Hitachino Stout
Live review of Hitachino Nest Sweet Stout from a bottle.
It isn’t that dark in appearance. Nor does it have much head, not a good sign.
The body is pretty thin on first taste as well. It is, as advertised, sweet. Not cloying by any means, simply sweet. However this is not the sweetness of a heavy alcohol beer, there is no bite, nor any bitterness. So to me this is more of a porter.
It smells red. It kind of tastes red as well. That doesn’t exactly make sense to me either, don’t worry. A little spicy as well. Cranberries? Lingonberries? These are the notes I am getting. The website claims it has coffee and chocolate notes. Find me a stout that does not make those claims.
I like it. I’m not in love, by any means, I simply enjoy drinking it. It is beer, however, so that is no major coup on their part. I would drink it again, certainly.
There is a pleasant smokiness in the finish, hidden pretty far back there.
They add lactose to the beer, as a sweetener 10 minutes before the end of the boil. To me this seems odd, as about half of all Asians are lactose intolerant. Including myself. So I may get a bit gassy soon. We shall see. I am guessing that the lactose either breaks down in the boil or is enzymatically transformed into something else because lactose is not sweet by itself. (Milk, for example.) However Lactaid type milks are. So I am guessing that this lactose is broken down.
As it is thin yet tasty without being super fizzy repeat drinkability is very high.
WDTB? Not really certain.
WSDTB? People who like Black Butte Porter. This kicks the shit out of Black Butte. Honestly, this beer is way way better. No comparison. Yet, as this is nearly 3 times as expensive it better be. So supposing you are in Japan, where all beer is really expensive, buy this because it is good.
Rating: 8.2/10
