Maui Brewing event at Devilcraft

Last night, I popped by the excellent Devilcraft  bar in Kanda. They were having their very special Maui Brewing event. 

Maui Brewing of course hails from the Island of Maui, in gorgeous Hawaii. For last night (Saturday) and tongiht only, they are offering about 12 very special craft beers from Maui Brewing. Most, if not all of these have never been in Japan before, so this quite an opportunity to taste the best Hawaii has to offer.

Today (Sunday)'s beer list:

01.		Maui Island Hopped Red
02.	NEW!	Maui Big Swell IPA
03.		Maui Black Rock Ale
04.		Maui CoCoNut PorteR
05.		Maui Imperial CoCoNut PorTeR
06.		Maui Shipwreck'd Stout
07.		Maui Smoked Hemp
08.		Maui Old Chinwig
09.		Maui Ginger Sason
10.		Maui Wheat Wine
11.		Maui Mana Wheat
12.		Maui Bikini Blonde

After  a short 2 minute walk from Kanda Station (south exit, JR), I arrived and noticed a few friendly faces already at the bar. 

Some of you who regularly hit the craft bars in Tokyo and Yokohama might already recognize 'Irish' Neil on the right and that's Jesse next to him, a very good homebrewer and cool dude - he surfs and brews, so those are two most excellent qualifications!


They are ALSO holding a special offer, for this event. Buy a stamp card for 5,000yen and get 5 pints PLUS a free pint glass to take home (provided they still have some -limited to about 25 or so pint glasses per night).
This is a very good offer, seeing as some of these beers are high strength and normal cost is up to 1200yen a pint.
Not only that, hand in the completed card and you go into a raffle for more Maui prizes. It's a no brainer, really. You can use the card for both days but I knew that was never going to happen.

 My first beer for the night was the Island hopper red, an American red ale.

Island hopper red.

The beer looks good. a nice roasty red color with a decent thick foamy off white head.
Nice aroma, good fruity American hops and a hint of caramel, Just right.
Good hoppy fruity flavor, giving hints of mangoes, pineapple, pine, grapefruits & nice caramel from the crystal malts blending in with it but the body was just so light and thin. Half way through it kind of felt like I was drinking flavoured water, it was so weird. I think this is their 'style' and it could just be I'm used to beers with a bit more body to them. Not a bad pint.

5.5-6/10

My second beer for the evening was the Black Rock black IPA. 

Black Rock BIPA

This Black IPA was a nice one. Nothing full on, gentle toasted flavor in there that reminded you it was a black IPA (using black or highly roasted malts to get the color and a little depth of flavor, without adding too much body to the beer) but otherwise felt like a nice hoppy pale or again a light bodied, drinkable IPA, going down. Still a bit thin bodied and light tasting but the speciality dark malts helped add a bit of character to it.

6.5/10

Right, third up and this one was the Shipwreck Stout.

Shipwreck oatmeal stout (with Mike, Jason & John)

The stout was an oatmeal stout (I think it was labelled as one). Smelled lovely! Nice roasty aroma with cream/tan head. Decent roast flavours mixed with cocoa and dark chocolate in here. Again a bit on the thin side, body wise, going with expectations. Don't mean to be unfair to Maui as they clearly seem to be designing their beers to be like this. Perhaps they think it suits the island way more to have thin bodied beers? I picked up a hint of coconut in this one. As John mentioned, it could be from the oats or possibly maize or other grains that might be used in here. Still not a bad, if a light oatmeal stout.

6.5-7/10

Only two spaces left on my card. Nuts. time to go large.

Next up and number four was the Imperial coconut Porter.

Imperial coconut porter

The imperial coconut porter was pretty nice. Bit of high alcohol flavours in here but thankfully less coconut than the normal coconut porter. 

A LOT of people love the coconut porter but I'm not such a big fan of huge flavours in my beer - I mean coconuts, bourbon, oak etc.

This beer certainly has more presence  and 'weight' in the body, thanks to the coconut and dark malts.

