While I'll admit to commonly keeping a few bottles of Asahi/Sapporo/Kirin around, I completely agree with this sentiment. My local Whole Foods carries an entire shelf full of around ~20 Japanese craft imports, including the entire Hitachino line. The White Ale is indeed good, but my personal favourite is the Espresso Stout. The Tokyo Black porter from Yo-Ho Brewing is also excellent.

On a related note, for a "mainstream" Japanese beer, Yebisu is my favourite. Don't think it's officially imported for sale in the US, but I've occasionally seen it show up in some of the sketchier Asian groceries in LA and even a random bar in K-town (in the same cans as in Japan and completely devoid of all required US labelling). It can be found easily in Japan at any 7-11 or Lawson, however.

I once had the some Hitachino, I think the White, and it had a godawful lemon flavor that was most unwelcome. A brewer told me that's an attribute of their yeast. I like many sours, but not that way.

Hmm...I'll have to pay attention to that next time I have one. I am not a sour fan and I never put citrus in my hefeweizen, so I would have imagined that a lemon flavor was something I'd notice. (But I have been accused of being unobservant.)

Since you're in Chicago...if you haven't already, check out Yusho for dinner. They have a nice selection of Japanese craft beers and not a Hitachino among them.

10 bottles of Shiner Ruby Redbird.

Getting out for a MR/TR, my beer fridge was drunk dry the evening before departure. My best friend looking after things assured me of having loaded the fridge with :

Imperial Stout, Smuttynose Brewing CO
Ghisa Smoked Stout and
Alaskan Smoked Porter

Looking forward to painting it all BLACK !

That's how you know summer is here! Love that stuff ^

Didn't buy any bottles to take home this time, but latest visit to BuckeyeLand I did enjoy from Great Lakes Brewing:
Lake Erie Monster
Wandering Pelican Black lager

Really wish I could find Leo around here, but the only Thai beer I can find is Singha (no thanks)

I toured the Yebisu museum in Tokyo so am familiar with this brand and enjoy it.

As there are few local stores that sell a vast array of Japanese craft beers so have contented myself tonight with a case of Kronenbourg 1664.

Drinking a bottle of Hoegaarden at the moment. It's quite a crisp wheat beer which is difficult to find in Sydney but it's quickly become one of my favourites. In the fridge I also have a few kegs of Heineken and a case of Asahi. Something for every occasion alongside the champagne I think.

Heineken and water?

Normally not a fan of Guinness Stout in the U. S., but I bought a bottle to use in the preparation of beer-candied bacon recently and drank what was not used in the recipe. Not bad, so I might try that again.

I also have a bottle of the Shiner Ruby Redbird in the fridge and am hoping it doesn't turn out as bad as I remembered at the tasting when I visited the brewery a couple of years ago. It was nasty with capital "T" at that time.

Best regards,

William R. Sanders
Social Media Specialist
Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide

[email protected]

Beer-candied bacon??? Care to share that recipe? :D

LOL. I got mine off the internet. ;)

http://tideandthyme.com/beer-candied-bacon/

I will say that I like my bacon crispy, so I cooked it on the wire rack in a 350F oven for about an hour. You don't want it to go too far, however. Then I kicked it up to 400F, applied the glaze to the bacon and put it back in for 10 minutes to set it.

You'll need a metal spatula to gently lift the pieces off the rack after cooling. Then I put some wax paper in a storage container and laid the beer-candied bacon inside before sealing the lid.

A bit messy, but well worth it, IMHO. Makes one hell of a BLTA. :)

Best regards,

William R. Sanders
Social Media Specialist
Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide

[email protected]

Thanks! I'll have to try that. :)