On tap at the GJBF in Osaka 2014. A clear gold with a surprising lick thick fluffy head. Also quite a hoppy bouquet with light malts, not what I was expecting. Light bodied, somewhat watery with a zesty carbonation. The taste is similarly light, a touch of cardboard, citrus and pine. Better in appearance & smell than body/taste. OK.

A very light cloudy gold that honestly reminds me of grapefruit juice. The nose is weird: wheat and a kind of full but sour bready esteriness... it has a nice smooth mouthfeel on a medium light body. The taste is a sour wheat beer, fruity, spicy cloves and sour. It isn’t bad just weird.

Tap. Pretty stinky, almost skunky nose, light flavor of lemon. Clean drinking. OK but not all that interesting and of course the bottles are over-priced, as is everything from them.

Tap at Ushi-Tora 2, Tokyo. Slightly hazy golden color, small white head. Aroma has apple, Belgian yeast and light alcohol. Medium-bodied. Whitewineish, a bit cidery with fruity Belgian yeastness (blonde). Covers alcohol nicely. A bit too simple for its price (830 yen/180ml).

Hazy white chalk color. Light frothy white head, hugely spiced coriander, orange peel, soft wheaty nose. Big full body, wheaty with tons of oranges and spice. Over spiced, but excellent beer that is smooth and delicious at 8%.

Rating #4600! Reaching a milestone halfway across the world in the best place on earth shouldn’t be too difficult to score a worthwhile beer, but it was helped out when Belgium beat the USA in World Cup 2014 yessterday. So to praise the Belgies - this is sampled in their behalf on the continent of Asia. Cloudy golden and copper coloured body with a thinnish, single centimetre tall just off-white head. Aroma of bananas, grass, yeast, light hops, coriander seed and some tropical fruits. Medium-bodied; Deep rich rice and strong herbal flavour from the malt and a big spicey hay and grassy character that is very dry - seemingly from the yeast strain. Aftertaste shows some subdued sweetness of banana and honey with a little chewy alcohol flavour coupled with some of the tropical fruits at the very end. Overall, a surprisingly nice and interesting beer with a large complexity and a good balance of east and west - with the east flavours being the rice and malt complexity and the west being the yeast and the rich sweetess of a belgian tripel. I sampled this 33 cL stubby belgian bottle purchased a few minutes ago from CitySuper in Harbour City, Kowloon, Hong Kong on 02-July-2014 for HK$55,00 sampled a few minutes later in my hotel room back in Wan Chai on Hong Kong, Hong Kong on 02-July-2014. Sure, it’s not one of my rare gueuze from Belgium that has been stocked away for a few years, but this will do for a milestone rating!

Very dark red and brown in colour with a thin tan head, some larger bubbles rising from the bottom and a thin layer of sediment. Deep super pungent aroma of alcohol, spice, rice, black tea and more super strong flavours. Medium-bodied; Ridiculously strong black, roasted tea flavours with rice, alcohol and spices all noticeable. Aftertaste is pungent, potent and hard to swallow with the nuts, earthiness, smoke and especially tea flavours all hitting hard and strong. Overall, a decently made beer for sure, but the flavours and pungency surely wasnt what I was looking for. I think this might a japanese type of flavour (sort of up the umami alley) than geared for americans, but I’m glad I tried it, even though I didn’t care for it at all. I sampled this 33 cL bottle for the expensive (but still super affordable given I’m from the USA) HK$55,00 from City!Super in Harbour City, Kowloon, Hong Kong on 20-June-2014, sampled a few hours later in my hotel room in Wan Chai, Hong Kong on 20-June-2014.

How: Bottle.
Where: Tasting at omhper 20140516.
Appearance: Hazy brown colour with an off-white head.
Aroma: Rose pepper, coriander, spices.
Body: Medium body and carbonation.
Flavour: Pepper, spices, coriander.

Bottle to plastic cup at Keyaki. Very spicy nose, sansho all the way, estery, peaches. Sweet and smooth flavor, huge spices and some oxidation. The sansho pepper takes over everything and quickly gets super irritating, making me wish I hadn’t paid for this at all. Didn’t work for me, especially at this ridiculous price. Take out about 80% of the sansho and it might be decent.

Quite a high ABV at 8% this Japanese belgian strong ale is contract brewed in Belgium. It pours a nice looking cloudy light gold with a big foamy head. The aroma is pure spicy fruity belgian blond beers. It has a nice smooth full body with a round carbonation. The taste is yuzu/citrus, fruity, spicy, wheat quite tasty. It kind of comes of like a successful cross between a witbier and a blond belgian strong. Really nicely done but at 8% I doubt I’d have more than one in a night.