Hitachino Espresso Stout

Japan is known for hyper-violent animated porn and genuinely shitty beer.  Very much a land of contradictions.  A friend of mine had a chance to drink his way through a number of craft breweries in Tokyo recently, and assures me that the Japanese are both excellent brewers and world class drinkers.  So, here I sit with an espresso stout from Ibaraki, Japan.  I wonder how it will go.

Hitachino Nest Espresso Stout from Kiuchi Brewery in Ibaraki, Japan.  Mostly dark with minimal head.  11.2 oz bottle.  7% ABV.  There is a psychedelic owl on the label.

The first sip did not go well.  Sure, plenty of solid coffee.  Mucho malty, too.  But thin!  Why did they make it thin?  The obnoxious pricks I aspire to drink like would refer to this thinness as "mouth feel".  They might say that this has wimpy mouth feel.  Because it does.  A bevy of really solid flavors fall sadly flat and seem watered down.  Right now, I am just so upset with Japan that I need a drink.  As luck would have it, I've got a beer right here, and it seems to be helping.  Isn't that strange?  Maybe that acid-trip owl has managed to blend such solid flavors with so decent an ABV, that my standards are being simultaneously lowered and raised.  I feel cheap and used, and I'm strangely comfortable with that.

By glass two, I am drinking coffee that had a beer dipped in it.  This is a good thing.  I like coffee.  I like beer, too.  Suddenly, I'm happy.  Suddenly, I think my friend may have been telling the truth about beer in Japan.  Perhaps they are on to something over there.  Buuuuuut, I wish they would put more oomph into it.  There are those contradictions again.  A great tasting beer that wants to deliver (really really wants to) but is practically designed fall short.

I like this beer.  At some point, I'm sure I'll try many other beers from this brewery.  It really is a shame, though.  The "almost there" factor is so noticeable and unavoidable.  You know how if your ear itches, you could be having the time of your life, but it will be the time of your life with an itchy ear?  It's like that.  I want to move past that thinness and just enjoy the deliciousness, but I can't.  I must take the good with the blah.  Still, there is far more good than blah.  I say you should try this beer, but take it with a grain of salt.