Shumei
Blood Brothers Brewing

At my lady Pamela's house; canned and chilled, 473mL in a pint glass. From my favourite LCBO at Tecumseh Mall in nearby Windsor. Canned February 4/25. My eleventh beer from the Toronto, Ontario brewery, and tenth for 2025. Adored by Gracie the cat...

 

Pours a little foam. Yellow orange tinge color with pineapple pine like aromas. Taste is leaning towards pine and pineapple also with mild bitterness. It's not bad at all but not special either. Would grab something else if this was among other IPA's but wouldn't decline it either if it was beside blue moon ( sick and puke ).

Just ok and does the trick is a good description of this beer. Blood Light is a little better.

 

 

 

473 ml can
Served in a pint glass

This beer pours a turbid, mustard color and is topped with half a glass of beige head that coats the side of the glass as I consume.

It has a light citrus aroma with a minerally dank smell as well.

Mild citrus flavor. Light grapefruit in the finish

Medium to light bodied and well carbonated

Solid IPA

 

Can pour at Fattey Beer Company in Rochester, NY.

This one pours a very hazy golden yellow color, with a small head, and lots of lacing.

This smells like grapefruit, orange, lime, pineapple, and pine.

This is a really well done flagship, with a very soft and pillowy hop character – maybe slightly wheaty, with orange gummies, grapefruit pith, pine, and pineapple juice.

This is lighter bodied, crisp and clean, with a great drinkability.

It’s hard to find too many flaws here – this was very enjoyable.

Very cloudy. It looks like apricot juice. Smallish head but it leaves ample fine spots and streaks.

Tutti-fruity nose with lots of tropical smells like pineapple and mango.

The flavor mimics the smell with a light sweetness. The bitterness which isn’t apparent in the nose is distinctively strong. It is like black pepper on the tongue.

473 mL can from the LCBO; I don't see a canning date. Served slightly chilled. This one erupted with foam when I opened it, so consider this to be a placeholder review until I find another can that hopefully doesn't explode.

Pours a hazy, translucent pale yellow colour, with more than three inches of puffy, soapy white head rising from the surface. It lasts for the better part of ten minutes, gradually seeping down to a lumpy quarter-inch cap surrounded by a fat collar of big, bubbly suds. Gobs of sticky lace are generated, including a ring that hugs the rim of the glass - it looks fantastic, but *that* much head is not normal for a (non-Belgian) IPA. It smells of orange, nectarine and piney, earthy hops, with hints of berries and mango.

Tastes normal enough, but it's super over-carbonated. Grapefruit and peach come through first, with hints of orange zest, mango and pineapple not far behind. This fruitiness gives way to more of a floral, piney hop bitterness on the back end, with grapefruit pith lingering into a bitter, earthy aftertaste. Medium in body, with punishingly aggressive carbonation - and keep in mind, I waited a while just for the head to go away. Even the last couple of gulps were still sharp and bristly - a bloaty glass of beer that I had to take my time with.

[Updated Aug 12 2025]

Another tallboy, dated Apr 30 2025. No gusher, which means we're off to a better start than last time - though I do still find this to be slightly overcarbonated. That being said, putting aside the mouthfeel, most of what I wrote last time still applies here. I am not a big fan of the hop profile, and the relatively high abv hurts more than it helps. Shumei is a beer that I want to like more than I actually do. I will keep trying this once in a while to see if my opinion changes over time.

Final Grade: 3.71, a B

 

Pours a yellow, apricot colour. Nice inch of head that slowly dissipates, leaving nifty spotty tiny caps everywhere

Strong NEIPA aromas. Pine, citrus, grainy malt in the background. A general essence of tropicality as well.

Pears and orange peel, citrus zest and a bready malt backbone, all pleasant stuff in here. The ABV plays more of a role here and is not hidden, but not because it’s harsh or not blended well. No, the alcohol adds a great inflection on the flavours, the slight heat and deep ABV gives the apricot-pear flavours a kind of tasty Palinka vibe.

Medium-light bodied with moderate carbonation, ABV is blended in well, slightly noticeable but pleasant. Subtle but long finish of tasty malts. Unlike a lot of other NEIPAs, there are no oats in the beer here, so there isn’t too much astringency, but this beer still has that thicker body.

At first I thought ‘oh great, another IPA that’s basically a NEIPA’ but this is a good fusion of multiple IPA styles. It’s not particularly bitter, but pleasant and smooth all the same. Really great offering by Blood Brothers

 

 

 

 

July 27 2025

True to its haze, it does have a NEIPA juicy fruit front, but (thank goodness) that quickly transitions to a solid, clean bitterness with a touch of brett (?) and a hint of pear, with fizzing in the corners of my palate. I would (and will) gladly drink this beer again, however I note comments likening it to a NW IPA. To my mind, a NW IPA combines a solid malt backbone with a piney hop bitterness - Canadian examples are Fat Tug, Greg or Mount Benson. Shumei is a credible beer, but the malt element is totally disguised by the hops and esters, which is fine but, to my mind, is nothing like a NW IPA profile.