2021 has come & gone in a (covid disturbing) flash--pandemic or otherwise---geeks still seek out for nice taste in a beer or two--as usual this blog would always do a most memorable year list as conclusion to a year of beer sampling---to kick start this time around is my "old beer buddy" from Tokyo---Neil been writing about beer scene in & beyond Tokyo for many years on his blog http://tokyobeerdrinker.blogspot.com/
HERE in his own words --Neil's thoughts about 2021 :- ( with Chinese transcript by me)
As 2021 was another year when international travel wasn't really happening, my list for the year is all Japanese stuff. Sure, we get alot of imports here and I enjoy them from time to time. However I am a big believer in the drink local concept, so naturally when I'm not travelling outside of Japan I'm going to be drinking a lot of Japanese stuff. The pandemic hit Japan, but not as hard as many places, and we were able to travel domestically at some times last year. I can't say that all of these beers have been sampled at the source, but maybe half of them have and I've had a lot of fun drinking them. I've split this into a few themes where a few beers get mentioned side by side if I think they make sense to be written about together
去年疫情影响下国际旅游成了泡影，NEIL去年酒单是“全日式”，虽然日本也有很多进口好啤酒，NEIL也有在喝但更相信喝在地酿造，虽说日本也受到疫情困扰但还是可以国内旅游，NEIL也到访一些日本酿坊品酒，酒单中至少有一半都是在酿坊喝到的。这次酒单NEIL通过风格分类方式聊聊去年喝到的一些在地好酒：-
Great Japanese saisons
2021 saw a load of great Japanese
saisons being released. I say Japanese saisons, as they were made in Japan, but
to be honest, I think you can’t really beat a Saison Dupont and Nara Brewing’s
‘Integral’, 2nd Story Aleworks’ ‘Farmhouse 2021’ and Kyoto Brewing’s ‘Pilgrim’s
Respite’ all did a great job of making me not too sad about not being able to
visit Belgium. I don’t think you need to add a local touch and local special
ingredients to everything and I really appreciated the delicious simplicity of
these three beers. I would have included Yggdrasil’s ‘Cervoise’ too, as it too
is enjoyably Dupont like, but I think the French brewer might want me to
emphasise the French-ness of his beer. Also, there have been quite a few
versions with various fruits and herbs added so I feel like it deserves a
mention on its own. I should also add a beer I only had last week which is
Akita based Brewccoly’s ‘Farmhouse Ale’. That was also enjoyably Belgian and
I’m really looking forward to trying more of their beers in the future. And
finally Zakkoku Kobo made a series of beers called ‘Nara’, which are saisons at
the more sour end of the style which have been barrel aged or ‘ripened’ in
various ways or have had things added to them. They are always interesting and
always delicious.
日本农村风格啤酒
因为啤酒是在地酿造所以称为日本SAISON，虽然NEIL很爱比利时经典作品Saison Dupont，但奈良酿造的Integral，德岛2ND STORY ALE WORKS酿坊的Farmhouse 2021，京都酿造Pilgrim's Respite都是佳作，某种尺度上填补了不能去比利时喝的空虚。
值得一提的还有YGGDRASIL酿坊很接近比利时名作的Cervoise，秋田市BREWCCOLY酿坊也非常比利时风味的Farmhouse Ale，小川盯崎玉县的麦雑穀工房（Zakkoku Kobo)酸度系列作品“Nara"等都是美味佳作。
Yorocco Brown Saison
From ISO to I can get it!
A few years ago Yorocco was perhaps
the Japanese brewery that people were most eager to get their hands on. Their
small premises meant that batches were small and stuff sold out quickly. Now
they have a bigger brewery and pretty much all of their beers go to my local
bar. I know some people love the thrill of the chase but I guess I’m a bit lazy
and the thought of having to run around all over Tokyo trying to get something,
particularly in these COVID times, is quite unappealing. So having it
practically on my doorstep is good for me. They make great saisons so maybe
they could have been included in the first section, but I think my favourite
beers of theirs this year have been a bit different. Well, not so different,
but their ‘Barrel Blended Saison’ was great and very different from the ones mentioned
above. Their ‘Brown Saison’ was also a really nice beer and you don’t see that
many darker saisons in Japan. Maybe my number one though was ’Swing & Bop’
their dark lager which had a real Czech feel to me and was way too easy to
drink. Long may the easy availability of their great beers continue!
