Last Saturday, I went to Qbrick's 8th Anniversary party!
First, here's a bit of background about the bar: Qbrick is one of the oldest craft beer bars in Osaka and still one of the best. They have 16 taps that change often and a good three fridges in the back stuffed full of high quality bottled beer.
The prices are about average for Osaka and there is no cover charge during events since I have never paid one(I've heard it is 300 yen otherwise), it is also no smoking which is great. I've been there twice for special events and it is always full of friendly beer lovers willing to chat about beer. The service is good & the staff know their beer. A must visit as part of any trip to Kansai for a beer lover, you can also easily visit Beer Belly, Dolphins and Yellow Ape nearby!
Now onto talk of the party! They had a bunch of different payment options. 500 yen for a half pint, 1000 yen for a UK pint, 3500 yen for 8 half-pint tickets & 4000 yen for an all-you-can-drink 3 hour block. All very reasonable. I chose to stick with pay-as-you-go half-pints as that way I can try many beers, avoid getting too drunk & I also had to work the next day.
I started off with a Nelson Single Hop from Baeren. It is made with Nelson Sauvignon which gave it a bit of a white grape aroma but flavorwise it was a bit more average. Bitter start, fruit in the middle and a rough ending like a grolsch. An ok beer.
After that, Kyoto Lefty recommended I try Aqula's Citra Brown which was my favorite Japanese craft beer of the night. It poured a ruby brown with a beige head. The aroma was mild citra hops and the flavor was a nice bready malt with hints of biscuit. It was perfectly balanced with a clean crisp bitter finish. An excellent session beer! Which is probably why it was one of the first taps to run out...
By this point I was getting hungry, so I decided to order some teppanyaki.
I had the pork belly which tasted fantastic! Plus just 500 yen.
For the event they set up some tents in front of Qbrick, it's nice drinking outside sometimes.
Around this point in the night, a bunch of the local English speaking beer community was turning up.
Kyoto Lefty worked his magic and pulled a bottle of Hillstead Farms Vera Mae out of his bag and lots of shouts of astonishment & joy were heard!
As Kyoto Lefty's a generous guy he shared out the bottle and I was able to snag a taste! It poured a beautiful gold with an eggshell white head of foam. The aroma was similar to white wine I thought. The flavor was very tart but delicious, an excellent beer which blew all the beer geeks away!
Next up someone shared a bottle of Stone's Smoked & Oaked Old Guardian. I had a bit of this at Devil Craft up in Tokyo but on tap and had not been so impressed. Possibly it was served too cold or a keg didn't keep the oak aroma so well. From a bottle I found it much smokier with a nice malt character and some whiskey notes. Quite good and I may try and pick up a bottle to cellar a bit...
My last beer of the night was Ise Kadoya's Dekopon Ale which was an amber gold with a fruity aroma. The flavor was malty with tons of lemon. Lots of citrus! I enjoyed it quite a bit at first but soon the lemon became a bit much. Worth trying but one of those beers where all you want is a half-pint.
All in all, the party was great with lots of beer, great prices, nice food and lots of talking about beer! Plus I got to practice my Japanese, try good local beer and have a taste of bottles people brought to share. What a great night!
Closest Station: Higobashi
Hours: 5pm-midnight (occasionally open for lunch, usually on weekends)
http://osaka.townclip.com/shop/qbrick
tabelog:
http://tabelog.com/osaka/A2701/A270102/27015812/
Qbrickのブログ
『（新）Qbrickの営業日記』
http://d.hatena.ne.jp/Qbrick/
facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/pages/world-beer-cafe-Qbrick/121391324609760
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