Well yesterday was a fun day. It was pouring rain most of the day, but just like any trooper in search of beer I made my way to Ginza for the San Diego Beer Party to introduce Ballast Point to Japan.
Held at Salon De G, this was a well planned gig. Props to Andrew from Nagano trading (the importer) for this. When I got there I was one of the first in the door. 5000 yen got entry, food, lots of beer and a pint glass. I ordered the Big Eye first, which is a fantastic IPA.
Good to see many beer lovers there. The two Tims who are very knowledgable on beer and Chewy (who is a beer God!) I had met before. But met a slew of interesting and friendly people as well. One who stood out was Scott, who is a brewer now at Gotemba Kogen, having worked at Sierra Nevada before. He was very friendly and forthcoming. Cheers to all the other people I met.
The food was delicious and plentiful. Ranging from Organic vegetables, to mini hamburgers and fried shrimp to delicious olives. It managed to compliment the beer wonderfully. As for the beer well the aforementioned Big eye was the highlight for me, but the rest of the beer was wonderful too. A quick run down on the beers I drunk are as follows-
Big Eye IPA (9/10)
Dorado DIPA (8/10)
Green Flash 30th street Pale Ale (7/10)
Bourbon Barrel Black Marlin Porter (8/10)
Victory at Sea Imperial Porter (7/10)
Stone IPA (7.5/10)
Abandon Hope Smoked (7.5/10)
Green Flash Trippel (7.5/10)
Calico Amber Ale (7/10)
So all in all a great time. I must have ended up having around 6 or 7 pints (US size) but kept well hydrated, so no hangover! I look forward to drinking more Ballast Point in the future...
I see you met Skeletor in the first photo.
ReplyDeleteMay do Thrash Zone tonight.
ReplyDeleteFuji on golden week???
ReplyDeletea shit sorry I missed you...are you going to the ratebber thing DH?
ReplyDeletesorry ratebeer
ReplyDeleterat beer! rats!!! Grr!! beer! GHrr! oneof us i drunk!! grrr!!!
ReplyDeleteWhat do u mean, Jonno, "The two Tims who are very knowledgable on beer and Chewy I had met before."
So I am not knowledgable on beer?
How dare you!
How dare you get into my head and read my thoughts! How did you know?
That line you wrote made me laugh.
It may well be true, which may well be why I laughed.
Just been thrashing at thrash and enjoyed my time theere.
Turns out some of the Japanese Thrash metal fans know and even liked my high schol fav band which was Thunder.
Good rock band which was way the best of monsters of rock at donnnington.
DH, Fuji on Gw coul be a go. Just confirming wiht friends and checking other beer event dates to check I'm free and double chekcing with my bike shop guy to see if my bike it actually on the road at that time. Jonna come on out and have a blast. we can make it an immense reunion/first union of beer legends to never be.
Fuji was great. Good ride.
ReplyDeleteGot in 200km plus 4 breweries. not too shabby.