Tamamura Honten (Shiga Kogen) House IPA

Brewed by Tamamura-Honten
Style: Imperial/Double IPA
Yamanouchi, Shimotakai district, Nagano prefecture, Japan

Serve in Shaker, Snifter

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Fruity stuff, peculiar mix of hops. Like a bag of sweets, candied violets. Not very clean palate.

[2214-20090605] Sample. Sweet maple sugar aroma has watery leaves and an odd floral note. Clear, bright orange body with a quick bubbly off-white head. Some floral maple bitter hops in the flavour. Medium body. Rough and interesting.
(Vintage 2007; 4T @ Mondial 2009; Montreal, QC)

UPDATED: DEC 17, 2010 2010 Version, absolutely fresh, Draught at Tadgs. Wonderful. Huge hop aroma, with grapefruit, mango,, passionfruits, pineapple, honey, and lean golden malts. Deep gold color. No caramel flavors at all. Clean, crisp honey malts and big citrus and tropical hops. Perfect bitterness at the finish, bitter but not mouth warping. This has triumphed head to head over draught Sculpin, West Coast, Ruination, Islander. One of the best in the world. Amazing. 　2008 version, on draught at Wachi. 8/4/8/4/17 Glowing golden / orange color with a thin head. Big citrus hop nose with caramel and warm light malts. Huge hops. Flavor of caramel malt and all kinds of fruits. Big, citrusy hops with come alcohol burn. Good, bitter, hoppy finish. Very good, very big. The best IPA in Japan for sure.

Bottle bought on Good Beer.JP and brought back from Tokyo by the wife. Pours a mostly clear copper color with a medium white head. A fruity nose with orange peel and marmalade. A really good flavor of intense citrus, some resin even, bitter enough but not a generally bitter product, biscuit and lingering zest and bitterness on the palate in the finish. Very damn good.

Orange amber. Golden style aroma. Almost like a dry hopped cask ale. Very strong dry flavour. Perhaps lacking a little malt sweetness. Dry bitter orange finish.

Bottle. Cloudy, dark golden with a modest head. Rich grapefruity hop aroma. Grapefruit flavours balanced by caramel. A pleasant West Coast IPA Japanese-style that more than delivers.

330ml bottle, as Tamamura Honten House IPA, courtesy of Cardinal Pub & Bar, Stavanger. ABV is 8.0%. Deep golden to brownish orange colour, moderate white head. Aroma of earth, wood and slightly stale orange marmalade, fruity and resinous hops. The flavour has first a rich malty and fruity sweetness, then powerful American(?) hops take over with loads of resinous and grapefruity bitterness. Enough sweetness remains to balance some of the bitterness. Clearly a real treat for the hopheads.

0.33 L bottle@Håndverkerstuene. A layer of offwhite bubbles, covering a foggy, reddish-amber body. Pleasant hop aroma; tropical, apples and faint citrus. Rounded bitter-sweet flavor. Sweet citrus with some floral notes, spicy malts and a tone of toffee. A good amount of bittering hops below. Good body. Lingering fruity bitterness in a light sweet ending. Tasty, with very good drinkability.

330 ml bottle. Hazy orange body with a big, creamy off-white head. Aroma is caramel with a complex mix of fruity American hops. Flavor is sweet caramel malt with a more moderate bitterness than expected from the aroma, still bitter, but in a more balanced way with a fine maltbase. A nice experience and very easy drinkable.

Bottled @ Cardinal, Stavanger. Shared with Olav. Pours murky orange with a small white head. Aroma reminds me of a mix between English marmelade and grapefruity hops. Taste is initialy rich malty with a sweet base as caramel, before the hops get in command and shows off all kind of American C-Hops, strong resins and bitterness, which even brings me excited, not a big hophead myself, but this was very good.