Shimane Beer IPA is a British style IPA brewed by Shimane Beer Brewery that weighs in at 7.5%. It is also one of the few beers in Japan to come with a warning on the can. Shimane Beer IPA warns potential drinkers that the aroma is “strong and smelly” and has a very bitter taste as well. How delightful of Shimane Beer to warn its clientele.
Health warning: this beer smells like hops and is bitter. It’s an IPA. You have been warned.
Shimane Beer IPA Aroma and Taste
Shimane Beer IPA had a surprisingly dark brown body and a creamy brown head to it that lingered for a while. I was going to smell it but then I remembered the health warning. What to do? Well, I took one for BeerTengoku and you and smelt it. Crazy right? And they weren’t joking. Shimane Beer IPA reeks of aromas you wouldn’t associate with an IPA. Roasted malts and caramel with some pine thrown in to round it all off. What was going on here? Answers on a postcard…
Sometimes I think that my olfactory senses are screwed up or that I have eaten something that affects my judgement. Shimane Beer IPA is one of those beers that plays with your ideas of beers. It comes across as a porter IPA but then I realised I had never had a porter IPA. Black IPA, sure. Porter IPA? What is it? Roasted malts in the body and bitter with a hint of nuts makes me think that this should be a brown ale but then the bitter hops kick in to make you think.
Shimane Beer IPA One Line Review
Shimane Beer IPA is a confusing beer. Is it an IPA? No. Is it a brown ale? Perhaps. A porter à la brown ale would be a better description.
Where to Buy Shimane Beer IPA
BeerTengoku got our can of Shimane Beer IPA from Le Collier in Tokyo station. Besides there, we haven’t seen or heard of it on sale anyway else. Even the Shimane Beer homepage doesn’t list it.
