Hitachino Nest Espresso Stout

The Kiuchi Brewery in Ibaraki, Japan, began brewing sake in 1823, winning many prestigous competitions. In 1996, they began brewing their "Hitochino Nest" line of beers. It only took them a few years to begin winning awards, garnering gold medals in 4 different international events for their white ales. They also make spirits and will soon be taking on wine. Interestingly, you can go to the brewery and make your own beer, but only if you live in Japan, unfortunately. On a recommendation from a customer, we tried their Espresso Imperial Stout (11.2 oz, $4.99)and decided to bring it in for a run. The espresso character comes from the addition of espresso beans to the boil, which, to me, is a preferrable method to just adding some type of steeped coffee, which makes some brews taste simply like cold coffee and beer mixed together. This stout has a low 7.5% ABV for an imperial, which makes it very smooth with no alcohol taste. It pours a beautiful dark brown with a thick, dark head. The taste starts with a slight dark chocolate sweetness giving way to a perfect coffee level that seems to swim around in your mouth with the malt flavor before giving way to a very nice coffee bitterness. I really can't imagine, for my taste, what I would change about this beer. It has excellent balance and remained very tasty all the way to the end, which arrived much too quickly. This stout is phenomenal.