XH (Extra High)

330ml bottle from Pinta's in Moscow. Pours dark brown with a medium-sized light brown head. Aroma is dried fruits, caramel, liquorice, sake. Taste is caramel, spices, quite heavy sweetness, notes of alcohol.

Bottle at the Spread Eagle, Ipswich. Pours dark amber with a small off-white head. Aroma of malt, fruit and veg, and treacle. Medium plus sweetness, light bitterness. Medium, slight oily texture, soft carbonation.

330ml bottle. Pours an unclear dark orange with lots of yeast particles floating around and a large, frothy, long lasting, beige head that laces. Sweet aroma of caramel malt, dried fruit, peach, apricot, orange, sake and a hint of oak. Sweet flavour of caramel malt, dried fruit, sake and oak with a dry, bitter, warming finish. Medium body with an oily texture and soft carbonation. Interesting.

Shared 11.2 oz. bottle. Hazy amber with a light beige head. Aroma of malt, bread, brown sugar. Taste is malt, caramel, dark fruit notes, oak. Decent.

11.2 oz bottle. Fun, unique try here. Reddish orange pour with a thin swirling head. Dry, very wood like aroma. Flavor has a soft cherry impression, with a dry oak. Has a sweetness that does not bother in any way. Caramel, dry wood finish. Beat beverage involving sake I’ve ever had. Very nicely done.

Deep muddied brown coloured body with a ruby and violet tint, all with a very strong brown glow and a super thin, barely covering tan head. Aroma of sake, alcohol, grain, earth, cereal, chocolate, grapes, pungent figs and a bit more caramelised sugars. Medium to Full-bodied; Strong earthy flavour at first with an almost sour note at first then showing some very refined alcohol and oak flavours that leave the palate relatively clean and nice with barely any malt body showing through. Aftertaste shows the sake very cleanly with the oak, dry grass and earth, along with some fruit - figs and plums and the bit of caramelised sugars that get through the end. Overall, a well structured and nuanced beer that reminds me of a lot of japanese things, but this shows well, just not very strong or pungent throughout, which is okay. I sampled this stubby 33 cL bottle purchased from Tamura’s Market in Lahaina, Maui, Hawaii on 31-December-2015 for US$5,49 sampled at home in Washington on 30-September-2016.

Aroma is a heavy malty body, mocca, cookie dough, some fruity hoppy stuff as well, maybe orange. Taste is a heavy mocca bitterness with a sparkling citric sourness and a cake-like sweetness. Mouthfeel is crispy, full body, heavy, a little spicyness in the finish. Some clove and phenolic alcohol notes in the end. Very intresting and unique but not outstanding. According to ratebeer the best Japanese beer I had during my stay in Japan (no 23 at the moment). But for me personally it was only in the best 80%.

330ml bottle from Beers of Europe. Hazy copper colour with a one finger off-white head. Aroma of malts, sweet caramel, dark fruit, yeast, spices. Sweet malty taste, dark fruit, hint of sake. Medium bodied, soft carbonation. Decent beer.