The beers of Iwakuni: North Coast brewing's Old Rasputin Russian imperial stout.

I can't remember if Hilgar got me this one or if I bought it in Hawaii, but I've had it for months. Tonight's beer is the Old Rasputin Russian Imperial stout by North Coast Brewing Co. out of Fort Bragg, California. North Coast Brewing started in 1988 as a brewpub and has since expanded to an over 66,000 barrel capacity, making it the 42th largest craft brewer in the United States. It is owned by Tom Allen, Doug Moody (vice president), and Mark Reudrich who is company president and brewmaster. The brewery intends to not only stay fully independent but also stay in the city of Fort Bragg when it builds it's new facility. This new facility will house it's brewing operations and offices as well as a taproom and gift shop. The business owes it's success to it's focus on having superior products in styles that are not brewed to death by other craft brewers, such as Saisons and Imperial Stouts. The brewery has won 19 awards over the years and 13 of those are for Old Rasputin, with the beers first win in 1996 and it's latest in 2014. I've had this beer many times before as it's one of Hilgar's favorites, but that won't stop me from an honest review.

I received this beer in a 12 oz stubby bottle with a crimpcap. In the center of the label art is a picture of Grigori Yefimovich Rasputin himself, Czarina Alexandria's mad monk. Around the black and gold label it says in Russian Cyrillic "A sincere friend is not born instantly", I imagine this refers to the much longer process of creating Russian Imperial Stouts compared to other beers. The neck label features the emblem of the brewery flanked on either side by the phrase "never say die". The crimpcap also features the emblem of the brewery. It is 9% ABV and 75 IBU's. I will be using a tulip glass for this one.

Nose from the bottle is hoppy, caramel, with malt. It is a very smooth, rich, and wispy scent. Color is a deep, dark mahogany with a slight brunette head. Not a great deal of agitation, but it is still there. This beer has a production date of May 1st 2016, so it's over a year old and past it's prime. Despite being a dark beer, Old Rasputin does not age well due to deriving much of it's flavor from it's hops. Nose from the glass is similar as from the bottle, but with a sweet fruitiness and alcohol esters. On first sip, It starts off with a deep roasted malt with dark chocolate, truffles, a touch of bredyness, then has a floral hoppy middle with a dry malt finish and a hoppy chocolate aftertaste. The dark chocolate flavor becomes more intense as you drink, to a point where it overpowers some of the other flavors.

Listening to Brownsville Stations 1971 album "A night on the town". Unfortunately predating their renowned 1973 hit "smokin' in the boys room", but regardless it is an exultant album and example of early 1970's rock. The only thing I don't like about this album is the disgustingly early '70's "funky" artwork, it's just awful. I actually got this one in a blind lot box sold as rock/jazz/blues, which means it's be 4 rock and roll albums and 5 that could be considered blues and the other 41 are 1950's-early 70's jazz. But I don't regret getting it. I have found so many great artists from the past that I probably would not have looked into before. But anyway, I went to Imabari castle over the weekend. Of the three castles I have visited in mainland Japan, this one is the best design. It's s position is fantastic for the early 1600's when it was built. It is a seaside castle with an ocean fed moat and a fresh water well fed by an underground river. The main entrance is a killbox made for intersecting fire with a giant iron plated gate and a smaller wooden gate to keep the flow of attackers to a minimum. The back gate is not quite as well fortified but it is only fed by a small wooden bridge which can be set ablaze if you had to. The ramparts are sloped outwards for structural support and so that attackers at the bottom cannot hide from the copious loopholes in the walls at the top. It is a two terrace design, with the bottom terrace featuring the two external gates with their turrets and walls. And the second terrace cut off by a wall at the top of the rampart and a five story pagoda within it. The castle features four museums. In the main pagoda is the castle museum, which you cannot take pictures inside of as it contains many paper and silk items that can be damaged by flash photography. It features not only the most extensive collection of Samurai armor I have seen, but also the most extensive collection of Yari and some of the best preserved Tanegashima arquebuses as well. I'm telling you, these spears they were using to defend this place were some of the most gnarly instruments of death I have ever seen. In the three turrets you have an art museum featuring pieces from the city of Imabari, a museum featuring the different sorts things that have been made in Imabari over the the past 400 years and how technology has developed, and the main gatehouse is dedicated to illustrating the reconstruction of the castle in the late 1980's and early 90's and the designs that made the original castle so formidable. Like most castles in Japan, the original Imabari castle was destroyed by order of the Emperor in the 1870's-1890's as part of the abolition of the Han system, which not only led to the rapid modernization of the country but also reinforced imperial authority. The new castle is built on the ramparts that were left behind after the site was turned into a Shinto shrine, and much care was given to not only accurately recreate the original structure, but to preserve what remains of it as well.

