Rokko Beer Diner & Garden - Kobe

Kobe is home to Rokko Beer located on Mt. Rokko but since that's a bit inconvenient they opened a taproom in the city. It's located right near City Hall and Sannomiya station in the basement of an office building. It's called, Rokko Beer Garden.

As it’s underground there are no windows making the ambiance not that great. On the plus side, they have a nice happy hour with a glass of beer being just 390 yen (100 yen off) & they also have a 1000 yen horoyoi set which includes a beer & 3 snacks.

The service was ok but the staff really didn’t seem to know anything about beer. The menu didn’t list the ABV and when I asked he had to go check with someone in the kitchen. The selection is decent for Japan with 8 Rokko beers & the rest  Belgian or German beers. They have a tiny non-smoking section of 2 tables, the rest of the seating (50-60 seats) is all smoking. A surprisingly big place, too bad it is mostly smoking... All in all a decent place if you are in the area but not worth a special trip, I like that they are open for lunch and find their happy hour pretty good too. I tried their fries which were better than Rokko Beer Diner’s!

Rokko Beer Diner is Rokko's newer bar in Kobe located on the 3rd floor of a building across the street from Motomachi station.

 This gives Rokko Beer Diner, a lot more light and a feeling of openess which creates a much nicer atmosphere.

On weekends they have a nice lunch special which will get you a free drink(including beer!) with your meal, their beers are 400 yen till 4pm and from 4-7pm they have a really nice happy hour with 5-600 yen(depending on the beer) getting you a glass & a small bowl of fried chicken and chips! Their normal prices are 480 yen for a glass, 6-700 yen for a US pint and 9-1000 yen for a large.

Magazine article about their great happy hour

The menu here was much better too with lots of information about the beers including ABV, company name, country, etc.

They have 20 taps but when I was there only 16 were in use. The staff here were much more knowledgeable, friendlier & the beer selection much wider than Rokko Garden as they had the 8 Rokko beers, some American Craft beers, German & Belgian  beers.

On top of that I heard they had Italian craft beers on tap before too! From everything I’ve heard and my own visit, this is the best places for good beer in Kobe at the moment. Go check it out.

http://www.rokko-beer.com/

Rokko Beer Garden

兵庫県神戸市中央区三宮町 1-1-1 新神戸ビルB1（114銀行のビル）

Rokko Beer Diner

神戸市中央区元町通1丁目14－13

St-Feuillien & Green Flash Friendship Brew Tasting

So last Friday I went down to Osaka for a beer tasting I organized to compare the two black saisons which were brewed by St-Feuillien in Belgium & Green Flash in California. I also added St-Feuillien's Saison to act as a kind of baseline of what a saison should be like.

Ajen & I lucked out with the weather being a perfect (though incredibly hot) summer day. Thankfully, Nakanoshima park had a nice breeze going on so we were quickly able to get down to business.

from left to right Saison, St-Feuillien Black Saison & Green Flash Friendship Brew

I started with the regular St-Feuillien Saison which had a sweet golden ale kind of aroma, a clear gold color & a nice farmhouse flavor profile of spice, a hint of hay in the finish and a bit of bitterness in the aftertaste. A really refreshing beer that perfectly matched the hot summer weather. It is a great straight saison and available in Japan at a decent price to boot.

I moved onto the St-Feuillien Black Saison 6.5%, the aroma was fairly mild but had a hint of chocolate. The color was a really dark brown and the flavor was of roast coffee, chocolate with a mildly bitter finish. I didn't get so many saison type characteristics from it, just perhaps a hint of farmhouse flavors at the start which were then lost in the malty sweet body. Very smooth & very nice.

The final beer of this tasting was Green Flash's take on the Black Saison, their Friendship Brew at 5.7%. I heard from Dominique Friart last week that they followed the same recipe but they must have done more than use different equipment! These beers were quite different, I think that the hopping schedule at the least must have been different...

Green Flash's version was a bit darker in color than St-Feuillien's but had tons more aroma! An interesting peppery/spicy aroma wafted out of my glass. The flavor was pretty bitter & much more hop forward with some pine, pepper & spice notes.

We felt that in the St-Feuillien version the malts were the star of the show whereas Green Flash highlighted the hops. We preferred St-Feuillien Black Saison that night though Ajen had liked Green Flash more the first time he'd done this kind of tasting. 

Since they each such different feels we decided to blend them to see what would happen...

...success! Suddenly, the mouthfeel became creamier, the malts melted a bit into the background while the peppery flavor and aroma became more subdued. It seemed better balanced as a blend. Very drinkable. Truly a friendship that works well together!

To recap, all the beers we tried were quite good and well made. St-Feuillien stayed true to their roots with the malts shinning and Green Flash lived up to their reputation with a hoppy beer. I look forward to seeing what they do with their next collaboration an IPA.

Tadg's Birthday Party

So after work today, I headed to Tadg's for his birthday party. I got there a bit late but still managed to snag some of Ise Kadoya's very nice Galaxy IPA.











A little while later, the food started to flow and the friendly party guests were sharing beers.? I gave Tadg a few gifts as did many others which prompted him to say "I am being assaulted by gifts" which I think is a pretty nice way to be assaulted! I ran out of beer so I had the solid but average Ise Kadoya Bitter Ale...

As usual, the food at Tadg's was fantastic.

The man of the hour, Happy Birthday buddy!

As the party continued I contributed a bottle of Imper Ale the Imperial Russian Stout from Birra del Borgo to the general merriment.

After that, Mark popped open Sierra Nevada's 30th Anniversary Jack & Ken's Ale which was a very nice black barleywine. It had a fantastic chocolate aroma, lovely creamy mouthfeel, sweet chocolate, boozy but smooth taste with a bit of astringency in the aftertaste, excellent stuff.



The next amazing beer to come out of the woodwork was The Bruery's Black Tuesday a Bourbon Barrel Aged Imperial Stout.Wow! The aroma on this beer was a super boozy! The taste had coconut, vanilla to it which once I heard it was aged in bourbon barrels I could totally believe it. It definitely has a sipping bourbon kind of feel to it. It's a delicious beer, perfect for after dinner sipping as a digestive. I got a real winter cabin by the fireplace vibe, not really matching the 30C hot humid summer weather but it is a truly nice beer in small doses. Get a bottle & share with friends!

 

 A great time was had by all, good food, good people, great beers... what more could you ask for? You're a lucky man Tadg!