Ise Kadoya Pale Ale

Brewed by Ise Kadoya
Style: American Pale Ale
Ise, Mie Prefecture, Japan

Serve in Lager glass, Shaker, Tulip

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Bottle. Pours a hazy, orange-gold with a soft, white head. Pleasant, hoppy aroma with malty notes. Flavor has wonderful balance. Begins sweet with light bread and caramel, then goes into bitter territory. The hop presence is quite strong, a touch that I quite liked. Medium bodied with average carbonation. Finishes lightly sweet with lingering, though not excessive, hops. Very good. I’m surprised by some of these low rates.

Draught at Qbrick. Good floral nose. Moderately fruity malt, spicy on mid-palate, nice bitter hop attack on the finish. Excellent balance, interesting hops. Light and very drinkable. Served too cold.

Foggy rufous. Towering white head exhibits stellar retention. Elegant nose of pencil eraser, perfumey plasticlike phenolics, tangerine oil, white grapefruit pith, plastery yeast, apricot jam, toasted bread, aniseed. Firm, expansive effervescence. Bottle-conditioned. Exuberantly phenolic and dry, yet not stark or hollow, with a trailing softness of rose petals and slippery tangerine-oil-laced hop vibrancy. Malt offers up refined cookielike notes and a gently toasty support as its feathery weight disperses dusty dextrins across the tongue. Leafy bitterness gently scratches the palate to provide contrast to the predominantly soft and flavorsome hops. Spicy and flowery hops combine with a dryly phenolic flourish to wrap things up in the perfectly uncomplicated and sophisticated finish. Wheras most U.S. brewers seem to prefer disproportionate balance with copious amounts of caramel and resin in their pale ales, this exemplifies brewing with a finessed touch. The balance here is truly extraordinary, as they have squeezed every last trace of oil from the Cascades, resulting in a seemingly ordinary pale ale which happens to be ceaselessly quaffable and chock full of hop flavor balanced by just a kiss of bitterness. And whatever yeast these guys are bottle-conditioning with is super cool and magical, as everything I have had from them has been a gusher and highly phenolic. Such a fun little beer.

Draught at Eni-bru, Osaka. Clear golden, small head. Fresh citric nose. Mid-dry and light-medium bodied. Crystallic and caramelly backdrop to citric yuzy hops. Drinkable and freshening aromatic US style pale ale with medium bitterness.

50cl bottle. Large off-white head atop hazy light amber body. Aroma is moderately sweet, orange/floral, light grapefruit, honey, bread. Taste is medium sweet, orange/grapefruit, some straw, light bread, honey. Light-medium body, light acidity. Tasty APA -- were it at SNPA prices, i’d surely buy it again.

on tap at popeye in tokyo. golden with some good lacing. lychee and pine aromas, firm bodied with some pleasant grassiness and some menthol in the finish. very drinkable

Draught at Qbrick. Great fruit and hop nose, with grapes or cherries and citrus. Light and crisp, good light malts to balance. Very enjoyable.

Tap at Popeye. Amber orange colour with a small white thin bubbly head. Aroma not very strong, hint of fruit, grapefruit, orange and lime. Taste is bitter and fruity and at the same time a bit sweet and boozy. Nice and spritzy in the mouth. Finish is slightly bitter but soon fades.

Thin white head. Yellow hazy body with carbonation. Sweet floral perfume aroma with strawberry notes. Taste is sweet resiny hops with strawberry notes. Dry resin aftertaste with notes of peas. Very nice pale ale. (0.25l on tap.)

UPDATED: JUN 23, 2009 Slightly hazy orange with an off-white head. Grapefruit hops, grass, some floral, too. Body is a tad thin. Flavor is grassy, grapefruit, and a little caramel malt. Pretty good, but it’s definitly missing something. Tried this again at Aldgate and it was much better than I remember. Much hoppier and fuller flavor. Bumped my score up a few points.