Japanese Green Tea IPA (2015)
(Batch of Japanese Green Tea IPA)
Stone Brewing in Escondido, California, United States 🇺🇸
Collab with: Baird Brewing Co. / Ishii Brewing CompanyIPA - Triple Special Out of Production
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Score
7.32
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Collaborators: Bryan Baird, Brewmaster, Baird Brewing Company / Toshi Ishii, President/Brewmaster, Ishii Brewing Co. / Mitch Steele, Brewmaster, Stone Brewing Co.
Our style of brewing has always been about taking chances. It’s an extension of our “What if” mentality, wherein we ask ourselves what would happen if we did things differently in the brewhouse, such as fermenting with a different strain of yeast or, in the case of this beer, incorporating whole-leaf green tea imported from Japan. The answer, embodied in this IPA when we first released it in 2011, was something truly magnificent, delicious and well worth brewing again. But what if we changed it up a bit? This time around, we exchanged Pacifica hops from New Zealand for Helga hops from Australia. The result is an IPA that’s as bright, herbaceous and bitingly hoppy as the one that’s had our fans requesting its return ever since its depletion from store shelves, but with a modern, hop-driven twist that makes this second draft unique and tasty in its own right.
Bryan Baird of Baird Brewing Company, Toshi Ishii of Ishii Brewing Co., and I selected hop varieties for this beer that would blend well with Japanese sencha green tea, and I think we succeeded. Heavy doses of Crystal and Australian Helga hops, accompanied by the Aramis variety from France, provide a wonderful, spicy, and fruity hop character that blends exceptionally well with the herbal and grassy sencha tea flavors. The very late addition of Japanese Sorachi Ace hops provides hints of citrus and dill. Aside from switching out the Pacifica hops for Helga hops, we kept the recipe the same. The ABV on this rebrew is slightly higher than the 2011 release because of the annual changes in malt enzyme strength and variability with the yeast. This was one of our team’s all-time favorite Stone collaboration brews and we are thrilled to be brewing it again.
Our style of brewing has always been about taking chances. It’s an extension of our “What if” mentality, wherein we ask ourselves what would happen if we did things differently in the brewhouse, such as fermenting with a different strain of yeast or, in the case of this beer, incorporating whole-leaf green tea imported from Japan. The answer, embodied in this IPA when we first released it in 2011, was something truly magnificent, delicious and well worth brewing again. But what if we changed it up a bit? This time around, we exchanged Pacifica hops from New Zealand for Helga hops from Australia. The result is an IPA that’s as bright, herbaceous and bitingly hoppy as the one that’s had our fans requesting its return ever since its depletion from store shelves, but with a modern, hop-driven twist that makes this second draft unique and tasty in its own right.
Bryan Baird of Baird Brewing Company, Toshi Ishii of Ishii Brewing Co., and I selected hop varieties for this beer that would blend well with Japanese sencha green tea, and I think we succeeded. Heavy doses of Crystal and Australian Helga hops, accompanied by the Aramis variety from France, provide a wonderful, spicy, and fruity hop character that blends exceptionally well with the herbal and grassy sencha tea flavors. The very late addition of Japanese Sorachi Ace hops provides hints of citrus and dill. Aside from switching out the Pacifica hops for Helga hops, we kept the recipe the same. The ABV on this rebrew is slightly higher than the 2011 release because of the annual changes in malt enzyme strength and variability with the yeast. This was one of our team’s all-time favorite Stone collaboration brews and we are thrilled to be brewing it again.
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6.4/10
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Appearance 6
Aroma 7
Flavor 6
Texture 6
Overall 6.5
Bottle at Toms 10 yr anniversary. Gold clear lasting white head. Tea and citrus hop aroma. Way too much tea for me. Good dipa flavour. Just not keen on the tea.
Tried
from Bottle
on 29 Mar 2015
at 07:39
8/10
Tried
on 29 Mar 2015
at 07:29
6.6/10
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Appearance 8
Aroma 7
Flavor 7
Texture 6
Overall 5.5
On tap at Goodnight Irene’s in Wildwood, nj. Hazy gold color. Small white head. Pine hop nose. Big hoppy and green tea flavor. After that, the hops dominate. Lots of green tea flavor coming through. On the fence with this one.