You can taste the cocoa in here. The beer uses "cocoa nibs, blended with the toasted coconut during the maturation process to intensify the aroma of coconut and dark chocolate" and you just about notice.

Quite a nice pint and one to take your time with. Let it warm up and appreciate the aromas and flavours as they are released.

7/10

Damn. Just one space left.
Luckily, I'd been granted a taste of Jesse's beer when I arrived and knew what it was that I wanted.

Maui Brewing Old Chinwig

Left: Imperial Coconut Porter, Right: Old Chinwig strong ale


The English styled Strong ale/ winter warmer needed a long time to warm up properly but for a strong ale up in the 8% area, it was very drinkable. Again thinner than you'd expect but quite nicely put together. Try her when first served, then let her warm and you'll notice the toffee notes increasing in the flavor. Nicely made. Again a little thin but this beer doesn't seem to mind. I enoyed this one.
7.5/10


All in all, a very well laid out event and some very nice beers. These beers are RARE and might not be available in Japan again so I certainly recommend you go to this event. Thank you,  Devilcraft for organsing this. 


Looking forward to the next event!


While you are in Devilcraft you definitely should take advantage of their kick ass pizza menu:

Gorgeous looking Hawaiian ham and pineapple pizza! Mmm!

This is the normal Chicago style pizza. Unfortunately, my 'friend' Tim Maloney covered the otherwsie beautiful little thing in chilli powder:

Do you have enough chilli on there, Tim? Bloody hell!

Go check out the Maui beers at Devilcraft today!
Kanda, South Exit. Directions here.

p.s. if you are interested in trying some production Maui beers (these may not be from the brewpub), you can find them in some craft stores, like Sugaya and Tanakaya or you can buy them here. They aren't that cheap though.

Few events this week/next week

I'll try to update this post as I find out about more events, leading up to Christmas.

So far, off the top of my alcoholic brain damaged head...

FRIDAY (today!): A few people are joinging in on a Tokyo Beer Meet Up pub crawl in Yokohama, starting from Thrash Zone at 6:30. Just bring 200yen for the organiser, Marco and come and join in and enjoy the fun. His Beer Meet Up group is fun and has regular meet ups at Craft Beer bars across Yokyo/Yokohama. Yokohama is a great place to pub crawl, too.
Note the new location for Thrash Zone, over the other side of the road, away from the station and close to the Lawson (just past it and to the right, walking from the station).

SATURDAY & SUNDAY: Devilcraft will be having a very special Maui brewing event featuring of some very special Maui brewing beers (many which are coming to Japan for the first time and some are quite special indeed). This is fast becoming a very cool place to hang out at and drink a great selection of Japanese and imported craft beer in great condition. They also have kick ass Chicago style pizza. On Sat/Sun, for the Maui event, they are having a special offer each day, 5,000yen gets you 5 pints PLUS the first 24 customers get a free Maui glass. Plus if you finish the card, there's a chance to win prizes in a special raffle, later on.

The event is from 3-11pm Sat, 12-9pm Sun and reservations are recommended (those tables might go fast but they do have a few floors!). you might see me at the bar, early(ish) on Sat.

SUNDAY: The grand opening of Good Beer Faucets, in Shibuya. 40 plus taps, 3 hand pumps, lots of Japanese and imported craft plus guaranteed to have great food, seeing as Dede Brim is overseeing things. See you there! Open from 5pm.

MONDAY: A new craft beer pub wil open. Yes, another one! This one is the brainchild of a certain green mohican haired bagpipe player. If you've been to Aoki san's Real Ale Festivals, then you know who I mean!

The guy loves Brewdog and has stated that he wants to open his own bar in Japan and serve Brewdog beer - well, he's done it.

The Royal Scotsman is open for business in Shunjuku from Monday. Reportedly they'll have at least 4 taps of craft (plus Guinness!), featuring Brewdog of Sctoland, Preston of Japan and others and 3 whisky kegs! Yes, the guys love whisky too. I'll check the place out early on and report back.

