If you follow us on Twitter (@TengokuBeer) or Facebook (BeerTengoku), you would have seen the announcement that Yo-Ho Brewing were doing a special “Buy-five-beers-get-one-free” at Natural Lawsons. Karuizawa Kogen 2014 Seasonal British Pale Ale was the free beer you get with the deal though buying five cans of Aooni IPA and getting a free beer is always a good thing. It was a seasonal beer that was first released in 2014 so either this is the end of stock and they couldn’t get rid of it or it has a ridiculous shelf life. Karuizawa Kogen 2014 Seasonal British Pale Ale has an abv of 5%.
Um 2014 – that was almost six months ago.
Karuizawa Kogen 2014 Seasonal British Pale Ale Aroma and Taste
Having 2014 in the title is a pretty weary PR tactic, especially if the beer is not your usual beer that is designed for aging. Moreover, finding that Karuizawa Kogen 2014 Seasonal British Pale Ale was first released over a year ago at the time of writing was not too reassuring either. It poured out a deep reddish-brown colour with minimal head, pretty much exactly what I remember my granddad would drink when I was younger, with the only difference being the temperature, as this beer had been in the fridge for about four hours.
The aroma was hoppier than I expected from a pale ale, especially one being labelled from Britain. It had a solid aroma of caramel malts along with a strong aroma of hops and some decent fruits emanating off too; plums and grapes. It reeked off sweetness though which is not something I remember from British pale ales.
If the sweetness in the aroma was anything to go by, then wait until you get to the body – it’s almost as if someone had melted caramel and dumped a bucketload into the beer. It was a dominating taste that left me cold until a wee amount of bitterness kicked in to remove the overpowering sweetness. Which continued again after I had some more…
Karuizawa Kogen 2014 Seasonal British Pale Ale One Line Review
Karuizawa Kogen 2014 Seasonal British Pale Ale is a poor British pale ale that is best left on the shelf.
