Drink & Dissect: Suntory Craft Select Imperial Stout

Many people have ranted about the Suntory Craft Select series being basically lobotomized versions of the styles they claim to represent. This has especially been the case with their latest offering: 

Suntory Craft Select Imperial Stout

A lot of this stems from the fact it is a measly 6%, so I decided to kick off a new series called Drink & Dissect where I'll analyze a beer side by side with it's BJCP definition.

Let's look at the BJCP definition of an Imperial Stout and break this beer down:

History: Brewed to high gravity and hopping level in England for export to the Baltic States and Russia. Said to be popular with the Russian Imperial Court. Today is even more popular with American craft brewers, who have extended the style with unique American characteristics.

OK so far. Nothing conflicting there.  

History: Well-modified pale malt, with generous quantities of roasted malts and/or grain. May have a complex grain bill using virtually any variety of malt. Any type of hops may be used. Alkaline water balances the abundance of acidic roasted grain in the grist. American or English ale yeast. 

It appears any hops and malts are fine so I guess Suntory remains in the clear.

Vital Statistics:	OG: 1.075 – 1.115
IBUs: 50 – 90	FG: 1.018 – 1.030
SRM: 30 – 40	ABV: 8 – 12%

Now things are getting tricky, 6% is somewhat below the cut off for an Imperial Stout. Even if we go by Imperial simply meaning a ramped up version of a regular Stout the average Suntory beer is 5% so 6% isn't much of a boost and is lower than other past Suntory beers.

Appearance: Color may range from very dark reddish-brown to jet black. Opaque. Deep tan to dark brown head. Generally has a well-formed head, although head retention may be low to moderate. High alcohol and viscosity may be visible in “legs” when beer is swirled in a glass.

Let's take a look, to give this beer it's best chance to impress I decided to use my Spigelau Stout Glass. The color is I'd say on the very dark reddish-brown end of the spectrum, the head is a light beige and it is not opaque. 

The head retention is moderate with it slowly dissipating and leaving some spotty lacing behind. So in terms of the appearance the color is right but it isn't opaque enough while the head is too light in color but has decent head retention/lacing. So 1.5 out of 3 points covered.

Aroma: Rich and complex, with variable amounts of roasted grains, maltiness, fruity esters, hops, and alcohol. The roasted malt character can take on coffee, dark chocolate, or slightly burnt tones and can be light to moderately strong. The malt aroma can be subtle to rich and barleywine-like, depending on the gravity and grain bill. May optionally show a slight specialty malt character (e.g., caramel), but this should only add complexity and not dominate. Fruity esters may be low to moderately strong, and may take on a complex, dark fruit (e.g., plums, prunes, raisins) character. Hop aroma can be very low to quite aggressive, and may contain any hop variety. An alcohol character may be present, but shouldn’t be sharp, hot or solventy. Aged versions may have a slight vinous or port-like quality, but shouldn’t be sour. No diacetyl. The balance can vary with any of the aroma elements taking center stage. Not all possible aromas described need be present; many interpretations are possible. Aging affects the intensity, balance and smoothness of aromatics.

Wow, that is quite an amazing description! The aroma from Suntory's Imperial Stout is most definitely not rich & complex. It has more of a sweet sugary fruitiness. I can see that the fruitiness has a plum like character to it which falls into the style description for fruity esters.

Malt character would be on the subtle side, it's hard to pick out. I could get hints of burnt toast, a smidge of roastiness, a whiff of chocolate but really fruitiness dominates the aroma. Not really what I'm looking for in a purported Imperial Stout and more than the moderately strong from the BJCP guidelines but does match the prominent Fruity Aroma written on the can "フルーティーな香り".

The hop aroma is very low to non-existent but this doesn't conflict with the style guidelines. There's no alcohol character which at 6% I wouldn't expect and thankfully this beer is free of the dreaded diacetyl.

So in this case I'd say it is a miss in terms of the aroma, the things you'd expect in a stout are there but they are not there in the right proportions. 

If you go strictly by the guidelines however I guess it could be considered acceptable "The balance can vary with any of the aroma elements taking center stage. Not all possible aromas described need be present; many interpretations are possible."

Mouthfeel: Full to very full-bodied and chewy, with a velvety, luscious texture (although the body may decline with long conditioning). Gentle smooth warmth from alcohol should be present and noticeable. Should not be syrupy and under-attenuated. Carbonation may be low to moderate, depending on age and conditioning.