Tried
from Draft
on 28 Mar 2015
at 20:20
8.2/10
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Appearance 10
Aroma 7
Flavor 8
Texture 10
Overall 8
Courtesy of Matt
Cloudy orange light amber color, compact head. The aroma is delicate; malty, fruity and floral. Lean mouthfeel, moderately sweet; the malt and hops combine to create a marmalade feeling; very strong bitterness, strong hop resins, moderate hop fruitiness, and mild astringency from the tea.
It doesn’t show the signs of the high alcohol content.
Dangerously drinkable.
Cloudy orange light amber color, compact head. The aroma is delicate; malty, fruity and floral. Lean mouthfeel, moderately sweet; the malt and hops combine to create a marmalade feeling; very strong bitterness, strong hop resins, moderate hop fruitiness, and mild astringency from the tea.
It doesn’t show the signs of the high alcohol content.
Dangerously drinkable.
Tried
on 23 Mar 2015
at 14:17
7/10
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Appearance 6
Aroma 7
Flavor 7
Texture 8
Overall 7
Pours gold into a snifter. White head with little retention recedes to hug rim. Caramel, nut and tea aromas. Thick with sweet caramel and green tea upfront turning hot and warming in the lasting earthy resin finish.
Tried
on 19 Mar 2015
at 17:41
6.6/10
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Appearance 8
Aroma 7
Flavor 5
Texture 8
Overall 6.5
I really liked the lower alcohol content version of this better. For some reason, the green tea flavor is much more pronounced in this version, and not nearly so good an addition as in the earlier one. The tea is actually a bit oppressive this time out.
Tried
on 13 Mar 2015
at 14:23
7.4/10
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Appearance 8
Aroma 7
Flavor 7
Texture 8
Overall 7.5
Bottle from Appellation Wines. Appearance - bright golden amber. Some head. Nose - green herbs, now when I think about it, I guess it must be green herbs. Taste - green tea is quite dominant. Palate - very interesting but probably good, though that said more interesting than good. Overall - yeah, good.
Tried
from Bottle
on 13 Mar 2015
at 11:41
7.2/10
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Appearance 8
Aroma 7
Flavor 7
Texture 8
Overall 7
Bottle at AshtonMcCobb’s, from Appellation Wines. Cheers Ash! Pours clear pale gold, thick white head. Aromas of strong green tea, light malt, light herbal hops. Taste is bitter, lots more green tea, some hot alcohol. An interesting brew.
Tried
from Bottle
on 13 Mar 2015
at 11:37
7.6/10
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Appearance 8
Aroma 7
Flavor 8
Texture 6
Overall 8.5
Bomber from ABV. Pours a clear dark copper, almost orange color with a medium white head. A huge fruity nose, tropical, citrus. The base here is a lovely big fruity IIPA, resin, a sharp dry green tea and bitter hop path after the initial tropical citrus fruit. Very odd, also very good. I don’t think I’d easily recognize the green tea without knowing it, but I would notice the dryness in the middle. Quite good. Apricots, green tea, bitter lemons. It works well.
Tried
on 13 Mar 2015
at 02:09
5.6/10
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Appearance 6
Aroma 7
Flavor 5
Texture 4
Overall 5.5
Tap into a tulip showing translucent amber hues and no head. The nose shows a strong foundation of citric IPA and grapefruit tones with very generous hints of macha. The palate shows macha on the attack with pithy grapefruit on the mid-palate and throughout in the background of the beer. A strong tea stringency is also shown. The bitterness is a mix of sharp and zesty grapefruit with the round & humming bitterness of the macha. These flavors clash tremendously. As the fresh citric flavors of the IPA appear they are quickly and strangely suppressed by the macha flavors making for a very unpleasant beer. Once again, one of the reasons why I don’t think macha should ever be in a beer.
Tried
from Draft
on 08 Mar 2015
at 19:20