This week’s entry is another Intermission in our lengthy Days of Wine and Music series.
Well, it is late June when this is being written and that means only two things: 1) ultra-abysmal rainy-season weather and 2) JFEX, a huge food and beverage exposition that never disappoints. The venue for the former is pretty much most of the nation, while the one for the latter is Tokyo Big Sight, which is pictured below. Drinkingjapan.org makes it a rule to attend this event every year and to write about some of the outstanding products encountered. In this week’s entry, we will focus on one from a brewery + (you’ll see what we mean by “+” if you visit their website: https://yudanaka-u.jp/) in Nagano Prefecture. In future entries related to this year’s JFEX, we will present other companies and their products.
Hinoki is Japanese cypress (Chamaecyparis obtusa), a tree which is both beloved as a fine wood for construction and flavoring and bemoaned, as its pollen is a significant allergen.
The beverage we would like to introduce is Yudanaka’s Blue Forest, which is described on its label as an “amber ale with a sense of nature.” This is not an exaggeration: the nose is redolent of the sylvan. The cypress makes itself known on the palate, too, and is nicely balanced by a subtle sweetness. The effervescence is of just the right strength, which serves to refresh and perhaps even sharpen the palate, which should make it an ideal dinner beverage. The abv is a serious but not over-the-top 6%. This may be just the brew to drive away those summertime blues.
*POWO (2024). “Plants of the World Online. Facilitated by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Published on the Internet; http://www.plantsoftheworldonline.org/
Retrieved 25 June 2024.”
Drinking Japan 