This beer has a medium to light body that verges on watery, nah screw it - it is watery. Carbonation is low, there's no smooth warmth from the alcohol, the texture isn't velvety or luscious and it's not chewy. According to the guidelines in this category Suntory Craft Select Imperial Stout fails on every point.

Flavor: Rich, deep, complex and frequently quite intense, with variable amounts of roasted malt/grains, maltiness, fruity esters, hop bitterness and flavor, and alcohol. Medium to aggressively high bitterness. Medium-low to high hop flavor (any variety). Moderate to aggressively high roasted malt/grain flavors can suggest bittersweet or unsweetened chocolate, cocoa, and/or strong coffee. A slightly burnt grain, burnt currant or tarry character may be evident. Fruity esters may be low to intense, and can take on a dark fruit character (raisins, plums, or prunes). Malt backbone can be balanced and supportive to rich and barleywine-like, and may optionally show some supporting caramel, bready or toasty flavors. Alcohol strength should be evident, but not hot, sharp, or solventy. No diacetyl. The palate and finish can vary from relatively dry to moderately sweet, usually with some lingering roastiness, hop bitterness and warming character. The balance and intensity of flavors can be affected by aging, with some flavors becoming more subdued over time and some aged, vinous or port-like qualities developing.

Again this big bold style has a massive description. This beer's flavor isn't rich, complex, deep or intense - it is roasty with a medium bitterness that seems to derive from the malts rather than any hops. I can see some of the roastiness suggesting bittersweet chocolate but there's no coffee, no alcohol, no diacetyl (yay!) but it's got some burnt and fruit notes. 

The finish is moderately sweet and does have lingering roastiness. I'd say Suntory hit about half the points they should have in terms of flavor.

Overall Impression: An intensely flavored, big, dark ale. Roasty, fruity, and bittersweet, with a noticeable alcohol presence. Dark fruit flavors meld with roasty, burnt, or almost tar-like sensations. Like a black barleywine with every dimension of flavor coming into play.

Looking at this category Suntory didn't do too bad: it is roasty, fruity & bittersweet with dark fruit notes. However, anything to do with the Imperial monicker is lacking: no intensity, no tar-like sensation, no alcohol presence and definitely no comparison can be made to a barleywine from this subdued six-percenter.

Comments: Variations exist, with English and American interpretations (predictably, the American versions have more bitterness, roasted character, and finishing hops, while the English varieties reflect a more complex specialty malt character and a more forward ester profile). The wide range of allowable characteristics allow for maximum brewer creativity.

Well I'd guess this would be a Japanese Macro-Brewery variation and while it is tasty enough it is underwhelming to those expecting an Imperial Stout anything like the suggested examples below.

Commercial Examples: Three Floyd’s Dark Lord, Bell’s Expedition Stout, North Coast Old Rasputin Imperial Stout, Stone Imperial Stout, Samuel Smith Imperial Stout, Scotch Irish Tsarina Katarina Imperial Stout, Thirsty Dog Siberian Night, Deschutes The Abyss, Great Divide Yeti, Southampton Russian Imperial Stout, Rogue Imperial Stout, Bear Republic Big Bear Black Stout, Great Lakes Blackout Stout, Avery The Czar, Founders Imperial Stout, Victory Storm King, Brooklyn Black Chocolate Stout

My main takeaway from this Drink & Dissect experiment is that Suntory Craft Select's Imperial Stout doesn't qualify as an Imperial Stout according to the BJCP guidelines. While some of the necessary qualities are there the low ABV and weak mouthfeel means it should be more properly be a English Porter or possibly an Irish Stout. I'd say it can compare favorably to a Guinness which may be what they were going for. If they'd labeled it a Stout or Porter than there would have been fewer beer geeks in Japan scratching their heads and saying WTF?!?!?!?!!!

All this being said get ready for two new beer releases on December 15th, 2015 in what I assuming is a commercially successful series: IPA and Amber Ale.

For further reading on the Imperial Stout, check out this article from All About Beer here.

Fish Tale Brewing

Fish Tale is a brewery from Olympia, Washington that has recently begun distribution in Japan via Ezo Beer. There seem to be three main series: a Hobbit/Lord of the Rings series, an Organic Series and the regular series. I got a few to try from the regular and Organic series and was lucky enough to have a friend share one of the Hobbit beers as well.

