6.9/10
—
Appearance 8
Aroma 7
Flavor 7
Texture 8
Overall 5.5
Zumona Ibuki Hop Saison Tap at a festival in Kyoto Art Center near Shijo. 500¥ spicy cloudy be and wheat aroma, medium bodied with a rough chewy wheat character, the taste has cloves and spices. Rough around the edges but ok, better than I expected from Zumona. Looks like it's improved over the 2017 version, who knows maybe 2019 may even start to edge into the good-above average range.
Tried
from Draft
on 23 Jul 2018
at 14:40
7/10
—
Appearance 6
Aroma 7
Flavor 7
Texture 8
Overall 7
medium amber golden color. Very clean nose with some breadfruit but overall maltier than I would expect. Mouth is very balanced, with restrained modest bitterness, some prickly hop character but super approachable. Definitely a crowd pleaser and this is in great condition. Better than the other Tohoku beers I tried samples of (and didn’t rate)
Tried
on 18 Mar 2018
at 12:28
7.3/10
—
Appearance 8
Aroma 7
Flavor 7
Texture 8
Overall 7
Tap at Japan Brewer's Cup 2018. Still had a bit of a cold, so my palate may not have been quite right. Got this from the Iwatekura stand, where it was labelled #8! Lemony hop nose, wheat, esters, somewhat champagne like, nice wheat, medium clove and banana, nice hops. Good.
Tried
from Draft
on 29 Jan 2018
at 06:34
5.8/10
—
Appearance 6
Aroma 5
Flavor 6
Texture 6
Overall 6
Draught at the Ichinoseki Beer Fest 2017. Cloudy orange with lace. Phenolic nose, oranges, peaches, biscuits. Very spicy, yeasty flavor, phenols, a bit astringent in the finish. Oily, minerally and a bit rough. Need to work with this yeast a bit.
Tried
on 22 Aug 2017
at 01:56
7.1/10
—
Appearance 6
Aroma 7
Flavor 7
Texture 8
Overall 7.5
Hazy amber golden color. Lots of banana and cloves. Very carbonated. Well balanced. Smooth.
Tried
on 11 Nov 2016
at 02:16
5.5/10
—
Appearance 6
Aroma 6
Flavor 5
Texture 4
Overall 6
Tap at CBM Koenji. Big, sticky, brown sugar sweet nose with molasses and dark fruit. Body feels heavy and syrupy. Definitely more of a barley wine. Sweet and sticky finish.
Tried
from Draft
on 08 Feb 2016
at 08:35
6.3/10
—
Appearance 6
Aroma 6
Flavor 6
Texture 6
Overall 7
Tap at iBrew. Dark brown with orange tints. Cloudy, low, fine head. Big toffee bomb of a nose, orange, caramel syrup. Sweet and caramelly, raisins, dried plums, peaches and oranges. Big and syrupy. There is some almost nice malty complexity underneath here, but it is overweighed by too young sugary maltose. This needs to be labeled a barley wine and aged for at least 6 more months. Then it might actually be damn good.
Tried
from Draft
on 25 Jan 2016
at 01:56
4.4/10
—
Appearance 8
Aroma 4
Flavor 4
Texture 4
Overall 3.5
Thanks to TimE for the bottle! Due to my own fault, I’m drinking a Nov. 30, 2015 expiry date beer. Poured into a teku showing dark brown with a finger of lightly tanned foam and light to very moderate filtration. The nose shows extremely sweet malts and tea. The palate is well carbonated and full bodied. Very sweet and tea-like forwardness. Seems to have a lot of Belgian yeast influence but the finish is a distinct IPA bitterness. Overall, the sweetness and the bitterness just really don’t work together.
Tried
from Bottle
on 02 Jan 2016
at 05:51
6.8/10
—
Appearance 6
Aroma 8
Flavor 7
Texture 4
Overall 7
I guess this is Zumona’s attempt to step outside its comfort zone. Dark amber color. Big caramel, cherries and apricot nose. Cherry pits and apricots with bready notes. Very strange. Uber full body, sticky. Not perfectly balanced
Tried
on 28 May 2015
at 04:14
6.6/10
—
Appearance 8
Aroma 7
Flavor 6
Texture 6
Overall 6.5
Amber color tobacco leaves, apricots in the nose. Fairly smooth mouth. Modest bitterness ok.
Tried
on 28 May 2015
at 04:11