Maltan 3rd and WTF happened that night?

Maltan's 3rd anniversary was last Sunday.
Man, that was something.
I'm STILL recovering!
Itt ook me just 40 minutes to get to Maltan but 20 hours to get back!
More on that, later.

If you checked my post about last years Maltan Anniversary, then you may realise that I was expecting a bit of a wild time.
This year, although not as busy as the last, was... ...well, you check out some of the pics I took (as well as a couple from other people):

I arrived on time, this year. A couple of friendly Good Beer guys were already there and we were all patiently waiting for the orgy of beer to begin...
And then we were off and running!
The good beer couple (you may see them at most other beer events - great people) were among the first to go behind the bar and pour themselves a pint.
There were quite a few beers on offer, inlcuding Hakusekikan's super Vintage (around 14%) & Hurricane (15%), as well as Southern Tier Unearthly DIPA (around 10%) and many, many others.
These included a special cask conditioned yona yona pale ale.
Well, it wasn't long before the crowds began to develop and the place was packed.
The deal was, you pay 3,600yen to get in and it was serve yourself, as much as you could handle.
You could bring your own food and you were only given a plastic glass but you were allowed to bring your own glass.
I was ready.
I had my big Duvel glass for high alcohol numbers and my Ruination 'ode to the hops' pint glass for 'normal' beers.
Here they are.It's Hakusekikan Super Vintage (good but needs to warm up to release all the flavour) and Southern Tier unearthly DIPA (was in very good condition) to start me off.
2 pints of double figure alcohol Winter warmness!

Here's Tim M, raising a celebratory glass to a good evening.Here's a very ghostly looking punter. Scary stuff. Phantom of the Beer House?
Luckily, he didn't break out into song - or did he?

Poor Capa, he's merely smelled the beer and he's already off his scary baby face!
Pouring his first beer, before passing out, delirious on the floor, a huge Joker like smile on his cheeks.


Well, the booze was flowing and people were loosening up and having a good time.

Haven't seen these guys for ages.

These guys make a lovely couple.

Although I do suspect that she's got him by the balls (especially when you look at this photo):

This was about the point where I lost my memory.It's probably about 5pm.

A kitty kat, a cute wabbit, one cop and a zombie:

Arest me, officer, becasue I'm thinking it's wabbit hunting season!

At some point in the evening, Rei chan turned up!
Here she is, with just two of her boyfreinds (Sunday and Monday).

"Shhh...be vewy, vewy quiet...I'm hunting wabbits..."

These three were celebrating their birthdays:

Unfortunately, the tradition of being granted a birthday kiss didn't go down so well amongst one of the trio:

"Argh! Get off!!!!"

Things seemed to be going well - I don't remember.

Well, this picture says it all:

This one says bit too much:

Some people just can't last the pace.

Others - they just keep on going (even if their brain has by now stopped functioning and stopped recording memories):

"Here, kitty, kitty, kitty!"

Man, I wish I was in my right mind when half of this was going on.

Hello, ladies. Here's an idea, I wonder if you would...

...yes, you would! Why can't I remember any of this?!!!!

It seems everyone was enoying the show.

It was even done to music.
I wish I'd remembered this too. Rei was playing the violin!
And guitar! This isn't Rei, it's another friend. Great guy. I reckon he must have rocked the place. Unfortunately, I don't rememeber.

"I'll give you 100 million smackaroonies, for one night with your husband."

Well, the night ended too early, as always. This photo perhaps sums the evening up.
A lot happened and some of us as always, ended up doing things we would later regret:
At least one person had a great time.
Chuck, the king among men.


For me, the night had only just began.
As you may realise, I have no memory of any of this, but from witness reports, for some stupid reason I was trying to argue/fight big Tim, then was all happy and I was carrying him around the bar (also carried Capa and Rei around the bar - this is with a broken back), then they all lost me, near the station.

All I know is that I woke up around 1:30am, still on a stationary train and well, Dorothy wasn't in Kansas any more.
I did some stumbling around and found a 7-11 and through my drunken rantings, managed to understand that there was no manga cafe in the area and the only option in the cold lonely night was a business hotel.
I somehow managed to check myself in and woke up in the morning in what I assumed had to be Chiba.
At about 3pm, I eventually got back home from GUNMA and collapsed, into bed.
I had gone to the border of Gunma and Saitama in my drunken sleep. Then I had to go all the way into Gunma to pick up my bag, which I'd left on the train.
I washed as much vomit off my clothes and bag (it apparently had been a very eventful evening) and with a terrible hangover, pretended to sleep on the 3 hour train ride back to Tokyo and Yokohama.
I also had what I suspected was a broken forearm and cut up hand, although the pain was not too intense. The swelling was not so good though.
Here is a simple google map, retracing my drunken steps, that fateful Sunday evening:

View Results of Maltan 2nd anniversary drunkenness in a larger map

Man, that was a wild night.
I'm still feeling it (my back is certainly feeling it - like I'm still being crushed).
See you at Andy's event today!

