Thought I found another great Japanese beer

Japan, East Asia in general, in my experience doesn't brew very good beer. Most of the beers I see from Asian countries are in the Budweiser territory, you drink them because you're thirsty, or to get drunk. They're mild and inoffensive, but they don't have a whole lot of flavor to recommend them, either.

Except for Hitachino Nest. This Japanese craft brewery does it right, they're easily up there with the best American and Belgian beers I've had. I would say it's my favorite brewery, and I certainly hope they expand production because at $6.50 to $9.00 a 12 oz. bottle in the liquor store, it's a rare treat.

This weekend I thought I found a comparable Japanese beer, Morimoto Soba Ale. Turns out that it's produced by Rogue (so I don't read labels closely while shopping, I like to call it minimizing search costs) so my dreams of a second excellent Japanese brewery were put on hold, but the beer is still excellent. Soba is buckwheat, so I expected something like a wheat beer. This was closer to an amber ale, none of the almost sweetness you get with wheat beer, but lighter in the mid palette than your average amber ale. Excellent from the first taste.

Add in Stone Brewery's Levitation Ale and it's been a good beer weekend. Granite City's Brother Benedict Bock is, I'm sure, a fine example of it's style but I mainly had it to confirm that bocks just aren't my thing. It's been a few years, tastes evolve, just wanted to make sure my impression was still relevant.