Full fermentation, classic method, the same hop bills the breweries give their flagships — with the alcohol taken at the end. Two breweries, two countries. Nothing on this shelf was brewed to be a lesser version of anything.

Four axes, read on the four petals of the mark. Nose — what rises to meet you. Arc — how it travels across the palate. Weight — what it feels like in the mouth. Stay — what remains, and for how long. Not a grade; a location. We do not score. We read.

Hitachino Nest — from Japan.
Kiuchi Brewery, Ibaraki — the owl label. Yuzu Ginger: citrus and spice carried on a classic base, brewed with the patience the label is known for.

Botanic Baladin — from Italy.
Baladin of Piozzo, Piedmont, one of the founding houses of Italian craft brewing. Botanic is its herbal line — brewed with botanicals, bitter-leaning, made for the table.

La Trappe Nills — from the abbey.
Brewed by the Trappist monks of Koningshoeven, the Netherlands — the first Trappist beer 0.0 Dark amber under an off-white head; malt and fruit, a quiet bitterness, a caramel-sweet finish. Centuries of the abbey's method, unchanged until the very end.