Thrashed an arrogant bastard & bloody simcoe!

Last night, I eventually managed to escape the evil clutches of my old, slow, demanding computer and headed off to the Thrash Zone, one of my favourite bars.
When I got there, around 9pm, it was already packed. Standing room only, gentlemen.There were a few guys from the Yokosuka base drinking and being merry with their ladies, some Japanese salarymen, an American regular, a new regular from Greece and a few other Japanese regular customers. The usual suspects.
First up was a Simcoe Bloody Simcoe, a brew made as a collaboration between Koichi san of the Thrash zone and Atsugi beer, also in Kanagawa prefecture. At 105 IBUsand 7% alcohol, it's no cute kitten, more a snarling tiger of a brew.
Atsugi have been improving recently, bringing out a very good Belgian triple strong ale at the first Grande Bier beer festival in Roppongi that won itself many new fans. I remember visiting their brewpub a few years ago and not being impressed much by the uninspiring beers. It's good to see them improving. They have also made Yokohama honey ale, the Kanda Schwarz on tap at the JHA bar in Kanda and a collaboration beer for Cheers, in Yokohama - a Belgian yeast beer called The Joker.

This baby was available in a total of 4 combinations:

1. Simcoe bloody simcoe original version
2. Simcoe bloody simcoe simcoe dry hopped
3. Simcoe bloody simceo amarillo dry hopped
4. Simcoe bloody simcoe amarillo & simcoe dry hopped

These were on tap, one at a time.
My favourite was the simcoe dry hopped.
Tonight, the last 20 litres of this lovely brew were on offer.
Thrash was also serving Stone Arrogant Bastard, on tap.
An amazing beer and one of my and many others' favourites.

Well, my first beer was the
Simcoe Bloody Simcoe simcoe dry hopped:

From memory, I knew I was in for something special. I wasn't dissappointed.
Well, maybe a little.
This didn't seem to pack the fresh hop punch that the first one I had did. It still packed quite a whallop, mind you! The balance between dry hopping flavour, aroma and the beer's own flavour seemed a bit out. I think the dry hopping came through too strongly.
Overpowering the original beer's voice a bit too much. They seemed to compete, rather than compliment. I've read that with freshly dry hopped beers, the sooner can sometimes be the better, in terms of getting the max from the dry hopping. It reminds me of a cup of tea, where the tea bag has been left steeping a bit to long. You can taste it. Whilst not being it's best, this beer is still quite nice and very drinkable, bearing in mind it's 7% and 105 IBUs of hops!
I'd give this one 5.6-6/10. It used to be an easy 7-7.5, but the flavour has changed. Not for the better, in my opinion.
Still this is a good beer and a special one. The last 18 litres or so are going fast, so if you want to try it, head to Thrash zone soon.

My second pint for the night was to give Minoh's W-IPA (DIPA) another chance:

Minoh make some good beer. They are based in Osaka. The father and daughters brew the stuff and have won several awards (including being voted the world's best dry stout in the World Beer Awards 09 - WTF?).
Their most famous brew is their WIPA. 'W ' often being pronounced as 'double' among the Japanese, hence the DIPA being written as WIPA.
Their 9% DIPA used to really kick ass, a few years ago. However, the last couple of years, the flavour has gone from being an outstanding beer, to just a very good one or at times, mediocre and dissappointing. I'm not sure if this is due to a change in recipe or ingredients, but there has been a noticeable change. It's not just me who has noticed this and those beer fans who are not just obsessed Minoh lovers (Most breweries here have them - fans who loyally will stick by their brewery/team/tribe, regardless of whether the beer is still good or not.) will also accept this.
I do hope the W-IPA will regain it's place as possibly the best DIPA in Japan. So far, it hasn't.
Well, I decided to give it another go. The last one I had was just too malty sweet. Their DIPA has always been quite sweet, due to the higher malt profile and possibly more than a little unfermentable/unfermented sugars in the beer.
My first impression was that the colour looked very nice indeed.
The pouring as always in Thrash was first class. Temperature perhaps a little cold for the style but not super chilled and better than a lot of other bars in Japan (places here quite often serve the beer at almost Bud/Heinken/SuperDry serving cold temps, regardless of style).
The aroma was definitely dry hopped.
Way, way over dry hopped, in my opinion.
I smelled and tasted flowers, plain and simple.
My first sip was 'Oh no.'.
Is this now becoming a trend, among craft brewers in Japan?

