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 8
Overall 9
22oz bomber pours with a crystal clear copper to gold body that supports a near white head of foam. The modest aroma offers up spicy onion, cantaloupe, tangelo and a mild level of earthy tea. The taste starts smooth and subtle for a brief moment. The hops unfold with juicy citrus lined thinly with mango and then the bitterness wells up with spicy dank onion, grapefruit and then floral notes just as some booziness bubbles to the surface. Into the finish a pleasing earthy tea dryness intercedes amid the hop bitterness and fading juiciness. Wow, such a big beer with restrained booziness and less than intense hoppiness. Solid.
Tried
from Can
on 15 Feb 2015
at 23:11
8/10
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Appearance 8
Aroma 8
Flavor 8
Texture 8
Overall 8
bottle - Pours mostly clear gold and smells of piney and herbal hops. Hops dominate the bitter flavor with more pine character and some citrus. It’s got a big malt body to support it. Once again it’s another excellent IIPA from Stone. It’s a style they’ve long since mastered. Perhaps my taste buds are defective though as I couldn’t taste anything I’d call green tea. Really good regardless.
Tried
from Bottle
on 14 Feb 2015
at 18:49
7.2/10
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Appearance 8
Aroma 6
Flavor 8
Texture 8
Overall 7
On Tap at Bier:Thirty Hazy light orange amber. Big fresh hoppy aroma. Strong tea flavor. Bright and bitter. Quite good.
Tried
from Draft
on 13 Feb 2015
at 16:08
7.6/10
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Appearance 8
Aroma 8
Flavor 8
Texture 6
Overall 7.5
Etched glass bottle. Pours yellow gold. Nose/taste of straight up green tea with citrus and light malt. Medium body.
Tried
from Bottle
on 12 Feb 2015
at 00:28
5.8/10
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Appearance 6
Aroma 5
Flavor 5
Texture 6
Overall 7
Pours clear blonde, small white head . Smell is fish , like intense sea-scent without the salty aspect . Taste is bitter , fish , intense. Not what I look for in beer though ...
Tried
on 11 Feb 2015
at 20:53
7.8/10
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Appearance 8
Aroma 7
Flavor 8
Texture 8
Overall 8
Bottle. Orange malt, green tea, and orange peel aroma. Cloudy amber with large off-white head. Sweet orange tea, malt and moderately bitter earthy grapefruit peel flavor. Nice balance. Really like this blend.
Tried
from Bottle
on 11 Feb 2015
at 18:30
5/10
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Appearance 6
Aroma 4
Flavor 5
Texture 6
Overall 5
Bottle sample at a tasting at Ariel’s place. Thanks Ariel. Rather clear yellow. Aroma of green tea. Spicy flavor with green tea and bitter resinous and piney hops. Medium-bodied. Not really my thing.
Tried
from Bottle
on 10 Feb 2015
at 09:37
8.6/10
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Appearance 8
Aroma 9
Flavor 9
Texture 8
Overall 8.5
Location: 22 oz bottle from Hoboken Vine, 2/9/15
Aroma: The nose is tropical fruit, green tea, herbal hops, and some underlying melon
Appearance: Pours a clear golden-orange color with an off-white head and drippy, spotty lace
Flavor: It has a nice mix of tea and hop flavors, herbs, melon, and some other tropical flavors
Palate: Medium bodied and fairly easy drinking, this has a lively carbonation, and a mid-dry finish
Overall Impression: I'm honestly surprised at how much I enjoyed this beer. This works really well, and it drinks rather nicely, easily. I can't believe this is 10.1%, it drinks like something much lower in ABV.
Aroma: The nose is tropical fruit, green tea, herbal hops, and some underlying melon
Appearance: Pours a clear golden-orange color with an off-white head and drippy, spotty lace
Flavor: It has a nice mix of tea and hop flavors, herbs, melon, and some other tropical flavors
Palate: Medium bodied and fairly easy drinking, this has a lively carbonation, and a mid-dry finish
Overall Impression: I'm honestly surprised at how much I enjoyed this beer. This works really well, and it drinks rather nicely, easily. I can't believe this is 10.1%, it drinks like something much lower in ABV.
Tried
from Bottle
on 09 Feb 2015
at 20:21
7.1/10
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Appearance 6
Aroma 8
Flavor 7
Texture 6
Overall 7.5
Draft - Fruity sweet Mandarin orange citrus. Hazy gold with a good white head. Nice orange tangerine citrus, green tea and pithy bitterness. Little Matcha In the finish. Green tea doesn’t seem to add much for me.
Tried
from Draft
on 09 Feb 2015
at 20:06
6.8/10
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Appearance 6
Aroma 7
Flavor 7
Texture 6
Overall 7
On tap at The Collective Tap, pours a cloudy pale golden yellow with a small white head. Nose brings out earthy notes and green tea a little further subdued. Flavour brings out a good mix of piney hops and green tea - it's a rather strange mix, with a rather abrasive finish. But it's well-brewed. Good stuff.
Tried
from Draft
on 09 Feb 2015
at 20:06