Final thoughts. A wonderful beer that any connoisseur worth his salt should have. You should certainly go out of your way to have this one. I give this beer my blurry seal of approval.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Coast_Brewing_Company
http://www.northcoastbrewing.com/about-us/
http://www.northcoastbrewing.com/fort-braggs-north-coast-brewing-co-succeeds-by-going-against-the-grain/

The beers of Iwakuni: Gran Kirin IPA

I picked this up from a convenience store out in town. Tonight's beer is the Gran Kirin IPA by Kirin brewing. I've written on Kirin before, so refer to previous posts for information on them. I imagine it will be similar to the Galaxy Hop that I loved so well, but we shall see.

The bottle is the same short wide mouth that Kirin uses for all of it's specialty brews. It features a green pulltab crimpcap and raised hop flower label art with glitter integrated into the flower portion. The writing on the label is in a strange blocky font indicative of hand drawn block lettering.It was produced on 20170317 and is 5.5% abv. I will use one of my Japanese glasses for this one. Let's pull the tab and see the head.

Nose from the bottle is dank and resiny, with a touch of pine. Pours golden with a white head. Decent small bubble agitation. Nose from the glass is similar to the bottle, but with more pine and a little fruitiness. On first sip, I was not expecting that. This tastes like Trix cereal. It starts off sweet and malty and then immediately hits you with the hops. Has a grape fruitiness in the middle that subsides into pine resin and a semi-dry finish. Body is a straight medium with high acidity.

Listening to the Kill Bill Vol.1 soundtrack. I'm going to smoke a couple of pork shoulders tomorrow. I've got some cherry wood blocks soaking right now along with hickory and mesquite wood chips, those should be good and soaked through by the afternoon. I made my Carolina Gold Sauce to slather the shoulders in. The recipe I use is as follows: 1 1/2 cup apple cider vinegar, 2 1/4 cup yellow mustard, 6 oz can of tomato paste, 1 1/2 cups of sugar, 2 tablespoons molasses, 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce, 1 cup water, 2 teaspoon onion powder, 1 teaspoon salt, 1 teaspoon ground black pepper, 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper, 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder, 1/8 teaspoon cinnamon, 1/8 teaspoon ground cloves, a couple of healthy doses of Tabasco sauce. Put it all in your sauce pan, do a preliminary mix, then put the pan on low heat (200-250F). Stir occasionally with a french whisk, which you can leave sitting up in the sauce pan, which is one of the awesome things about french whisks, until you reach the desired consistency. If you make sauces and don't have a french whisk, get one. They don't have the "collection" issues conventional whisks have and you can leave them standing up. They are not as good for eggs as conventional whisks are though. I'm building a smoking rig tonight as I don't have a regular smoker. I'll keep y'all posted as to how this all turns out.

Final thoughts, this is an awesome beer! I cannot recommend it enough, Kirin knocks it out of the park again! If you're out and about in Japan, give this IPA a try, it is very well done. I give this beer my blurry seal of approval.

The beers of Iwakuni: Whychwood brewery's Hobgoblin

Tonight's beer is Hobgoblin, by Wychwood brewery out of Witney England. I got this particular example at the World Liquor in Iwakuni about a month back. The Wychwood brewery (then called the Eagle brewery) started in 1983 when Paddy Glenny purchased the site of the Clinch's brewery, which was started in 1841 but closed in 1961. He would be joined by Chris Moss in 1985 and together they brewed about 800 barrels a year. Paddy would sell out of the business to Ian Rodgers in 1990 along with changing the name to Wychwood, after the forest near Witney. Ian, who sold his house to buy into the brewery, would create a 40 pub chain based on the brewery. In 1988 Moss was asked to create a specialty beer for a wedding, this beer would become Wychwood's flagship Hobgoblin. The brewery describes Hobgoblin as a Ruby Ale but is technically classified as a Brown Ale. The beer has an official tagline of (which I love) "What's the matter Lagerboy? afraid you might taste something?", taking a swipe at the people who drink cheap pale lagers (it's the light beer crowd in America). In 2010 David Cameron and Barrack Obama gave each other six-packs of beer, Cameron giving Hobgoblin and Obama giving Goose Island. Obama claimed he would enjoy his chilled instead of room temperature as suggested by the brewery, who responded by creating a shirt that said "What's the matter Obama? Afraid you might taste something?". (This blog is apolitical)

