Yokon Wasai
Kyoto Brewing Company in Kyoto-shi, Kyoto, Japan 🇯🇵
Collab with: Brussels Beer ProjectBelgian Style - Dubbel Regular
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Score
7.23
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Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 9 | Flavor - 9 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 8
Fruity rich, light ovaltine, dark bit of spice. Don't quite get the miso. Slight booziness. Maybe a bit hoppy. Enjoyable though!
Kyotolefty (14846) reviewed Yokon Wasai from Kyoto Brewing Company 8 years ago
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 7
Tap at Bud. Spicy nose, fruit, caramel, chocolate, maybe some miso. Pretty reddish-black color, fine head. Light flavor, malty but not heavy, chocolate, caramel, nice fruit. Rather spicy yeast is somewhat saison-like. Nutty, some miso but no honey to detect. Decent. Would like to try it aged.
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 7
Description on their FB page:
"The 13th beer release in our "Nakama Edition" series (also our 138th batch): It seems like ages ago now, but you may recall that we had a recent visit from our friends at the Brussels Beer Project in early May. In addition to opening a new bar in Shinjuku and experiencing the Keyaki Beer Festival, at the top of the agenda was brewing the second leg of our collaboration. As we posted recently, we brewed Zenith Zest, a Saison with Yuzu and Sansho pepper, during our visit to Belgium last year. The theme of Japanese ingredients in a traditionally Belgian beer was carried through to this collaboration brew as we incorporated Miso and Belgian organic honey into the iconic Dubbel style. The beer has finally finished maturation, and we are excited to see one of our most experimental and fun brews to date go out into the world for all to try.
Our original post about the collaboration brew mentioned that it was too early to tell how much the two special ingredients would come through in the finished product. While both have subsided considerably, the balance of the two gives just a hint of extra nuance to flavours that are already right at home in the style. Honey in beer usually ferments out almost completely without leaving much character while also keeping the beer from becoming too heavy. While this was accomplished, there is a hint of rustic sweetness this honey left behind that plays well with the heavy load of richly sweet crystal malts. It also pushed the ABV of the beer to 8.0%, making this beer a sipper for sure! The miso is an almost enigmatic aspect of the flavour and aroma and seems to come and go between sips. When it comes to the forefront, its characteristic fermented richness can’t be missed, but when it subsides into the background, the umami heavy miso leaves an interesting sensation on the tongue that we haven’t experienced in any other beers.
In short, this beer is quite unique. While some may feel that it doesn’t scream miso and honey loud enough, we feel that the delicate balance brought by both make it one of the most interesting Dubbels we have tried. Now its up to you to judge for yourself what you think of this unique collaboration!
Naming: 洋魂和才(Yokon Wasai) is a play on 和魂洋才 (Wakon Yosai), the iconic phrase that often characterizes Japan’s approach to foreign affairs from the Meiji Restoration (1868~) onward. While originally meaning "Japanese spirit and Western techniques", encouraging citizens to not forget their Japanese roots as they began to take in foreign ideas, for us the substitution of East for West (ie. "Western spirit, Japanese techniques") is a playful way to express the unique use of Japanese ingredients through a beer style that embodies Belgian brewing.
Style: Dubbel
ABV: 8.0%"
My review says:
"This Belgian Dubbel Collaboration with Brussels Beer Project was brewed with Miso and honey. The aroma is great bready, soft spices, plums and raisins. In the light it is a plum red but in low light it is more of a dull brown with ruby highlights - it looked much darker than expected.
Medium to light bodied with a seltzer-like carbonation. The taste is bready, some savoury miso umami and a touch of honey biscuit in the dry finish. Quite good."