Baird / Ishii / Stone Japanese Green Tea IPA - Stone Brewing Co.

Pahn

New York

3.53/5  rDev -8.8%
look: 4 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5

12oz bottle into Duvel tulip.

Appearance: Free pour yields a two inch, fluffy offwhite head that dissipates quickly and fizzily, leaving a small semicircle of lacing. Pours a hazy amber with lots of sediment. No lacing to speak of.

Smell: From the bottle: pungent, vaguely citrus-like. In the glass: similar, with more herbal quality. Lemon and orange, almost lime. Not bold, not subdued, but somewhere in between. Green tea comes out with warmth.

Dominant note is eventually those orange sugar candies I used to dislike as a child. Do you know the ones? They're kind of gummy. Often shaped like a slice of orange. I hate them.

Taste: Potent orange and green tea up front, some toasted bread malt underneath, then everything overwhelmed by orange sugar candy flavor. My first thought is, "Shit." Unfortunate for me that this is the dominant flavor. Hot aftertaste, with dryness bordering on unpleasant.

With warmth, more booze comes out in the flavor (helping it), and there are occasional welcome glimpses of the toasted malt backbone from the first sip. Decent herbal hop and green tea notes; the green tea is in just the right proportion.

What a tough beer to review... a lot of it is done really well, but I can't get past that orange sugar candy (it almost starts to grow on me, then sickens me again). I like a lot of the balance (though due to disliking the hop character so much, it feels like the malt isn't strong enough). Green tea in the aftertaste is nice. Lots of oily hop flavor. Still, weird.

Mouthfeel: Light side of medium bodied. Great creamy / juicy balance that's found in lots of top tier DIPAs. Moderately carbonated. Finishes too dry for the flavor.

Overall: What to say? If you like these flavors, it's very well made... I can't really get behind them. It has a lot of different flavors, and is well thought out in several ways... that orange sugar candy note (ie main flavor of the beer) is just gross to me though.

Also, I'm more of a "drink beer on its own, eat food on its own," person, and this beer demands to be paired with food. Even eating a roll with it helped it get into a bit better balance.

Serving type: bottle

08-31-2011 01:26:23 | More by Pahn

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California

3.5/5  rDev -9.6%

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Massachusetts

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California

4.5/5  rDev +16.3%

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South Carolina

4/5  rDev +3.4%

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Illinois

2.5/5  rDev -35.4%

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Virginia

4.25/5  rDev +9.8%

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Massachusetts

4.5/5  rDev +16.3%

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Illinois

3.25/5  rDev -16%

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California

4.25/5  rDev +9.8%

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Nofear048

Illinois

4.75/5  rDev +22.7%

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dbrauneis

New Jersey

3.84/5  rDev -0.8%
look: 4 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

2011 Collaboration

A: Pours a hazy to cloudy golden peach in color with some very light amounts of visible carbonation and some orange and golden yellow highlights. There are significant amounts of white particles in suspension. The beer has a finger tall off-white head that redues to a medium sized patch of very thin film covering the surface of the beer with a thick ring at the edges of the glass. Moderate amounts of lacing are observed.

S: Light to moderate aromas of citrus/orange hops along with some lighter notes of green tea.

T: Upfront there is a light to moderate flavor of pale malts with a light amount of wheat. There are light to moderate flavor of citrus/orange hops and some light notes of green tea. Light to moderate amounts of bitterness which lingers for quite a while.

M: Medium bodied with moderate amounts of carbonation. Smooth and slightly crisp with moderate amounts of dryness in the finish.

O: This beer has really held up surprisingly well considering the style - the alcohol is well hidden and the hop flavors has not really faded much over time. I liked this better than a lot of the Stone beer as this has a slightly different hop profile.

Serving type: bottle

04-06-2013 02:46:03 | More by dbrauneis

Sparky44

Illinois

3.75/5  rDev -3.1%

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Virginia

4/5  rDev +3.4%

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Pennsylvania

3.5/5  rDev -9.6%

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Texas

4.5/5  rDev +16.3%

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Virginia

3.5/5  rDev -9.6%

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California

3.5/5  rDev -9.6%

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Virginia

4.5/5  rDev +16.3%

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Oregon

4.25/5  rDev +9.8%

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North Carolina

4/5  rDev +3.4%

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3.25/5  rDev -16%

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4/5  rDev +3.4%

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Illinois

4.25/5  rDev +9.8%

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jtierney89

New Jersey

3.5/5  rDev -9.6%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5

pretty old as far ipas go, about 6 months, and according to stone this beer is 3 months out of code but it smells and tastes pretty darn fresh. hazy burnt orange hue with a white head.

earthy and herbal hop character with a soft tea presence on the nose.

light breast malt body lets the hops and tea shine. big herbal leafy hop presence throughout with a nice bitter finish. tea comes through in the back end and as a lingering flavor on finish. semisweet tea flavor lingers in the mouth. pretty nice, hops and tea compliment each other rather nice.

Serving type: bottle

01-23-2013 02:13:04 | More by jtierney89