I received this in a 330 ML (ll.15 floz) crimpcap bottle with embossed witches around the shoulder and Wychwood similarly embossed around the base. The label art features (what else) a Hobgoblin in medieval dress with a quiver full of arrows and a battle ax in front of a fantasy battle scene. The tags read "Traditionally Crafted Legendary Ruby Beer" and "Brewers of character". The crimpcap features a simplified version of the label Hobgoblin in gold on a blue background. On the reverse (in English) it is described as " Full bodied & well balanced with a chocolate toffee malt flavor, moderate bitterness", we shall see if that is so. It is 5.2% abv and has finally warmed up to approximately the appropriate temperature (59 according to the brewer, I keep my room at about 79 so it's refrigerated a little to bring the temperature down, but then left to warm a little). I will be using by British pub glass. Let's pop that top!

Nose from the bottle is malty with both a fruity and wet wood quality. It pours a deep burgundy with a white head. It is translucent enough to see the agitation, which is not particularly lively though it can maintain a head, but opaque enough to not be able to see though the glass. Nose from the glass is abundantly fruity with a touch of alcohol, in a sort of raspberry cough syrup kind of way. On first sip It is tart, with a chocolate fruitiness that subsides to a purely fruity back end and a dry finish. After a few sips it develops a chocolate aftertaste, and the fruitiness turns from raspberry to cherry to apple.

Listening to SPINAL TAP! I went to Iwakuni castle last week. The castle itself is a replica built on the remains of the original. Unlike Hiroshima castle, Iwakuni castle was a functional fortification at the top of a mountain. There is a cable car nowadays that will carry you to the top, but where is the fun in that? I opted for walking up the service road that more or less follows the original path taken to the castle when the original was built between the years 1601 and 1608 (6 Keicho to 13 Keicho) by lord Kikkawa Hiroie, Dymio of the Kikkawa clan and vassal of Emperor Tokugawa. The castle was deconstructed under the Ikkoku-ichijo, which translates to "one castle per providence", as the main castle for Yamaguchi is Konomine castle. Hiroie would keep part of the castle as his office and that is the mock up we see today. all sixteen lords of the Iwakuni Han, along with their wives and favorite children and concubines are buried at the base of the mountain. The graves start at about the 1590's and extend to about 1894, just after the Han system was formally abolished in 1888. Inside the Castle they had a number of weapons from the local area (mostly those that were made in Iwakuni), along with other Items known to be owned by the lords of the Kikkawa family. Many of the swords were highly ornate and in impeccable condition, but these are post unification and likely would have never seen combat. What I was impressed with was the massive Odachi that greets you when you come in. That sword is just unbelievable compared to the Katana and Wakizashi seen through out the rest of the castle. This is the only Odachi I have ever seen in person and it does not disappoint. They fell out of fashion after the Sengoku-Jidai, as swords were more status symbol worn around by samurai administrators rather than combat weapons and the massive Odachi does not lend itself to this. Size wise it is akin to a Claymore or a bastard sword, just unbelievably large. They also had some of the best preserved functional Yari (its a Japanese spear) I have seen, both with and without shafts. I've never gotten a good look at unsheathed Yari before and was able to make some good observations as to their construction. It would appear they start out as a square bar that is turned into a short dagger at one end and then an exceptionally long tang at the other. Unlike western spears and pikes where there is only a short tang and the head more or less fits around the halft and is bolted on, the full length of the Yari's long tang is sunken into the halft until it reaches the stop at the base of the blade (sometimes this is a guard with it's own blades coming off of it) and then a metal fitting or cord wrapping is placed around it to maintain pressure. They also had a few firearms, one being a traditional Tanega (its a Japanese Arquebus), another an 1860's styled percussion rifle, an odd Tanega/bold action hybrid, and a brass body percussion six shooter, all locally made as far as I could discern.

Final thoughts. This is a delicious beer, I highly enjoyed it. If you see it out in the wild go ahead and have it. You will not be disappointed. I give this beer my blurry seal of approval.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wychwood_Brewery
https://www.wychwood.co.uk/library/