Dining Dojo Drinks: Kinshachi Green Tea Draft Beer!!

On this episode of Dining Dojo Drinks, we are going to the answer the question of what happens when you mix green tea and beer. 

Recently on a trip to one of my favorite stores, Yamaya, I saw a very interesting beer, the Kinshachi Matcha Draft.  This really surprised because I have never seen or even heard of a beer that is made with green tea.  Needless to say, I was intrigued by this product.  So, I decided to pick it up and do a tasting of it.

Here is what I found.

First of all, this beer is brewed by the Kinshachi brewery, a local brewery in the Aichi Prefecture.  The actual brewery is located in Inuyama City.  Also, Kinshachi is owned the Morita Group.  Morita is a well known brewery of nihonshu (sake to those not living in Japan).  Kinshachi makes a number of number of beers ranging from lagers flavored with miso to outstanding pale ales.  (BTW...you might be wondering what is a kinshachi?  Kinshachi are ornamental sea creatures that are placed on top of castles to ward off fires.  The kinshachi is a symbol of Nagoya due to Nagoya Castle having golden kinshachi on its roof instead of the regular stone ones.)   

Second, lets talk about the look of this beer. This beer according to the Kinshachi website (http://www.kinshachi.jp/beer_catalog.asp) is a free style light ale.  The beer is a light brown in color.  Light comes through the beer.  When poured into a glass, the head of the beer dissipates rather quickly.  There are few if any alcohol legs in this beer.  The ABV of this beer is at 5%. 

Third, the smell of this beer is amazing.  The beer has a unique smell due to the green tea used in this beer.  The brewers took pride in making this beer because they used the green tea that is grown in Nishio, Aichi, Japan.  Nishio is a famous city in Aichi for green tea.  The amazing light aroma of the green tea comes through the light ale.  If this was a regular ale, the delicate aroma of the green tea would have been lost in the beer.  The other smells of this beer are usually associated with light ales such as a light bready note due to the malt and wheat used in making of the beer.  It is a great smelling beer.

Fourth, the taste is uniquely familiar and different at the same time.  At the front of the mouth, the light malty taste of the beer will hit your taste buds.  Then in the middle of the mouth, you will find hints of the green tea laden throughout the beer.  At the end of the mouth, you will find a hint of bitterness due to the hops.  This is not by no means an overpowering beer.  The light beer really accompanies the green tea rather nicely.

If you are looking a for a unique drinking experience, give this beer a try.  This beer would be great on a cool summers night. 

Cheers!!  Enjoy the video!!