United Nations of Beer

Iwate Kura Japanese Herb ale

by Ashley Cotter-Cairns
(UNOB HQ)

Iwate Kura Japanese Herb ale (5% ABV)
Iwate Kura Brewing, Japan
Visit the UNOB's Japanese beer guide
Iwate Kura is part of our Japanese beer brands guide

Thanks (thanks a LOT man) to Douglas Gloag for this "beer".

I've tried some weird beers in my time as the UNOB's Secretary General, including hemp beer and spruce beer, but this one has to come pretty close to being the weirdest (and perhaps one of the least appealing) beers ever.

Pours a slightly cloudy reddish amber. Smells like stinging nettles, ferns, pine sap, forest smells. Nice for a Sunday walk, but not smells you really want in a beer glass!

Quite sweet initially, as well as sourish, then extremely bitter at the swallow, with piney overtones. Almost like a very green IPA that's gone a bit wrong, without the dryness. It tastes GREEN. Bizarre aftertaste.

Just... wrong. Weird, odd. I could almost see myself becoming accustomed to this beer if there were nothing else available, but why bother? There's plenty of better Japanese beer produced.