When I think of adventurous beers and brewers, I generally think of the guys of at Dogfish Head or if I’m going international, I might think of Scotland and those crazy Scots over at Brewdog, but Japan? Not so much. I tend to think of light flavorless beers such as Sapporo, but things are starting to change over there. Japanese beer drinkers are shifting away from the big brewers-Kirin, Sapporo, Asahi and Suntory-and towards microbreweries that provide more options with exciting new tastes.

Based in the central Japan city of Nagoya, Morita Kinshachi produces a range of European-style pilsners, an Indian Pale Ale and an Imperial Chocolate Stout, but among its best-sellers are beers flavored with green tea or fermented bean paste.

“For us, the secret is to be original with the beers and make them stand out,” said Yoshino, [head of sales for Morita Kinshachi Beer Co.]

Although distribution from the Japanese microbreweries is limited, mainly to China and Australia, I’m hopeful that in the next couple of years I’ll be able to try a beer flavored with fermented red beans!

Every Monday, we feature a new Montana microbrew review. Enjoy.

Red Lodge Ales Brewing Company in Red Lodge, MT

I’ve drank my fair share of Red Lodge Ales Bent Nail IPA on tap down at the Red Atlas in Helena, and I’ve always found it to be refeshing and while maybe not the best IPA, a very delicious one. So, naturally when I saw some of the new and improved Broken Nail Double IPA in 22 oz bottles up at the B&B Quality Market on South Rodney, I decided to pick one up, even if the price tag was a bit heavy. I know Matt commented that he liked the name of the Bent Nail IPA, especially as it was made to appeal to contractors. For me, that name only became better when its grown up brother was given the handle Broken Nail, since it sounds just a little bit more extreme than the regular bent version.

The bottle of beer was definitely fresh as the Broken Nail is a recent addition to the Red Lodge lineup. The bottle poured a filtered bronzed honeycomb color and gave off a strong aroma of canned pineapple, with a bit of earthy hints to the nose. The odor was pretty intimidating, and I feared it would taste solely of canned pineapple, and truth be told I prefer fresh pineapple. I was a little surprised to discover much more going on in the elixir. It was creamy and incredibly smooth, with a bitter booze taste up front that turned into a hoppy pineapple citrus. The Broken Nail had a big hop finish with lots of earthy tones, sort of like eating some mud made with dirt and pineapple juice, but in a good way. I mean, who didn’t eat a bit of dirt as a kid?

I’m not sure if Red Lodge is going to make this a standard fare, or if they are only going to be brewing it a few times a year. If it is a rarity, I would say people should be out getting one of the shelves so they can at least try it, especially if you are into bigger, fruitier sorts of IPAs. If they will be releasing it consistently, I think it loses a bit of its attractiveness. Twenty two ounces of this ale is enough for two people as far as I’m concerned, and I couldn’t see myself drinking more than a pint or two of this a week at the taproom.

Southern Tier Brewing Company in Lakewood, NY

Happy new year, readers! I brought mine in with a bang, good company, and a nice bottle of beer down in Idaho. Southern Tier Brewing Company makes a Cuvée line of beers. The series consists of three iterations of the same beer. They are all aged in oak bourbon barrels with the second in the series being aged a few months longer than the first, and finally the first two are blended together to make the third and final release in the series. The best thing about this beer was the balance. The brewers have really figured out how to make a nice batch of beer with a good sweet/bitter balance and don’t forget the booze, either (11% ABV). Usually when drinking a beer this strong, it is either dominated by sweet flavors–a result of needing the sugars to get the alcohol content up–by just the boozy flavor.

The Cuvée Series Two is the most balanced high octane beer I think I’ve ever had. Pouring a toasted ruby walnut color, it emitted a sweet and boozy aroma with hints of roasted barley, vanilla, and espresso. It was a very thick, creamy beer that blanketed the mouth. The flavor was really the best part of this beer. It started off with a roasted caramel sweetness and booze that was well balanced with augmenting bitterness and finally finished with a bourbon aftertaste that lingered for just long enough to warm the tongue. Some of the drinkers mentioned they tasted hints of nutritional yeast, although my favorite description was from Matt Robbins, who described it as a “bitter bowl of Grapenuts and half and half.”

I found the Cuvée Series Two to be a delightful little treat of a beer. I would say the 22 oz. bottle would be great for 3-4 people to split. I’m not sure what this beer costs because I got it as a gift, but I imagine it is more on the expensive end judging from the packaging: a bottle inside a box with tasting notes and such on it. A few friends and this beer made for a delightful start to a new year!

This will be a short one guys, but for all you Blackfoot Single Malt IPA lovers out there (and a know there a lot of you) as well as you guys who have to fill a growler or two to get through the holidays, today the guys at the Blackfoot River Brewery will be open at noon! and they will have cask conditioned IPA on tap! Its a Christmas Eve miracle!

We're counting down to Christmas with 12 beers that resonate with the feel of the holiday. Some beers were nice; some beers were naughty. This is The 12 Beers of Christmas. Enjoy!

Kerkom Brewery in Belgium

Merry Christmas Eve! I hope you all have your shopping done, and if you don’t check out all the beers of Christmas (except that Winter’s Bourbon Cask Ale) and jet down to the local beer store to get yourself those final stocking stuffers, or just a few more gifts to fill out under the tree. The delightful beer treat for today is the Winter King, more commonly known as Winterkoninkske. The brewers over at Kerkom Brewery are trying to bring hops back to Belgian brewing with this tasty winter ale.

he Kerkom brewery is a family operation built into a rambling farmhouse surrounded by Belgium’s best cherry orchards. Brewer Marc Limet, saddened by the gradually decreasing interest in hoppy traditional beers among Belgian breweries, has determined single-handedly to bring hops back into Belgian brewing.

Sounds pretty good huh? A fairly high octane (8.3 ABV) winter beer that departs from the typical malty sweetness and delves into the wonderful world of hops. The Winterkoninkske was clearly an unfiltered beer (if its been on the shelf for a while, you may consider leaving the last ounce in the bottom of the bottle) and poured a hazy, watered down coffee color. Steffen described it as the color of “light mud-water from the Red Rocks .” The dark brew gave off a “sniffy” of primarily alcohol, but with sweet vanilla notes as well as some hints of pear.

What a gorgeous place for a brewery!

This Belgian brew tasted about like you would expect from the nose. Strong enough to keep you warm at night with full tones of sweet fruit (i’m thinking pear or apple, definitely not citrus) and a small finish of bitter hops that lingers for a few seconds. Overall, the Winterkoninkske was a tasty enough beer, but as for bringing the hops back to Belgium? I think it fell a little short. After reading the description, I expected a fair punch of hops, nothing like an IPA or APA, but at least something to pucker up my lips for under that mistletoe. No such luck here guys! Would I drink it again? Yes, I could drink some more of this, but not at the five bucks a bottle it goes for in Helena.

A conglomeration of beer distributors, led by Fort Worth-based Ben E. Keith Beverage, the nation’s third-largest beer wholesaler, has formed to create GreatBrewers.com, a website aimed at education about beer, as well as user reviews and a beer finder.

In the past decade, a thriving beer culture has blossomed in America, which now boasts the most stylistically diverse lineup of beers on earth. But with such great variety comes the inherent challenge of consumer education, particularly at the point of purchase. Responding to this challenge, pioneering beverage wholesalers have joined forces to provide brewers with a central marketing platform, deemed Great Brewers. The mission of Great Brewers is to bridge the gap between the world’s great brewers and the consumers who enjoy their products, with a paramount focus on education and on enhancing beer distribution practices through the sharing of information.

The idea behind it is great, and being run by distributors, it should be able to tell us where to go to find the beer we want. I have only spent a few moments going around the site, and it seems you have to register to use a handful of the features, such as the Great Beer Test (I scored a pitiful 55%). Also, if distributors near you are not members, then the beer finder feature may have troubles finding what you want. It is also a fairly busy website that can be difficult to navigate and do what you want, but it has only been going for a few weeks now and hopefully as time passes it will become more user friendly.

They also released a new Iphone app called BeerCloud, which is designed to help people pair, locate, and learn about beer. Best of luck to these folks in their venture and I hope it becomes a great resource for beer lovers across the states.

Check out the full article at Houston Press.

Rogue Brewery has announced the release of a new line of three beers starting in January of 2010. The concept behind the John John Ales is to start with one of Rogue Brewmaster, John Maier’s classic brews and age it in the Rogue spirit barrels of Rogue Spirits Master Distiller John Couchot, hence the name John John Ales.

The first of the John John series is John John Dead Guy Ale, Rogue’s award winning Dead Guy Ale matured in Rogue’s award winning Dead Guy Whiskey barrels. The cross collaboration of these two products starts with the distilling of Dead Guy Ale wort to create the Dead Guy Whiskey. The Whiskey is aged in Oak Barrels and bottled, then the Oak Barrels are taken from the distillery, by forklift, across the parking lot to the Brewery where they are filled with Dead Guy Ale and matured for three months.

The John John Dead Guy is slated for release, both on tap and in 22 oz bottles, in January of 2010. Later this year it will be followed by John John Juniper Ale, aged in Rogue Spruce Gin barrels. The Johns are also working on some John John Hazelnut Brown Nectar which will be matured in Rogue’s Hazelnut Spiced Rum barrels. Although we are all excited about this news from Rogue, these beers could be hard to find around Montana: A 3,100 gallon batch of John John will only produce around 1,350 cases of beer.

Wondering what beer to drink? This ought to help you out. Or make it harder to decide.

(Via The Brew Noob and BuzzFeed)

We're counting down to Christmas with 12 beers that resonate with the feel of the holiday. Some beers were nice; some beers were naughty. This is The 12 Beers of Christmas. Enjoy!

Yesterday’s brew, the Seriously Bad Elf, was more of one you might get as a stocking stuffer or maybe to enjoy over a meal. Today, something more affordable and just as delicious: Sierra Nevada’s Celebration Ale. In my mind, I have this preconception that bigger breweries brew beer that is maybe not quite as tasty as what the small guys are putting out. Sierra Nevada has proved my wrong again! Their Celebration Ale is great and a perfect selection for a hoppy New Year.

This really is a beer to celebrate with. It’s a reddish amber with lots of carbonation, resulting in a frothy head with good retention, and it was not as dark as I had expected. I have constantly been surprised by how light these Christmas beers are. The nose was light and floral with a touch of fruit to it, a perfect prelude to the beer itself. At 6.8% ABV, the celebration was not too boozy in taste, but there is enough in there to warm you up. Maybe not at these sub-zero temperatures we’re seeing in Montana, but in Chico, I’m sure its fine. The ale was a full-bodied, well-rounded, smooth hop beer. Not overly sweet, but filling and with a bit of a fruity finish.

Sierra Nevada’s Celebration ale is definitely a beer worth celebrating (with). I can see myself picking up a few more of these to share with friends through the holiday season. Happy drinking, and don’t forget to tune in tomorrow for the third beer of Christmas!

It’s no secret that Pabst Blue Ribbon has been the trendy and chic beer among the younger, college-aged set for some time now. But how did it ever get there? Isn’t it just another macrobrew that tastes like skunk water? Maybe, but Pabst’s rise to hipster fame has some redeeming qualities.

The beer is up almost 30% in dollar sales in the U.S. for the 52 weeks through October at retailers like supermarkets and drug stores, beating out the beer category’s overall 1.1% increase, according to market-research firm Information Resources. Meanwhile, Budweiser and Corona Extra are down about 7% and 8%, respectively.

But the lagging economy isn’t the only thing energizing PBR. The brand has also cultivated a reputation as a hipster, offbeat beer — or what the president of the National Beer Wholesalers Association, Craig Purser, likes to call “retro chic” — positioning itself as an alternative to big, mainstream brands.

But aren’t craft beers the true alternative to big and mainstream brands? Maureen Ogle, who wrote “Ambitious Brew: The Story of American Beer,” points to some things that make Pabst a pseudo-microbrew.

While PBR’s success stems from its niche, dive appeal, it isn’t actually the cheapest of the cheap. PBR is at least $1 a case more than Busch Light and Keystone Light, says Benj Steinman of Beer Marketer’s Insights. PBR drinkers may want to look down-market, but they’re willing to spend a little bit extra to make sure no one mistakes them for the mainstream.

But as Ogle points out, while fans might like to think of the 165-year-old company as a boutique relic of the family-owned, all-American breweries of the past, it actually doesn’t own its own brewery. All of its brewing is done at contract facilities (including some owned by MillerCoors), with Pabst brewmaster Bob Newman overseeing the recipes. Pabst Brewing Company’s portfolio also includes beers like Colt 45 and Schlitz. Pabst declined to comment for this story.

It’s kind of cool to see a brewery regarded as one of the ho-hum, standard macrobreweries turn out to be something more. And something more than just another hipster trend. And have you ever wondered how to own your own brewery? Well, you could have a part of Pabst. Kind of. Emphasis mine.

With Pabst on the market, one potential offer has emerged with a gimmick as quirky as PBR itself. In what he says started out as a joke, Michael Migliozzi — managing partner of advertising agency Forza Migliozzi — is attempting to crowdsource the purchase of Pabst by creating buyabeercompany.com, a joint venture with ad agency the Ad Store.

Anyone over 21 can go to the site and pledge a minimum of $5 toward the reported $300 million sales price for Pabst. So far, would-be beer moguls have pledged more than $20 million in about a month [!!!!!]. If the collective raises enough money, Migliozzi says contributors will get enough beer to match their pledges and ownership in the company.

The article also has some background on PBR’s troubles as it started out, and some other great details about the brand. Definitely worth a read. But my favorite quote from the whole thing tells the complete story about the Pabst reputation–even craft beer lovers have a place in their hearts for PBR.

Case in point: Ogle says when she’s attended the Great American Beer Festival in Denver, the crowd boos every time Anheuser-Busch (BUD) wins an award, but Pabst always gets cheers.

(Via CNN Money)