For those that like drinking beer or like reading reviews, you’ve probably heard of caramel malts or beers tasting like caramel. If you have, then I hope you’ve tried Iwate Kura Sweet Caramel Ale as this should be the gold standard for saying your beer tastes like caramel. Iwate Kura Sweet Caramel Ale is a spiced 7% winter seasonal from Sekinoichi Shuzo that contains vanilla beans as well. The edition found now, first brewed in 2011, was brewed to replace their weaker 5% version.
Don’t let the tiny picture on the front misguide you. Massive amounts of flavour in this one.
Iwate Kura Sweet Caramel Ale Aroma and Taste
I still don’t know why I decided to pick up this bottle of Iwate Kura Sweet Caramel Ale from CraftBeers.jp. It was a late night drinking session and I was looking for weird Japanese beers to try and this came up. I didn’t know much else about this beer besides the abv and it was supposed to be caramel. When I got the bottle, the ingredients only stated that malts, hops, and vanilla beans went in to the beer. No caramel extract or oils. With adjuncts making life easier for brewers, it’s great to see Sekinoichi Shuzo make this the “hard” way and use the natural flavours from malts rather than relying on adding flavourings.
The intense deep reddish-brown colour of the body was adorned with a large amount of frothy pale tan head that dissipated really quickly into the beer. Iwate Kura Sweet Caramel Ale had the aroma of freshly made caramel but the vanilla beans were a great touch to create more of a creamy aroma than a sweet, sickly one. Perhaps the best way to describe it, well for the Brits and Aussies that read BeerTengoku, is it reminded me of a Cadbury’s Caramel bar.
Not that I would like to drink a pureed Caramel bar mind but Iwate Kura Sweet Caramel Ale also has some hop profile too in the body with a little bit of bitterness to contrast against the sweetness. If it hadn’t had been there, I would probably have stopped drinking it after a few sips as the initial sweet taste did get a bit much.
Iwate Kura Sweet Caramel Ale One Line Review
Iwate Kura Sweet Caramel Ale is nice but one bottle is more than enough.
Where to Buy Iwate Kura Sweet Caramel Ale
Iwate Kura Sweet Caramel Ale can be bought from:
