Yokosuka-Sarushima Beer1995 Try-Angle

No, I really, really don't understand the name of this beer, either!

That's not entirely true. Sarushima (aka Monkey Island) is the only natural island in Tokyo Bay. With it's position near the naval base at Yokosuka, and it's overlook of the approach to Yokohama and Tokyo Harbor, it was a valuable spot to place fortifications to repel an seaborne attack. Never happened, but hey, can't blame the locals for thinking ahead, eh?

Nowadays, Sarushima is a popular day-trip destination, with sorta-kinda beaches, and some notoriously insane partying by the locals.

FWIW, this bottle of beer -- which I purchased at an odd little Yokosuka City souvenir shop, has a full color picture of the island (almost identical to the one above).

And there is a mention on the back label of http://www.sekinoichi.co.jp -- the same makers of the generally excellent Iwate Kura beers. So my current theory on this beer is that it was commissioned by the Department of Tourist Affairs of the City of Yokosuka, to have a Sarushima-related beer to sell to the dumb tourists. And dumber gaijin beer dorks, like yours truly!

Thankfully, this tourist 'cash-grab' beer is really not that bad. A slightly sour Weizen-ish beer -- kinda makes me think of what a Berliner Weiss might taste like if it clocked in at 5%ABV. Somewhat hazy, so the wheat beer angle to this may not be totally off-base.

Perhaps a bit too wonky in the overall analysis -- I'm not sure I'd go for this too often if I were pounding down beers in the fun-and-the-sun over on Sarushima Island. But for an interesting diversion, it's not bad, really.
//TB