I started off with the Regular series which have cool cartoon like labels and are priced right around 500 yen which is quite reasonable.

Beyond The Pale - Pale Ale 5% 

Less than 500 yen on Rakuten. It pours a cloudy orange-gold with a light beige head. The aroma is classic West Coast hops - pine & fruit - with a good sweet malty base. Medium bodied with a raspy carbonation. The taste is bitter pine, spicy and fruity. A solid pale ale and I loved the label which just screams summer to me.

I then had the Smaug Stout shared by my buddy. The bombers in this series ran closer to the 1500-1800 yen range due to premium for the movie tie-in I guess. This meant I was very happy to get to try it due to a generous soul!

Hobbit: Smaug Stout 8%

A roasty, unami & dark fruits (raisin+plums) plus chocolate syrup. Medium bodied with a soft mouthfeel. The taste is coffee, roasty, earthy with some chili pepper burn. Really nice. As it warmed up it definitely improved by coming together and melding into a more balanced whole.

Finally, I decided to try their two IPAs side-by-side as I honestly wondered if there was a difference between with the Organic IPA and the Hodgson’s Bitter End IPA.

First up, Organic India Pale Ale 6.5%

The psychedelic hippy label on this doesn't really do it for me but it is a classic IPA copper gold with a solid light beige head of dense foam. The hop bouquet is citrus (lemon, candied grapefruit) & prickly pine that has a very robust malt sweetness supporting it. 

Similar mouthfeel in both beers with a soft round carbonation though the body is medium to light as opposed to the fuller Hodgson's body.

It's got a more balanced flavor profile that features more fruitiness and malt than the Hodgson's and that is a definite plus for me. The finish is a nice little bitter hop kick with a pine & mint bite. I enjoyed this one.

Hodgson's Bitter End IPA 6.5%

The label makes this more attractive right off the bat which is why I've seen the regular series in more shops I believe. I would say it pours a slightly deeper copper gold than the Organic IPA and is a bit more opaque.

The aroma is maltier, fruitier with less of a bitting hop bitterness to it - definitely less pine notes. Medium to full bodied with a soft round carbonation makes for a pleasant mouthfeel.

Wow, this is bitter. The malts provide sweetness but I don't get any fruity hop character, it's like licking a pine cone or what I imagine drinking pine sap tea would be like. Decent malt kick in the finish. I get more of a pale ale than IPA feel from it but it's an old school pine bomb - if you enjoy that kind of thing you'll like this.

I'd say that these are definitely different beers but subtly so and overall I prefer the Organic IPA which is more my cup of tea. 

Final thoughts on Fish Tale in Japan:

A decent brewery at the right price.

Tuesday Tasting: Usami Brewery

I ordered a 4 beer Tameshi-kurabe Set(try & compare set) directly from the brewery and got it less than a week after placing my order.

It included 4 beers: an Alt, a Golden Ale, a Kölsch & a Stout.

Usami Brewery is from the Izu Peninsula in Shizuoka home of many breweries taking advantage of clean water and plentiful land. The best known brewery in the area is Baird Beer.

Donau Pale Lager 3.5%

It pours a light cloudy gold with a fizzy white quickly dissipating head of foam. The aroma is a green herbal/grassy hoppiness and a light pilsner malt character. The taste is really green hops, grassy and a flatbread breadiness from the malts. Light bodied but with an ultra-dry finish. A nice clean Japanese table beer.

Rhein Alt 5% 

It pours a very clear reddish-brown with minimal beige foam. The aroma is malt-forward giving you notes of caramel & dried figs/dates. Chocolate, tart caramel, a bit of smoke. Light bodied but a fairly tasty beer though I feel that sour/tart flavor doesn't really seem appropriate for an alt. After awhile that sourness fades and I get maple/tobacco notes. Pretty good.

Gold Kolsch 4.5%


Served in my kolsch glass at home, it impressed with it's vivid gold and thick dense head of foam that left big soapy lacing behind. The aroma is floral then a hayloft type of graininess with subtle hits of a tangy fruitiness around the edges. I was pleasantly surprised as I wasn't expecting all that much from this beer. 

