January 29, 2007 by lee.

It’s finally here! Sharra’s Peculiar Nana Dark Pale Ale has arrived and it’s delicious! The subtle tastes from the hops and malts are truly wonderful. I only sampled one bottle with lunch so I will have to save my full review for a later time, but Kuichi Brewery enabled me to make one fantastic pale ale.

I think most of my gratitude and thanks go to Mr. Koichi Taka, head brewer at Kiuchi, for his guidance in creating a fantastic recipe for my beer. Much appreciated Taka-san! I heartily recommend that everyone interested in delicious beer take this opportunity to head up to Ibaraki to make some very delicious custom-made beer.

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January 25, 2007 by lee.

The new CD by The Shins is very good. I think Wincing The Night Away it is more consistently excellent than Chutes Too Narrow, which was also quite good. I urge you to check it out if you get the opportunity.

The Shins’ record label, SUB POP Reocrds is offering a free download of The Shins’s first single from the CD, Phantom Limb. I probably shouldn’t direct link, but I just did (updated).
Good luck, but if it doesn’t work, just surf to www.subpop.com and search for Download of the Week.

Get it while you can!!! It’s a price that can’t be beat!!!

FREE!!!

Do you know FREE?!!! Most things these days aren’t!
~ and IT’S LEGAL TOO!

P.S. You can always buy the CD, it’s really good!

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January 15, 2007 by lee.

In Japan, Monday January 8, 2007 was Coming of Age Day. This is a holiday that celebrates all the boys and girls throughout Japan who become 20 year olds during the previous year (or is it the year to come). The importance of this is that 20 years old is majority in Japan. That means it is legal for these former children to go into a bar and drink a beer or whatever.
This is actually a public holiday in Japan and many communities celebrate the coming of age of these young adults. On this day, 20 year olds dress in their best kimono and gather at official celebration points. I should have taken pictures, and I am sorry I didn’t… Many, many beautiful kimono were on parade.

Since it was a public holiday, I did not have to go to work. How should one celebrate coming of age day? Why of course, go to a brewery and brew your own beer! OK, maybe not, but that’s what I did.

I went to Kiuchi Brewery in Kounosu near Mito.

Like many breweries, people can tour the facility and sample all the fantastic beers. As Kiuchi also makes Nihon shu and shochu, one can sample those as well. I tried several Nihon shu, for those not in the know, Nihon shu is what is commonly called sake or rice wine. Shochu is essentially a vodka distilled spirit. The Nihon shu are also very wonderful.

Kiuchi has a unique program where interested people can use their small batch facilities to brew their own beer. It’s a program called Brew on Premises.

My beer cooking in lucky number 7.

They guide the novice though the brewing process, though the various stages right up to adding yeast. They take care of the fermentation process and the bottling and ship it to you three weeks later.

So I spent my Coming of Age day making my own unique brew that I’ve named “Sharra’s Peculiar Nana Dark Pale Ale”. I also designed a custom label with Nana’s picture.

FYI this is Nana.
I can’t wait to try it. I have two weeks to go. I was told that many young couples come up to Kiuchi before their wedding day and create a custom beer together to serve at their wedding reception. They create custom labels to commemorate their special day. It seems to me a very nice thing to do.

By the way, the Kiuchi Brewery is a beautiful old facility (see the pictures above). The Kiuchi Brewery was established in 1823 by Kiuchi Gihei, the headman of Kounosu village. I am surprised that the Kiuchi brewery does not have more photos on their website of the brewery because it is truly a historic place. The link to the website is http://www.kodawari.cc/. They have an English web page. All the information is accurate, even if it hasn’t been updated recently.

I’ve stolen some of their pictures for this entry as I didn’t take too many pictures when I went there. If you go, watch out for the low doorways, remember this was built in 1823! And if you go, be sure to try Kiuchi’s Hitachino White Beer, it is very delicious.

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December 31, 2006 by lee.

Hey there,

I’ll get my stuff together and write more in a few days.

So it’s now New Year’s Eve in Tokyo. It’s pretty warm here and it definitely does not feel like it’s the holiday season. Maybe if I was in Hokaido it might feel more like Christmas or New Year’s. But with global warming, not many places feel the same they did when I was young.

Stop Walking Tobacco!

Hey kids, don’t be afraid. It’s just Ol’ Mr. Buttsy from Doonesbury. He’s found a new home in Tokyo.

This sign sort of translates to “Stop smoking while walking in all areas of Setagaya-ku.” However the direct translation of the Japanese is “Let’s Stop Walking Tobacco.”

F.Y.I. - here is Mr. Butts for your reference.

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December 31, 2006 by lee.

Welcome to my blog.

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