Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 7
B-IPA meaning BELGIAN IPA rather than black IPA... On tap at Bungalow. It pours a cloudy light gold.kild Belgian spicy notes with lots of citrusy hop character in the bouquet. Full bodied, smooth, sweet. Almost candiesh in the flavor, the spices & the hops merge into a tasty cake like sweetness. Not so bitter, very tasty & interesting. It has definite clove notes with a sharp finish. Those clove notes re quite prominent leading me to feel this is more of a hoppy weizen than a Belgian IPA, damn good though.
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 6 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 8
Draft to a plastic cup @ Nippon Craft Beer Festival 2014. Pours dark brown with a small layer of foam. There is definitely some roasted malts and coffee in the aroma. Taste is also multi-layered - at first there is more sweet malts and fruits, following by drier and more roasted aftertaste. Feels quite light for a porter but is quite enjoyable nonetheless. Dark fruits and coffee. Good beer in winter, would go well with pork dishes.
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 6.5
On tap at Swan Lake Pub Edo. A crystal clear reddish brown. Malty sweet with a citrus hoppy nose. A clean red ale with malty biscuit, caramel, some peppery notes & possibly rye grain notes. Very solid.
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 7.5
Draft - Coffee roast and chocolate. Jet black with a decent beige head. Rich dark chocolate with a bit of coffee. Very nice drinkable porter.
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 7
Cask - Caramel and grains. Clear copper with no head. Caramel and grains with a slight hop bitterness. A decent amber.
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 8
Backlog. On tap @ Popeye, June 2008. Clear amber color. Aroma’s of fruit, oily hops. Flavor is moderate hopbitter. Medium bodied. Nice hopbitter finish.
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 6.5
On tap at Bungalow, 600 yen 10oz, 7%. A slightly cloudy orange gold with a good head of foam. A nice pine aroma with some dankness, definitely west coast hops. The flavor is bitter, pine, grapefruits, grapes, quite fruity & with a dry finish. Tasty stuff, a solid IPA. I am glad to see these guys diversifying into new styles & making a good show of it too.
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 6 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 7
Deep amber color. The nose has soft hops with apricots and oranges. The body is malt accented and though hops are present they don’t really balance the full bodiness of the beer. I can see that the beer was well made and it is an amped up version of the regular IPA, which is really lovely, but I don’t think the recipe works so well at 10%. A 7.5% version might be ok. Overall not bad, but I am not rushing to try this again.
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 7
On tap at Ant n Bee, August 2013. Black with a small tan head. Both the aroma and taste were dominated by coffee. Also roasted malt and some dark chocolate. Descent.
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 8
Tap at Tadg’s. Dark golden color, cloudy, with a high head. Tropical fruit nose, citrus, orange, passion fruits. Sweet flavor, honey, a bit syrupy, malty, with great furits. Prickly finish, very bitter. Alcohol noticeable. Good, but a bit unrefined.