Favorite Drink?/Drink Talk Thread

Tu_triky wrote:I broke down and bought a six pack at Mitsuwa a few days ago. I cracked one open tonight when I got home from dinner. Again my first drink in over 3 months. Mighty tasty beer...ACTUALLY brewed in Tokyo...not Canada!

As somebody who attempted to drink as many different beers as possible when I was in Japan, I totally agree that Sapporo Yebisu is a fantastic beer. It is the best beer from a major Japanese brewery that I tasted by some distance. The draft I had at the beer museum was better than most proper German largers I've tried.

There is also a number of micro-breweries in Japan, you can noramlly find their beers in the larger supremakets or the more specialist bars out there. They brew all types of beer, and aren't afraid to experiment. A salaryman once insisted I tried a beer that had to be heated in a microwave before drinking, needless to say it was revolting.

Cerebus wrote:

As somebody who attempted to drink as many different beers as possible when I was in Japan, I totally agree that Sapporo Ebisu is a fantastic beer. It is the best beer from a major Japanese brewery that I tasted by some distance. The draft I had at the beer museum was better than most proper German largers I've tried.

I enjoy Ebisu quite a lot. They actually stopped exporting it to the US for several years replacing it with Sapporo Reserve which is actually brewed in Canada under license, not brewed in Tokyo as with Ebisu.

There is also a number of micro-breweries in Japan, you can noramlly find their beers in the larger supremakets or the more specialist bars out there. They brew all types of beer, and aren't afraid to experiment.

Well if you have any recommendations or suggestions please share them at your convenience.

A salaryman once bought me a beer that had to be heated in a microwave before drinking, needless to say it was revolting.

:hehe:

That does sound scary.

Cerebus wrote:
They brew all types of beer, and aren't afraid to experiment. A salaryman once insisted I tried a beer that had to be heated in a microwave before drinking, needless to say it was revolting.

As a Belgian, if I were dead, hearing this would make me rotate like a helicopter in my grave. What a crime against beer! :beatyou:

EstherM wrote:

As a Belgian, if I were dead, hearing this would make me rotate like a helicopter in my grave. What a crime against beer! :beatyou:

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

Very funny.

As for suggestions:

Yo-Ho Tokyo Black (a porter) was very good, the head brewer was in the UK recently and brewed a special edition of the Wetherspoon pub chain. I enjoyed all of the Swan Lake beers I tried, espically the Amber Ale. I think quite a lot of the brewers trained in the US, so the beers tend resemble those of the micro-breweries in the States, with lots of IPAs. I also had smothing called IBA (India Black Ale) which was a very bitter porter, but I can't remember the name of the brewery. The Bareley Wines where best avoided as they where even sweeter than usual. I have seen some micro-brewed beers on sale in London, but they seem to be very rare outside Japan.

As for bars, I went to 5 or 6 brewpubs/specaillist bars in Yokohama and Tokyo, the better ones where the Sapporo Beer Museum Yebisu, and the T.Y.Harbor Brewery, whose beers where very similar to US micros. The best place by far was Bakusyu Club Popeye in Tokyo (where I had the microwave beer). It has an amzing selection of local and world beers, and is one of the few places in the country where you can get proper cask conditioned ale. It is one of the best pubs I've ever visited, and was so good I even bought the t-shirt.

Cerebus wrote:As for suggestions:

Yo-Ho Tokyo Black (a porter) was very good, the head brewer was in the UK recently and brewed a special edition of the Wetherspoon pub chain. I enjoyed all of the Swan Lake beers I tried, espically the Amber Ale. I think quite a lot of the brewers trained in the US, so the beers tend resemble those of the micro-breweries in the States, with lots of IPAs. I also had smothing called IBA (India Black Ale) which was a very bitter porter, but I can't remember the name of the brewery. The Bareley Wines where best avoided as they where even sweeter than usual. I have seen some micro-brewed beers on sale in London, but they seem to be very rare outside Japan.

