Shinano Brewery Reviews

chrisv10	3.5 Shinano Kurohime Stout Bottle, 4.5%. Very dark brown with small beige head. Aroma is roasted malts, chocolate and caramel. Flavour is roasted malts, chocolate, caramel, little coffee, medium sweet and a little bitter. Saturday, August 31, 2013
AndySnow	3.4 Shinano Dragon Ale Tap at the TrashZone, Yokohama. Dark red-brown colour with an off-whtie head. Heavy lacing. Aroma of chocolate, fruit, hops. Flavour is similar to the aroma, chocolate, fruit, hops, some spices. A bit watery. Friday, April 5, 2013
shoulderbroken	3.8 Shinano Dragon Ale Tap at Thrashzone. Dark brown colour. Aroma bready malt, roasty, bit of chocolate, spicy, ginger. Taste is a bit chocolatey, nice sweetness, bit of spice. Pretty smooth, nice creaminess, pretty good. Wednesday, April 3, 2013
shoulderbroken	3.9 Shinano Kurohime Stout Tap at Thrash Zone. Dark brown, small golden head. Aroma is chocolate, roasty. Nice. Taste is sweet, chocolate, pretty nice, sweet but nice. Bit spritzy. Bit of vanilla. Pretty smooth and nice. Friday, February 1, 2013
Tovrleaf	3.5 Shinano Kurohime Stout Pitch black in color, very powerful stout. Not that creamy as color would let you expect. Monday, October 1, 2012
jonno	3.9 Shinano Kurohime Stout Wow. Big stout for 5.5%. Roasty, chocolate and a VERY smooth body. Quite dry. Very well done - a pity these guys stopped with the Ales. Sunday, July 8, 2012
jonno	3.8 Shinano Zodiak Dragon Was told this was Japan’s answer to Arrogant Bastard and yes, I couldn’t agree more. Perhaps a bit thinner, but it is about 6%, but really hoppy, good balance, really, for such a bitter beer. Some tropical ftruit and a good wedge of caramel and tofee malt. God stuff. Monday, June 25, 2012
KyotoLefty	3.9 Shinano Zodiak Dragon Draught at Thrash Zone. Beautiful red in brown, glowing, with a fine, low, head. Big grassy hop nose, with caramel and chocolate, citrus. Fruity, rounded flavor, cherry and orange, nice light chocolate and caramel. Big, smooth palate, very nice balance and great hops. Too bad this looks like the last beer I’ll ever have from these guys. What a shame. They rocked. Thursday, May 31, 2012
JorgeLee	3.5 Shinano Dragon Ale Tap at Devil Craft. Dark deep collured brown/black ale. Surprisingly strong flavoured for abv, malty start but dominated by dry long hoppy finish. A very good pint. Sunday, February 26, 2012
EdKing	3.6 Shinano Dragon Ale Half in Devil Craft, Shimbashi. Darkish brown with reddish edges and tan head. Nose is roasted grain, lots of chocolate and coffee.Taste is chocolate, coffee, caramel and bit of fruity ale notes, like crystal malt and touch of English hops. Sunday, January 8, 2012
KyotoLefty	3.1 Shinano Ale Draught at the brewery. Light copper color. Big pineapple aroma, with a bit of caramel and earth. Rather light flavor, with minderals, earthy hops, pineapple, and grass. Finishes decently bitter. Not great, but ok. Monday, May 31, 2010
KyotoLefty	3.3 Shinano Snow Lager Draught at the brewery. Dark gold to amber color. Fruity with decent hney malts. Earthy hop and sweet, soft malt flavor. Decent and crisp with a mineral finish. Decent, but not as good as their ales. Monday, May 31, 2010
KyotoLefty	3.7 Shinano Mountain Ale Draught at the brewery. Glowing orange color. Earthy with grass and citrus in the nose along with caramel and cherry. Flavors of tobacco, grass, pine, mint, cherry, and chamomile. A bit strange, but very nice. Monday, May 31, 2010
KyotoLefty	3.8 Shinano Dragon Ale Draught at Thrash Zone. Big chocolate and caramel nose. Earthy, rather dry, with licorice. Sweet and rich flavor with caramel and chocolate. Not at all cloying. Licorice, grass, and earth flavors. Great stuff. Friday, April 30, 2010
Theis	3.2 Shinano Dragon Ale Draught at Thrash Zone, Yokohama. Clear dark brown - offwhite head. Chocolate, roasted, light burned, bitter dark chocolate, ryebread, dryness, light hoppy. OK. Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Capa	3.4 Shinano IPA Citrus and light pine hop aroma. This one is so close to being a top-tier IPA . The bitter hops are nice, right on point, but the lack of any malt backbone hurts this IPA. The hops need some restraint, but nothing is there to stop them. This is a good IPA that with a little work could be so much better. Friday, July 10, 2009