Beers used to be based on the old German style - the lagers, pilsners, alts, weissens and schwarzes or dunkles.
Then the pale ales came on the scene.
Then the barley wines took off.
Then it was the American IPAs.
Now it seems everything has to be dry hopped and aggressively so.
I think this is going too far.

The Simcoe and Minoh were way too strongly dry hopped.
It was not easy to discern the original beer's flavour profile, the hops were just too strong.
I did not enjoy this beer that much.
It did get better, the more I drank it but maybe that was because my tastes buds were adjusting.
I was really hoping for some nice fresh, not too strong hop flavour and aroma, to balance out the sweetness from the malts.
I was dissapointed. Instead of the malts dominating, the dry hopping overpowered everything.

However, don't get me wrong, I'm not attacking the beer itself as horrbile. It wasn't a horrible beer and was very drinkable. The Americans near me loved it and referred to it as 'nose candy'. They had had quite a few beers before that, though - including a big bottle or the 2006 Double Bastard and a bottle of Rasputin Imperial Stout.

I thought it was too aggressively dry hopped. Too much flower aromas, almost perfume like.
If you like that, then maybe this is the beer for you.
It wasn't the beer for me.
Minoh DIPA still dissappoints.
Maybe I say that not because I think it's bad, just more because I know it can be better.

Minoh DIPA 5.5/10

The Minoh DIPA dry hopped is on tap across Tokyo now. Search it out. Let me know what you think. If you agree or disagree, I'd love to hear from you.

Finally, I went for a tried and tested favourite:

The Stone Arrogant Bastard.

Here again, Koichi san demonstrates the attention he gives to every pint poured - he even pricks the bubbles on the head for you!

The Arrogant Bastard!

Just kidding. This beer is lovely. One of my all time favourites.
It was served in great condition and poured very well, as always. One thing I thought wasn't perfect was the serving temperature.
Whilst the owner tries his best to serve every beer at the best possible temp, there is only so much he can do, when he has to store them all in the same refridgerator.
This is why the Arrogant bastard comes out a bit too cold. Just give it some time, if you can and as the beer warms, the flavours and aromas will be released and the beer will just get better, with every sip.
My problem is I can't drink slowly. I've tried, but that crafty beer always finds a way to slide down my throat.

Verdict?

The Bastard rocks!
I do love the Arrogant Bastard.
Stone Arrogant Bastard 8/10
(Just a bit too cold & I was too eager/thirsty to fully appreciate it's kick ass qualities.)

"Bow to your sensei!"

Beer of the night: Arrogant Bastard.

Merry Christmas, you lush!!

Well, it's the season to be jolly.

For this kat, that means getting hammered.There's no season like Christmas to disguise/excuse/blame the fact that you are 3 sheets to the wind, every chance you get.

December brings with it a multitude of opportunities to end up in the Emergency ward of your nearest hospital.

The biggest and best of those are the Maltan 3rd Anniversarry insanity event and the Nagano Trading December to Remember strong beer party

Beer in Japan mentioned these events and so will I!

I was 1 of only 2 foreigners who made it to Maltan's anniverary last year and boy, was that one crazy party!

Lots of beer, lots of friends, lots of fun!

Basically, the owner/manager gets in about 15 or so special beers and just stands back and watches, whilst the customers fight for control of the taps and pour themselves pints of anything they fancy, from weissens, to lagers, to Barley wines.It's nuts.

I arrived just 15 minutes late last year and already a barrel of Hakuskeikan barley wine was gone! I'm talking a whole barrel of 15% alc in 15 minutes.

Holy schmoly!

The deal is you pay 3,600yen and you bring your own glass and help yourself.

Simple. Effective. Fun.

He has 2 handpumps and a lot of other taps.

He rotates the barrels and beers around and once the barrel is gone, it's gone.

He opens from around 3 and stays open until the beer is finished.

Fantastic.

Having just enjoyed the also great Gambrinus all-u-can-drink-&-eat 2nd Anniversary, this one is the sh*t, the bomb, the dog's bollocks, as it were, for getting almighty blotto at.
This year's beer include Shiroyama mikan white, Hakusekikan super vintage and hurricane, Yona Yona cask conditioned, Nagahama ale, Daisen weissen, Iwate Kura oyster stout, Minoh WIPA, Ginga Kogen weissen and maybe more!

I love that it's self service. I love that you bring your own glass of choice.

I love that you can bring in your own food.

I love that the choice is bloody good (lots of beer styles to please everyone and good choices, too).

I love that it's just 3,600yen.

Gotta love it.

I just don't love that it's on a Sunday.

Oh, well.

See you there.
_____________________________________________

p.s. Here are some pics from last year.
Warning: some pics may disturb you, whilst some may make you want to get to Maltan, this Sunday.
I think you'll agree, they need little describing!







Go on, come and have a drink or twelve with me at Maltan.