Tuesday Tasting: Harvest Hill Brewery - Harvest no Oka

Harvest no Oka, Harvest Hill in English, is one of those peculiarly Japanese kind of breweries. Scattered throughout the Land of the Rising Sun you'll find agricultural parks as tourist attractions many of which have their own small breweries on site.

Harvest no Oka is one such place located in the southern Osaka city of Sakai. As it's main focus is as a tourist attraction(see the animals, make pottery, ride the rides, etc.) where people, especially families, can come for a taste of the outdoors and farming life the beer is not a main priority for them. 

You won't really find them outside of Harvest no Oka except at local festivals like Namba's Craft Beer Live. That being said if you want to try their beer you can always do like me and order a 6 pack from their webstore for 2200 yen plus shipping.

the 3 varieties in the 6 pack

 This 6 pack includes 2 bottles of each of their main varieties of beer: a dunkel, a pilsner & a rye lager. Here are my reviews:

Harvest no Oka Pilsner (Suki ya Sakai)

5% served in the appropriate pilsner glass. It pours a straw gold with a thick fizzy white head - classic pils/lager look. It has a soft grassy nose followed by a sweet sugary graininess. I don't dig this beers general sweetness. 

Smooth almost slick mouthfeel. The taste is pretty good, the first thing is that sugary sweetness which is a turn off for me but it is followed by earthy lightly bitter hops, some mint & a solid but light cracker malt backbone. Crisp & refreshing, OK.


Harvest no Oka Munchner (Honma mon ya Sakai)


I served this 5% dunkel in a beer mug. It pours a reddish-copper with a thick foamy light beige head. Nice nutty notes, weak caramel & some grains almost to the point of being bready. 

Thin to medium bodied... somewhat watery. The taste is pretty good, roasty grains, nuttiness finishing on a smooth caramel before giving you a tangy sweet malt finish. 

It reveals a bit of nutty caramel in the aftertaste. I like this more than the pilsner, I think it's better balanced. Good aroma, nice taste but the light body is a hair too thin. Overall, a decent dunkel.

Harvest no Oka Rye Lager (Kodawari ya sakai)

Served in a pilsner glass, it poured gold with an orange tint to it & very opaque. A thick head of foam formed but it dissipated fast & left behind virtually zero lacing. Not too surprising as I've heard rye inhibits the formation & retention of heads of foam. 

A malty aroma rose from the glass composed of sweet grains with a slightly bready character to it plus some rye & a bit of fruitiness. It has a hint of sourness lurking in the back of the aroma. 

Light bodied the taste is sugary, lightly bitter with bready rye or cracker notes... I feel a certain sourdough vibe from this beer. Fruity in the finish, with just the slightest hint of cardboard in the finish/aftertaste. Quite crisp. I find this beer to be a bit too thin bodied & sweet for me but is generally within the style guidelines of the BJCP. An alright rye lager but for a better Japanese Rye Beer seek out the Baeren Rye seasonal.

If I had to rank these I'd probably go Munchner, Rye Lager then pilsner though the differences between the rye lager/pilsner is minimal... Definitely the dunkel was the most satisfying of the three though all were decent examples of their respective styles.