Hitachino Nest Japanese Classic Ale
Very iconic label, with the same iconic owl on the cap. I'd seen it a couple of times at the local craft beer purveyor, but only recently decided to pick it up. Pours with a hazy body, a lovely reddish golden colour, with a light but frothy head of shiny pale foam. Lacing is really excellent, although the retention in the head is poor. Still, I love the colour, it's a pretty good looking beer all up. Aged in cedar casks indeed. Huge cedar wood aromas on the nose, very prominent, which overpower everything, but which provide an unusual and delicious alternative to the regular spicy hops. I feel there is a mix of spicy, slightly piney hops in the mix, but it's hard to disassociate the two. Still, it's a pungent and quite memorable nose. Very enjoyable. More piney characters on the palate, and the cedar character permeates here again. You can taste the wood, but it's a very different character from the deep, vinous oak notes on oak-aged beers. Quite a long palate, spicy along its length, gaining some light phenols towards the back, and finishing rather dry. Bitterness is pronounced as the palate continues, leaving a very decent IPA-level sharpness on the aftertaste. Mouthfeel is crisp and sharp, a great match for the flavours. What an unusual beer, but a deeply enjoyable one. Crisp and rather refreshing. It's certainly not an IPA in the traditional sense as it's classified here, but I'd be hard pressed to find a better categorisation for it.