dark beers & cosmos

I wanted to post about this topic during the summer but didn't get around to it. In Japan, they are called black beers, well, because they are black in color. I have found some dark beers made in Japan that are pretty good. Some on the other hand were not too good.

Here's my list:

Yebisu--very nice, smokey with hints of chocolate.

Asahi- Clear Black, um, if it is supposed to be dark, don't dilute it with regular beer to make it clear, please....

Asahi- Kuronama (black draft)this one has a full body flavor. Definitely better than their other version, Clear Black.

Kirin-Namakuro (draft black)-I didn't think this one had much body to it.

Minoo Brewery -Koikoi beer, this name when heard sounds like "dark, dark beer" but when you look at the Chinese characters used the meaning turns into "love, love beer"---is a stout, made by a brewery in our neighborhood, this one was good, although it came in a plastic bottle and when opened there was no foam. It was really smokey and full in flavor.

I've noticed a couple of stout beers on these websites, so I'm interested in trying them. Will let you know if anything good turns up.

A star during autumn is the cosmos. We don't have these in Hawaii, but they are all over Japan.

Cosmos is written as "autumn cherry blossoms" in Japanese kanji (chinese characters).

Seeing these flowers bring a very calming, peaceful feeling as well as a happy one as they light up in the sun.

There are all types of cosmos in Japan.

One actually smells like chocolate.

Enjoy the season!