Microbrews, a la Nippon

Back in two-thousand sumpin or other, a sports pundit joked that the only way to get Americans to watch soccer (yeah, that's right Brits...SOCCER!!!!) was to give them free beer. Fast forward to 2007 and a Wisconsin native who now lives in Austin, Texas, said to himself "Hey! What a great idea!"

And the Free Beer Movement was born.

It's simple - beer is the carrot, soccer is the stick. Take a friend to a game and buy him/her a beer or two.

I was introduced to the Free Beer Movement via a the baddest ass supporters of the U.S. Men's National Team, The American Outlaws. I subscribed to the FBM on Facebook, and the nice thing about this guy, is that he posts pictures of all these wonderful American microbrews that the good ole U.S. of A. has to offer. With every picture he put up, I grew more and more jealous because I am pretty much stuck with Yebisu, Kirin, or Asahi, the big three of Japanese macrobrews, and nowhere to look for anything else.

While the World Cup was going on, I actually took a little trip down to Matsuyama (Matsuyama is a partyyyy toooooowwwwwwn!!!!!) , a city in Ehime Prefecture. While touring around the city with Mrs. Gaijinforlife, we stumbled across a little place with a sign on the outside that beckoned to our heart's every desire with a simple outdoor sign that read "Brewery Restaurant." Neither of us had the ability to pass it up. Turns out that this little cafe was a microbrew called Dogo - and I never looked back.

It was exactly what I had been looking for ever since being exposed to the FBM. They had three different types of beers: a stout, a Belgian ale, and a pale ale. Despite the price tag, we ordered one of each, splitting the third. They had magazines that were dedicated to microbrews in Japan, and I was stunned - nay SHOCKED - to find that there were quite a few located in Hyogo! OH buddy here we go...

The first microbrew that I will introduce in this little series will be the threesome out of Kobe's next door neighbor, Akashi Brewery. The first one I had was Akashi Kaigan Beer (Akashi Seaside Beer). Skip it. Go to the next one. It was like an over-carbonated Bud Select. Perhaps more of a cider that they came up with after someone forgot to put the fruit in. They have wheat stalks on the label so I think it was supposed to be a wheat beer. They failed. Awful. NEXT! (Scroll down)










Akashi Roman Beer. A nice sipper! The wife had the majority of this one, but from the picture, it's a brown if not Belgian ale, and it was loveable and huggable and downright deeeeelicious from the one or two sips I had.
(One more to go! Scroll down.)














And last but not least, Akashi's choco-stouterific wonderland of goodness, Akashi Yukyunokoku Beer (Akashi Eternal Time Beer). After finding out exactly what the name of this beer means, I had to laugh because I got a good chunk of this beer and it lasted me for a good looooong time. Anyone who knows me knows that I tend to drink quite quickly. I simply couldn't stand for this one to be finished, so I nursed it like a cancer patient. It tasted of dark chocolate, but not so dark that the bitterness overpowered the sweet side of the chocolate; it was VERY well balanced. There was also a hint of a smokey flavor, meaning that (personally) I didn't mind when the beer went room temp. I suggest this beer with a mild cigar. Wish I had one at the time of drinking it.

Well, I hope this to become a bit of a regular thing. I like to try microbrews and I really miss how available they were back in America. Aahhhh ever the gaijin. Longing for home, but loving it here. Have the Roman and the Eternal Time,
skip the Seaside.

Michael out.