Here's the line-up. The missus cashed in the chips from one of our credit cards the other day and bought a bit of crap. She also gave me a 5000 yen (about$40) voucher to use as I saw fit. There was a list of places I could use it at and since none of them were bike shops I decided I might as well use it to get on the sauce.
The concept of foreign beer is, well, foreign in Japan and there's not too many liquor stores where you can buy beer that isn't Japanese and if you do find a place that has foreign beer it's a good chance it'll be Budweiser (and nothing else). Thanks for winning the war Yanks if that's the best you can do.
Anyway, in a city of 500,000 there's probably a maximum of 10 places where you can get a reasonable selection of foreign beers. Fortunately my fun tickets encompassed one of them. So hence my selection.
From left;
Henninger- the el-cheapo of the batch. German (from Frankfurt). Definitely had the German tang to it. Just a lager. First time I've had it. Not bad but nothing special. 245 yen for a 330ml bottle (all these beers are 330ml unless stated). That's about $2.15 in your money
Kostritzer- Partsbara introduced me to this when I visited him in Germany. His favourite and mine too. A black beer, it's the duck's nuts. 400 yen ($3.40). I got 4 of these. The first time I'd seen it in Japan. Was very stoked.
Bits- Anoher Partsy staple. Nice lager with that typical German smell. Partsy, this is Kaiserslautern's local beer isn't it? If you military types were ever sent to the vicinity of Ramstein AFB I'm sure you've a few of these. 350 yen ($3- I got 2 but gave one to the missus)
Leffe Brune- Belgian. Good. I'm sure you all know it. Nuff said. 407 yen by 2. That 7 yen is very very f*cken important.
Pilsner Urquell- kind of generic pilsner I think. Liked it of course cos I like pilsner. 318 yen ($2.70 by 2)
Guinness- in the bottle is best. I reckon the nitrogen widget f*cks up the taste. 310 yen by 2.
The Heineken was because I was running out of coin at this stage. Was 250 yen. The other 500ml can is a local dark beer called Ebisu Black. That was already in the fridge. About 280 yen ($2.30) in the bottle shop. Touch more expensive than the usual Japanese beers which will run you about 210 yen for ($1.90) for 350ml can.
The concept of foreign beer is, well, foreign in Japan and there's not too many liquor stores where you can buy beer that isn't Japanese and if you do find a place that has foreign beer it's a good chance it'll be Budweiser (and nothing else). Thanks for winning the war Yanks if that's the best you can do.
Anyway, in a city of 500,000 there's probably a maximum of 10 places where you can get a reasonable selection of foreign beers. Fortunately my fun tickets encompassed one of them. So hence my selection.From left;
Henninger- the el-cheapo of the batch. German (from Frankfurt). Definitely had the German tang to it. Just a lager. First time I've had it. Not bad but nothing special. 245 yen for a 330ml bottle (all these beers are 330ml unless stated). That's about $2.15 in your money
Kostritzer- Partsbara introduced me to this when I visited him in Germany. His favourite and mine too. A black beer, it's the duck's nuts. 400 yen ($3.40). I got 4 of these. The first time I'd seen it in Japan. Was very stoked.
Bits- Anoher Partsy staple. Nice lager with that typical German smell. Partsy, this is Kaiserslautern's local beer isn't it? If you military types were ever sent to the vicinity of Ramstein AFB I'm sure you've a few of these. 350 yen ($3- I got 2 but gave one to the missus)
Leffe Brune- Belgian. Good. I'm sure you all know it. Nuff said. 407 yen by 2. That 7 yen is very very f*cken important.
Pilsner Urquell- kind of generic pilsner I think. Liked it of course cos I like pilsner. 318 yen ($2.70 by 2)
Guinness- in the bottle is best. I reckon the nitrogen widget f*cks up the taste. 310 yen by 2.
The Heineken was because I was running out of coin at this stage. Was 250 yen. The other 500ml can is a local dark beer called Ebisu Black. That was already in the fridge. About 280 yen ($2.30) in the bottle shop. Touch more expensive than the usual Japanese beers which will run you about 210 yen for ($1.90) for 350ml can.
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