Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 6 | Flavor - 5 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 5

Curious pint, lots of apple esters and fruity sake notes with an underlying mustiness that makes me wonder how long its been since this beer was A) kegged, and B) tapped. Might have been quite a while. Might not. Hard to tell with imports these days. Hell, when once sought-after IPAs are withering on the vine, can’t imagine the staying power of Hitachino Red Rice Ale on tap.

Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 6 | Flavor - 6 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 8.5

Different, but in a good way – red/crimson pour with a disappearing white head. Aromas of malt, rice, red fruit. Taste is similar with some added toffee/caramel. Nice punch from the higher ABV – a crisp, enjoyable beer.

Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 6 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 7 | Overall - 7

Pours a hazy light red to dark amber with a far from big white head that shows some pinkish hints. It recedes quite quickly, but still leaves some lacing on the sides of the glass. A not very intense aroma shows a dominant grainy note, with some ricey hints to it, followed by light fruity notes (stone fruit, ripe/wild strawberries). There's more intensity and complexity in the taste. The beer has a quite distinct grainy, slightly ricey foundation that feels at the same time very clean/defined and quite soft (the kind of soft dryiness that you find in rice adjunct lagers), a bit of sweeter character (caramel), very light spiciness, light fruity notes as per aroma (stone fruit, wild strawberries). Overall a quite peculiar beer with some elements that i'm not used to. Not an easy one to describe and i don't know anything about sake so i can't speak about possible similarities. Medium bodied with medium to high but quite small-bubbled carbonation, resulting in a quite lively but also slightly creamy/soft mouthfeel. Overall: maybe a bit too dominant on the grainy department, with other elements a bit too much on the back. Still pretty enjoyable. I'd be happy to try it again to see if i can appreciate it more with experience and time, but sadly not easy to find around here.

#japan

Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 6 | Flavor - 6 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 6.5

Bottle. Pours hazy amber with an off-white head. Grains, malt, hint of berry, yeast. Okay.

Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 6 | Flavor - 6 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 6.5

33cl bottle. Pours red amber, scarcely transparent, with fine white foam. Aroma is weak malty. Body is slightly full, with average carbonation. Taste is medium sweet and moderately bitter. Final is average.