the beers of FUTENMA: Delirium Red

I picked up this bottle and another one as a birthday gift to myself, I do hope I hope I like it. It's brewed by the Huyghe Brewery in Melle, Belgium. The current brewery was started in 1906, but there has been a brewery at that location since 1654. They started using the Delirium tag in 1938 and have adorned their bottles with pink elephants ever since.
The bottle has a nice speckled stoneware look to it, although you can see it's painted brown glass at the top, still pretty though. the label is silver with a pink elephant wearing a double cherry earring. The label says "DELIRIUM RED" "BELGIAN ALE" "Ale brewed and flavored with natural flavor and with stevia added". It's a 1 pint 9.4 fluid ounce bottle with 8% abv., ganna be a bit of a job finishing this. It's a pop quark styled bottle with a red metal retainer. Since my roommate isn't in, I'm going to go ahead and pop it.

It makes a good pop sound when it comes out, but it does not launch itself. It has a very fruity nose from the bottle. I've packed most of my glasses up, but the Rochefort is still out so I'm going to use that. It has a deep red color, burgundy really. It has a very cherry scent, just like cheerwine, or cherry pipe tobacco. This tastes more like cherry wine than it does beer. It's sweet, but not sickly sweet, kind of a tart cherry. I suppose it's a little refreshing to have a beer that doesn't have any hopps, but it just doesn't taste like beer without them. It's noticeably acidic, but not noticeably alcoholic, the acidity being the only thing to slow you down. It's got a very little amount of pink head in the center and around the rim, mainly thanks to the goblet's agitator. If there's any other flavors here, I can't taste them. It's straight cherry cobbler, or cherry pie.

So I've taken to eating raw Kale and Broccoli, they have anti-carcinogens and are generally good for you. Fresh Kale and fresh Broccoli taste quite similar, which is good as I was raised to like Broccoli (thanks Mom). Those who spend a great deal of time around me know my affinity for meats and other animal products. I have long maintained that eating plant's isn't entirely necessary, you can get everything you need from animals, but the reverse is not quite true. It is true that you can live without animal products, but not without a myriad of problems and a great deal of supplements. Although it should be mentioned, living without eating plants comes with it's own set of issues, but no short term ones that are more than a paltry nuance. In the long term it does have it's problems, but most of those are problems that are common with old age anyways, but made more likely with a exclusively carnivorous diet. I suppose my problem with veganism is the fact that they try to pass it off as a healthy lifestyle when it is not, it is a moral choice not to eat animals. There is not a vegan I know with whom this is not the case. Are they afraid that people will mock them for their position on not wanting to kill animals? I suppose this position can be admirable but I don't agree with the "health benefits" argument, just come out and say it, you don't believe in killing animals. I often bring up the study by Dr. Vilhjalmur Stefansson and his friend K. Anderson, who ate meat exclusively for a year and came out with no ill effects, Although it was found that you absolutely need a great deal of fat to be able to digest that meat. I find it strange that that is the only major study I can find of eating exclusively meat, and it was published in 1930. There are people who do eat only meat out there on the internet, but they are not exactly a conclusive study. You also have aboriginal people like the Inuit who live their whole lives almost entirely on animals, which is where Dr. Stefansson got the Idea for his study. I would like to try it sometime, but I would need access to a market that would sell me any part of the animal (brains, liver, tongue, anything and everything really) and have the spare cash to buy it all.
It's finished. It wasn't a great beer, but it was a very good drink. I would like to try more non hopp beers, they seem like a whole new level of beer. On a special occasion, I would defiantly say this is one to have. I give it my blurry seal of approval.

the beers of FUTENMA: Coedo Ruri Pils

This is the second Coedo I found, unfortunately Aeon didn't carry any more. The bottle looks just like the kyara, but blue. Not much to say, it's a pilsner and we'll see how it is. Let's pour it into the super traditional Orion mug.

Nose from the bottle is malty, maybe even salty. It has allot of white fluffy head, with opaque orange color (I know I said that about the other one, but it's true for this one too, except for the head). from the mug, it has a much more barley nose but with that same salty scent. It's sour, not rotten sour, meant to be sour. Color turns to a cloudy golden when I hold it up to my desk light, maybe the orange color is just the wood from the furniture. Allot of the guys on Rate Beer say it has starchy qualities, on which I concur. I usually disregard most of what is said in peoples beer reviews, it tends to be hoity-toity nonsense, but sometimes other people have ways of explaining flavors and textures that I would not have thought of myself, and starchy is one of them. It his a medium bodied beer with little acidity. It's a little bit more hoppy than I would expect from a pilsner, it tastes like a regular lager.

