Shonen IPA

Bottle

ALC 4.5%

I bought this beer at the same time I purchased the Fresh Hops IPA I reviewed before. This was a gift from a friend I went to the beach with. So a big thank you to them. But without much more delay this week I will review Shonen IPA

I like the colour of this beer; it has a nice golden colour to it, and when I hold it up to the light, its colour intensifies. I have seen too many pale coloured beers recently so this was a nice change. Unlike last week’s beer, this one has little to no carbonation. I was looking all around the glass, and there was the occasional bubble, but I could not see any.

When I took my first sniff of the beer, I got this sweet hops smell. I was expecting the scent of hops because IPAs use many hops. But I was not expecting the sweet aroma to be there. As I took my first sip, the thing that hit me first was the strong bitter taste of the hops (again to be expected). As I take more sips of the beer, I get a brief sweetness that hits the tip of my tongue but then it is completely overpowered by the bitter taste. It’s a shame because I would have wanted it to last just a little bit longer. When I take a bigger drink rather than sips, the flavours change again. The bitterness goes down in power, and the sweetness becomes stronger. This is not a sweet beer at all, but it is like it accompanies the bitterness of the hops. The last flavour is the lingering taste of hops left in the mouth.

Personally, I like this beer. I am not a big bitter beer person, but this beer grew on me the more I drank it. Again, the place I bought it was 2 hours away from me so I would not purposefully make a trip out there for this but it was still enjoyable nonetheless. So please tell me what you think. Have you had this beer before? Was it good or bad? let me know in the comments down below.

Remember to drink responsibly.

Kumazawa Brewing Co. - https://kumazawa.jp/sake-beer/shonan-beer/