Hitachino Nest Real Ginger Ale

Brewed by Kiuchi Brewery
Style: Spice/Herb/Vegetable
Ibaraki, Japan

Serve in Lager glass, Tumbler

send corrections   |   shelftag   |   edit barcodes   |   add pic

Part of Blind BIF 6. Thanks to Brez07. Served in a SAVOR wine glass. Pours a clear amber color with a off-white head with good staying power. A touch of lacing. The nose brings some light spicing. Nothing too over-the-top. Flavor has a bit of light malty sweetness along with plenty of cinnamon. Could be a pumpkin beer or a winter warmer. Hard to distinguish with strong cinnamon and not much in the way of malt backing. Light-medium body with quite a bit of fizz. Dry.

Out of the bottle came a thick frothy head followed by an aroma of lemon house hold cleaner. The bitter astringent flavor was so bad that I couldn’t concentrate on the mouth feel. Over all it sucked IMO.

Bottle. Amber with voluminous yellowy head- ample lacing. Smells like sour apple, tobacco, vanilla, and spice. Tastes sour. Zingy and flat- kind of like spiked up lemon-echinacea tea or whiskey sour. Can’t decide whether I like it or not, but definitely interesting.

Pours a rather dark brown colour, with a dece amount of carbonation and quite a bit of haze. It looks like the colour of Ginger candies you can get at asian supermarkets. Smell is very sweet, like really toffee-like. Little bit of Belgian-ish spice, but honestly not much in a ginger kind of smell. I also get a little bit of alcohol on the smell, which is kinda strange, just because of the discrepancy of ABV listing. The front label says 7%, but the label on the back says 8%... oh well. The taste is actually a lot like the smell. Its really quite like toffee or like a chewy dark carmel. its sweet and deep robust malt profile upfront, then some spicyness starts to come in, and I can start to pick up the ginger character. Taste like those ginger candies from the asian supermarkets too. The finish has quite a bit of spicy warmth. There is literally no bitterness. However, the alcohol flavour is very prominent within the first second or two of tasting it. Not a super sharp alc flavour, but it’s a noticeable alcohol flavour. I think that this, along with the spicy, albeit light, character of the ginger help this beer from being cloying. Mouthfeel is medium-thick, with nice carbonation. Not as raw gingery as I expected, more candied and not too spicy.

UPDATED: JAN 29, 2012 Aroma: Strong ginger Body: Sweet with big ginger flavor. Slightly citrusy. Some maleness and very little hops. Finish: Sweet with some more ginger and some citrus from the ginger. Over all: Medium body with a little overwhelmingly amount of ginger.

330ml brown bottle. Pour is dark orange in colour, unclear body displays haze and small particles. Fat off white head, creamy and tight bubbled, good retention. Chunky lace. Gentle ginger nose with pleasant spiciness and some light sweetness. Taste has a caramel and honeyish malt sweetness, soft ginger spiciness. Finish has light grassy hops, a little woody, dry end. Medium carbonation, medium bodied. Ginger is used very effectively in this brew, its subtlety is appreciated here as it enhances this beer, rather than dominates it as so many ginger flavoured beers do. Was not expecting this to be 7% either. Nice beer that could pair very well with Japanese foods (I must explore this further!)

Knowing how much I have disliked Ginger beers in the past I gotta wonder how this ended up in my fridge. Poured out a burnt orange brew with a bit if muck as I didn’t expect all that sediment. Sweet candy nose is balaced well with the sharp ginger, uhhhh, that’s about it. The taste is pretty fine and u already know I will drink it all with ease. Sweet tasty ginger with a fading in and out bite. No ginger ale likeness. Ginger bite really gets strong near the bottom of my glass where the pile of sediment is swirling. Ferrets.

Thanks to the Tamakloots/Vandershiros for this. Very interesting beer, I didn’t think it exploded with ginger flavor but the spiciness of the ginger built over time. Not much head but still bubbly carbonation. Orange-y color. Good. Serving: Bottle

poured deep hazy orange with no real head. smelled sweet malts and surprisingly no ginger. taste was sweet with some sweet fruitiness and slight ginger burn in the throat at the end

Bottled@SBWF2011. Hazy amber colour with a small wite head. Aroma is quite much sweet malts with quite strong ginger kicking in along with some other spices as well. Flavour is really big on the ginger, only letting some other slight spicyness and mild hoppyness through. Yet quite balanced and pleasant.