Sunday, July 31, 2016

The beers of Waikiki: Lagunitas Lucky 13

I was exited when I found it. A brew of myth and legend before my very eyes in only one of the countless convenience stores in the straight lined yet convoluted streets of Honolulu. I didn't even bother to check the price, I knew that I would never be able to find this store again and I did not care how far from the my ancient hotel I was. I just let the EDC machine read the magnetic code on the underside of my card and tell my bank to wire the required sum to the business. It didn't matter what it cost, it mattered that I have it. They placed all six of them in the brown paper bag legally required due to recent ordinance, and I walked out in disbelief. It was like buying my first gun, couldn't have been that easy. But there it was in the brown recycled paper, The Lagunitas Lucky 13 Ultra-Mega-Mondo Red Ale!

I have written on Lagunitas before, so if you want a run down of the brewery you can go find one of my previous posts. And no, I havn't finished "So you want to start a brewery, the Lagunitas story" yet. The lucky 13 was first brewed in 2006 to celebrate the brewery's 13th anniversary and has been a limited April through June release ever since. I've heard of this beer being described as a red ale that is also a strong ale that is also an IPA. That sounds like a Lagunitas product alright. In one of their own epitaphs that they like to paste onto their bombers and carriers "From the first day of the first mash of the first recipe in the first brewhouse in the first space to these coordinates on the cone of space-time; We have worked hard to walk in the footsteps of our hero brewers- Chico’s brewer of California’s Best Pale Ale, the Noble Brewer of the planet’s only legal Steam Beer, and Oregon’s Rebel Brewer from Newport. Now we have found our own voice as brewers but our admiration for the Great Ones has not dimmed one bit. If we walked well down the hero’s path, perhaps we too have been an inspiration for others. Beer is a Bronze Age business and we feel honored to leave our footprints on it’s path into history- at the same time leaving our flavors on your buds. Obey those Buds! Thanks for your trust over the years and we hope you enjoy this specially brewed Hi-Gravity Auburn offering.". It's in one of their standard short bottles with an unglossed paper labels, a hallmark from when founder Tony Magee worked as a commercial printer while also running the brewery. The label features a Sailor Jerry-esque raven haired lady luck in a horseshoe and the metallic red crimp cap features their typical dog mascot. It is 12 oz and 8.8% acl. by volume.

Nose from the bottle is immediately hoppy with molasses and dark malt. From the glass it has a fruity nose, akin to grape or fig. Allot of life within the glass maintaining a small but ever present head on top. It has the light red color expected of red ale, similar to a sherry or Kentucky bourbon. The head has grown as I typed that last sentence, it is now thick and fluffy and growing. On first sip, it has a strong hoppy bitterness with a dry fruity finish. It's a piney hoppyness, hiding a strong alcohol bite. It's not particularly acidic and the body sits on that line between mid and full. It actually has a little bit of a licorice flavor to it as well.

So I bought a 3d printer and it's waiting for me back in Japan. When I bought it I was like "yea, I finally got a 3d printer after reading about them for all of these years", but now all I can think about is what would I print with it? I mean, I'll have a blast building it, but what about after that? What plastic objects do I really need? In the US I know I would print a bunch of gun parts, but I can't have those in Japan. I've talked about printing small car parts for people. You know, those little plastic fittings for cars made 25 years ago that are all cracked and broken off now but are $10 a piece from the manufacturer. Maybe I'll do that, but what else? I'm sure things will come up. Maybe I'll just browse thingverse until I see something cool, I'm sure something will come up.
the printer in question

Final thoughts. It's a great beer, don't get me wrong, but they could have toned down the hopps just a little bit. Other than that it was perfectly enjoyable. I give this beer my blurry seal of approval.

Friday, July 29, 2016

the beers of Waikiki: Echigo Red Ale

I've written about Echigo before, so if you want to know about the brewery you can refer to that post. Tonight we have the Echigo Red Ale "Japanese Premium Import", so what's written on the bottle in English won't be nonsense this time.

The bottle has a nice cherry blossom and crane graphic with a little bit of kanji under the RED ALE, clearly playing up the Japaneseness of the beer. Not quite 12 oz. (it's 11.15), 6% alcohol by volume. The presentations fine, nothing particularly striking.


