ISSEKI NICHŌ ~ BRASSERIE DIEU DU CIEL! 

Isseki Nichō is an Imperial Dark Saison made in collaboration with Tanamura Honten Co., a microbrewery from Nagano, Japan. The name of the beer translated roughly means, “two birds One Stone” in Japanese. Some tout this brew as a hybrid between a stout and a dark saison. Sampled on draught, in a tulip glass the beer poured a rich dark brown-black with a finger of tan head. The head receded after several minutes leaving lacing along the glass and finishing in a ring around the glass. The nose like the beer has a fair bit of complexity containing notes of roasted malts, dark fruit, molasses, faint smoke, coffee, dark chocolate, leather, touch of funk and peppery spice. The taste is fairly bitter, matched by strong dark roasted malts, under this cloak other flavours emerge: molasses, spicy Belgian yeast, coffee, cocoa, dark cherries, liquorice, and fruit. The finish is off dry and has a lingering bitterness - a spiciness lingers as the booziness warms.The body was creaming and medium and the fine carbonation was average. This was quite an interesting brew, not for the faint at heart, but definitely worth a try.

9.5% from St. Jerome, Quebec