Sankt Gallen Sesame Chocolate Stout is a 6.5% spiced stout from Sankt Gallen Brewery, based in Kanagawa, Japan. It’s part of their limited edition range for Valentine’s day – a day in Japan where women tend to give men presents – and apparently it takes 10,000 black sesame seeds to make 1 bottle of Sankt Gallen Sesame Chocolate Stout, where one …
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Ise Kadoya Cardamom Porter by Ise Kadoya
Ise Kadoya Cardamom Porter is an 8% spiced porter from Ise Kadoya, based in Mie, Japan. It’s part of their winter seasonal range of beers and was first released in 2016, as a push towards the Valentine’s market. Ise Kadoya Cardamom Porter is brewed with orange peel, cacao powder, and also cardamom, which happens to be the world’s third most expensive spice, …
Kazekami Belgian Tripel by Kazekami Bakushu
Kazekami Belgian Tripel is an 8% spiced Belgian Tripel from Kazekami Bakushu, based in Kawasaki, Japan. It’s part of their bottled range of beers, though it hasn’t been seen on tap at the time of writing. Kazekami Belgian Tripel is brewed using camomile and ginger, thus making the beer a happoshu instead of a “beer”. Besides that, not much else is …
Songbird Le Jardinier by Brewery Songbird
Songbird Le Jardinier is a 5% Belgian spiced / herb beer from Brewery Songbird in Chiba that is part of their winter seasonal lineup of beer. It’s produced using locally sourced peel from green lemons and herbs harvested from the gardens around Brewery Songbird. I know we have tried to use the hashtag #drinklocal but perhaps this was taking it …
Baird Country Girl Kabocha Ale by Baird Beer
Baird Country Girl Kabocha Ale is a 6% fruit beer from Baird Beer that is part of their Autumn seasonal lineup of beer. The name Country Girl stems from the personal history of Bryan Baird himself and is a homage to his mother. Kabocha differ from the usual pumpkins found in the west with hard green skins and is sweeter …
Nasu Kogen Momiji Ale by Nasu Kogen Beer
Nasu Kogen Momiji Ale is a 5% spiced / fruit beer from Nasu Kohgen Beer. It is part of their autumn seasonal lineup and is on sale from the beginning of October. The word momiji translates into maple in English and the leaves are a common fixation with Japanese cuisine, in particular sweets, around that time of year, with momiji …
Shiga Kogen Shoubu Miyama Blonde by Tamamura Honten
Shiga Kogen Shoubu Miyama Blonde is a 6.5% spiced / herb seasonal special from Tamamura Honten that contains the roots of sweet flags. That’s not a typo. I hadn’t heard of the root either and I’ve lived in Japan for over a decade. It seems that the closest word to it in English would be a beewort or a bitter pepper root. It …
Songbird Maltina Mukaka by Brewery Songbird
Songbird Maltina Mukaka is a 6% spiced / fruit beer from Brewery Songbird that is part of the winter seasonal lineup and was also released as their first Christmas beer. Maybe you’ve drunk the original Songbird Maltina already but this has been infused with mukaka, which translates to fig. Why they used the word mukaka instead of, say, ichijiku, is unusual but hey, …
Baird Jubilation Ale by Baird Beer
Baird Jubilation Ale is an 8.0% fruit / spice beer from Baird Beer that is part of their seasonal lineup of beers, known as the Fruitful Life series of beers. and comes out annually in December. It is brewed with domestic figs, known as ichijiku in Japanese, and cinnamon twigs, known as nikki. It can be found in both bottles …
Iwate Kura Sweet Caramel Ale by Sekinoichi Shuzo
For those that like drinking beer or like reading reviews, you’ve probably heard of caramel malts or beers tasting like caramel. If you have, then I hope you’ve tried Iwate Kura Sweet Caramel Ale as this should be the gold standard for saying your beer tastes like caramel. Iwate Kura Sweet Caramel Ale is a spiced 7% winter seasonal from Sekinoichi Shuzo …