TheJollyOne	3.7 Shinano Dragon Ale Very large off white head, mahogany body.Toffee apple nose, slight brown bread yeast. Apple and blackcurrant opening slightly bitter roast finish. Malty and full bodied. Nice work. Sunday, June 21, 2009
omhper	2.1 Shinano IPA Draught at Thrash Zone, Yokohama. Nut brown, small head. Mostly resiny with a bit of dripping syrup. The slight caramelly malt lacks firmness so the piney resiny hops come across as overly harsh, and all that prevails is resiny unpleasant bitterness. Thursday, May 21, 2009
KyotoLefty	3.5 Shinano IPA Draught at Thrash Zone. Fruity, hoppy. Big hop flavor, with good, though slightly light malt as well. Very bitter. Hop presence dominates. Thursday, May 14, 2009
KyotoLefty	3.7 Shinano Kurohime Stout Draught at The Griffon. Pitch black, with a thin tan head. Opaque. Fruity, hoppy aroma. Round, roasted, and fruity flavor. Wood and smoke. Dry, flavorful, well roasted. Some hops, plus chocolate and coffee. Good stuff. Thursday, May 14, 2009
jonno	3.4 Shinano IPA Can see what they are trying to do here. American IPA that just misses the mark by having a somewhat light presence in the body. Otherwise enjoyable Monday, January 19, 2009
TimE	3.6 Shinano IPA Deep golden color with huge rocky white head. Big apricots and tobacco notes jump out. Definitely not a West Coast IPA and was described as a Boston style IPA. Very much agree this is an East Coast IPA. The hops are toned down in the body and things are much more balanced with big leafy tobacco dominating and bitterness just hitting the back of the mouth. Finishes with a long, somewhat subdued, bitterness. Very good for what it is trying to be. Sunday, January 11, 2009
omhper	3.4 Shinano Kurohime Stout Bottled (as Shinano Black Dragon Stout, 5%). Black, rich pale brown head. Fruity roasty nose with some coffee. Dry with well rounded mouthfeel. Lots of dusty coffee and chocolate. Salty finish with a touch of metal. Sunday, January 11, 2009
omhper	3.1 Shinano Dragon Ale Bottled (5%). Mahogany colour, rich head. Heavily roasty with notes of cork. Medium sweet and medium bodied. Spices and yeast play vital parts of the picture. Salty bitterish finish. Sunday, January 11, 2009
omhper	3.1 Shinano Nozawa Ale Bottled. Clear amber, rich head. Minty black currant aroma. Medium sweet and medium bodied with clean rounded mouthfeel. Straight forward somewhat caramelly malt character, rather low bitterness. Sunday, January 11, 2009
omhper	2.9 Shinano Ale Bottled (5.0%) Hazy amber, small head. Fruity nose with notes of glue. Light bodied and fairly sweet with rounded mouthfeel. Somwhat simplistic malt character provides some dusty caramel. Low bitterness. Sunday, January 11, 2009
buzzoven	2.7 Shinano Mountain Ale Had this on tap at Thrash Zone. Interesting beer with an emphasis on the cloudy, smoked, flavours; but lacked a substantial body to make it more then memorable. Plus it held this strange metallic, carbon-like aftertaste that did not sit well with me. Tuesday, October 7, 2008
jonno	3.1 Shinano Mountain Ale Looks beautiful, but is a bit light in the body. Could use with a bit more of everything just to give it an edge. A good session Sunday, October 5, 2008
jonno	3.7 Shinano Dragon Ale Wow a lot more full bodied than I had expected for a beer of lower alcohol content. Lots of interesting things going on . One of the two great regular taps at thrash zone Sunday, September 21, 2008
buzzoven	3.5 Shinano Kurohime Stout Strong coffee smell emitting from this deep black princess. Nice creamy head and some good roasted barley and nutty flavours being the standout on the tongue. Personally, I like my stouts a bit more full-bodied, but this went down nice. Would try again. Wednesday, May 21, 2008
thebeertourist	3.7 Shinano Dragon Ale Tap at Thrash zone, Yokohama. Dark brown with a good tan head. Excitingly complex aroma and flavour with decent roast and caramel. Interesting to say the least. Friday, April 4, 2008
