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This was my second beer of the night for our make your own sushi night and it brought back a lot of great memories from the three years that we spent in Japan.

I had quite a few of these back in Japan so I wanted to post some pictures for my personal online beer collection.

So, here goes…

Serving Type: 650 ml Can

ABV  (Alcohol By Volume): 5.0%

After living in Japan for three years I would say that I consumed a fair amount of Japanese beer. Asahi was one of the beers I drank on the regular and it was good to get my hands on it again.

It is nothing spectacular but when I went out on the town I really got into drinking a lot of Asahi. It was sushi night at our house so I cracked open a bottle of this stuff to be reminded of the “good ole days” back in Japan.

Serving Type: 500 ml bottle

ABV  (Alcohol By Volume): 5.0%

This was my first shot at tasting Scottish beer and I thought McEwan’s No.1 Champion was pretty good. Overall I found this Scottish ale to be pretty good but nothing spectacular.

It poured a deep ruby color and that led to a very rich and dark tasting beer that I thought was very pleasant overall. At 7.3% ABV this had a pretty good kick behind it.

Serving Type: 500 ml bottle

ABV  (Alcohol By Volume): 7.3%

I was absolutely right. This small 330ml bottle of Duvel sure packs a punch at 8.5% ABV. I thought it was light and crisp on the mouth with a distinct sweet slightly carbonated taste. I thought it almost resembled the taste of a champagne but only better. This has to be one of the better beers I have come into contact with thus far. I think I have finally come to the realization of what good beer is suppose to taste like.

Do not let this tiny bottle fool you! At 8.5% ABV it will knock you on your ass. I know that I was surprised at how strong this tasty little guy ended up being. It almost makes me sad that I only bought one and I will have to hunt some more down before I can have it again.

According to the Duvel website:

With its subtly bitter bite and delicate aroma, Duvel holds a unique position within the rich Belgian beer tradition. After bottling, the beer continues to ferment for a fortnight after bottling in the warm cellars of the brewery. Finally, the beer is chilled for 6 weeks in the cold cellars. This extra long maturing process is unique and contributes to the exquisite flavour and pure aroma of Duvel.

Like I stated earlier, this one heads to the top of the list of my favorite beers.

Here is a description of the beer according to the Meantime Brewing website:

A cloudy, golden-orange beer with a moderately dense white head displaying a mixed combination of banana, fruit, bubblegum, spice and zesty aromas and flavours, all created, in true Bavarian wheat beer style, by the use of a unique yeast strain that brings out the true character of the wheat malt used in the brew.

I thought the spice aroma was evident but I had troubles finding the banana and vanilla scents. It had a fruity aroma,  I found it to be more of a peach aroma rather than banana. I really enjoy the style, but I thought this was a little watery for my taste. Being brewed here in the United Kingdom I must say that they did a good job, just not as good as some of my favorite German style brews.

Serving Type: 330 ml bottle

ABV  (Alcohol By Volume): 5.0%

Weihenstephaner Kristall Weissbier is another wheat beer that I ended up really enjoying. Apparently it is brewed in the worlds oldest brewery, Brauerei Weihenstephan. I figured that simple fact is enough to warrant a taste test.

The aroma is spicy with strong hints of clove and nutmeg. I thought it tasted spicy with a slight hint of banana and stronger nutmeg and clove notes. As I stated in the first sentence, I really enjoyed this beer and could drink a few of these with no problem.

Serving Type: 500 ml bottle

ABV  (Alcohol By Volume): 5.4%

About a week or so ago I tried Wychcraft Blonde beer from the Wychwood Brewery and I thought it was pretty good. However, that wasn’t the first time that I came across a beer from the Wychwood Brewery. Actually, I was told about Hobgoblin almost immediately after arriving in England. My first thought was that I really wanted to try it simply because of the name. I mean “Hobgoblin” just sounds like a bad ass name for a beer.

According to the Wychwood Brewery website

Hobgoblin is strong in roasted malt with a moderate hoppy bitterness and slight fruity character that lasts through to the end.

The ruby red coloured Hobgoblin is full-bodied and has a delicious chocolate toffee malt flavour balanced with a rounded moderate bitterness and an overall fruity character.

I would say that this Wychwood beer is probably the easiest and most popular beer to get a hold that they make. I have seen Hobgoblin at just about every marketplace where beer is sold. However, I have had to do some looking around to get my hands on the other types of Wychwood brews.

I thought Hobgoblin was pretty good and I have now had it several more times. I am still sticking with the Wychcraft Blonde in terms of taste, but I plan on tasting many more beers from this brewery so stick around.

Serving Type: 500 ml bottle

ABV  (Alcohol By Volume): 5.2%

Lucky Beer is an Asian style lager made by the Lucky Drink Company and as far as I can tell is made in China. I have seen some other websites that state that this beer was made in Australia but I believe it was previously brewed in Australia and maybe outsourced to China. The luckydrinkco website states that it is made in China so I will go with that for now.

The unique design of the bottle is actually a seated laughing Buddha holding a large gold ingot above his head. According to their website Lucky beer is

A fusion of rice flakes, malted barley and Qingdao hops, Lucky Beer has a light aroma of hops with nuances of honey and malt; the precursor to a clean, silky, refreshing finish.

Overall I thought that Lucky Beer was kind of watery tasting but not bad. It isn’t one of my favorites but it isn’t terrible either. I think the cool bottle design is worth trying it out at least once.

Serving Type: 330 ml Bottle

ABV  (Alcohol By Volume): 4.8%