Street drankin’

It being a public holiday and absolutely gorgeous weather yesterday, I decided to take advantage of the opportunity by once again ripping off Good Beer and Country Boys and finding myself a street corner to settle down for some roadside drinking.
his being a special occasion (you can tell I don’t get out much), I [...]

I’m straight!

The straight, that is.
As in, Suntory’s latest happoshu of the week, the oddly named “The Straight.”
Yes, I broke down and bought some crappy, fake-beer happoshu. As long-time readers of this blog will know, I’m a sucker for advertising, having once been lured in by a flashy bag and the promise of meat-flavored Doritos.
Not only does [...]

Kirin’s new Ichiban Shibori

Having been tipped off by the boys over at Good Beer and Country Boys, I’ve been keeping an eye out for Kirin’s new Ichiban Shibori, a macrobrew that offers the promise of a return to good, simple beer. Unlike regular Ichiban Shibori, which contains adjuncts — in layman’s terms, needless shit — such as rice [...]

Orion Ichiban Sakura

Yes, yet another beer post. But I came across this number today and felt compelled to write about it.
Orion Draft, the flagship brew of Okinawa-based Orion Breweries, has long been available here on the mainland via some devilish partnership with Asahi. I personally seldom drink the stuff, not because it’s a bad beer, but because [...]

Stout revisited

So, my recent post about Asahi Stout has apparently gotten a few of us beer lovers excited. (At least, I’m excited.) In the comments field, I mentioned another beer called Tokyo Black Porter, a lovely brew from the same people that make Yona Yona Ale. The more I thought about that porter, the more I [...]

Asahi Stout

Japan has some incredible locally produced beers (地ビール, or jibiiru) and wonderful microbrews, but most of what you’ll find in convenience stores and supermarkets is either macrobrewed crap or happoshu, which is utter shite. If you go to one of the more upscale supermarkets, however, you’ll find that even the macrobrewers put out a few [...]

Loch-Drunken-Ness

See this photo? It’s the view from my balcony. Nice, isn’t it?
It was taken as a way to illustrate Japan’s approach to time zoning, which steadfastly refuses to acknowledge that, even when summer rolls around, it can be 8:00 at night and still be bright as day (though talk is apparently in the works [...]