On tap at Craft Beer Live 2015. 6.5% pours an orange-brown with a filmy off white head. The nose is decently malty - fruity graham. Medium bodied, with a semi-rough mouthfeel. Decent flavor, well balanced but a bit overly sweet

On tap at Craft Beer Live Namba 2014. 5% an earthy cloudy purple pour with a somewhat pink head. The aroma’s pretty good - fruity blueberry & a vinous. The taste is fruity, pretty good solid blueberry - a decent fruit beer. Not bad.

Part of the 1212 yen trial set for new customers direct from the brewery via their Rakuten page. I’m happy they switched labels the bottles look much better than the photo online. They need to update their webpage. It pours a great honey brown with a light beige verging on tan head. The aroma is powerfully malty, toffee, figs, maybe even fruitcake? Some fruitiness & possibly a touch of sourness. The taste is malty but has some cardboard, grainy & slightly bitter. I feel it is a bit off. It is alright but not their best, that was their kolsch.

Part of the 1212 yen trail set for new customers direct from the brewery via their Rakuten page. I’m happy they switched labels the bottles look much better than the photo online. They need to update their webpage. After having their kolsch I was curious to try their lager side by side to compare. Colorwise they’re virtually identical with the pilsner being maybe a smidge darker but that could just be the lighting. The aroma is strange for a lager, a kind of fruity candy caramel-buttery? The taste is fruity at first then it mellows into more of a typical lager with light malts, and bitter grass in the dry finish. The kolsch is my favorite of the two, judging by that kind of indeterminate fruitiness I’m hard pressed believing it is a lager yeast as it should be for a pilsner. I can see what KyotoLefty meant about bananas... not at all to style.

Bottle, Part of the 1212 yen trail set for new customers direct from the brewery via their Rakuten page. I’m happy they switched labels the bottles look much better than the photo online. They need to update their webpage. On the cloudy side for a kolsch, it pours an opaque gold with a thin foamy white head. Grassy sweet aroma with a light soapy quality, I’d like to know what hop gives that floral soapy smell I’ve been running into it often lately. Overall a clean mild aroma appropriate to the style. Medium bodied, smooth mouthfeel with a light zesty carbonation & a pleasant tangy lightly bitting hop finish. The taste is light malts, bittersweet overall with a grassy green bitterness. Clean & crisp not as neutral as Ballast Point’s Pale Ale (kolsch) this is somewhat more flavorful but loses points in appearance as it is a bit opaque. Judging from KyotoLefty’s comment I would guess this is also unfiltered and I don’t get any big banana or yeasty notes. I suspect it is quite fresh & also served cold which may be surpressing those flavors. This seems to be a decent example of a kolsch barring the clarity issue.

Draught at Craft Beer Festival in Ichinoseki, 2011. Malty, very fruity nose. Smells young. Dark blonde color. Fruity, caramel flavor. Too sweet and green—under-attenuated and needs aging. Ok, but not refined enough.

Draught at Craft Beer Live, Namba May 23, 2010. Light to medium purple color with a low head. Fruity, tangy aroma with some noticeable blueberry, as well as light pilsner malt and a touch of hops. Smells like beer. Fruity, tangy taste, not at all too sweet, some blueberry, also some hops and malt. Decently made fruit beer in that is isn’t too sweet. Refreshing and ok. Having a bit more alcohol seemed to help.

Bottle from the brewery. Unfiltered. Cloudy golden color with a tall white head, though quickly turns to lace. Rich, fragrant aroma of malt, yeast, and fruits. Banana, sweet. Rich, sweet malt flavor. Relatively heavy body. Yeasty and rich, very fruity, bananas. A slightly citrus tang as well. Thick, rich, and interesting. Not what I usually think of as a koelsch, but nice and satisfying (not the first such koelsch I have found in Japan!). Not a lot of hops, but they are there and they kick in to lend a dry, pretty bitter, lasting finish. Strange, but enjoyable.

Bottle from the brewery. Clear bight golden color with a medium head. Fragrant, buttery, yeasty aroma, quite sweet and a bit fruity. Bananas. Fruity, full round flavor, lots of yeast and butter. Rich malt. Relatively sweet, though hops are evident and become more so towards the finish. Slightly similar flavor profile to the Koelsch, though hoppier and a bit cleaner. Basically in the Bohemian style, I suppose. Full flavor, medium body, with just stronger than medium bitterness. Finish lightly bitter, fragrant, mellow. As with the koelsch, I’m not sure if this is really how the style should taste, but I like it quite a bit.

Bottle from the brewery. Medium to dark amber color with a middling head. A bit cloudy. Earthy, dry aroma of chocolate, caramel, earthy hops, and just a bit of fruit. Nice and genuine. Restrained caramel malt flavor with nice dark chocolate and very nice hops. Nicely bitter, dry, finish. This finish lasts a long time. Much nicer than the last time I had it, when it obviously was off. Good, though I would prefer just a bit more malt sweetness, actually.