Oh! La! Ho Captain Crow Extra Pale Ale by Oh! La! Ho Beer

Oh! La! Ho Captain Crow Extra Pale Ale is supposed to be an extra pale ale, but it comes across more of an American pale ale, more about that later. It was a lucky find as I’ve never seen this beer before outside of Nagano, well to be more specific, outside of the Oh! La! Ho Beer brewery. I snapped it up and with a yo ho ho, ran to the train to bring it home. Oh! La! Ho Captain Crow Extra Pale Ale has an abv of 5% and was brewed as collaboration between Transporter Beer Magazine and Oh! La! Ho Beer

Where better to try the beer, than on tap at the brewery?

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Oh! La! Ho Captain Crow Extra Pale Ale Aroma and Taste

Captain Crow pours out a light copper colour with a reasonable amount of head that does its best to hold on and stay for as long as possible. It’s hiding something and doesn’t want to give up the treasure yet. Managing to get a sniff, Captain Crow smells of hops. Lots of hops. Almost like someone has tried to dry hop the can with a bag of hops and then sold it on. I think I even saw some fall out of the can when I opened it. A little bitter on the nose but not too overpowering.

Drinking Captain Crow should come with a warning as it does not taste at all like an extra pale ale. It was so surprising that I emailed this picture to Joe and was furious that I had been lied to. I then drank some more, became chilled out, happy, then relaxed as the taste was bitter. Bitter in the screw-your-face-up-like-you’re-sucking-on-a-lemon-bitter kind of way. The aftertaste was also bitter but nowhere near as surprising as when I first drank some.

Oh! La! Ho Captain Crow Extra Pale Ale One-Line Review

If you like bitter beers, I did mention that it was bitter didn’t I, then you’ll love Captain Crow. It’s a natto level beer, you’ll love it or hate it.

Where to Buy Oh! La! Ho Captain Crow Extra Pale Ale

I picked this up in Le Collier in Tokyo station and have been unable to find it elsewhere in Japan, besides at the Oh! La! Ho Brewery and their online shop selling 10 packs of it here.

Edit: Since the original review, Oh! La! Ho Captain Crow Extra Pale Ale has been seen across Japan at Natural Lawson stores.