就在几年前，镰仓酿坊YOROCCO或许是全日本啤迷最引颈期盼能买到的啤酒，当时小酿坊意味着产量非常有限，能买到的也很少，大概两年多前搬去新酿坊後产量提升，很多酒都能在NEIL住所附近酒吧找到，虽然一些啤迷对到处跑只为了找酒这事乐此不疲但NEIL不是，能就近喝到喜欢的就当然最好，这家有高质的农村风格啤酒，去年喝到最有印象是桶陈混酒版本的Blended Saison以及日本不多见的黑褐色Brown Saison，然后还有或许是个人心目中第一的捷克风味易喝黑色拉格Swing & Bop， 愿就近可喝到好啤酒的机会源源不绝。
Kyoto Brewing TAMA
Fruity evolution
In a country like Japan where they
grow quite a lot of (usually expensive and boutique) fruit, it’s no surprise
that they have a lot of fruit beers. They are usually nice enough but there
were some extra special ones this year which saw Japanese fruit beers maybe
evolving into something a bit more interesting. Kyoto Brewing is one of my
favourite Japanese breweries but recently some of their new releases have left
me a bit cold. I did however travel across Tokyo to be able to drink their
‘Tama’, a beer made with Muscat grapes and lactic ale yeast, which was really
really nice. Similarly Argon Brewing’s ‘Mars Laser’ was a blueberry, cranberry
and raspberry sour and was really delicious and tart. It’s a tiny brewery a
little way out of Sendai and was another recent discovery. Taking fruitiness to
an almost ridiculous extent were Amakusa Sonar, a fairly new brewery based in
Kumamoto who weren’t very well known until they jumped on the fruit smoothie
sour train and now seem to be one of the most hunted for breweries. The first
one of their beers I had was ‘Syncopation’ which was full of passion fruit,
pineapple and mango and again very tart. The same day we tried this we heard
rumours of a beer of theirs called ‘Spread’ which apparently people were
searching for, loving, but struggling to finish a pint of. They upped the ante
with this beer by starting with the usual fruit juice type base (this time
guava, peach and passion fruit) and for some reason added sweet potato and
custard. Astonishingly, it worked, and I quite guiltily enjoyed it. The latest
one of their beers I had wasn’t very nice though. I think they tipped over the
edge by adding white chocolate. I fully appreciate that these are novelty
beers, and some would claim they aren’t even real beers. The first two I tried
were nice though… but I do feel a bit embarrassed about liking them. One final
fruity mention for Yggdrasil’s ‘Gremlinberry’ which was made to celebrate the
7th anniversary of the best bar in Tokyo. It’s a boysenberry gose which is just
very drinkable and lovely.
Amakusa Sonar SYNCOPATION
果味革命
日本有很多美味（或非常昂贵）的水果，所以水果酿酒很自然，去年喝了好些美味水果啤酒，比如京都酿造以葡萄及乳酸类菌发酵而成的Tama，最近才发现的宫城县小酿坊ARGON BREWING以蓝莓，小红莓和覆盆子酿造的酸味啤酒Mar's Laser。熊本县新酿坊AMAKUSA SONAR在酿造投入大量水果啤酒之前并不那么为人知，不过现在俨然已名列最受追捧酿坊榜单中，喝到第一款是以百香果凤梨芒果入酒的Syncopation，然后是另一款据说很多人追捧但喝不完的Spread，NEIL喝到的是改良版本，在原有基酒（番石榴百香果桃子)上加入番薯和卡仕达，听起来有点奇怪的组合竟然大获成功，NEIL说“感觉有点汗颜的”喝起来非常享受，不过之后再喝到的其他作品就不怎样。
NEIL了解这是有点类似实验性酿品，有成功的也有不成功的，
最後必须一提的是YGGDRASIL的7周年庆，使用波森莓入酒的德式酸咸啤Gremlinberry。
TK Brewing DOPENESS
Love and hate through IPA
Maybe I’m a grumpy old guy, but I
really don’t like NE IPAs. I’m totally sick of them. Sadly, most people
disagree with me and bars in Japan are awash with them and they sell well. I
personally feel like I’ve had my fill of them and it’s a very unusual occasion
that I order them even in a beer flight. One exception I’ll make to this rule
is TK Brewing in Kawasaki. They make lots of different beers but the big
surprise for me is that I quite like their NE ones (‘Behind The Cloud’ series).
