky yeast aroma, along with a dusting of lemon and rice, was unusually sour and light, followed up by some wheat creaminess just to confuse and confound the senses.
It also had the body of all three styles of beers too – a wheaty, sour, yeasty body with some light lemon just lying under the surface. It was all quite weird and I really wasn’t sure what I was supposed to be drinking. Kind of like a Frankenstein beer. The flavours, while not unpleasant, were unusual and off-putting to say the least. The lingering sourness was either a case of bad beer or deliberate but because it wasn’t consistently in your face, it was hard to tell which it was.
Hida White Beer The Bottom Line
I’d say avoid this one unless it’s fresh and chilled – I would like to try it again to make sure it wasn’t just an off-bottle.
Where to Buy Hida White Beer
Hida White Beer can be bought at the following places:
1 comment
It’s not hidatakayama then as their weizen.is weird too.
Jist another of so many small Japanese microbreweries that basically dont.know.what they are doing.
Another example of why we need an organisation that can help, teach these brewers, give them feedback, consulting. Real beer journalists to point out the flaws and offer constructive feedback. That for me is what japan needs. Not the current beer association or craft beer journalists who dont seem to care about anyone but themselves. Please tell me im wrong.
#dontsueme