The beers of Iwakuni: Asahi Red Eye

I've had an interest in beers with "alternative" ingredients for a while now, this one kind of falls into that category. It's a beer cocktail called a red eye (80% beer 20% tomato juice), so not exactly what I'm looking for in the alternative ingredients category as the tomatoes are not part of the brewing process. But whatever, in concept its like one of those canned Budweiser clamato drinks but Japanese. Who knows, maybe it's good.

It comes in a red can with gold cap and claims "Asahi red eye's silky and refreshing aftertaste goes well with food" and "This product is made from selected tomatoes and alcoholic beverage brewed from finest malt". It is 3.5% ABV. You're actually supposed to turn the can over 2-3 times to mix the tomato up. I'll be using another one of those glasses from my Japanese set. I went ahead and turned the can a couple of times, let's pour this thing.

Nose from the can is like tomato and barley wort. It does not produce a head. Color is the pale opaque red you would expect with a tomato mixed drink. Nose from the glass is a sugary sweet tomato scent. On first sip, It's like if you juiced a fresh tomato and then carbonated it. It does not taste in the least like beer. It has a light body, almost no acidity. This tastes like a tomato soda, there is almost nothing there to say that this is alcoholic. Ok, I'm wrong, I'm getting a light malt aftertaste, but that's it.

Listening to some Deep Purple. While the main riff from "Smoke on the water" is really cool (and super simple to play on the guitar) I think "Space Truckin' " is the better song. I don't know what else to talk about, this drink offers no inspiration. It's like drinking a soda. It doesn't help that everything I've got going on right now is kind of droll.
Final thoughts. It's technically beer, but I wouldn't really call it that. I'm sure this would go well with some food, but so would a V8, or a beer for that matter. If you are so inclined, give it a try, but otherwise it's whatever.

The beers of Iwakuni: Grand Kirin Dip Hop IPL (or, the difference between skunked beer and what it's supposed to be)

I can't remember what convenience store I got this from, it wasn't 7-Eleven, Family mart, or Lawsons. Anyway, it was in the cooler so I got two of them (one for me and one to send Hilgar). It's the only place I've seen this one. That's about all there is to that story. It's an India Pale Lager, which means they brewed an India Pale Ale with lager yeast so that it's smoother and accentuates the malt characteristic of the beer more than an IPA. I want to say I've had an IPL before, but I can't put my finger on when or who brewed it. It was probably in my pre-blog days.

It's comes in the same short, stout mouthed bottle that the Galaxy Hop comes in. The label and cap are white, with a golden Kirin unicorn and black and red letters stating "Kirin's Craftmanship" "Grand Kirin" "Dip Hop IPL". I want to say I've had an India Pale Lager before, but I can't put my finger on when or who brewed it. It was probably in my pre-blog days. It has a drawing of their head brewer on the back, I can only imagine he's the beer nerd who convinced the corporate overlords that he should make this. We'll see how he did.
I wasn't sure which glass to use, so I went with the same Japanese tasty beer glass (kind of a small pub style). Nose from the bottle is a sort of skunky wheat sour, kind of like Stella. That scent always worries me, sometimes its intentional but sometimes it's the mark of a beer that has turned, and this one's pretty new. I would also say the nose has a soft  bready characteristic. Pouring it, it has a light and quickly dissapaiting head and very light copper color with just a little life within the glass. Nose from the glass is the same as the bottle. It tastes like it smells, that bready, weedy (this is the name I'm giving that Stella hop skunk. I've never smoked pot, but I've been around it and know what it smells like), and has a general lager characteristic. It has a building dry finish, which is to say it starts out watery and as you drink it the finish becomes dryer and dryer. The finish also has a bready yeast flavor not quite present in the body. Speaking of bodies, I would call this one a straight medium with medium acidity.

Well, I'm 28 now, I'll probably watch 16 candles tonight, as is my yearly tradition. I went on a camping trip to seven falls a couple of days ago with the rest of the Ordnance shop. It was a good time. We hung out, built fires, drank (played thunderstruck), and on Sunday we hiked the falls. My legs are killing me, the path my group took was a steep incline for three miles, and being next to the falls meant there was also high humidity the entire time. I'm glad I bought one of those bottles with a life straw built in to it, that way I didn't have to carry water, I just had to fill up from the falls. Let me tell you, picturesque place Jakuchikyo (7 falls). It kind of looks like the pacific northwest in places, really pretty country. Japan pretty much converted over from summer to fall while we were there. The first night it rained and was pretty warm, the second night it got down to at least 45 (we could see our breath). We're going to try to plan a cold weather trip later, which means I need to find a good sleeping bag or an over/under quilt for my hammock. I still have a bit to learn about effectively using a hammock, but I've gotten the hang of it I think (no pun intended).

