The Karuizawa brewery is one of the top Japanese craft beer makers, so understandably I had quite the expectations for their alt. It didn’t let me down.
Dig it?
I found Heaven & Earth’s 2013 album Dig by accident, but I still decided to give it a try. The band is a group of rock lovers, who’ve set the goal of bringing the ’80s rock sound to the people of the 2010s. That they sure manage to do.
Food rounds
Today I once again had some crepes in Harajuku. I don’t really know where I found out about the crepe culture of the area, but chances are it was Joshiraku. It’s been half a year since I last went there (in March), and today once again I got my crepe order-made with cream cheese, blueberries and chocolate.
Shepherd Neame Gentleman James
Gentleman James is another one of Walmart’s order-made beers by Shepherd Neame. I was expecting a malty ale after reading the label, but it turned out a bit different.
Shepherd Neame Golden Ale
Apparently Walmart commissioned this beer from the makers of Spitfire (etc). I wish they’d instead bring back more of Spitfire…
Mountains
I just watched a Greenpeace video campaigning for an arctic sanctuary. While I definitely agree with the cause (protecting the environment is always good), it was rather the video itself that made me reconsider climbing mountains once again.
Kohan no Mori Tenkuu
This pale lager comes from Akita, the northern tip of Honshu, the central island of the Japanese archipelago. The name of the beer means “sky, heavens”, and it’s definitely easy drinking.
Kyoto craft Heian Beer
It’s no secret that I love Kyoto. That’s why this bottle of beer caught my attention: it’s from Kyoto. A closer look would reveal that it’s “schwarz type” (sic) beer.
SanktGallen Yokohama XPA
I figured that XPA stands for Extra Pale Ale without even looking it up. I guessed it’d be a very strongly hopped IPA. I was right.
Transatlantic – Kaleidoscope
I don’t know for sure where I first heard about Transatlantic. It was either on Portnoy’s twitter, or in relation to Neal Morse’s departure from Spock’s Beard. Either way, considering I was familiar from the collaboration of the two from Morse’s solo Christian rock albums, I kinda knew what to expect.
