Echigo Pale Ale is a 5% English style pale ale straight out of Niigata from Echigo Beer. The description on the bottle reads along the lines of someone having consumed one too many of these and then stringing some random words together: “Feeling the hop bitterness is good” and “The weird influence of tea on the ale works well” or something along those lines once translated into English.
Two merry men drinking again.
Echigo Pale Ale Aroma and Taste
With a most peculiar introduction into the world of Echigo Beer’s PR department, it was only natural that Echigo Pale Ale would be a most peculiar beer, due in part to the tea influence of the English swilling nationals that brew pale ale. I guess if tea was such a strong influence on Echigo Pale Ale, then perhaps it should be reviewed using that as a basis? Echigo Pale Ale poured out like a light brown cup of tea, fresh off the boil with the tea leaves swirling, producing a gradient of browns through the water. The head was minimal, with some developing in the area where the beer wasn’t being poured into and leaving a small expanse of emptiness. There wasn’t any aroma of tea coming off of Echigo Pale Ale but there was a mild citrus aroma along with some faint grainy malts coming too.
Pale ales aren’t known for being thick not gloppy and Echigo Pale Ale doesn’t even try to do that. What it is though is equivalent to an over-diluted cup of tea that has had a bit too much time to steep. Perhaps the stalks of the tea leaves had imparted some of their woodiness into the mix as the finishing taste to Echigo Pale Ale was bitter with a weird taste of wood. Not pleasant but then not offensive.
Echigo Pale Ale One Line Review
Echigo Pale Ale is a thin, peculiar pale ale that doesn’t really know what it is trying to do. Best left alone really.
Where to Buy Echigo Pale Ale
Echigo Pale Ale can be bought from the shops listed on the Echigo Beer website here. It can be bought from Kishimoto on Rakuten here.
