Japanese Green Tea IPA
8 Aug
Name – Japanese Green Tea IPA
Country – United States
Type – American Double IPA
Let me start by saying thank you to everyone that read and appreciated my little rant I wrote on Saturday. I was actually going into it thinking that if people actually read it I may get some lash back for it. But it was actually the opposite. Many of you read it and, even better, many of you agreed. Because I don’t want to make this all about me I will just leave it at thank you for being awesome and thank you for being the true people in the craft beer community.
So on to another review how about it?
There are a number of breweries that love doing collaborations. Three Floyds, BrewDog and Dogfish Head are just a few of the multi offenders. But I think Stone is probably the most common collaborator of them all. It seems like ever other month they have a new collaboration with brewers from all over the world. But rarely do we in South Florida get our hands on them. A lot of these batches are small and are typically kept in the local Southern California area. Some of them make their ways to other markets but we are usually left out.
But for one of their latest collaborations we lucked out. South Florida’s Fresh Beer/Brown Specialty was the only distributor in Florida to get any of the Japanese Green Tea IPA. Those are some bragging rights huh? The collaboration between Stone, Iishi Brewing Co out of Guam and Baird Brewing Co out of Japan is marked to remember those affected by the earthquake and tsunami that shook Japan in March. And all proceeds go to the relief fund. Very cool.
So how does a double IPA brewed with green tea taste?
I poured the beer into my Stone pint glass and it arrives a very cloudy golden color. There is a very thin white head on top but it is gone in seconds. No real signs of lacing on the glass.
As you would expect from Stone the nose is full of big hops. They smell amazingly fresh and full of citrus. I get a very slight hint of the tea in there but the hops seem to gobble it all up.
Now there is the green tea. The taste is a nice balanced mixed of the same citrus hops but with some nice bitterness of green tea. The bitterness lingers for a little bit afterward but I find it very pleasant. A slight malt backing to it really brings things together in this beer.
And one big thing of note on this beer was that first sip I thought it was a so so beer. But as I went through the glass I started liking it more and more. The tea in there was really unique. I mean I’ve had beers with tea in them but never one with green tea.
When I reviewed Funky Buddha’s So Thank You Music I mentioned how great it would go paired with Asian food. Well add this beer to that category as well. It truly made me think I was sipping some cold hybrid tea in a little sushi joint.
This was a great beer and for a great cause. I wish we could see more of it but that seems highly unlikely. Maybe this will come back as an Anniversary Ale or some seasonal someday.
Grade - A-
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