Sakura Steam information

I am being very indulgent with this Sakura Steam thing, but well, it is my blog and this is my 5 minutes of fame, so why not?

The WanCup organizers have put up a page explaining (in Japanese) about the beer. It contains a link to an order form, which you can see directly by clicking here.

Sakura Steam Beer by Loco Brewing

I have it on pretty good authority that the beer made by Loco Brewing using my Wan Cup 2006 winning recipe is on sale at Ushi Tora (Shimokitazawa) at the moment. With any luck it might last a few days, but I believe they only have a few kegs and that will be it. So if you make a special trip, it might be better to call ahead to be sure. It is the one listed on the blog as "3, さくらスチームラガー（千葉）ＮＥＷ！" (Sakura Steam Lager(Chiba) NEW!")

For directions to Ushi Tora, please click on this link to my "My Tokyo" Google Map. Click on the blue marker for directions and zoom in for a more detailed map.

If you try it, please let me know what you think.

Homebrew Hanami

Hanami ostensibly means "flower viewing" in Japanese. But it really means waiting for all the sakura to bloom so that all and sundry can pour into the parks with the perfect excuse to eat and drink to excess and behave abominably.

BEERS organised a hanami in Yoyogi Park for the second year in a row. Last year a few of us brought a few bottles of homebrew. Somehow this year it turned into a bit of an extravaganza with five 11-L party kegs of beer that was as good as any you'd find in any brewpub. There was a superbly crafted ordinary bitter and biere de garde by anonymous brew guru #1, a Hefeweizen and a Helles lager by anonymous up and coming all-grain brew guru #2, and a low carbonated APA by yours truly and my trusty brewing partner, the anonymous man in the psychodelic T-shirt. That's me with my APA in the photo (cute gloves huh?). I don't know how Hymie the android got admitted, but being a robot he probably didn't drink much. It was a very fun, very cool event (in more ways than one) drinking some great home-made craft beer. I'm already looking forward to next year!

And a big shout out to Rei-chan for the photo!