Hitachino Nest Red Rice Ale

[King Brown]

Just drinking a bottle of Kiuchi Brewery's "Hitachino nest red rice ale", absolutely loved their espresso stout but I'm not sure whether its spoiled or just unusual tasting. Some of the reviews on Rate beer says that it is quite a strange taste, but i'm picking up a fairly strong vegemite smell from it, so I'm thinking autolysis perhaps.

I am picking up some spiciness and a firm bitterness but none of the fruity flavours all of the reviews comment on.

There was some dark brown sediment on the bottom of the bottle (didn't resemble normal yeast sediment)

Anyone else had this beer and what did they think? Is it just not to my taste or has it spoiled in its journey across the equator?

 

[bum]

I had one in the States and it was most definitely not my cup of tea. Can't say I had any of the vegemitey flavours you're getting though. More hot alc and rice wine.

 

[King Brown]

hmm I wasn't getting any hot alcohol (and I am very sensitive to fussills, many of my early brews were with no temp control in summer and I couldn't even smell them without getting a migraine)

I was just expecting something really fruity and interesting, maybe with some sake character, kinda dissapointing to fork out the money for an imported beer only to get a dud, happens way too often (I've had many infected bottles of belgian beer before)

 

[Fourstar]

tasted quite sweet and rose watery to me. im planning on making a red rice ale soon (minus the sake bacteria).. the sake characters my be off putting for some.

 

[King Brown]

K thanks for the input. Might make an "effort" to try some fresher stuff to see if its just my pallette or not when I visit my bro over in Japan next year. Of course it will be cold over there that time of year so it may be hard to tear myself away from the stout :icon_cheers:

 

[Sydneybrewer]

had it in japan and hated it, really struggled to finish it and it tasted of sweet and sour sauce to me. all of the hitachinos nest beers that i had were really really bad. if you want a good japanese beer go for a ise kadoya brown or pale or a bairds ipa.

 

[jbowers]

Loved this beer. Great sake character and perfume qualities. Didn't get any of the flavours you describe when I tried it a few months ago.

 

[Shed101]

+1 on sake and rose water ... I really didn't expect to like it, but really did.

the fruit was understated in a dry sake kind of way rather than being sweet.

Unusual can be good ... but your description doesn't sound like the beer I had.

 

[Josho]

Bumping a v/old thread here,

Had a Hitachino White/Wheat Ale Last Night,

Citrussy coriander slight alco burn and great finish truly a class drop,

Lovely beer but a bit exy at 9 dollars a stubby, anybody else tried this one?

 

[vonromanz]

I thought the white ale was nice. The only thing over the top was the nutmeg. I love that spice and thought it worked really well with a white ale. Would like to try it myself, but allot less.

 

[Bizier]

With all due respect to the brewers, they make some amazing beers which have honestly blown my little mind, but their reliability and consistency is quite low. If you ever have a bad one, give them another chance if you have access to another (hopefully fresher) batch.

 

[Mardoo]

Yep, their Nipponia blew my mind, but I agree with Bizier on the consistency. But their cedar aging is the bomb, even if I don't want to drink it every day.