Red Ale
Ishikari Banya No Ji-Beer

Beautiful dense brownish foamy head on a nice looking amber-red-purple color body. The head is persistent and leaves a nice brownish color on the brew. The smell is quite interesting too: some yeasty notes, lots of red fruits with some winy or liquorish aspects. Taste is a bit disappointing. Caramel, red fruits, but too much old tasting winy-liquorish tasting notes in the beer. The citric sweetness was enjoyable. The hoppiness I found a bit too grassy, lacking fruitiness. Mouthfeel is ok, less round than some other red ales, maybe a bit too thin. Still drinkable, but the smell and the appearance raised my expectations a little too high.

A dull, dark copper color and just a ring of off white foam after a moment or two. The smell is light molassas. Taste is pretty bland, reflecting the smell more or less, with some notes of molassas and malt. Lively medium carbonation. It ends in rough toasted coffee bitter hops that persist. There's also a metallic taste present, that reminded me of cheaper happoshus.

This is not a terrible beer, but was disappointing.