Shiga Kogen House IPA from Tamamura Honten is their take on an imperial/double IPA style, one that has proven to be popular in the USA of recent. It is brewed from 100% Maris Otter malt so the flavour differs from batch to batch, and year to year. The hops used also change in percentages from batch to batch. Shiga Kogen House IPA though is dangerous – it has an abv of 8% and an IBU of 95, though it’s rumoured to be higher, pushing over 100.
Tastes like a twisted bitter man who traipses to work day-upon-day would do, if you could bottle his bitter tears and sweat.
Shiga Kogen House IPA Aroma and Taste
“How have you not reviewed Shiga Kogen House IPA?”. A strange question but when we met up with some friends-of-a-friend last week for beers and mentioned BeerTengoku, this was the first question. Not “How long have you been in Japan?” or “What’s your favourite beer?”. Well, the reason is we have been slack. I’ve drunk Shiga Kogen House IPA more times than I can remember but always “forgotten” to take a picture or review it.
Shiga Kogen House IPA doesn’t mess around and isn’t looking to make new friends. It knows what it is, a deep golden orange marmalade colour, without peel of course, that had a thin amount of head that faded away so quickly that it was seen as a warning sign. Shiga Kogen House IPA smells like a wet dog that has been playing in some hop fields of Simcoe hops and then has been pissed on by a cat. If that sounds disturbing, it shouldn’t be as that pungency will draw you in, grab you by the scruff of your shirt and encourage you to drink some.
Even though the batch changes from year-to-year, every time I have drunk Shiga Kogen House IPA, it has been bitter and pungent. It isn’t a beer for the first time imperial IPA drinker and will screw your taste buds, and face, up as the bitter grapefruit citrus flavour smacks the life out of your taste buds, pummeling them into submission. Repeatedly as you keep coming back for more of that distinctive, pleasurable taste. It’s so bitter that it can not, and probably isn’t advised either, be drunk quickly. If you can, well done, you’ve probably destroyed your sensation of taste for the next week, let alone the next beer.
Shiga Kogen House IPA One Line Review
Shiga Kogen House IPA is a great, great imperial IPA. Don’t drink anything “weaker” afterwards though as you simply won’t be able to taste anything.
Where to Buy Shiga Kogen House IPA
Shiga Kogen House IPA can be bought from the Tamamura Honten online store here. Online stores such as GoodBeer.jp stock it here, CraftBeers.jp here, and World Beer Market here. I got my bottle from Le Collier in Tokyo Station but also have seen it at Liquors Hasegawa as well.
