Bottle from GoodBeer. Opened in Belgium. Very cloudy salmon-orange color, lace. Tart passion fruit nose, orange, lemon, grains, lemon grass. Very fruity flavor, lots of passion fruit, plus grapefruit zest. Tart but not sour, with a very bitter finish. Nice drinking. A bit sweet at the start, but ends up nicely dry, with no residual sugar. Very good—nothing like the last time I had it. This is the rating I put up. Draught at the Craft Beer Festival in Ichinoseki, Iwate, 2009: 4/2/3/2/6. Strange thin yellow color, light, thin head. Sweet, passion fruit flavor. Sweet, dry, fruity, funky, Kool-aid like. This is ass. Stick with what you do best, guys!

Draught at Barley in Nishinomiya. Aroma of cocoa and roasted malts. Dry, bitter chocolate and coffee and roasted malt flavor. Good balance between them. Not too sweet. Creamy, rather light, and very drinkable. The chocolate works nicely.

Bottled, from Yamaoka Sake Shop, Kyoto. Cloudy nut brown, small head. Well... caramelly nose. Sweet and medium bodied with clean, rounded mouthfeel. Mildly hoppy with non-surprising caramel flavour and low bitterness.

Bottle. Clear golden color; no yeast visible. Slightly sour aroma of yeast, a bit of bananas. More like a wheat ale. Flavor is more weizen-like, with banana and clove and strong wheat presence. Hoppy like a wheat ale, though. Ok, but a bit confused.

Draught at Eni-bru, Osaka. Black, no head. Inky and lightly fruity. Sweet and oily with herbal spices behind a curtain of toasty bread that is ripped apart, spilling syrup on metallic edges. Low-medium bitterness.

Dirty brown color. Lots of caramel going on in the nose and through out, but I found the body was a bit wimpy. Hops are not surprisingly, subdued. Caramel is there without being overpowering. I didn’t pick up much beyond caramel. Strange beer, but tastes better than it sounds. Nice to try once, but hardly would reach for this again.

Bottle. Aroma of chocolate, coffee, a touch of sour fruits, good sweetness. Medium roasting. Reasonably sweet flavor, light bitterness, slightly sour and lactic. Rather creamy and chocolaty. Relatively mild and balanced. Medium body as well. A nice stout, but with an espresso-like sourness that is a little irritating.

Deep chestnut color. Smoked bacon, wood, but not over powering nose. Big maltiness hits you at first. Then touches of smoke, but hardly overpowering. Nicely balanced. Dry finish that needed more lingering smokiness for me to savor. Still not bad.

Bottle. Slightly dark gold color, low head. Clear. Rich malt aroma, buttery, cereals, a bit sweet and warm. Light to medium hops. Round, rich, sweetish flavor. Great malt, buttery, slightly chewy and grainy. Decent hop flavor with low bitterness. Dry ending with hop flavor and a bit more bitterness, which lingers ever so lightly for a good while. Very well balanced. A good, rich lager, coming close to a fest feel and fest body without the alcohol and a bit less malt. Well done.