Capa	3.7 Shinano Dragon Ale Tap at Thrash Zone. Deep color with a nice light tan head. Hoppy, fruits, molasses, and some sweet malts on the aroma. Flavor is nicely bitter, fruit, apple, a little burnt sugar. Finish is kinda bitter and a little sweet. A nice and interesting brew. Thursday, December 20, 2007
oberabcbbsok	4.1 Shinano Dragon Ale Draught at one of the smalest pub’s i have ever seen. Trash Zone, Yokohama. Only place for about 6 sitting customers, and only 5 beers out of 7 taps and only 3 bottle beers. But all very nice and a person who understand people and has an hart for good beers. I loved this beer Tuesday, September 18, 2007
TimE	3.6 Shinano Dragon Ale Dark mahogany color. Thin off white head. Minerally, apple mouth. Hoppy upfront body with apples, cinnamon and crystal malt. Apples, bubblegum, mildy bitter finish. This definetely is not a brown ale, it is an English Pale ale (and a decent one at that) Saturday, July 14, 2007
TimE	3 Shinano Mountain Ale Dark amber color. Apple pie, cinnamon nose. Low hops in the mouth. A bit more full bodied than Shinano ale, but not the same complexity. Malt accented. Saturday, July 14, 2007
TimE	3.2 Shinano Ale Light amber color, apricots, oranges, peach, buscuity nose. Well balanced, peaches, buscuity mouth, , but flavors don’t mix well. Slightly thin body Mildly bitter finish with lingering buscuity taste. Saturday, July 14, 2007
larsga	3.9 Shinano Kurohime Stout Medium dark beige creamy head. Black opaque body. Milky chocolate aroma with caramel notes. Sweetish burnt coffee and chocolate taste with burnt almond notes. Mild and harmonic. Dry, sooty aftertaste. Very, very nice stout. Impressive to achieve this at only 5%. (0.33l bottle. Thanks to the bartender at Cantina, Matsumoto, who "sold" me this from his private stock.) Sunday, April 22, 2007
larsga	3.8 Shinano Dragon Ale Huge offwhite creamy lasting head. Dark red body. Sweet firm roasty grain aroma with notes of fruity hops. Dry sweet firm wooden grainy burnt almond taste with caramel and tropical fruit notes. Subtle burnt almond notes dominate. Very harmonic and subtle. Also very clean. Dry roasty aftertaste lingers. (0.33l bottle. Thanks to the bartender at Cantina, Matsumoto, who "sold" me this bottle from his private stock.) Sunday, April 22, 2007
larsga	3.5 Shinano Mountain Ale Huge creamy offwhite lasting head with larger bubbles embedded. Amber body. Sweetish smoky aroma, quite mild. Sweet roasty spicy wooden taste, somewhat watery, with notes of smoke and burnt almonds. Hop notes of tropical fruit can be made out in the background. Very clean palate; very harmonic. Dry, burnt aftertaste. A very well made beer. (0.33l bottle. Thanks to the bartender at Cantina, Matsumoto, who "sold" me this bottle from his private stock.) Sunday, April 22, 2007
rolickstamp293	3 Shinano Dragon Ale Draught at the brewery. Cloudy dark brown colour. Smooth tasty amber ale, sweet malty and bit fruity. One of the best amber ales around in Nagano. Friday, December 8, 2006
rolickstamp293	4.1 Shinano Kurohime Stout Draught. Thick pitch black colour with a big cramy light brown head. Aroma of roasted malts, coffee and caramel. Lovely fresh flavour of the roasted malts, bitter-sweetness, good hoppiness and nice coffee, especially in the aftertaste. Soft creamy mouthfeel with a long chocolate-coffe aftertaste. Amazingly good! Friday, December 8, 2006
rolickstamp293	3.2 Shinano Mountain Ale Bottle. Dark amber colour with an average lasting short head. Aroma of toasted malts and hops, Flavour is toasty and fruity with some dryness. The brewmaster studied at the legendary Ipswitch Brewery in New England and that sure can be tasted in this brew! Friday, December 8, 2006
rolickstamp293	2.7 Shinano Ale Amber colour. Average whitish head. Arma of toasted malts and hops. Nice malty flavour with bitter hops, little sweetness. Friday, December 8, 2006
TimE	3.8 Shinano Kurohime Stout Creamy dark brown head with espresso and heavy roasted malt notes in the nose. The body is medium, a touch sweet but with heavy roasted notes and a dry finish. Update from draft at brewery: Pitch black color, lgiht brown head. Espresso, caramel, dark fruit nose. Intense coffee mouth with dark fruit and brownies, but a bit thin and lacking hop bitterness. Dry roasted malty finish. Shinano’s best beer. Monday, February 7, 2005