Final thoughts. Didn't like this beer. Didn't like the flavor, it was a struggle to finish, it kind of made me sick to drink it. I am seriously concerned that it skunked. I have another one I got from a different store. I'm going to open that one and continue on as the real review if it's different.
Nose from the bottle was drastically different, it was still bready but it was also floral and sweet. So that last one was definitely skunked. Color is the same, but clearer, maybe a little deeper. That bready, sweet, floral nature continues into the flavor along with some nutmeg and a touch of cilantro. It really is like an ale brewed with lager yeast and has the characteristics of both styles. The finish and the body is the same as the other one, but it's not as acidic.

Real final thoughts. The actual Dip Hop IPL is delicious! If you can get a hold of one, try it. But if it smells skunky (or weedy), it's one for the sink to drink (which would be my rule, but I'm a reviewer so I have to drink it). It is pretty sweet, which I imagine is because the higher temperatures ales are brewed at means the lager yeast cannot reach it's full fermentation potential, but still gives the beer it's lager characteristics. It is said that the yeast is the soul of the beer. I think IPL's prove that point and it's worth the time of any beer connoisseur to mull over. I'm glad I bought several of these from different sources, it's such a shame that one went bad and I might of then said no to a wonderful beer. I (as long as it's not skunked) give this beer my blurry seal of approval.

The beers of Iwakuni: Kirin Stout

This is another one of the beers I got at the YouMe supermarket. While I'm not the biggest fan of their flagship brew (it's like the Japanese Budweiser), their other beers are actually pretty good, so I have high expectations for this one. I've written on Kirin before, so refer back to previous posts for information on the brewery and the massive company behind it. I will say again that it is very weird to go to vending machines and see regular sports drinks and sodas produced by company's that also produce major beers. Imagine going to the convienience store and getting you're self a Pabst grape soda or a Anheuser-Busch energy drink.

It's a black can with the Kirin unicorn on it. It states "Kirin's prime brew" "first press" "The first wort gives this quality draft beer a full-bodied flavor. The deep and creamy taste enriches your precious time." "Brewed for good times". Well, I'm ready to be enriched. It's 100% malt and 5 abv which means this beer bears the full brunt of the Japanese tax on malt beverages. That probably had more English than any Japanese market beer I've had recently. They really went out of their way to say that this was made with first wash malt, we'll see if that made a difference. While I'm not a fan of their flagship brew, they have the best specialty brews of any of the Japanese macro-brewers. Let's pop this sucker open and see the head!

I was given this glass set as a birthday gift from Stevie Galasso and it is made specifically for Japanese beer, so I will be using those. Nose from the can is roasted malt, molasses, pumpernickel, and a little caramel. The beer is a jet black color with a small mocha head which quickly dissipates. Nose is the same from the glass. I would actually put this body at a slightly over medium rather than a full. Although Kirin didn't claim it was full-bodied, they said it had full-bodied flavor (a little creative word play there). As for the flavor, it is a creamy roasted malt with coffee characteristics, a dry cappuccino finish, and a lasting black coffee aftertaste. Mouthfeel is bubbly carbonated with heavy acidity and (as previously stated) an over medium body.

So, after wanting a pair since my Dad had some when I was a kid, I finally broke down and shelled out the cash for a pair of handmade American Red Wing work boots. I needed a pair of non Marine corps boots for a camping trip this week end (I could have worn my MCB's but I don't want to be "that guy") and I figured "I've got a little cash, maybe now's the time to pull the trigger on these". I don't want to say how much I paid for them, but let's just say their probably the most expensive pair of footwear I'll ever purchase and I'll be taking very good care of them. Don't get me wrong, I'm going to use the hell out of them, but I'm going to go threw the paces of boot care like no other boots I've owned.

In other news, I'm listening to the new Buddy Holly record I got. Great, high quality disks in this set. It did come with paper sleeves though, but fortunately I purchased a 100 pack of Japanese vinyl ones so I swapped those out just like I did with all my others. I also got the Descendants all new album, they sound the same as they always have. If you told me that all of the songs on that album were recorded in 1995 I wouldn't question you about it, which is kind of good I suppose. I dunno, if you're going to record an all new album after 15-20 years why wouldn't you change up the sound? You might as well just do the same songs you always have. In addition to those two I got BØRNS first album. It comes on some sweet red translucent vinyl which looks cool spinning on my turntable.

My tube amp finally showed up. I find it hard to explain the sound difference between the sound of a tube amp vs a transistor amp. As best as I can describe it, a transistor amp is like taking a virtual reality tour of a sunny tropical beach and a tube amp is actually being on that beach. Another way to explain it, transistor amps are an HD picture of something and a tube amp is a hologram. I guess what I'm trying to say is, the sound has real tangible depth.

Final thoughts. It's an OK beer. I would actually call it a porter rather than a stout, although the difference between the two stiles is purely academic. If it had a higher gravity I think it would be pretty good, but in it's current state it's just OK. I suppose you could actually call it the stout version of regular Japanese beer. Certainly tastyer, but not significantly different. If you're ever perusing a Japanese convenience store and don't feel like having lager I would go ahead and pick it up. But otherwise I wouldn't really bother going out of your way to find it.