Hitachino Nest Beer: Japanese Craft Brewery.

I've not done a beer post for a while, not for want of drinking the stuff, but I've been on the Aldi cooking lager at home to try and economise. But the other day I decided to treat myself to the currently available Hitachino Nest Beer range from Chorlton Off Licence: White Ale. (£2.98). Cloudy, soft and easy drinking in the witbier style. It's a little peppery but in the end it's too weak and needs more flavour. 7/10.

Japanese Classic Ale. (£3.29).
Brown, malty, fresh, a little dry and piny. 7/10.

 Amber Ale. (£2.85).
Surprisingly my favourite so far. Balanced, fresh, clean and malty but a little bland. 7/10.

Red Rice Ale. (£3.25).
Not bad, just a touch more flavoursome than your average lager. Would go ok with food, but that's all really. Has a slightly weird element, must be the rice. 6/10. 

Weizen. (£2.85).
Nowehere near as good as the real thing, again dull and slightly disappointing. Why would you drink this copy when you can get loads of proper German Weizen here? 6/10.

Espresso Stout. (£3.65). This is more like it, gorgeous frothy chocolate and dark cappuccino flavours. Having said that I've had a better similar beer on draft from Titanic; Cappuccino Stout. 7.5/10. *Favourite.

XH. 
Toffee, malty and sweet. Not blown away by this one either. 7/10.

So to sum up, apart from the Espresso stout I found these beers to be fairly average. There's little point in importing beers like this when we have so many better local breweries. I'm glad I tried them but I've no need to drink them again. Besides there are too many superior imported beers to taste too, (from the USA, Belgium, Germany etc) and never enough time to try them all. That said, I would drink them in a restaurant with food.


Follow @Bacononthebeech