Owl Beer

Ever since my session post on owls in beer design I've had a few hits a week from people searching for the "beer with an owl on the lid". So when the Hitachino Nest 5-pack was offered on Brewdog Online it was a done deal. I had some of the brewery's beers at GBBF last year and enjoyed them all so looking forward to these.

Everyone is fond of owls.

First up, the weizen. It certainly looks the part, hazy amber-gold with big fluffy white head. It starts to fail here however as the head doesn't stick around.Plenty of banana and wheat on the nose with a touch of clove. Medium carbonation, a bit thin in body, biscuity malt, shredded wheat and more clove. abrupt finish. Doesn’t hit the heights for me I’m afraid. Another confirmation of my contention that when it comes to indigenous beer styles, the original brewers are the best.

The amber ale is next on the menu. More ruby-brown than amber with a fluffy tan head. Lemon and dusty cupboards on the nose, its well carbonated, quite smooth in the mouth with toffee and chocolate notes up front, followed by some slight citrus hops and a touch of black malt astringency. Enjoyable but more of a brown ale. It pairs fairly well with pizza.

Ginger beer is becoming more popular in the UK with the advent of alcoholic ginger beer but there have always been malt beers brewed with ginger too. This Japanese effort follows in those traditions. Hazy brown with a fluffy ochre head. Sweet candy sugar and a touch of copper on the nose. Thick bodied, sweet golden syrup, digestive biscuit malt and perhaps the tiniest hint of ginger in the finish. That metallic tang is there too

XH is an interesting beer. Brewed with Belgian yeast then matured for three months in sake barrels, but how does it taste? It pours dark, slightly hazy amber with a fluffy amber-tinged head. On the nose is caramalt, cocoa powder, cloves and white pepper. Very thick, chewy mouth feel, rich malt flavours, some orange oil, more clove spiciness fairly dry finish. There's some fairly fruity esters/ higher alcohols (apple pulp and plum), lots of malt sweetness and a touch of bitterness in the finish

Finally its Japanese Classic Ale. Pouring a hazy amber with a nose redolent of white pepper and Turkish delight. Spiky carbonation, some spicy wood notes up front followed by sweet apple and plum skins. A fair amount of sweetness builds meaning it can only be sipped slowly.

Session #55: Beer Art

Its that time of the month again, yes the session is here. This month it's hosted by Curtis Taylor at Hophead Said. This month its all about artwork on beer labels and other forms of brewery adverts. At one point I was planning to collect beer labels. I knew the secretary of the British Labelogist Society and one of my friends collected labels to send to his Czech friend. I had a pile of bottles stored at the bottom of my bed, but never got around to steaming them off and when I moved houses they all ended up in the bottle bank.

Odell Double Pilsner

I love all of Odell's beer labels. They're on matt paper with a slight faded beige colour and use pastel shades giving the impression that they're either hand drawn or come from some time in the past. I also like their beer name font. The design is applied across all beers meaning they're easy to spot on a crowded beer shelf. I think they were all designed by tbd who have also worked with Deschutes.

I particularly like this one because its very attractive and would appeal to both genders plus I'm a fan of owls. Also spot the upside down owl forming the lower half of the face! And (as Reuben points out in the comments below) the smaller owl between the eyes of the main owl.
I asked Odell what the reasoning behind an owl for pilsner was and was told "The owl is a classic yet sometimes mysterious creature, like the beer". I can see that.  (I wasn't actually a fan of this beer, finding it a bit too sweet for my palate but the label is brilliant. )

Odell also has a great logo with the company name sculpted to fit into the outline of a hop. Again this is consistent across bottle tops, beer mats and stickers. Sometimes the bottle lid will say "seasonal ale", sometimes it may be a different colour, but they all stick to the same house style, meaning you can spot them in a pile of bottle caps.

Whilst on the subject of owls, special mention must be made of the Hitachino Nest bottle lids and labels. These Japanese beers feature owls heavily. Its worth visiting their website which is well designed, cute and fun to play with. I gave a bottle lid to my girlfriend and she now has a small collection of other bottle lids.