This post is a part of the 2015 New Beer Every Day Beer Diary Challenge, #ottbeerdiary. Over the course of 2015, I will be trying a new beer every day. Please read the background in the link above, and enjoy reading about the most recently tasted beers below. If you’d like to join the challenge as well, let me know in the comments below, and be sure to check out Grown-up Travel Guide and his #grownupbeerdiary, where Andy Higgs came up with the diary format in use below. You can catch up on all of our posts as part of the challenge under the tag ottbeerdiary.
Day 314: November 10, 2015
Diary entry:
After yesterday’s exhausting day, we took a slightly later start today.
First stop was booking the airport bus for our trip to the airport for our flight to Tokyo tomorrow. But of course, we needed to stop for an ice cream or two on the way at two of the Japanese prefecture shops we passed on the way to the Courtyard, the nearest bus stop to our apartment.
With the bus safely secured, time for some real lunch. Our mission for the day: Okonomiyaki and Monjayaki at Sakura Tei in Harajuku. Not the absolute easiest place to find, but find it we did. We ordered one of each, and had a fun time cooking and eating them both. Though I must warn, be VERY careful when making your monjayaki not to get much of the soup onto the grill when putting the top layer of ingredients onto the griddle. I tilted the bowl slightly too far while scooping in the vegetables and meat, and the resulting steam gave me a bit of a burn.
The clouds opened up while we were eating, so we took our time hoping the worst of the rain would pass. Which it did, at which time we took a bit of a walk through the shopping areas of Harajuku, trying the Zakuzaku Croquant Chou from Hokkaido, and finishing off with an old favorite from Taiwan, Ice Monster shave ice.
The rain was starting back up, and rush hour was approaching, so we decided to head off from Harajuku to Ryogoku to visit Popeye, the top rated beer bar in all of Tokyo. I received a number of recommendations to visit Popeye, so was really looking forward to the chance.
We managed to secure a nice table right by the patio door, which may be similar to the one on Universal Windows Direct of Syracuse, which afforded us a little extra space, which was good when the meter and a half long board of beer arrived with our ten chosen samples.
Overall, I was quite impressed with the beers we tried here. It was a great chance to try a number of new breweries for me.
Uonuma Rice Weizen by Strange Brewing – Sour and citrusy. Nice bitterness. This is surprisingly good.
Ise Kadoya Hanakin Rouge by Ise Kadoya Brewery – Very fruity aroma. Fruit flavor as well. Dry aftertaste.
Tangerine Trip by Locobeer – Fruity and hoppy aroma. Sour fruity flavor. Quite good.
Oni Densetsu Kin-oni “SSS” Pale Ale Mosaic Ver. by Wakasaimo Honpo – Great citrus bitterness. Totally not what I expected from a session. Excellent!
Shonan 27 Coffee Ale by Kumazawa Brewing Co. – Heavy on the coffee flavor. Very good if you like that. If you don’t, why did you order it?
Fujizakura Heights Rauch by Fuji Kanko Kaihatsu Co. – Nice smoky flavor. Not overpowering. Or too sweet.
Barbed Wire by Strange Brewing – Excellent hoppy flavor. A very nice double ipa!
Shiga Kogen IPA by Tamamura Honten Co. – Nice serviceable ipa good flavor. Decent bitterness.
Winter Ale by Minamishinshu Beer Co. – Ok flavor. Some spices.
And the beer of the day below.
Following our visit to Popeye, we returned to the apartment, stopping for some Taiwanese specialties at a restaurant we stumbled across a block away, and then packed up for our trip tomorrow.
UH OH! Where are our passports?!?!?!?!?
Last thing we needed tonight, our passports are missing! Called all the hotlines for the airport lost and found, train lost and found, the hotel we stayed at last week, etc. I think we lost them! Called the embassy for setting up an appointment for replacements tomorrow so we can still fly to Hong Kong, but of course, they’re closed tomorrow for Veteran’s Day!
We’re stuck in Tokyo until Thursday!!!
Appointment made for Thursday morning at the US Embassy. And thankfully, Delta agreed to redeposit my airline miles for the flight we have to miss tomorrow, with no fee! That was awesome! They don’t fly to Hong Kong Thursday, and no clue how long the embassy will take, so we booked a lat evening flight with Vanilla Air. So of course, now we have to be much more careful on our baggage weight and carry on size. Low Cost Carrier vs. Elite+ Status. UGH!
This sucks…
The Beer:
Name: The Dark Side Imperial Stout
Style: American Imperial / Double Stout
Producer: Outsider Brewing
Alcohol content: 8.0%
Bottle size: 0.15 l draft
Purchased from: Bakushu Club Popeye in Tokyo
The Dark Side Imperial Stout by Outsider Brewing. Dark coffee and chocolate aroma. Very dark on the flavors. Moderate alcohol allows the flavors to shine. My favorite of the 10 (+1) beers that I tried tonight.
