Hitachino Nest White Ale

My brother Raf and I are going to try to make bloging history here, simultaneous food/beverage review postings by siblings. Actually I have no idea if we are the first to do that, checking on that would require work, and you know I tend to avoid that. But anyhow go to the Get Him Eat Him review.

So here is a live review of Hitachino Nest White Ale, which my father kindly surprised me with a bottle of as a gift. There were two others in the set; they will be blogged soon, no fear.

This ale is pale gold in color, but cloudy, apparently unfiltered (I tend to avoid reading the labels until after, they tell you what they want you to think, whereas I prefer to form my own opinion first. I’ll check on it’s filtration later). It maintained an excellent head for a lighter beer, with foam sticking around for a long time, a good sign.

The nose is floral, with a little bit of sweetness and a hint of grapefruit, giving it a nice crispness. I’m also picking up a little spice way at the back, but I can’t place it now.

The flavor is very bright, with many interesting notes, a veritable flavor extravaganza, easily the best white ale I have ever had. I think the only other white ale I’ve imbibed is that horrid Blue Moon. There isn’t a lot of flavor in the start; all the intriguing bits come in the middle. There isn’t a lot of mouth feel, this is a pretty light beer, and perhaps a bit over carbonated, as the start seems to be completely obscured by the bubbles in your mouth. So maybe the start is neat too, I just don’t know yet. I suppose I could wait until it gets flat, I just don’t want to. The odd thing is here I waited a couple minutes after pouring before I started drinking and it is still noticeably over carbonated.

Ok, I decided the spice note was coriander.

The finish is sour. I think it is too sour, as it lingers a little too long and can overpower the next sip. The sourness is citrusy, and is necessary to balance the other notes earlier in the flavor profile, but by it self it is a bit much.

Repeat drinkability is moderate. I would like another, but I’m not that disappointed that there are no more Hitachino Nest White Ales in the house.

WDTB? An extraordinarily good question, as I believe my father bought these at Uwajimaya, but I have no corroboration on that. Last time I checked these beers are very expensive, and unfortunately not worth the money for repeated drinking. However if I were in Japan and had this beer as an expensive option (as opposed to a prohibitively expensive option) I would totally go for it, as it is vastly superior to all other Japanese beer I have ever had.

WSDTB? Japanese people. Anyone deeply infatuated with white ales, a group I do not count myself one of. Anyone who needs to prove that Japan can produce a good beer, as opposed to decent, which is as far as Kirin/Sapporo/Asahi ever gets.

Rating: 8.4/10, with the caveat that those who really enjoy white ales would rate this around 9.1.

Oooh, oooh, time to check my palate. Ok, read the bottle... The bottle is almost entirely in Japanese. Hmm... OK, go to the website. Adjuncts: Coriander (I so fucking rule at this game), orange peel (ok I admit I said grapefruit because saying citrus all the time without choosing which citrus I meant is lame, and grapefruit sounds neater than lemon, might not have guessed orange, was considering being extraordianarily snobbish and saying Yusu, a neat Japanese citrus fruit, but decided against it), and nutmeg (which I missed).