Masaji Ichiro Bourbon Barrel Aged W-IBA
Tamamura-Honten (Shiga Kogen Beer) in Shimotakai, Nagano, Japan 🇯🇵
Strong Ale Regular|
Score
7.65
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8.5/10
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Appearance 6
Aroma 9
Flavor 9
Texture 8
Overall 9
Tap at Craftheads event. Big bourbon smell, booze, slightly medicinal. Lovely taste, rich and fruity. Smooth, booze bite. Finish is intensifying rich booziness. Very nice. Great.
Tried
from Draft
on 09 Sep 2019
at 16:02
8.5/10
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Appearance 8
Aroma 8
Flavor 9
Texture 8
Overall 9
Bouteille 33cl, merci bcp à Phil aka KansaiBeerLvers. Quel régal cette bière! Verse un brun foncée, sur un col léger tirant sur le blanc-cassé. Arôme met de suite l’accent sur des effluves distinctes de Bourbon. Retrouve une certaine douceur fort plaisante et enivrante qui s’accompagne très bien avec un malté quant à lui plus en retrait. Le tout est loin d’être surfait et l’effet boisé reste délicat, titillant juste ce qu’il faut sans en faire de trop. Palais est somptueux et prend par sa faible effervescence une tournure de ’cask’. Retrouve un malté tout en balance qui alterne sur des notes caramel, pâle et finement ’toffee’ qui viennent accompagner le profil tout en accord du Bourbon qui offre une palette douce de vanille et de chaleur avec ses 11%.
Tried
from Cask
on 25 Dec 2015
at 10:53
7.8/10
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Appearance 8
Aroma 9
Flavor 7
Texture 6
Overall 8
New 2016 Rating: Tap at Gremlin TUF event. Huge bourbon forward noswe with maple syrup and chocolate. Palate is same. Boozy, warming finish. Decent but too boozy and the bourbon kills all the masaji notes. Old 2015 Rating: Fall Keyaki 2015. Pours a deep brown with a small head that dissipates fairly quickly. Lots of milk chocolate in the nose with some wood, raisin and a hint of bourbon. As it warms some vanilla bean and light cinnamon come out as well. Smooth drinking with a rich and full-body. Finish is slightly warming, but I’m assuming it has mellowed a bit. Wonderful. --- Beer merged from original tick of Masaji Ichiro Bourbon on 21 Sep 2015 at 16:28 - Score: 8
Tried
from Draft
on 23 Sep 2015
at 10:00
7.8/10
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Appearance 8
Aroma 8
Flavor 8
Texture 8
Overall 7
It pours virtually identical to the Chichibu version, possibly a touch darker with a slightly more robust head of foam but both lack real staying power which is common in big barrel aged beers. The nose is sweet maple, syrupy with a touch of mesquite. Full rich body with the initial sip but it seems to thin out as you keep drinking it. The taste is smoked maplewood, a touch of vanilla, whiskey, not as sweet as the Chichibu it is more woodsy with tobacco notes. Like a fine cigar, I get an image of a cigar that’s been soaked in rich sweet bourbon. Dry, with a bit of heat. Very good but I think I prefer the Chichibu.
Tried
on 17 Mar 2015
at 09:33
8.4/10
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Appearance 8
Aroma 8
Flavor 9
Texture 8
Overall 8.5
pitch black color. Light brown head. The mouth is very thick, lots of licorice, dark chocolate, moderately hoppy mouth, brown sugar and moderately bourbon, but not too strong. Decent stuff. Drank this again at Tokyo Furusato Matsuri 2016 and fuck this shit really want off. Super smooth. Bourbon so well integrated. Definitely on of the best, if not best, imperial black IPA that are barrel aged.
Tried
on 08 Feb 2015
at 06:08
7.8/10
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Appearance 6
Aroma 8
Flavor 8
Texture 8
Overall 8
Bottle from Yamaoka. Black, cloudy, with a bit of lace. More woody nose, less vanilla than the other, canned peaches, chocolate, though less than the other. Drier, more austere, with some funk and mineral. More complex as well. Interesting stone fruit favors, dry whiskey. Not your typical bourbon favor, not so much vanilla. Very bitter, rather boozy too. Full, smooth, silky body. More complex than the other, toug maybe less immediately likeable. Interesting spiciness. Both are a bit medicinal. Pretty good, tough not exceptional. There is an interesting strangeness that is appealing and also hard to deal with a bit.
Tried
from Bottle
on 18 Jan 2015
at 05:13