Aqueously light bodied with a silky mouthfeel as the beer glides down my throat. The taste is extremely mild hop fruit notes but predominately the hops come through as herbal/spicy - light but deftly done. Sweet grainy breadiness like a dense loaf of good stuff with a semi-dry finish. Maybe after a long day I just needed a beer or something but this really hit the spot.

Usami Thames Stout 5%

I cracked out my stout glass for this one. It pours a deep brown with a thick beige head that alas leaves no lacing behind. The stout glass concentrates the aroma which gives me a bready cinnamon type yeastiness, sugar plums and chocolate buns. Not bad just not at all what I'd expect from a stout. Light bodied edging towards watery.

The taste is sweet roasty chocolate and light spiciness. This is an odd stout, call it a Christmas beer and you'd have a winner. It definitely grew on me as it warmed up but I'd like more body on a dark beer.

Surprisingly enough, not long after my order I took another look at their homepage and they'd added three more beers: Usami Golden Ale (which I believe is the same as the Gold/Kolsch), Curry Amber Ale (different from the Alt?) and a Saison. 

Judging from the fact that there had been only 4 entries on Ratebeer for this brewery for years and suddenly they're brewing new recipes I am guess they've decided to change directions and take brewing more seriously. If so, good for them and I wish them all the best. This was a decent little tasting set.

Hokkaido Craft Beer

I don't know why but Hokkaido craft beer is widely available around Japan. I guess it is the idea of Hokkaido as Japan's source of fresh & healthy food, especially Western food. 

This means many department stores have Hokkaido Fairs as do supermarkets. These events often include craft beer. This trend makes it fairly easy to stumble across small breweries from Hokkaido while going out and about shopping.

In this post I'll look at two of these breweries: Otaru Winery & Ishikari Banya.

First let's look at a few beers from Ishikari Banya which is located in a rural part of Hokkaido.

Ishikari Banya Gold Lager 5%

A brilliantly clear deep gold with a dense white head. The aroma is earthy green hop bitterness on a light bready Pilsner malt body - not my thing too earthy grolsch like.

Sharply carbonated on a med-light body with a crisp dry finish. The taste is much nicer than the aroma. Semi-sweet, a bit floral and quite bready. 

Overall, pretty good & it apparently won some prize in 2008 in the Pilsner category.

Ishikari Banya Red Ale 5%

This poured a surprisingly deep brown with a somewhat molasses looking color. It's got a rich malt forward aroma, plums/prunes, caramel fudge and some nuttiness.

Medium-light bodied with a scratchy carbonation. The taste is initially caramel with a bit of a hop bite, then fudge, sugar and a lingering brown sugar biscuit, cookie, molasses and some astringency. It's alright but the lager was nicer.

Otaru Winery is located in the picturesque town of Otaru about 30 minutes by train and it is also home to the beautiful canal house that is home to Otaru Beer that brew many nice quality german style beers. 

Weizen 5% 

A pale opaque gold with a semi-soapy head and a sweet sulfury eggy-cloves aroma. The taste is bready, candyish, cloves with a prickly carbonation. The aroma underwhelms but the taste satisfies.

Helles 5%

Served in my footed Pilsner glass it pours a nice looking light gold with a fizzy fast-dissipating white head of foam. The aroma is very bready & sweet with a flour like character to it. Light body with a bright crisp finish. The taste is really good - bready light malts, herbal noble hops. An amazingly clean tasting beer with clearly defined flavors. For a beer marked down to 360¥ where I wasn't expecting much it was a pleasant surprise.

Tuesday Tasting: Punk'in Drublic

From time to time I get my hands on a pair of beers that is just begging to be drunk side by side. This is one such pair:

Coronado made a pumpkin beer called Punk'in Drublic  which they then Barrel Aged. Both of these beauties made it to Japan where the regular retailed for 691 ¥ and the BA Variant went for a hefty 1944¥ for 375ml. Surprisingly, both are the same 8% ABV.

So this begs the question, is the barrel aging worth the premium price? Does it enhance the beer?

Let's start with the regular:

Coronado Punk'in Drublic 8%

Pouring a an orange-amber-brown that brings to mind a luscious barleywine.

The aroma is sweet pumpkin flesh, cinnamon & nutmeg - it smells very sweet and inviting.

Medium bodied with a slightly scratchy carbonation that announces to your tastebuds: beer is here.

