Here is a springtime guest-beer announcement from Bar Fiddich, a beer pub in Minamiichi-cho, Nara City. The shop sits on the second floor down an alley from the Mochiidono shopping street, and its calm atmosphere, with a wooden counter and rows of Western liquors, makes it a place suited to a slow, lingering drink in the evening.

Two beers have been tapped this time. The first is Sankt Gallen's 'Sakura.' It uses cherry blossoms and cherry leaves from Takato in Ina City, Nagano Prefecture as secondary ingredients, and features a soft mouthfeel from the addition of wheat malt. It also uses 60 kg of edible yaezakura cherry blossoms, the same kind used for cherry blossom tea, in a single brew, along with the sake rice 'Rakufo Mai' grown by Izumibashi Sake Brewery in Ebina, resulting in a beer whose aroma and flavor evoke sakura mochi.

The other is Nara Brewing's latest release, 'DAYLONG.' While keeping the tradition of pilsner in mind, it is brewed using German ingredients all the way through, from malt to hops and yeast. The delicate floral aroma of Hallertau Hersbrucker hops is layered with the spicy, herbal impression of Merkur hops, creating a beer that balances a light drinking character with a pleasant bitterness.

At Bar Fiddich, each of these two guest beers is available in a limited amount of one 10-liter keg. It is a lineup that lets you enjoy a drink connecting Nara with breweries from around Japan during cherry blossom season.