I think my favourite was ‘Behind The Cloud NZ’. The real reason to drink TK
though is their other IPAs. When even normal IPAs are getting a bit of the hazy
treatment it’s great to see TK making old style IPAs and doing it really well.
Their ‘Tenderness IPA’ was their best of 2021 for me and I drank it more than I
should have, considering it was quite strong. It’s a West Coast style IPA.
Similarly their ‘Dopeness IPA’ was also great, and in the same style. Dopeness
is a regular but they keep tweaking it, so every time you go there is a new and
improved version of it to try. It’s great to be reminded why I liked IPAs in
the first place.
TK Brewing TENDERNESS
爱恨IPA
NEIL觉得“或许我老了”因为一点也不爱类果汁NEIPA，不只是不爱还感觉厌烦，可惜多数人并不同意这观点，日本很多酒吧也是类果汁泛滥（因为很好卖）。不过凡事有例外，每当NEIL去川崎TK BREWING时倒是会喝一些这家的Behind The Clouds系列类果汁作品，当然也因为这家的传统IPA酿得很好，去年NEIL就喝了不少这家西岸IPA作品Tenderness IPA和Dopeness IPA，后者是常态款但每次都会有修改所以每次喝会有不同之处，能被酒的味道忆起自己当初为什么喜欢IPA是件乐事。
BAEREN CLASSIC
Back to the classics, and Classic
In a world dominated by gimmicky
beers (mentioned above), some of which I secretly like and some of which I
hate, this year I really enjoyed returning to some classics and in particular
‘Baeren Classic’. Due to their being no tourists in Japan at the moment, some
the usual tourist only rail passes have been made available to foreigners
living in Japan. I’ve taken advantage of this on quite a few occasions and have
probably spent more time in the Baeren bars in Morioka than I have in all but a
couple of Tokyo places. In these bars you can get a big 400ml mug of their
flagship Dortmunder ‘Classic’ for about ¥600 which is quite a bit less than the
price of a half of craft beer in many Tokyo bars. It’s just lovely. Their beers
are mostly traditional German styles, so may not be of interest to some, and
are never flashy or attention seeking, just delicious in their simplicity. They
also have a micro brewery taproom called Saien where they experiment a bit and
we’ve had some great stuff there too. But it always comes back to the ‘Classic’
to be honest. Add to this the fact that they can their beer and two of them are
available in supermarkets (including our local one) for about ¥300 a can.
Hidden there amongst a wall of endless (but almost identical) varieties of the
major beer brands, sit ‘Trad Gold Pils’ and ‘Innovation Red Lager’. I don’t
drink much at home, but I make an exception for these cans. They do taste
better on tap in Morioka though! In 2021 they also diversified into releasing a
can in the same series which was ‘Italian Pilsner’ which was also damn good. I’m
really sad that it was for 2021 only. Hope it comes back some time.
在啤酒世界中有不少搞搞新意或搞搞震的啤酒出现（一些NEIL偷偷喜欢当然也有很厌恶的）---去年由于疫情，日本境内没什么国外旅客，一些原本只限外国游客的火车优惠卷也开放给居住在日本的外国人，NEIL因此去了一些外地找酒喝，去得最多的应该是位于盛岗市BAEREN BARS，吸引的是经典易喝的德式啤酒例如Baeren Classic或Dortmender Classic，此外其中两款罐装啤酒Trad Gold Pils和Innovation Red Lager也能在NEIL住所附近超市买到，然后其中一款NEIL很喜欢的Italian Pilsner只是去年限定，NEIL希望今年还可以再喝到。
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