The taste gives you a sweet hit that is reminiscent of molasses which I am guessing comes from the brown sugar & honey. Mixed in with that are cinnamon & nutmeg as well as nutty pumpkin flesh.

A solid all around pumpkin beer but I find the heat & ABV makes it a bit boozy. I preferred the Great Pumpkin as far as Imperial Pumpkin Ales go.

Coronado Collection Barrel-Aged Punk'in Drublic 8% 

It may be infinitesimally darker than the regular Punk'in Drublic but to my eye is virtually indistinguishable. It's the same orange-amber-brown. Nice looking. 

The aroma is oak, brandy & malt(or is that the honey/sugar?) sweetness. I don't get any of the pumpkin spicing you'd expect but I do get a plum-like character from the brandy. 

Medium bodied but the carbonation has smooth out somewhat making for a mildly more pleasant mouthfeel.

The taste remains boozy but it is complemented by oak, brandy, vanilla. That booziness fits a barrel-aged beer like a glove. After that you get sweetness, fruitiness and just hints of spicing in the finish. The barrel completely overpowered anything really pumpkin like.

It's a beautiful barrel-aged beer, very well balanced barrel character but it is a shame you don't really get anything pumpkin from it. 

As a beer I prefer the BA but as a pumpkin beer I prefer the regular Punk'in Drublic.

I'd buy the BA again but for a pumpkin beer is from Nagano Trading Co., Ltd I'd probably choose the New Belgium Pumpkick next time.

Breweries & Brewers in Paris

After Vietnam, I landed in Paris for a few days of exploration. My first stop was the Arc de Triomphe.

After that, I decided to walk down for a view of the Eiffel Tower to cement that "Yep, I am in France" feeling. While walking along Avenue Kléber I popped into Frog XVI. 

This is part of a chain that was in the first wave of craft beer in Paris. At this point they have a variety of locations in two styles:

1- The old style are large brewpubs with a sports bar vibe

2- The new style seem to be smaller burger & beer locations 

New style

I often stumbled across the new style pubs in tourist areas but didn't visit any of them.

Frog XVI had a friendly bartender who was happy to give me some small samples of the 6 brews they had on tap as well as a quick rundown on them. I think this was a benefit of visiting during the day. I doubt I'd have gotten such service on a busy night.

The beers were all fairly average but it made for a pleasant stop.

 A visit to the Eiffel Tower and a day of sightseeing followed interspersed with visits to beer spots:

Moustache Blanche

A La Biere Comme A La Biere

Cave a Bulles

Fine Mousse

Are all highly recommended, if you visit you'll have a great time.

Cave a Bulles

  

Moustache Blanche

A la Biere Comme A la Biere

Fine Mousse (bar)

The next day was Saturday so I headed out to visit the Deck & Donahue Brewery. When I got there I wasn't sure I was at the right place as it was a non-descript gray loading dock...

Deck & Donahue Brewery Entrance

At the brewery I met Mike Donahue who was on hand selling a selection of Deck & Donahue's beers. He was in the middle of handing out samples to customers but made time for us to chat about beer with him and other clients which was fun. It turns out he lived in Japan , Sapporo to be exact, for 5 years which was a funny coincidence to me. It is kind of amazing how many ex-Japan expats you find brewing beer around the world.

Seeing that many people were curious about how their beers were made he gave us a short brewery tour. He was a really friendly guy who often gave freebies to people stocking up on boxes of beer. The prices were great too with beers discounted for bulk buys - ex: 3 euros for one, 3 for 8 and 6 for 15 on 330ml. 

Mike giving a short tour

They've got a really solid range of beers, all tasted/smelled from good to great. Nothing really wowed me but for a brewery that is just a year old I think they’re doing really well and I expect they’ll wow me next time I'm around. All in all, it was a terrific brewery visit. I’m happy I made it out here.

growler station

Paname Brewing

I visited here after going to the really fun Trois 8/Demory Biergarten at the Marche de L'Ouen Flea Market. It was a nice walk through the less touristy parts of Paris that ended at a beautiful canal.

Paname Brewing has a beautiful canal side location with a great outdoor terrace from which to admire the zip line over the canal and other water madness. 

Friendly staff, no tasters but they were happy to hand out tiny samples of the 4 house beers currently on tap. Fantastic ambiance/location, good service but average beers. Great place to pass the time on a sunny Sunday on the terrace though... Most of this score is based on location/ambiance.