The video is interesting, too.
The same thing happens to me, when I go out drinking.
Just remember, not everything is what you think it is.
You all have a good day.
Tuesday, 15 December 2009
Speakeasy Prohibition amber ale - but I don't like ambers
Speakeasy Prohibition amber ale is imported by a good friend of mine, Andrew Balmuth, of Nagano Trading. They also bring in a load of other high quality American craft beers, including Stone, southern Tier, Greenflash, Great Divide, Maui and many more.
I must admit, I'm no fan of amber ales.
The reason I have it is because I managed to win a prize of 4 assorted beers from a raffle draw on the recent Nagano Trading December to Remember beer party.
I find it nicely made but again it's an amber ale and I don't care for the style.
It has a fair bit of life in it but I just don't like the caramelly taste and flavour. Its not my cup of tea.
I'm liking it less as I drink it but that is not the beer's fault - it's mine.
I can tell this is a good beer. A lot of carbonation and a fair bit of caramel in the flavour.
It's a lively, hoppy beer. A tad bit sour in the taste (yeast at work?). Astringently lemony grapefruit hop zested flavour on the tongue.
I prefer the Big Daddy IPA to this, but then again that is because I don't really like - yes, you've guessed it - amber ales.
Well, I tried it, as it was free.
I also have another amber ale in the assorted 4 pack (sigh).
The Ballast Point Callico Amber ale.
I'll give that one a go tomorrow, perhaps.
Right now, I've had enough amber ales for one night.
I must admit, I'm no fan of amber ales.The reason I have it is because I managed to win a prize of 4 assorted beers from a raffle draw on the recent Nagano Trading December to Remember beer party.
I find it nicely made but again it's an amber ale and I don't care for the style.
It has a fair bit of life in it but I just don't like the caramelly taste and flavour. Its not my cup of tea.
I'm liking it less as I drink it but that is not the beer's fault - it's mine.
I can tell this is a good beer. A lot of carbonation and a fair bit of caramel in the flavour.
It's a lively, hoppy beer. A tad bit sour in the taste (yeast at work?). Astringently lemony grapefruit hop zested flavour on the tongue.
I prefer the Big Daddy IPA to this, but then again that is because I don't really like - yes, you've guessed it - amber ales.
Well, I tried it, as it was free.
I also have another amber ale in the assorted 4 pack (sigh).
The Ballast Point Callico Amber ale.
I'll give that one a go tomorrow, perhaps.
Right now, I've had enough amber ales for one night.
Prohibition Amber Ale - 5/10
A bit too sour and I don't care for the style but not a badly made beer.
Hey, if you like ambers and aren't as 'beer racist' as I seem to be, you may well enjoy this!
A gassy, spritzy, zesty, light bodied, full of life amber ale.
Hey, if you like ambers and aren't as 'beer racist' as I seem to be, you may well enjoy this!
A gassy, spritzy, zesty, light bodied, full of life amber ale.
Nagano Sake Village - where the h*ll is it?
It's not in Nagano, that's for sure.
Although if you drink there and get REAL drunk, you may think for a second that you are.
It's actually at Shimbashi, Tokyo and quite close to the station.
View Craft Beer Bars in Tokyo & Yokohama in a larger map
Take the Shiodome Exit.
You should see a large square with a pedestrian overpass and underpass.
You'll also see the Shimbashi Eki No Mae Building, at the other side of the square:
Exit from the Shiodome exit and go across the square, to the Shimbashi Eki no Mae building. It's just across the street.
It's in there, first floor.
Just keep walking around until you find it.
It's a small place.
This is what it looks like:
The place is a standing bar/shop that sells Nagano products (mainly alcohol and some snacks from small jars). The place will accomodate about 15 or so people.
2 men staff the place and they've always given me great service. They don't really speak English, so have patience.
This is the view of the are inside the main window (bear in mind that this equals about half the entire place!):
As you can see, there are no tables and chairs (not any more!) but there are small standing tables that will accomodate a few bottles, glasses or small dishes:
As you can see, they stock Shiga Kogen beer.
