808 IPA is a 7% West Coast IPA from 808 Brewery, based in Oyama, in Tochigi, Japan. It’s part of their regular lineup and can be found in both cans and on draught. 808 IPA is brewed using C-hops – so things like Cascade, Centennial, Chinook, and Citra – though which ones is unknown at the time of writing. 808 IPA also uses locally grown barley from the Oyama area in the grain bill, though its unknown whether it makes up 100% of the base, or some proportion.
808 IPA : At A Glance
Basics
- Alcohol : 7%
- Style : West Coast IPA
- Hops : C-hops
- IBU : Unknown
Sale Information
- Availability : Regular
- On Sale : From June 2021
- Size : 350 ml
- Price : From 400 yen
Aroma & Taste
- Notable Aromas : Piney with light citrus notes but slight oxidised notes to it when warm.
- Notable Tastes : Starts bitter, with pine and citrus, but oxidised notes in the beer. Not sweet but medium bodied.
808 IPA : Aroma & Taste
808 IPA poured out a dark golden orange colour with barely any head on top – what head there was faded very fast, leaving a few bubbles around the side of the glass. The aroma started off with the classic West Coast pungent pine aroma to the beer, which then moved towards a more citrusy profile of lemon and grapefruit, but the flavours were spoilt by a niggling oxidised, wet cardboard aroma to 808 IPA. It wasn’t overpowering, but it was present and detracted from what I thought were some good aromas.
The body began with a classic bitter kick – got to love that old school West Coast bitterness in a beer – with the piney resinous flavour coming through too. The citrus notes followed through soon after, but with that came the oxidised flavour which really did detract away from the flavour in 808 IPA. A shame really, though the sweetness from the malts tried to make me forget about it, I couldn’t and it just niggled away on the palate.
808 IPA : The Bottom Line
I had high hopes for 808 IPA after the previous beer, but there is something inherently wrong with the beer that means it needs tweaking to ensure it gets better.
808 IPA : Where to Buy
808 IPA can be bought online at the following places:
