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.