Name: Shiga Kogen Nigori Sake IPA
Brewer: Tamamura Honten Co. /Engi / Shiga Kogen (Japan)
Style: Alternative Grain Beer (Base Style: New England IPA)
ABV: 9%
Review Year: 2021
The Nigori Sake IPA was born out of a collaboration between two brands under the Tamamura Honten Co. umbrella: Engi (sake) and Shiga Kogen (craft beer). Miyama Nishiki, which is sake rice cultivated by Engi, was added during the final stage of fermentation. This is also the same type of sake rice used to produce the company’s Junmai Ginjo.
STYLE GUIDELINES
This beer is being evaluated as an Alternative Grain Beer (31A) 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 IPA 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.
TASTING NOTES
Hazy straw color with no head. Nigori smells like sake (including notable alcohol) with moderately high fruity aromas of ripe mango, pineapple, and white grapes. Subtle impressions of cinnamon and rice dessert were more evident upon revisiting. Medium-full-bodied, moderately-low carbonation with a subtle alcohol warmth and a chalky afterfeel. Like the aroma, the flavor profile bloomed with prominent sweet sake, moderately high fruitiness (mango, pineapple), and supporting resiny and oat-like flavors. High residual sweetness; medium-low bitterness. The aftertaste lingered with sake, ripe mango, and fermented grapes.
THE VERDICT
First impression of Nigori: it is like a New England IPA (NEIPA) or Hazy/ Juicy IPA with distinct sake elements. This beer looks like your usual NEIPA but without the head. The aroma and flavor are both spot-on with the ripe fruity characteristics, but the addition of sake rice, which was quite evident, added a whole new dimension. Unlike a typical IPA, Nigori feels more like a sipping beer with its high residual sweetness coupled with that alcoholic sake/ rice-winey character. In our opinion, Nigori is a novel concoction and may not be for everyone. Considering everything else, we think this is a very good work of art.
Related Reviews:
Tamamura Honten Co.
Beers From Japan
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