I'm afraid work has taken up the majority of my time, I haven't been able to take in allot of culture, or read much for that mater. I still read the news every day, but I still find it a nightmare to find news stories that aren't boring, have a nauseatingly liberal or conservative slant, or are just opinion pieces. And when you go online and try and find anything that is truly unbiased, everything anyone suggests turns out to have some sort of extreme bias that the suggester doesn't notice (I suggest because they are of the same mind). So far, the only truly trustworthy sources I can find are Reuters and the Associated Press. Sometimes "The Independant" has some good stuff, but I'm still undecided about them. If you want local American news, Fox tends to be the only really good source. If you want national or international, you have to go with an international agency, like Reuters and the Associated Press. Although, I also find Vice news and Vox are good sources on YouTube. Unfortunately, Vice's documentaries tend to be a little slow in coming out and can have a very liberal slant in terms of opinion, although they usually treat everyone fairly and hear out all sides of an issue without demonizing one side because they don't totally agree. Vox has a goal of "explaining the news", an admiral goal to be sure. But while the focus is on giving the facts surrounding a story, it is the facts interpenetrated by someones opinion, and for the sake of simplicity, there generally is not a great deal of conflicting opinions.
This was an alright beer, pilsners aren't my thing, but I did enjoy drinking this one. I don't think I would seek it out again, but I would certainly get one if it were readily available.

the beers of FUTENMA: Coed Kyara India pale lager

My buddy Hilgar asked me to find beer from Coedo brewery for him as it's not imported into the States yet, so I did (It's coming in the mail Chris), but I also got some for myself. I can't say I've had an India pale lager before, so this is probably going to be interesting.
The bottle is nice, it has gold lettering on the front label that says "Beer Beautiful" "COEDO kyara India Pale Lager Super Premium Japanese Craft Beer" and then has the word beer in eight languages. Behind the gold lettering is a brown label with the letters from the brewery's name "coedo" arranged in an interesting design that continues in glass on the neck of the bottle ending in a golden "coedo" crimpcap. Now let's pour it into the super traditional Orion mug and see how it heads.

The nose from the bottle is citrusy with the aroma of hopps, but also has the distinct smell of malt with a little note of cereal. It is not a particularly lively beer, I can say with honesty that this one truly has no head.Color is a sort of brown orange. It is rather opaque, with a few bubbles shimmering to the top like minnows is a silty lake. Nose is like the bottle, but not as pronounced. This beer is like drinking grapefruit and hopp juice, there is not a great deal of carbonation. It's a medium body, not very acidic at all, but just a bite for mouthfeel. I can't tell if it's supposed to be like this or not. On one hand, it's Japanese and that's kind of how some of their beers are, more of a feature than a fault. On the other, it's been in my secretary since before I went to Korea, but considering how cold I keep the room (you get black mold if you go over 21°C, yes that's 69°F but its always in the mid-80's outside, so that feels very cold) it should have been OK for a while. Allot of the guys on Rate Beer say it's head quickly dissipates, so if it did degrade a little, it's not like it had a great deal of carbonation to begin with. 

Youtube has brought me to some great music again. I had heard many of the songs of Nancy Sinatra before, but I never knew her name. Looking her up, She is like the look and sound of the 60's. Think of anything pop culture related during that decade, Nancy Sinatra embodies it. 

Well, out of beer. I would really like to have this beer again, but fresher this time. I didn't really get the lager part, but its a pretty good India pale. I give this beer my blurry seal of approval.

the beers of FUTENMA: Yo-Ho Aooni IPA

I picked this one up at the Aeon grocerie store, along with some others I will be reviewing later. The only English on the can is AOONI india pale ale, and then on the side there is the brewery's website in English characters. I haven't had a good IPA in a while, so I'm looking forward to this one.

I like the Jack-o-lantern face on the can, with the clouds surrounding in the dead of night. It's a very fun can.Japanese cans all have what I assume are braille on the top, next to the captive pop tab. The other can I have from this brewery is also aesthetically pleasing, but I'm saving that one for a Wednesday, when I do the review you'll understand. So pop, nose, head, we've done this about forty times, you get the drill.

