Tap at Beer House Hobbit. Listed at 5.5%. Fat caramel nose, biscuits, and condensed dark fruit. Deep amber/orange color. Mild caramel, light tangy hop, gentle raisin, and maybe molasses. Medium body. Very pleasant, for a a style that is generally quite dull.

33cl bottle (5,5%) from Midori, Nagano. Pours muddy amber with a modest off-white head. Fruity and somewhat yeasty aroma with notes of caramel and mild herbal hops. Medium sweet with fairly mild flavours and also rather light bitterness. Quite drinkable, but not very pretty and nothing to write home about in the end.

Bottle at Daio Wasabi Farm - Shared with Mette. Clear amber - white head. Red berries. Almost raspberries. Amber malts. Nice fruity. Light bitternes. Caramel. Roasted. Breadish notes. Knækbrød. Nice.

~This review was made some time ago via another application, and thus the specific details (beyond numerical scores) are no longer available~

Nice hoppy plum, peach aromas. Caramel biscuit, red fruits, sour finish. Very pleasant fruity ale.

Draught at Bungalow. Fiery red-brown body, good aromas of fruit, malt and caramel. Delicate flavours of said fruit- raisins?- caramel and touch of brown sugar. Nicely balanced, excellent mouthfeel. This was really good. ---Rated via Beer Buddy for iPhone

Bottle at Shinshu Sake Mura. Amber colour, small off-white head. Aroma is lightly spicy, fruity orange, bit yeasty too. Taste is good. Cinnamon and orange, pretty nice. Solid maltiness.

On tap at Qbrick, Osaka. Pours hazy copper with no head. Good hoppy aroma followed by fruity caramel flavours. Some citrus. Very decent.

Bottle. Pours dark amber with a medium white head. Rich in caramel malt and toffee. There’s a subtle hoppyness but low in bitterness in the mouthfeel. A slightly dry finish. A pretty good amber ale. (RateBeer Sydney Xmas Gathering 2009 - cheers TimE!)

My pick of three Minamishinshu beers at a Sydney gathering courtesy of Japanese beer ambassador, TimE. Bronze with a lasting head. Smells very sweet but to style - caramels, stewed fruits. Medium bodied and nicely creamy. All malt in the mouth, with minimal bitterness. Figs and toffees. Like the Apple Hop, it’s saved from being too sweet by a nice dry finish. A pretty good example of one of my least favourite styles. (Ratebeer Sydney Xmas gathering under the harbour bridge, 2009. Beer courtesy of TimE - thanks buddy.)