They also have Yaho beer (yona yaon, ooni, etc), Minami Shinshu beer, Shinshu beer and Oh!La!Ho! beer, as well as LOADS of sake!
The prices match retail prices! That's fantastic.
If you are there, I highly recommend getting one or more of their small appetizer dishes.
They get them from the various jars, on display in the store.
They cost from around 150yen so are very reasonably priced. My favourite is the ninniku gyouza (garlic segments prepared in a special way and are delicious!)
Also try the sake selection. The staff can assist you in choosing the sake best suited for you.
You can do what I did and ask for a variety.
This is one place where 'hush hush' you can get dogoroko, or the locally made 'illegal' strong sake.
Watch out, though, a friend had some of this and soon after took out some of the furniture in splendid fashion!
When you are there, you may meet up with one or more of the salary men who frequent the place.
You may even be treated to a drunen song! This is aplce for slarymen and also to meet and make friends with interesting Japanese. I've always had good experiences here. Just be courteous to others and they will do the same to you.
I highly recommend trying the sake, as well as the great craft beer.
A great experience and chance to learn and experience something really Japanese!
Here is a strange angle, looking to the back end of the store. Shiga Kogen porter is delicious and bargain at 380yen!
Closed Sundays, National Holidays, 2nd 3rd Saturdays.
Although if you drink there and get REAL drunk, you may think for a second that you are.
It's actually at Shimbashi, Tokyo and quite close to the station.
View Craft Beer Bars in Tokyo & Yokohama in a larger map
Take the Shiodome Exit.You should see a large square with a pedestrian overpass and underpass.
You'll also see the Shimbashi Eki No Mae Building, at the other side of the square:
Exit from the Shiodome exit and go across the square, to the Shimbashi Eki no Mae building. It's just across the street.It's in there, first floor.
Just keep walking around until you find it.It's a small place.
This is what it looks like:
The place is a standing bar/shop that sells Nagano products (mainly alcohol and some snacks from small jars). The place will accomodate about 15 or so people.2 men staff the place and they've always given me great service. They don't really speak English, so have patience.
This is the view of the are inside the main window (bear in mind that this equals about half the entire place!):
As you can see, there are no tables and chairs (not any more!) but there are small standing tables that will accomodate a few bottles, glasses or small dishes:
As you can see, they stock Shiga Kogen beer.They also have Yaho beer (yona yaon, ooni, etc), Minami Shinshu beer, Shinshu beer and Oh!La!Ho! beer, as well as LOADS of sake!
The prices match retail prices! That's fantastic.
If you are there, I highly recommend getting one or more of their small appetizer dishes.They get them from the various jars, on display in the store.
They cost from around 150yen so are very reasonably priced. My favourite is the ninniku gyouza (garlic segments prepared in a special way and are delicious!)
Also try the sake selection. The staff can assist you in choosing the sake best suited for you.You can do what I did and ask for a variety.
This is one place where 'hush hush' you can get dogoroko, or the locally made 'illegal' strong sake.
Watch out, though, a friend had some of this and soon after took out some of the furniture in splendid fashion!
When you are there, you may meet up with one or more of the salary men who frequent the place.You may even be treated to a drunen song! This is aplce for slarymen and also to meet and make friends with interesting Japanese. I've always had good experiences here. Just be courteous to others and they will do the same to you.
I highly recommend trying the sake, as well as the great craft beer.
A great experience and chance to learn and experience something really Japanese!
Here is a strange angle, looking to the back end of the store. Shiga Kogen porter is delicious and bargain at 380yen!
Nagano Sake Village museum and Store: 7-8/10
Just magic, every time.
Closed Sundays, National Holidays, 2nd 3rd Saturdays.
p.s. Watch out for the racoon with the big testicles:
That one's for you, HopJuice!
That one's for you, HopJuice!Saturday, 12 December 2009
Monday, 7 December 2009
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.
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..."
Unfortunately, the tradition of being granted a birthday kiss didn't go down so well amongst one of the trio:
"Argh! Get off!!!!"
This one says bit too much:
"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 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!
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.
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!
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