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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8.2/10
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Appearance 8
Aroma 8
Flavor 8
Texture 10
Overall 8
Bottle from Appellation Wines. Hazy golden body with tiny yeast flecks floating around. Thick off-white head. Good lacing. Steady carbonation. Aroma of apricot, lime jelly, peach and green tea. Flavour is more subtle than I was expecting - green tea, melon, apricot, pine resin and minerals. Bitter finish. Medium body with an oily mouthfeel. Light fizz. Drinks like it’s half the ABV. Very impressive.
Tried
from Bottle
on 08 Mar 2015
at 17:08
7.4/10
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Appearance 6
Aroma 8
Flavor 8
Texture 6
Overall 7.5
Bottle at tad’s. Pours clear amber, nose is green tea, herbal, light fruit, taste is dry, fruity, toffee, green tea.
Tried
from Bottle
on 08 Mar 2015
at 11:09
6.8/10
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Appearance 6
Aroma 7
Flavor 7
Texture 6
Overall 7
On tap at Happy Gnome. Pours a clear gold with a touch of orange and a white head that dissipates to the edges and laces slightly. Aroma has notes of light citrus, flora and a bit green tea as well as grass. Flavor has lots of bitter grapefruit with some grass and light flora underlying.
Tried
from Draft
on 07 Mar 2015
at 11:48
6.6/10
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Appearance 6
Aroma 7
Flavor 7
Texture 6
Overall 6.5
From bottle to tulip. Sweet tea, orange and crisp fall air! Copper-orange with minimal off white head. Taste is citrus and tropical, the green tea comes out at the end.
Tried
from Bottle
on 03 Mar 2015
at 23:41
6.1/10
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Appearance 4
Aroma 6
Flavor 7
Texture 6
Overall 6.5
Tap at RNH, NYC. Golden color, good white head. Aroma has tea and other herbal notes. Light to medium-bodied. Covers Abv well. Tea flavors dominate then resiny bitterness and fruityness. Interesting combo but wouldnt take another one.
Tried
from Draft
on 03 Mar 2015
at 16:37
7.5/10
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Appearance 8
Aroma 8
Flavor 7
Texture 8
Overall 7
The Green Tea IPA pours a lovely clear copper with a foamy head that fades pretty quickly. The bouquet on this beer is really good - fresh herbal & fruity hops with just the slightest hint of green tea. It’s got the juicy hop fruitiness I prefer in an IPA. Full bodied and syrupy in texture. The taste is sweet, candyish, green tea, fruits, herbs & a boozy bitter finish. 10% is maybe a bit too full on for me, I think I’d rather have the lower ABV original. Great nose, nice flavor.
Tried
from Can
on 03 Mar 2015
at 08:39
7.6/10
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Appearance 8
Aroma 8
Flavor 6
Texture 10
Overall 7.5
Bomber. Aroma is very herbal; also licorice, dough. Pours a cloudy orange-yellow with a one finger off-white head that lasts a minute or two before collapsing. Taste is sweet and herbal before quickly turning highly bitter. This is as described: a weird tea/IPA hybrid. A little bit vegetal, maybe. Mouthfeel is velvety, carbonation fairly soft, body full. Different and good. Edit: this really started wearing out its welcome after awhile. What was initially intriguing got tiresome. Unique concept, but I know I won’t buy it again. It still has enough going for it for me to appreciate what they did here, though.
Tried
on 03 Mar 2015
at 01:56
7/10
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Appearance 8
Aroma 8
Flavor 6
Texture 6
Overall 7
Bottle from Ayottes Slightly hazy orange/amber color with a white head. Spicy earthy herbal aromas. The tea strikes me as a harsh bitter, decent brew but not one of my favorites.
Tried
from Bottle
on 02 Mar 2015
at 18:45
7.1/10
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Appearance 8
Aroma 7
Flavor 7
Texture 8
Overall 6.5
Light Amber color. Big frothy white head. The green tea is faint behind pugnent grapefruit notes. The green tea is very noticable at first and then balances out with solid malt backbone and aggressive hoppiness. I sense a touch of crystal malt. The finish is long and bitter with linger green tea notes. Compared to the previous version this version has more noticable green tea character, which is a plus, but overall this beer doesn’t do a lot for me unfortunately and I find it a bit boozy.
Tried
on 25 Feb 2015
at 04:30
8.5/10
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Appearance 8
Aroma 8
Flavor 9
Texture 8
Overall 9
On tap at Nakameguro taproom. Served in a stemmed tulip. Pours a hazy golden orange color with a nice soapy white head. Really nice resiny/floral nose ith a slight macha undertone. The macha is there but very subtle. Strong line needle taste and a modest amount of sweetness from malt but smashed by the bitterness. Texture is kind of powdery like powdered green tea at kaiten sushi. Nice long dry aftertaste.
Tried
from Draft
on 20 Feb 2015
at 10:43