Know next to nothing on beers or anything related to beer so this report comes in real handy -- what with ET diarists coming to the capital of 400 (???) or so brands beer country.
The booze culture of Britain is (still) unknown, tho' you could be misled by their behaviour at beer fests. But the international reputation and awareness of Belgian beer is a phenomenon of the last 20 years, even within Belgium. So, the general availability of their 9 & 10% beers used to be severely restricted. Now you can generally buy trappist beer in any major city on the planet. Yet they aren't really that typical. Most belgian beer, I'd guess, falls between 5 - 6.5%, still stronger than British but srunk in small quantities.
Please note, Stella Artois is not a "traditional" belgian beer; it is a pilsner, ie a copy of a czech beer and dates from 1926. Pilsners form 75% of the Belgian brewing market, but few of them are genuinely quality products. Indeed, when Stella was first sold in Britain, Belgians were telling us that it was generally considered one of the more crap beers in their country. Of such things, global dominance is made. keep to the Fen Causeway
I really miss American micro-brews, though. The last time I was in LA, the beer selection at a mid-range supermarket nearly made me cry - at least 50 different beers of all types, at quite reasonable prices. None of them make them over to Japan, though.
Only 7 monasteries produce Trappist beer, 6 in Belgium (Orval, Chimay, Westvleteren, Rochefort, Westmalle and Achel) and one in the Netherlands (Koningshoeven). All the rest are Abbaye.
For the beers, the criteria that make them what they are comprise the following:
The beer must be brewed within the walls of a Trappist abbey, by or under control of Trappist monks.
The brewery, the choices of brewing, and the commercial orientations must obviously depend on the monastic community.
The economic purpose of the brewery must be directed toward assistance and not toward financial profit. keep to the Fen Causeway
I've had good Japanese microbrews before, but they are incredibly hard to find. A couple times, I had some really solid beers from Hokkaido at a traveling "Foods of Hokkaido" fair in Tokyo, and when I was in Nagano I had a quality ale and a good dark beer, both brewed locally.
Chichibu has a local soba (buckwheat) beer, but it's pretty foul.
I've been to a lot of drinking establishments in my little town, and in Tokyo, and I've yet to see any smaller Japanese brews on sale, ever. I don't really know what it is. Maybe the big guys have the distributor chains completely locked down or something. It wouldn't surprise me.
I had one night in Seoul and found a microbrewery. keep to the Fen Causeway
If you're coming over a set of Finnish Imperial Stouts will be welcomed. They cost a fortune (£5 - 7) here and have to be reserved for special occasions. keep to the Fen Causeway
When Peter the Great opened Czarist Russia to the West in the early 18th century, dark ales called "Porter" were all the rage in England. Porters, named after the working class who devoured them, were relatively easy-drinking brews with a small percentage of highly roasted malt. The result was a dark brown, toffee-flavored libation fit for mass consumption. Arthur Guinness took the idea to Ireland, increased the dark, coffee-tinted profile and added "Extra Stout" to his label, thus creating another new beer style. Peter the Great fell in love with stouts during his 1698 trip to England, and he requested that some be sent to the Imperial court in Russia. Much to the embarrassment of the English, the beer had spoiled somewhere along its tedious thousand-mile journey! Determined as always to save face, the Barclay brewery of London came to the rescue by rapidly increasing the amount of alcohol and hops for their second effort. The result was an inky black concoction with enough warmth and complexity to immediately become a sensation throughout Russia. The "Russian Imperial Stout" had been born and quickly became popular throughout European Russia.
Peter the Great fell in love with stouts during his 1698 trip to England, and he requested that some be sent to the Imperial court in Russia. Much to the embarrassment of the English, the beer had spoiled somewhere along its tedious thousand-mile journey! Determined as always to save face, the Barclay brewery of London came to the rescue by rapidly increasing the amount of alcohol and hops for their second effort. The result was an inky black concoction with enough warmth and complexity to immediately become a sensation throughout Russia. The "Russian Imperial Stout" had been born and quickly became popular throughout European Russia.
I might quibble with some of that, but the gist is mostly right. keep to the Fen Causeway
The beer would be dark, sweet and sour and Porters have generally evolved to be kinda sweetish, but the sour component has been phased out for commercial reasons.
Stout evolved from the most alcoholic combinations of Porter, originally being known as Stout (ie strong) porter. In order to substitute for that fat alcoholic flavour (originally 7 - 9%) the hop rate is very high, resulting in a bitter flavour, a very different beastie from the sweeter porter.
Many craft breweries around the US do an Imperial Stout, I have one at home here to try. In Chicago, Rock Bottom seem to brew an Imperial Stout as do BJ's. Google Chicago and Imperial stout. Without having tried Baltika, I have a lot of respect for American craft brewers and doubt you'll be disappointed. keep to the Fen Causeway