Nose from the bottle is just a straight molasses, maybe some roasted barley. After pouring, the nose is very fruity, it is akin to cherry cough syrup, but not quite that extreme. Color is like a brandy, a plum red with bright hues. There is a sufficient amount of life within the glass to maintain a small head around the rim. I really cannot stress enough how much this beer smells of cherry. On first sip, as best I can describe, it tastes just like a less intense plum wine. It has a light body and a warming, although acidic, mouthfeel. It is slightly bitter, with a noticeable bitter aftertaste. Watered down cough syrup or carbonated plum wine keeps coming to mind. I cannot give you a more accurate description of the taste.

I saw the new Star Trek, it was all right. The cinematography and special effects were beautiful, but the story was chock full of cliche's. I could have told you the whole story as soon as they got to the space station. A much better movie that unfortunately just left theaters is "The Infiltrator" starring Bryan Cranston. I could certainly watch that one again, and probably will.It's adapted from a true story that took place in 1986 about Miami DEA agents trying to take down some of the heavy hitters in Pablo Escobar's cartel. The movie is an absolute thrill so I won't give anything away, although you probably could look up the whole thing on Wikipedia.I also managed to see "The secret life of pets", which if you have a kid go ahead and take them to it, they'll enjoy it and you won't be totally bored. The hotdog scene it actually pretty great.

Final thoughts. Not terrible, but not really good either. I don't know why I expected more from this brewery, their flagship was just serviceable. Is Japan really that strapped for good indigenous craft beer? Are Coedo and Orion the only good small breweries? I refuse to believe that. I have to say, this beers flavor profile came as a shock to me, when I see "Red Ale" I'm expecting an Irish red, what I got is something like a failed attempt to mimic Delirium Red. If you're looking for a beer with this kind of flavor, just spring for the Delirium Red.

Sunday, July 24, 2016

The beers of Wakiki: Kona Brewing Lemongrass Luau

My apologies for not posting in some time, I have had work related concerns. But thanks to these work related concerns I'm in Waikiki, Honolulu, Hawaii. I'm currently staying at the Royal Hawaiian hotel, the fourth hotel built in the area (1927) with a long history of hosting military, which explains the substantial discount we are staying here for. In fact, during WW2 it was completely closed to the public and hosted US military guests exclusively, and during the Vietnam war it hosted the Armed Forces Network program "Concert by the Sea". They renovated the place back in 2008 to modernize it's amenities and do some extensive maintenance. Fortunately they were not overzealous in their modernizations so it is still a gigantic, pink stucco, Spanish/Moorish styled, H building designed to catch trade winds and let them pass through its large windows and open common areas and swirl around it's high ceilings (a Godsend in the days before air conditioning).

Tonight's beer is Lemongrass Luau by Kona brewing, out of Kailua-Kona Hawaii. The brewpub was started in 1995 by a father and son team with a focus on the Hawaiian market. The business grew over time with a few flagship beers such as their Longboard Island Lager and their Firerock Pail Ale, and they are now selling in the continental US. The Lemongrass Luau we will be reviewing is a blonde ale with added lemongrass and ginger from their Aloha series. It has embossed on it's bottle in cursive "Liquid Aloha" along with the Hawaiian island chain. Also on the bottle is a classic hula girl scene complete with tiki torches and sunset and the breweries gecko label. It is 5% alcohol by volume and in a 12 oz bottle. Fortunately this is a classy hotel, no no plastic cup this time, on to the brew.


It has a slight sort of sweet and sour nose from the bottle, this continues in the glass. It is certainly a golden color, extremely clear, no head to speak of. If you just showed me the poured glass and asked me what the liquid inside was, I would not instinctively say beer. But aesthetics are secondary to taste, and on inital sip the taste is sweet. Not a barley sweet though, I can only imagine this is from the lemongrass. Other than that it is a light hay like barley taste and a little bit of ginger. It has a light body, creamy mouthfeel, low acidity. Not allot of life within the glass, there's a little bit, it's not flat, but this is on that definitely expires before too long.


Listening to Nikki Lane, she's a county music singer/guitarist/songwriter from Greenville, South Carolina. She Performs out of Nashville, Tennessee now and plays outlaw and Americana styles. That being said, her music tends to have a real late 1970's through early 1990's feel, which would make her also neotraditionalist country. It's not that there is anything particularly special about her music, it's just really refreshing to hear generally good country that you can put on in the background and just leave playing. Just the beat of pop country in the background has started to put me in a bad mood. I went ahead and got two of her albums on vinyl.

Final thoughts. It's a serviceable beer, made for sitting on the beach and having a few, nothing special. I have some Anchor steam beers in the fridge I think I'll get into.