Shared by mick at the Kyoto beer festa. Dark brown pour with a light beige head. Malty sweet nose. Very malty sweet almost spicy with a bit of sourness to it. Ok but fairly average.

A muddy gold pour with a Belgian zesty vaguely farmhouse aroma. It smells much nicer than it looks. Fairly light bodied, the taste is zesty yeast spice notes, caramel & a bit of chemicalness but overall ok. ---Rated via Beer Buddy for iPhone

4.5% bottle from Yamaoka. Served in a snifter. A cola brown pour with a very thin tan head that vanished as soon as it started. The aroma is sweet, yeasty, candied fruit like plums or figs with just a hint of chocolate in the finish - think fruitcake or brandy cake. The flavor is quite good, like a fruity dark Belgian beer, warming but it is just 4.5%! The taste is sweet, fruity, figs, with chocolate just being present in a sweet fudge/caramel finish. Probably one of the better Japanese Valentine’s beers out there. I really like it but it isn’t so chocolatey, tons of flavor for the low ABV. Think of it like a Westmalle dubbel with a hearty dose of chocolate flavor in the mix.

Bottle from Yamaoka, I had this in the summer of 2012 after biking up to their shop and back home on a hot summer day. I think it was the first kolsch I had and I cracked it open as soon as I got home. Man did it hit the spot! It poured a clear gold with a light head, a mild hoppy bouquet with a similarly light malt presence. The taste was crisp & clean with a light bitter finish. Since I knew nothing about kolsch I read up on the style as I drank it, it was pretty spot on. Maybe KyotoLefty got a mislabelled body or they sorted out the recipe. It was a great beer on a hot summer day and when I drink a kolsch I always try to relive that satisfying first sip but rarely do. Set & setting I guess.

Bottle from Yamaoka, it poured a dark brown that was black in the glass with a medium body. The taste was decent with a true bitter coffee burst of flavor so it lived up to it’s name. I second WestKyoto when he says the mouthfeel is a bit on the thin side for a stout.

Bottle from Yamaoka, 4.5% Schwarzbier served in a beer mug. Inky black pour with a good 2 fingers of tan foam that dissipates fast leaving behind no lacing. Looks more like a stout than a schwarz to me. Umami, soy & licorice nose. Body is light to medium, this thing oozes candy black licorice flavor with a surprisingly nutty bitter slightly ascerbic finish. Not for me as I dislike dark licorice. My wife liked it. Once it warmed up some coffee came through and fudge like notes though for me it never really gels.

At a tasting at KyotoLefty’s place. Bottle. It poured a really light failry clear gold with a funky, smokey & light spice aroma. The body was light whereas the taste was a bit rough, spicy & some smoke. I thought it was decent but didn’t have terribly a lot of ryeness to it, earthy.

Pours amber with a fading head.Nose shows spicy phenols, sweet malt, doughy wheat, honey. Not bad.Flavours are a shock, with rice, soft cardboard-like malt and industrial notes. Not pleasant.Body feels watery.

Bottle, 10C. Black with a tan head that soon fizzes away. Strange aroma of sour mocha with singed caramel and salty dutch licorice. Smooth texture. Tastes as it smells - plenty of salty licorice - with some plums and an unwelcome touch of metal. Peppery bitterness emerges after a while. Odd.