Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 6.5 | Flavor - 6.5 | Texture - 7 | Overall - 7
Kuni ni Cho Lapsang Smokey Porter
5% 35 IBU
Cola brown with light tan foam and a big smokey roasty malt aroma. The taste has that medicinal peat type smokiness. It’s medium to light bodied and quite dry.
On tap at the Kuninocho Taproom in Settsu-Tonda.
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 6
Kuninocho American ESB 5% What’s an American ESB? The aroma on this amber brew with its dense head of beige foam is caramel biscuit with a sweet cream Soda thing going on but not really hoppy which is what I expect if something says American X beer style. Starting off fairly crisp with biscuit and caramel you then get a bit of fruitiness. Sometimes a slightly off-putting earthy clay thing shows up but you also get a nice flavor in the aftertaste. Really nice and satisfying actually. —-2024 tap at the brewery——- Kuninocho American ESB 5.5% 40 IBU This golden amber brown brew topped with dense beige foam definitely doesn’t evoke an ESB for me, think more a hoppy brown ale. The piney floral sweet hop bouquet kind of caught me by surprise. Medium bodied, crisp and clean. It’s very piney and bitter with mild sweet floral notes over a decent caramel biscuit malt base. Nice beer and I guess as American = hoppy it lived up to it’s name but I was hopping for something lighter to drink and maltier sweet. Pretty good overall though.
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 6 | Flavor - 6 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 6.5
Tap at Takumiya. Cloudy orange with a tall head. Pretty. Nice is caramel and minerals. Creamy and full body, sweet, mild flavor, caramel and esters. Seems they did use British yeast and American hops. Decent.
Appearance - 4 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 7
Tap at Takumiya. Murky and milky. Decent enough, aroma is a bit sour, milky, fruity. Interesting. Grapes. Looks pretty nasty but tastes surprisingly ok.
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 8
Tap at Craft Beer Market Awajicho. Dark brown colour, creamy beige head. Aroma is roasty, bit fruity, some hops maybe, ovaltine. Taste is nice, creamy, not really bitter, quite roasty and a bit of sweetness. Maybe cola too. Aftertaste is sweet, bit of vanilla, but roast lasts for the longest. Quite like this. Uncomplicated, but tastes good.
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 7
Keyaki. Interesting. Smells surprisingly sweet for the style. Grainy though, and the taste is dry and floury as expected. Just that initial whiff of something like strawberry which is a bit confusing. Still nice enough though.
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 8
Tap at Q-brick. Pale blonde/orange colour with small white head. Aroma is hoppy citrus, rice, sake. Slight funk. Booze. Taste is nice, blond ale with some herbal elements. Orange citrus. Booze in background. Quite liked it. (Had drunk a few by this stage so my notes are a bit confused).
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 7
Tap at Takumiya. Nose is whiskey, vanilla, chocolate, Belgian spicy yeast, raisin, and some rubbery phenols. Spicy chocolate and whiskey flavor, lightly roasty. The sake in there is not really noticeable. Dry, clean finish. Pretty well done.
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 7
Tap at Takumiya. Clouody purple-pink with lace. Nose is strawberry, sugar, vanilla, a bit fake and surely lactose added. Medium dry strawberry flavor. Not too sweet is a good thing, but maybe too dry and lacking in vigor. OK.
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 6 | Flavor - 6 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 7
Tap at the Ale House Kamiya, Osaka. Poured a hazy golden orange colour with a thin broken white head. The aroma is malt, orange tangerine citrus hop. The flavour is moderate sweet with a light, crisp, jammy marmalade, light hop bitter palate. Medium bodied with average to soft carbonation.