Name: Milky Way (#308)
Brewer: Uchu Brewing うちゅうブルーイング (Japan)
Style: Experimental Beer (Base Style: Specialty IPA: New England IPA)
ABV: 7%
Review Year: 2021
Milky Way is a hazy IPA brewed with lactose by Uchu Brewing from Hokuto City, Japan. For batch no. 308, the brewers of Uchu have selected Nelson Sauvin (New Zealand) as the centerpiece of this creation.
STYLE GUIDELINES
This beer is being evaluated as an Experimental Beer (34C) with the Specialty IPA: New England IPA (21B) as the base style in the context of the 2015 Beer Style Guidelines of the Beer Judge Certification Program (BJCP). Note that the Specialty IPA: New England is a provisional style as of this writing, with its working definition published on the BJCP website. The most current version of the guidelines can be found on the BJCP website.
“Milkshake IPA” is not an official style, but it refers informally to New England IPAs brewed with lactose or milk sugar, which is a type of unfermentable sugar.
TASTING NOTES
Hazy pale gold, low white head with good retention. The aroma initially bloomed with a moderate impression of dried mango candy and jackfruit, with a touch of cantaloupe, seaweed, resin, and bright citrus fruits. Profile was unchanged virtually upon revisiting. Medium-bodied, moderate carbonation, with a smooth and juice-like mouthfeel. Not creamy or syrupy. Flavor profile was very juicy, focusing mainly on prominent ripe tropical and citrus fruit flavors and a medium-low resiny, “dank,” and dried seaweed-like accents. A medium bready malt backbone supported these flavors. Perceived bitterness was low while residual sweetness was relatively high. A bitter, resinous profile with slight sweetness brought this beer to a close.
THE VERDICT
Milky Way (#308), billed as a hazy IPA and benchmarked as an “experimental” New England IPA with lactose, features a harmonious blend of ripe tropical and citrus fruits as well as a resinous “dankness.” According to the provisional style guidelines (originally meant for competitions), NEIPAs with noticeable additions of fruit, lactose, and other materials to increase the fruity, smooth character should be entered in another category defined by the additive (e.g., Fruit Beer, Specialty Beer). “Noticeable,” however, could be subjective.
In our opinion, the overall presentation and the balance between perceived bitterness and residual sweetness are the key factors in assessing these so-called “Milkshake IPAs.” In other words, lactose in beer should be a “balancing act” and is just one ingredient in a larger package. As perceived, Milky Way definitely has a relatively sweeter finish than a typical New England IPA with no lactose, but still is very drinkable. This sweetness was not cloying and seemed to have accentuated the ripeness of the fruity hop qualities without muting entirely the bitterness and the resinous characteristics mentioned.
The perceived seaweed was also a unique aspect of this beer, but noting this may have been a bias given that the beer was brewed by a Japanese brewer. Lastly, this is the first beer we have reviewed in recent memory that did not feature explicit white grape/ wine characteristics despite being brewed with Nelson Sauvin hops. Overall, excellent.
Recommended Readings:
Brewer’s Perspective: Using Lactose for Sweetness (Without the Cloy) (Beer & Brewing, 2019)
Uchu brewing by Brian Kowalczyk (Japan Beer Times Issue No. 39, 2019)
Related Reviews:
Uchu Brewing
Craft Beer from Japan
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