As for bars, I went to 5 or 6 brewpubs/specaillist bars in Yokohama and Tokyo, the better ones where the Sapporo Beer Museum Yebisu, and the T.Y.Harbor Brewery, whose beers where very similar to US micros. The best place by far was Bakusyu Club Popeye in Tokyo (where I had the microwave beer). It has an amzing selection of local and world beers, and is one of the few places in the country where you can get proper cask conditioned ale. It is one of the best pubs I've ever visited, and was so good I even bought the t-shirt.

Wow sounds like you had quite an adventure. Thanks for the recommendations. If I ever go back to Japan, I might have to check at least one of those places out.

Tu_triky wrote:

Wow sounds like you had quite an adventure. Thanks for the recommendations. If I ever go back to Japan, I might have to check at least one of those places out.

It was fun, and it wasn't just all beer. I was in Japan for work, and had a lot of free evenings. And expenses.

Cerebus wrote:

It was fun, and it wasn't just all beer. I was in Japan for work, and had a lot of free evenings. And expenses.

I daresay if it was just all beer...you wouldn't have remembered which ones to recommend :)

bmwracer wrote:
I'll have to check that sake out... Is it a nigorizake?

[image]

No it's actually a Junmai Dai Ginjo (so it's filtered unlike Nigorizake). It is probably the smoothest sake I've ever tasted...it was like I wasn't even drinking sake if you can try to imagine. It was so light and clean that it was incomparable to anything I've had previously. I'm not a sake conneisseur, not by a long shot...but this is GOOD stuff. I mean exceptional, bro.

Here's a blurb on it, from a Sake vendor in San Francisco.

Kubota Manju
From Niigata Prefecture 1830.
Junmai Dai Ginjo.
SMV: +2 Acidity 1.2
This is one of if not the most sought after sakes in Japan. Manju is sophisticated and yet very drinkable, perhaps too drinkable as the phantom finish leaves you wondering if you swallowed or not. The nose is a clever balance of honeysuckle and tuberose. The first sip spells the strength in clarity of this sake. Subtle flavors of fuji apple and tart pear dance through the cleanest mouth in the sake world.
WORD: Divine

Tu_triky wrote:

[image]

No it's actually a Junmai Dai Ginjo (so it's filtered unlike Nigorizake). It is probably the smoothest sake I've ever tasted...it was like I wasn't even drinking sake if you can try to imagine. It was so light and clean that it was incomparable to anything I've had previously. I'm not a sake conneisseur, not by a long shot...but this is GOOD stuff. I mean exceptional, bro.

Here's a blurb on it, from a Sake vendor in San Francisco.

Kubota Manju
From Niigata Prefecture 1830.
Junmai Dai Ginjo.
SMV: +2 Acidity 1.2
This is one of if not the most sought after sakes in Japan. Manju is sophisticated and yet very drinkable, perhaps too drinkable as the phantom finish leaves you wondering if you swallowed or not. The nose is a clever balance of honeysuckle and tuberose. The first sip spells the strength in clarity of this sake. Subtle flavors of fuji apple and tart pear dance through the cleanest mouth in the sake world.
WORD: Divine

I'm gonna have to pick up a bottle at the Mitsuwa (if they carry it) and try it out. :victory:

bmwracer wrote:
I'm gonna have to pick up a bottle at the Mitsuwa (if they carry it) and try it out. :victory:

I'm a sake fan.. and I've done a nice bit of tasting (actually went to that tasting downtown that the LA Tokyo society put on last year where they did the award to Chef Morimoto) and buying.. but sake gets so expensive so quickly. To get a nice bottle almost always costs more than $20 where I can get literally thousands of great wines under $10, where with sake, when you look at the under $20 range, you find you'll be getting the same 10 or so types.

In fact, I find it's pretty hard to get a good 720ml of Junmai Ginjo under $25. That knocks me off the sake experience with my current income, to be sure.

