<i>Bottled. </i> Hazy amber, rich firm head. Strong perfumy cedar aroma. Medium sweet and medium bodied Densely malty with this very evident and unique woody cedar character. Fruity, yet elegant with piney bitter finish. Interesting, unique and mindblowingly tasty!

Cloudy aroma with insistent head. Pungent Orvalish aroma, winey & spicy with pale malts and fruity hops. Long palate full of wood, pale malt and loads of bittering hops...again very Orvalish. The cedar comes on strong late, adding its own accents to this complex, intense brew. Stunning.

(330ml bottle) An absolute gusher when it opened -- off-white foam poured out of the bottle for a good 2 minutes after I opened it. Fortunately no spillage. Eventually what revealed itself was a particulate-filled, dense cider-colored body. Aroma is medium sweet, cedar, apple,spicy, light mango, smoke. Taste is medium sweet, herbal, peach, cantaloupe, cedar. Finishes with a nice earthy/herbal hoppiness, and cedar joins them in the burp. Medium body, lively carbonation. Although a bit sweeter than I prefer, this is a nice take on the style, very enjoyable beer. So far my favorite from this brewer.

Name: Japinese Classic Ale
Date: 06/18/2005
Mode: Bottle
Source: Tasting, Noog I

opaque orange, sweet fruity aroma, woody malt flavor with lots of oak character, hint of sweetness, low hop flavor and bitterness,
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Name: Japinese Classic Ale
Date: 07/14/2006
Mode: bottle
Score: i to iii

thick creamy head that’s easily roused into a big hunk of cream leaving thick lace, great complex sweet tart unique woodyness in the aroma that I guess comes from the cedar aging, thick creamy body, rich malt flavor with a lot of wood character, tart tannens, full of flavor and well balanced

Aroma: 7/10; Appearance: 8/10; Flavor: 8/10; Palate: 8/10; Overall: 17/20
Rating: 4/5.0
Drinkability: 8/10
Score: ***/4

Nice bottle-conditioned murky muddy yellow to amber. Plenty of lacing results from the initial gushing. Off-white head resolves to a cover after a few minutes. Incredible nostrils punching pineapple and cedar aroma. Pure spruce.. incredible. As if it weren’t enough, that funky yeast reminds me why I love beer (one needs that every once in a while, eh?). Lots of citrus notes, orangey, very soft hops.. A treasure of an aroma, unarguably unique, yet it feels like an old friend immediately. Highly fruity, floral.. makes me think of spinach even and definitely algae. Firm and mellow bitterness at the same time.. Incredibly tasty and aromatic, lots of different range of flavours that you’d never think match together, but you needed Japan’s advanced beer science to come ahead with that. Very small bubbles procure a biting bite everywhere at once, but it is comfortable if only for the flavors.. I want more in my mouth with every sip. Light-medium body… Quaffable…Ok, maybe not what most of us have come to expect from IPAs, but let’s face the facts (or my biased opinion), it tastes better than any IPA I’ve had. Tremendous beer!