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.
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