Mmm.. I could go for some nice sake... yum.

phlargo wrote:

In fact, I find it's pretty hard to get a good 720ml of Junmai Ginjo under $25.

For sure. As a Dai Ginjo Kubota Manju isn't anywhere near 25 bucks. :sweat: But the bottle I bought was much much cheaper than the price listed at the restaurant where I drank it. Even with corkage, I paid less.

bmwracer wrote:
I'm gonna have to pick up a bottle at the Mitsuwa (if they carry it) and try it out. :victory:

Something tells me that you might be hardpressed to find it...but I can't be totally sure that you won't. Please let me know if you do find it, and for how much if so. I actually ordered it from a sake store over the phone and it was mailed to me.

Didn't see the Kubota Manju at the Mitsuwa... :puppydog:

Not like I was gonna buy it, though. :sweat:

bmwracer wrote:Didn't see the Kubota Manju at the Mitsuwa... :puppydog:

Not like I was gonna buy it, though. :sweat:

Hey I just went to Mitsuwa myself, albeit the Little Tokyo one :) I wasn't looking for Kubota Manju but I couldn't buy the Haiga brown rice b/c they didn't have any...must mean they don't carry it anymore unless you ask for it. I've had to do that with regard to other grocery items. I'm sure that isn't a problem at the Torrance location.

Tu_triky wrote:Hey I just went to Mitsuwa myself, albeit the Little Tokyo one :) I wasn't looking for Kubota Manju but I couldn't buy the Haiga brown rice b/c they didn't have any...must mean they don't carry it anymore unless you ask for it. I've had to do that with regard to other grocery items. I'm sure that isn't a problem at the Torrance location.

Hmm, they didn't have the Haiga at the Torrance store, either.... There wasn't even a location/label on the shelf for it... :grumble:

I ended up buying regular white rice from Nishiki. :sweat:

bmwracer wrote:
Hmm, they didn't have the Haiga at the Torrance store, either.... There wasn't even a location/label on the shelf for it... :grumble:

Ah, interesting! Maybe they stopped carrying it at Mistsuwa?

I ended up buying regular white rice from Nishiki. :sweat:

Haha...I usually buy that rice, too! :hehe: Although last time I bought some Koshihikari short grain rice from some other manufacturer. :)

Anyway, bro...the previous talk of Kubota Manju has got me jonesing for another bottle. :drink:

Tu_triky wrote:

bmwracer wrote:
Hmm, they didn't have the Haiga at the Torrance store, either.... There wasn't even a location/label on the shelf for it... :grumble:

Ah, interesting! Maybe they stopped carrying it at Mistsuwa?

I suppose.

But they still carry other types of rice from that same company... :headscratch:

I ended up buying regular white rice from Nishiki. :sweat:

Haha...I usually buy that rice, too! :hehe: Although last time I bought some Koshihikari short grain rice from some other manufacturer. :)

Anyway, bro...the previous talk of Kubota Manju has got me jonesing for another bottle. :drink:

I have yet to try it. :puppydog:

I think smaller bottles can be had... But still at a price. :sweat:

bmwracer wrote:

I suppose.

But they still carry other types of rice from that same company...

Very true. My only speculation is that perhaps that brand of Haiga isn't selling well? Then again...maybe there is a supply issue...hard to say.

I have yet to try it. :puppydog:
I think smaller bottles can be had... But still at a price. :sweat:

Yeah that is a good point...I wonder if they have smaller bottles of Manju available...the bottle I purchased was 720ml (roughly 24 oz.) but I know there was a bigger bottle but I don't know whether there is a smaller bottle available for sale.

Tu_triky wrote:Yeah that is a good point...I wonder if they have smaller bottles of Manju available...the bottle I purchased was 720ml (roughly 24 oz.) but I know there was a bigger bottle but I don't know whether there is a smaller bottle available for sale.

I thought I saw a smaller bottle (~500ml) at the sushi restaurant I was at last week... Time to do some 'net searching. :victory: