North Island Beer Coriander Black
SOC Brewing Co., Ltd. (North Island Beer)

 

 

 

 

This was a delightful participant in the recent Grande Biere festival in Roppongi Tokyo, and by far the big winner in my book.

They list this is as a spice beer on their website and I suppose it is, but it reminds me most closely of a milk stout or American imperial ale.

A - A respectable creamy dark brown head left trails of lacing like the ebbing tide. The clarity of the beer was just slightly cloudy and well suspended in an opaque roasted coffee bean brown body.

S - You can smell some of the spices like the coriander, but they are pretty mild compared to the bitter sweet roasted tones of the malts.

T - Very nice. The spice serves as a substitute for hops in other beers to offset the natural sweetness of this beer. The overall effect I felt was a nice medley that goes back and forth from sweet to bitter sweet in your mouth.

M - Smooth. Rich bodied. Way above average for a Japanese micro.

D - This barely qualifies as a spice beer, but the effect is something well balanced and playful. A breakfast or dessert beer.