Opening hours are Tue - Sat:15:00-03:00 & Sun:15:00-00:00. Normally closed on Mondays.

Thrash Zone is Dead. Long live Thrash Zone!

Yes, the Thrash Zone as we knew and loved it is no more.

However, despair not, fellow hop head metal freak nuts bananas bonkers boozers!

There is a new Thrash zone.

It opened yesterday, December 1st.

It's bigger, longer, wider, harder. Satisfaction guaranteed.

I was surfing the web when I noticed my good friend Captain Tugwash had posted a pic of the place.

Well, then I just had to rush on down there, at 11pm and check it out myself!

Here are a few pics of the place:

The front, as you enter thru a small glass sliding door (easy to walk straight past it!)

As you can tell, the place is a lot bigger. Two t three times bigger. It's also wider, meaning you can go from front to back of the bar easy(er!).

He has 7 taps right now, with the option and space to add a lot more later on. The place is still undergoing construction and will just get better but right now, with the smell of fresh paint, big screen TVs resting on the floor, just a few taps and a load of happy metal freaking craft beer drinking lunatics, it's already started off in a great way.

Be prepared for a whole new Thrash Zone that still retains the essence of the old but brings in the extra oomph of the new!

It certainly offers something different from the other craft beer bars. Loud music, energetic regulars and always a warm welcome. This could be another classic craft beer bar.

I think this pic matches the atmosphere in there:

Gotta luv it.

The beer qulaity is very, very good.

Very friendly place. Don't be put off by the Thrash metal connections, everyone is friendly here.

Their main bar is a great long front bar. It goes on like one of those long bars that feature in Western movies. I just want to slide my pint down to the end...

Koichi san does a great job as usual in pouring the perfect pint.

Here is an example of the Thrash Zone pint. Almost no head. Filled to the brim.

Fantastic.

The bar also bends around to the right, at the far end. This offers up more bar space and leads to the toilets. Great bar.

Definitely recommended. They are still adding to the beer and it is nowhere near finished but go there and grab a pint and savour the atmosphere.

Map is here, on the website.

Thrash Zone

Click on the link at the centre of the box.

It's located right opposite the Lawsons, the other side from the main road. Look for the first floor glass sliding door and the small Thrash zone sign.

Sorry, that's all the info for now. Late for boozing! Will write more when I have time. Rock on!

New posts on the way!!

Got lots to do.

Hope to post more stuff about events, beers I'm tasting at home, Beers I'm making at home and lots of other... ...stuff.

Will be getting off my ever fatter arse and will start posting soon.

It's been a while..again

Many of you may know about the terrible devastation the earthquake and tsunami put on Northern Japan recently. The after effects are on going. People are without food or shelter.
The nuclear situation is also ongoing.

Many people have left Tokyo in fear of possible radiation and constant after shocks.

Me, I'll be leaving Tokyo soon, but for a different reason.
Beer.
Lots and lots of beer.
LOTS of beer.

It's actually got me concerned.

I'm leaving Japan in about 9 hours.
I'll first fly to Seattle.
1 day there. I'm aiming at hitting most of the best bars and breweries, if I can!
Then it's train to Portland and meeting up with Red, a friend who visits Japan regularly and likes his booze himself!
We'll be hitting most of the best spots on Portland!
Then it's fly to San Francisco and hit the Craft Brewers' conference!
I got in!
As a member of the press!!
I'll be covering the conference on behalf of the Japan Beer times.
I just gotta make sure I pay attention and not get shitfaced - too much.
I'll be hopefully attending the more technical lectures on brewing and brewing techniques.
I'll do my best to take some good pics and do a decent write up fo the conference.

This is a last chance shout out to you guys to give me any questions you'd like to ask anyone at the conference.
I'm hoping I'll meet Charlie Parmesan or Jamil the ZanyChef.

Looking forward to some kick ass beer and some really interesting people.
I'll be back in about 2 weeks.
Okay, gimme your questions!
I 'll try my best to get them answered.