Japan

9th January 20193rd May 2011 by William Adams

Date Consumed: 14th March 2011
Beer: Sapporo Yebisu
Brewed: Sapporo Breweries, Toyko, Japan
Size: 334mL
Alcohol Content: 5.0%
Sourced: Camperdown Cellars, Darlinghurst, NSW, Australia
World Beer Rating: 8/10
Notes: Typically lovely Japanese beer.

Date Consumed: 27th December 2011
Beer: Hitachino Nest Espresso Stout
Brewed: Kiuchi Brewery, Ibaraki, Japan
Size: 7.5%
Alcohol Content: 330mL
Sourced: Tokyo, Japan (thanks to Martin Sturgeon)
World Beer Rating: 10/10
Notes: I couldn’t believe I got the opportunity to drink this one! Rated 98.89% on RateBeer.com, it’s Japan’s highest rated beer and very hard to get. I can see why; this stout is absolutely amazing! Coffee and chocolate, burnt malt with a bitter taste – this one is hands down the best Japanese beer I’ve ever had and will probably ever get to drink.

Beer! The world's most widely consumed and oldest alcoholic beverage. Such is the importance of beer in modern society that beer is the third most popular drink in the world, behind water and tea. As such, beer is produced in many of the world's countries, with little variation on the ingredients used; water, malted barley, hops and yeast. Despite the simplicity of just four ingredients, there are huge variations in the taste of beer.

Whilst it's true that many countries produce many beers, it is a rather more difficult challenge to consume a beer from every country that produces the stuff. The beer must be brewed in the country of origin and not brewed under license overseas.

This challenge started on 6th March 2011. Each country has it's own blog post. You will often see multiple beer entries in each country. This is because either 1) the original beer was so horrible the country deserves a second chance 2) I picked up a very obscure beer and it deserves to be listed 3) I wanted to review a spectrum of beers over the course.

If you have access to a beer from a country that I have not been able to drink yet, drop me a line at william@wkadams.com and we'll sort out a reward in exchange! I live in London, United Kingdom but started this challenge in Sydney, Australia.