Booze in japan!!

[Lovegrove]

There are some things I'm dying to know. Important things here. I'm moving to Hiroshima in a week, and of course I'm looking forward to much in terms of food, culture, bla, bla. But really I'm sort of worried about my drinking. Not, you know "worried about my drinking" like the family and friends in my life are, but worried about the *quality* of my drinking. I like sake, and I like sapporo, kirin, asahi, but I come from the West, where it's still wild, baby!
I am used to bar hopping for the different local brews on tap ~ I will miss the Ichthyosaur IPA from great basin brewery here, and the Deschutes Black Butte Porter from Bend OR, the Great White Shark and Downtown Brown from Eureka CA.... the list goes on.
http://www.greatbasinbrewingco.com/ontap.html
How are local Japanese brews? It's ignorant to assume that the few Japanese drinks you find in America are all that exist, but do they brew any good IPAs, Porters, Stouts? And if not, do the local drinks cover for it?
Are there any notable brands of whiskey/bourbon like woodford or knob hill? Can you find any good european style wines?

And what are some Japanese styles of alcohol? Really, the only Japanese drinks I can think of are what I mentioned above. (pathetic)

Let me share my fantasy~ I walk into a traditional style Izakaya, or something, and there's a bartender with a robe on, and one of those ropes tied around his head, and a crazy ___ wall of strange bottles behind him. He gives me a suspicious "what is a gai-jin doing in here? time to give him a shot of ___ with swordfish urethra" look, while I stare at the myriad of unknown kanji, close my eyes, and point at one ”それをください。” ... will I be surprised? What are your favortite drinks in the nihon? How is the drinking, in general?

[User Name Deleted]

Beer, beer and more beer.

I like its 7 day a week 24 hour availability at the convenience stores.

Asahi, Kirin, Sapporo and Yebisu are some good ones.

When I'm feeling like I want to be parsimonious, I have the odd can of chu-hi.

[Kumachan]

It's ignorant to assume that the few Japanese drinks you find in America are all that exist, but do they brew any good IPAs, Porters, Stouts? And if not, do the local drinks cover for it?You're right, it is ignorant to assume considering that you have nothing else to base it on, but in this case you'd be right.

Japanese beer is basically... well... beer. You will find small brewpubs where they do make certain types of beer, but they're usually in small batches and expensive. For example there's a place in Maihama, in the Iksperi mall right next to Disneyland where they have a microbrewery. They brew a beer called "Harvest Moon" that has won several awards in Europe. It's also expensive as hell at around 500 yen per bottle. And you can only buy it there.

Your choices for porter or IPA is whatever you can find in the import section of some supermarkets and as for stout, well you can't go wrong with a freshly poured Guinness. It will run you between 750-1000 yen a pint however but it's good stuff.


Are there any notable brands of whiskey/bourbon like woodford or knob hill?I've heard Suntory is good, but I'm not a whiskey drinker. Again, I suggest you find a place that sells some foreign stuff and just buy that.

Can you find any good european style wines?Yes, but not from Japan. Japanese wine is undrinkable and is not fit to be called "wine". Again, go for the imports. If you like European wines, especially French then you're in luck becuase I have never seen so much space devoted to French wines until I came to Japan.


And what are some Japanese styles of alcohol? Really, the only Japanese drinks I can think of are what I mentioned above. (pathetic)Beer, sake and Shochu/Nihonshu are your main choices.


Let me share my fantasy~ I walk into a traditional style Izakaya, or something, and there's a bartender with a robe on, and one of those ropes tied around his head, and a crazy ___ wall of strange bottles behind him. He gives me a suspicious "what is a gai-jin doing in here? time to give him a shot of ___ with swordfish urethra" look, while I stare at the myriad of unknown kanji, close my eyes, and point at one ”それをください。” ... will I be surprised?Yes you will be surprised as you've just chosen something that you don't know what it is. Back home we called that "Russian Roulette shots" and it's a sure fire way to not only get hammered really quickly but a definite way to get really sick later.

