So No 10
Tamamura Honten

 

Shiga Kogen No. 10 Anniversary IPA

C+

on tap at falling rock. how they get their hands on this stuff always baffles me. have never even heard of this operation before this. tasty ipa here, but being a special occasion japanese beer, i think i expected it to be a little less conventional, a little more out there in left field, but its pretty true to style american ipa. clear and rather yellow in color, holding a short white head in the globe. hard to tell which hops are happening here, but its a mix of several. lemony would be the dominant hop aromatic, although there is some sweetere elements too, and a more grassy almost even starchy thing in the finish. the flavor follows the nose, but seems a little light on the hops for an ipa this strong. bitterness is calculated and mild, while the citrus sort of fades before its over. i like the sturdy grain base to this, and i like all the carbonation, but i wanted it to stand out from the crowd a bit more. i think they had these kegs for gabf, so perhaps the hops have faded in the month and a half or so since the festival, but as tasty as this way, it was also sort of forgettable on the whole. nothing interesting on the yeast front either.