Kiuchi Brewery- Hitachino Nest Espresso Stout: Espress-no
Tuesday, April 13, 2010 at 6:14PM | by Chris 
During one of my most recent visits to the local Binny’s, I was looking for some more interesting or maybe even outlandish beers. I saw many beers sporting various fruit flavors and a few that just sounded strange. I settled on Kiuchi Brewery’s Hitachino Nest Espresso Stout. I have had coffee flavored stouts in the past, and they have been decent. I was hoping this would be “the best part of waking up.” The Hitachino Nest further piqued my interest because it is a stout from Japan, which seemed an unlikely combination that I had to check out.
The Espresso Stout poured an opaque black color. About an inch of foamy, orange, tan colored head resided at the top of the dark concoction. It smelled strongly of malty goodness, and it had a definite scent of delicious coffee. Upon first sip, I tasted all bitterness, but not good hoppy bitterness. I could not determine if the bitter, almost astringent taste was that of extremely bitter espresso or alcohol. The beer is only 7.5% ABV so after taking another sip I determined the flavor to be mostly coffee. It had a strong nuttiness and a balanced level of sweetness as I drank my way to the bottom of my pint. The mouth feel was thin, lacking the creaminess I love in a stout.
This brew by Kiuchi Brewery is something I cannot say that I enjoyed too much. It was like a coffee samurai cutting through a sub-par stout. While the initial bitterness of the Hitachino Nest Espresso Stout slashed through my palate on the war path. This strength faded only to reveal a sweet nutty flavor that didn’t put forth anything special. It was like the samurai took off his armor to reveal a forty-five year old who took a month of karate. Just run of the mill. I was essentially ambushed by more coffee than I bargained for. Who knows, if you really love coffee and aren’t that into beer, you might love this selection.
ABV: 7.5%
Consumed: Pint
Verdict: Skip it
