A Pint Half Full

Purchased from:
Gift!

ABV%:
7%

Type:
Ale

Color:
Pours a reddish tinge, almost like watermelon juice.  Cloudy with a pink hue and with a light head.

Aroma:
Smells of a little spice and alcohol, similar to sake, since they are both rice-based with some tang.  Some sweetness as well.

Taste:
Smooth going down, really clean finish and overall tastes 'light'.  Definitely has its roots in the rice as it tastes a bit like sake though obviously not as strong or concentrated as sake.  There is a slight bitterness from the hops used in the brewing process and a sweetness in the finish.  Refreshing but could have more umph.

Overall:
Many brewers use ingredients other than the core of water, malt, hops and yeast during the brewing process to add an additional depth of flavor to the beer.  These items, such as fruit (cranberry, lemon), coffee, or chocolate are used sometimes to great success and other times, they end up gimmicky.  For example, the use of lemon in Sam Adams Coastal Wheat ends up detracting from the beer itself and seems to be a gimmick as it just doesn't taste good.  Other times, such as Kona Brewing's Pipeline Porter, which is brewed with coffee, the extra ingredient can add an interesting flavor but not kill the beer drinking experience.

Kiuchi Brewing Co. adds an extra ingredient their Hitachino Red Rice Ale, namely red rice.  They combine this with the traditional ingredients of malt and hops to create this beer.  To break down the different sugars from the malt and rice, the brewery must also use different yeast to break it down: ale yeast for the malt and sake yeast for the rice.

Does this mash of alternative ingredients contribute to a superior beer?  Well, yes and no.  If you know what sake smells and tastes like, this beer definitely will remind you of its purer brother.  There are hints of the rice wine in both its texture, aroma and flavor.  Because 25% of the grain make-up is rice and then hops, the bitterness from the hops is quite mild while the sweetness of the rice and malt tend to be more at the forefront of the flavor profile.  The sake part of the beer contributes to the light flavor and as such, finishes very clean leaving a slight sweetness.

This is an interesting beer and I feel that it straddles the line between becoming gimmicky and truly creating a new flavor.  I found that I wished the flavors were more 'in your face' and bolder.  But this is a nice beer that does a good job of balancing the flavors from the use of rice in the  beer.

3.25/5