Shiga Kogen 1t IPA is a 9.5% Double / Imperial IPA from Tamamura Honten, based in Nagano, Japan. It’s part of their limited edition range, and was first released in 2016. It was realised in such a brief amount of time, that all known stocks have sold out and it can be found on tap, though some bottles may still exist. The name stems from the 1000kg+, or 1 metric ton, of malts used to brew Shiga Kogen 1t IPA, and the amount of hops, which are unknown at the time of writing, have given it an ibu of 109. It is rumoured that Shiga Kogen 1t IPA may enter regular production depending on the sales as this was only the first batch.
1000kgs of malt went into making this beer – and not much water it seems.
Shiga Kogen 1t IPA Aroma and Taste
From the get go, there’s no mistaking that Shiga Kogen 1t IPA is a big beer – it’s lively from out of the bottle with a large amount of voluminous frothy white head that quickly collapsed in on itself and left a lot of lacing on the side of the glass. It didn’t hold back on the aroma either, with lashings of passion fruit, stone fruit, some grapefruit and a smidgen of peaches going on to. This is a true American-inspired IPA as the malt took a back seat on the bus to the hops driven this forward. There was no hint of the alcohol booziness until it had warmed up, but by that time, I had drunk most of Shiga Kogen 1t IPA.
With an IBU of 100+, apparently anything more is waste as the tongue can’t taste any more, Shiga Kogen 1t IPA is unashamedly bitter without the cloying sweetness that double IPAs sometimes have to balance out the hops. It’s a paradoxical situation to be in – malts are needed to give the high ABV but the malt sweetness is lacking somewhat in the body. Shiga Kogen 1t IPA ends up being a hop bomb but lacking in substance somewhat. The fresh hoppy flavours are in your face and could do with dulling somewhat to balance out against the malts. It ends up finishing quite dry and bitter – slighlty disappointing really.
Shiga Kogen 1t IPA The Bottom Line
Shiga Kogen 1t IPA is a welcome addition to the Shiga Kogen range but it doesn’t reach the highs, or balance, that the Shiga Kogen Sonoju has. Buy some, if you can, then let it age to see how the flavour changes.
Where to Buy Shiga Kogen 1t IPA
Shiga Kogen 1t IPA can be bought online at the following places:
