Hazy amber color with white head. Clean mine rally with appley. Low hops ok.

Probably not the same as what KyotoLefty had but I doubt this merits a separate entry. As chocolate beer which is their Valentine’s seasonal using kolsch as a base beer and cocoa powder. The result? It is a deep amber brown that is completely opaque and has a good 1 cm head of foam and leaves lots of lacing behind. The nose cacao, milk chocolate and nuts. Medium bodied with an effervescent carbonation. The taste starts off with sweet chocolate, a bit of roastiness, nuts and then ends in bitter dark chocolate. Simple but surprisingly nice. Fizz wasn’t mentioned anywhere and this wasn’t sold bottled just on draft at the Dogo taproom.

Dogo Weizen, bottle from a souvenir shop near Dogo onsen, about 570 yen. Drunk at my hotel. Bottled this month so pretty fresh. It pours a cloudy straw gold with a thick creamy head of foam. The nose is quite earthy with just a touch of that clove Weizen character. A smooth silky body with soft rounded carbonation. The taste is much more satisfying with wheat & cloves on top of that earthy flavor. An ok Weizen but a bit muddled. ---Rated via Beer Buddy for iPhone

Dogo Botchan Kölsch on tap at their restaurant in front of Dogo onsen. A nice looking opaque gold with a solid creamy head of white foam & excellent lacing. Sweet, grainy bready & lightly fruity aroma. Soft round carbonation & a crisp dry finish. The taste is earthy, light malts with a bit of a tang. Pretty good cold but I suspect it would fall apart as it warms up. I better drink fast and not let that happen. ---Rated via Beer Buddy for iPhone

Bottle, souvenir from my friend. A cola brown pour that is black in the glass with a light brown head that hug around for a minute then took off. Roasted oats, light savoury dark chocolate and some kakao bitterness in the nose - promising. Medium to light bodied with a scratchy carbonation. The taste is somewhat watery and not balanced, very bitter dark malts, some roasted notes, a bit of chocolate, coffee and toasted oats. The body is too thin and the taste is unbalanced it needs something sweet to balance out the bitter dark malts... I preferred the alt which is saying something as it is my least favorite style...

I always admirred this brewery for their strong design aesthetic of the bottles. A bit confusing as to the type of beer inside until you realize it is written on the cap which also seems to be color coded. Souvenir from my friend which is a funny coincidence as I just bought tickets to go to Matsuyama in February. Anyways, on to the beer. Served in a stange it pours a nutty amber brown with a thin off-white head that leaves a lingering ring around the glass. The aroma is rich cacao, dark chocolate - it kind of reminds me of fresh cacao plants that have just been sliced open. Medium bodied with a very effervescent carbonation. The taste starts off strong with that cacao richness but then kind of falls apart - you get an astringeant somewhat bitter maltiness that is a bit harsh then some fruity tanginess. OK enough but it needs to be tweaked to tie in all the various elements.

330 ml bottle from Takashimaya @ Nagoya station. Pours light amber with a small top that doesn’t stay very long. Quite clear actually, doesn’t look too much like a weizen. Aroma is more to the point, there is clearly distinguishable wheat aroma, banana, some citrus. Taste is also proper - is really refreshing at first, then smooth wheat with some malt base emerge. Yeast is also there, making the beer more fruitier. There is some bitter note going over all the taste phases, lingering later alone in the aftertaste. I guess this beer has exactly what it says on the bottle: "One gulp of beer taken just after a bath in the time when you feel most refreshed". Not too exiting but works well.

330 ml bottle from Takashimaya @ Nagoya Station. Pours copper-brown with a small head that is gone fast. Aroma is quite malty, also some edges hinting perhaps bitterness in the taste. Taste feels carbonated, hop bitterness there, also malty biscuits with subdued fruitiness. Long, somewhat bitter aftertaste, with malt flavours cleanly cut. Something that feels unbalanced - elements separately are not bad but they don’t really sing together as well as they could.

Draught at the Craft Beer Festival in Ichinoseki, Iwate. Rich, sweet, creamy aroma with roasted malts. Flavors of chocolate and coffee, slightly sour and very bitter. Ok but not great—slightly harsh and unbalanced.