The beer exploded into life as soon as I opened the can and I could smell it immediately, a good omen wot wot. From the can, it has a floral, citrusy nose with some pine. But lets pour it into the super traditional Orion mug and see that head. It has a small, but stable head, and deep brownish orange color. It has a strong hoppy nose from the mug, I can't get enough of it, this is a fantastic smelling beer. This is a very hoppy beer, maybe a little too hoppy for anyone who is not an IPA aficionado. I realize I could have said connoisseur in that regard, but if you love IPA's, you know it goes beyond that. The taste starts out as overwhelming hopps, but subsides to grapefruity citrus and then pine to finish it off. It reminds me of Modus Hoperandi by Ska brewing (one of the finest IPA's you will find), if you need an American comparison.

My Father and I have been discussing Hymns on Facebook. We concur with each other that a great deal of modern Hymns ain't very good (I'm so glad everyone got off that "ain't isn't a word trip" it is a word, it's called a colloquialism). The problem with most of them isn't that the music is sappy, which most of them are in my opinion, it's that they lack spiritual depth. You look back to what I like to call "country hymns", simple hymns made for simple people, they don't have complicated lyrics like you're European hymns, but in very few words they convey very strong messages. Where as (as my father pointed out) you have the song "I am a friend of God" which has very few words and conveys nothing. I still maintain that Gospel is the only genre on Christian music that is still relevant when it comes to music or lyrics. Aside from a few notable exemptions, contemporary is just lack luster, desperate and empty. It's a shame you can't get a great deal of good Christian country songs, but that's a rant for another day and a larger beer. Just let me say that I hate the song "word of God speak", it's full of words and they're all stupid.

Overall, an good IPA. There ain't a great deal of them in Japan, but if you're stuck out here, look for this one out in town, you won't be disappointed. I officially give this beer my blurry seal of approval.

the beers of FUTENMA: Orion Mugi Shokunin

Today I finally try some Happoshu, which was created to skirt Japanese tax laws on beer by brewing a beer with less than 67% malt so it would not technically classify as beer. It's basically the Japanese equivalent of malt liqueur. The one I have is the Orion Mugi Shokunin, which states "the harmony of Hops & Barley Orion Mugi Shokunin is brewed from selected barley for a smooth, satisfyig taste Happoshu for true brew lovers". Notice, at no point do they say beer. I'm going to get out the super traditional Orion mug and see how it heads.

From the can, it has a cereal nose and not much else. It certainly looks like beer. It has a light, frothy head and golden color. The cereal nose persists. It has a very barley taste and watery body. It's pretty much Orion southern star, but with a little bit less flavor, which isn't always a bad thing. It's a little bit malty, I suppose. If crystal light made a light beer flavor packet for you to put into a 20 oz. bottle of water, the result would be much like this. It goes down easy, kind of acidic, but otherwise easy. I've already finished it, kind of disappointing.
Usually I wrap this up at the end with some thoughts, but this beer was so mundane that I have nothing more to say.

the beers of Futenma: Sapporo White Belg

I picked this beer up at the Aeon grocery store, as well as a number of other beers that I will be reviewing. It is a Belgian White beer, as the name implies. According to the can "Inspired by Belgian White beers, this tasty brew is created using coriander seeds, orange peel and fine Belgian malt." ALC.5%. Coriander is cilantro, for those of you who have never heard it called that before, I've lived in the USA my entire life and I have never heard it called that until I came out here. I've already talked about the Sapporo brewery in a previous post, so lets skip to seeing that head.

Nose from the can in malty, with an orange scent. It is a remarkably clear orange tinted gold color, there is hardly any life inside the mug. Due to this, the head only exists immediately after pouring but quickly dissipates. No matter, I don't really care about head, I think it just gets in the way. From the mug, It's nose is heavy with orange, but the cilantro makes a stated appearance. The taste is the precise opposite, which is to say it is heavy with cilantro and orange makes an appearance after the fact. Mouthfeel is rather light/medium bodied and mildly acidic. This beer tastes like it uses artificial flavors after it is brewed, I'm not saying that's what happened, but that's what it tastes like. Not much of an alcohol taste, it's defiantly covered up with the flavoring.

So I watch this channel on YouTube called Forgotten Weapons. I watch it obsessively, every time a new video comes out, I watch it. It has eaten so much of my time but I can't stop, It's just too interesting. Maybe it's just because I'm a gun nut. It's put out by a guy named Ian, who is an expert in historical firearms, and he gets to go behind the scenes at auction houses, museums, and private collections to look at and take apart all kinds of old guns and makes videos. He gives you the history behind the gun, how it functions,  and really any interesting information about it. If you like guns or just mechanical doodads, I highly suggest checking that out.