What are your favortite drinks in the nihon? How is the drinking, in general?Favourite drinks? Beer, sake (hot or cold) and wine. Beer can be Japanese or imported, sake is usually the bar brand as I honestly don't know a good sake from a bad one and wine is always imported.

[Basic]

When I want to drink good quality beer there is a German bar in Akihabara (Tokyo) that usually has three to five different German beers on tap (the way God intended it to be!).

There are also a few Belgian beer bars around in Tokyo and each serves a large number of Belgian beers - but these are all bottled beer and rather expensive.

If you are ever in Kagoshima there is a Chekomura (Czech village) out by the airport which has three different Czech beers on tap. Wonderful. The last time I was out there they poured me on the plane home. If you haven't been to the Czech Republic make a note - their beer is as good as or better than German beer.

There are a few places in Japan that serve Jibiru (local brewed beer) but for my tastes this is hit or miss.

This may not sound like much selection to you but that's what the beer market is here. The major Japanese brands put out seasonal brews but many people can't tell the difference between these and the usual flavor.

The saving grace in my eyes is that at least the average Japanese beer is much more drinkable than US brews are - which isn't saying much.

[paulh]

T
Are there any notable brands of whiskey/bourbon like woodford or knob hill? Can you find any good european style wines?

Suntory is about the only company that makes decent whisky here and I did read somewhere that they actually imported the peat (yes the soil) from Scotland so they can make Scotch tasting whisky.



And what are some Japanese styles of alcohol? Really, the only Japanese drinks I can think of are what I mentioned above. (pathetic)


Nihonshu and sake are the same thing, chuhai, and shochu which is like a poor mans liquor. To me it tastes like gin.Most places serve beer and is as good as anything you have back home but they all tend to taste a bit bland after a while.

Different grades of sake and the top shelf stuff is good and expensive. Like anything you get what you pay for and the cheap stuff tastes like rats p-iss.

http://www.japansake.or.jp/sake/english/types_sake.html




Let me share my fantasyAA°aP I walk into a traditional style Izakaya, or something, and there's a bartender with a robe on, and one of those ropes tied around his head, and a crazy ___ wall of strange bottles behind him. He gives me a suspicious "what is a gai-jin doing in here? time to give him a shot of ___ with swordfish urethra" look, while I stare at the myriad of unknown kanji, close my eyes, and point at one AA°ahC?CIA°LC?CA°CCaeCA°U¨CA°e¨AA°aBAA°ah ... will I be surprised? What are your favortite drinks in the nihon? How is the drinking, in general?

Yes Russian roulette, know it well.

best thing to do is ask for the house brand, maybe a nightly special or ask for a recommendation.

They wont look at you as if you have two heads and they wont expect you to understand the menu.

Sake ikkyu is the top-shelf stuff and ni-kyu is the second tier. San-kyu is the cheap plonk variety.

You may want to try nigorizake which is cloudy, usually a milky white color.

Hot sake is called atsukan. You can buy it by the bottle, glass, or it comes in the small sake bottles you see in the movies. Some places they serve hot sake in a special cube-shaped wooden box.

Chuhai comes in flavors and is drunk with ice.

[sincity]

There are also a few Belgian beer bars around in Tokyo and each serves a large number of Belgian beers - but these are all bottled beer and rather expensive.



Actually there a lot of Belgian bars in Tokyo and it's easy to get Hoegaarden, Leffe etc. on tap. Just this past weekend I had a lovely De Koninck draft at Jha in Kanda. At 1,050 yen for about a 350 ml glass, it is pricey but...

I know this doesn't help the OP in Hiroshima but at least it corrects some basic misinformation.

[Layba]

Quote: Beer, beer and more beer.

I like its 7 day a week 24 hour availability at the convenience stores.

Asahi, Kirin, Sapporo and Yebisu are some good ones.

When I'm feeling like I want to be parsimonious, I have the odd can of chu-hi.


Im with JT on this one!!!