To finish this review out, this beer was disappointing.  If you want a good mass produced Belgian white, grab a shock-top. This beer could have used much better execution, it wasn't bad, but it wasn't good either.

the beers of Futenma: Achel Trappist Bruin Bier

Like the Blonde, Achel's Bruin (brown) beer is 8% alc. by volume, the bottle looks the same except for the brass colored crimpcap, and I'll be using the same chalice. So let's pop the top and dive right in.

Color is a deep brown, a mahogany really, almost completely non translucent. There's allot of life from what I can see against the side of the glass and the top of the head. The head is very thin, you can see were the bubble streams come up. It has a very malty nose, somewhat fruity, you can smell the alcohol. It has a fruity molasses flavor, which sounds like it would be terrible on paper, but it's good in practice. Mouthfeel is suprisingly mid bodied for such a dark beer. It is quite acidic, almost painfully so, I'm sure that will go away as it warms. Actually, if you let it sit in you're mouth for a second, it completely fades away, but it does some on very strong. The molasses has faded away to a caramel flavor now, the fruitiness has become less ambiguous and now carries the flavor of raisins. we'll see what else changes as the beer gets warmer.

Well that's it, this has probably been the shortest review I've written. It was a good beer, I would have it again. I give it my blurry seal of approval.

The beers of Futenma: Achel Trappist blonde bier

Today I have my final Trappist brewery, Achel. This is their blonde, but I also have their bruim (brown) to review later. The monks who made these beers, the Abby of Saint Benedict, built a chapel in Achel, Belgium in 1648. Years later this became an Abby, which was regrettably destroyed by the French during the revolution. In 1844 the monks of Westmalle rebuilt the Abby and started brewing operations in 1852, eventually becoming a full Trappist monastery in 1871. The Abby unfortunately had to be temporarily abandoned in 1914 due to German occupation, during which the Germans raided the brewery for its copper. Achel Abby did not begin brewing again until 2001 with help from the monks of Westmalle and Rochefort.

The Achel chalice has a very modern look to it, looks more like a wine glass than a beer chalice, no agitator, it has the modern Achel Trappist logo. The bottle has the same Achel logo, it is a slender long neck bottle with a white cap. It says it's contents are 8% alcohol by volume, other than that it's all Belgian French. So let's open this up and see how it heads.

Not much of an aroma from the bottle, we'll see how it is from the glass. The color is definitely blonde when held up to the light, but a sort of orange otherwise. It has a light citrusy nose, a little bit floral. It maintains a light, but creamy head. This is probably due to all of the life within the glass. The first thing I notice about this beer when I sip it is not even the flavor, it's the mouthfeel. It almost feels as though it's acidic, but it's not really that acidic at all, it's the alcohol giving an almost immediate warming feeling, which seems odd to me as this beer is only 8%. Body is medium full. The flavor is very grassy, citrusy hopps. Online, allot of people have said it has a cheese note to it. Usually I disregard descriptions like this, but after rolling this beer around for a minute, I find it to be true. This is kind of like an IPA really, if an IPA was not actively trying to be hoppy. I'm going to let this warm up and see if the flavor changes.

It becomes much more fruity when it's warm. The cheese flavor is definitely much more pronounced as well, however, so is the alcohol. That seems to be a desired quality in European beers, I must say that as an American I don't particularly enjoy this, open minded as I try to be. This is honestly like having a completely different beer, I cannot remember having a beer that has switched it's character as it warmed so drastically. I do prefer the colder version though. That may be my partiality to hoppy beers over fruity ones.
So the economy isn't great. I've lost about $1000 in value over the past couple of months. I bought back into HEMP at 2000 shares, I figure with the pot legalization out west (east for me really) pot stocks may be something to hold on to. If I don't wind up buying my grandmothers house from her, I may pick up a bunch of Lockheed Martin stock. but anyways...

dolla dolla bill y'all

This one was good, I can check it off the list. Would I have it again? It was an interesting beer, but I wasn't that impressed. It was well crafted as all Trappist beers are, but I feel like it's very general purpose, which is to say, it didn't have enough of any one particular element to make me drawn to it.
In other news, all of the Hacker-Pschorr at the PX is 93¢ a bottle