Category Archives: Japan

4 - Good (buy), Beer Reviews, IPA - New England / Hazy Double, Japan, West Coast Brewing

West Coast Freestyle Sandbox Vol.5

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Brewery: West Coast Brewing
Country: Japan
ABV: 8.5%
Style: IPA – New England / Hazy Double
Other Notes: Hops – Freestyle Nelson Sauvin, Freestyle Rakau and Freestyle Motueka

Brewer Description: (from website Google translated to English) Run to the sandy beach with excitement! Hop Dude and his friends were allowed to use a gift from New Zealand produced in 2023, and once again they began their creations on the vast Mochimune beach. There is only one rule I have with the Freestyle guys, and that is to only use hops from “Freestyle Hops.” Freely and grandly, it takes trial and error to combine them to your own perfection.

The 5th installment of the series, which continues to have fun no matter if it’s cold or has sand on your face, goes by in the blink of an eye. Recently at WCB, the lot of hops used (Freestyle Hops) was switched to a fresh new inventory of the 2023 edition, which made Hop Dude and others very happy.

Aromas of pineapple, mango, papaya, and tropical fruits. Similar flavors include peach and a hint of orange. A pleasant drink with a mellow sweetness and a slight bitterness.

No matter how cold the winter is, let’s still play! With ideas from Hop Dude and others, new combinations of Hazy will continue to be enshrined in Sunayama.

My rating: 4
My beeradvocate.com rating: 4.28
My ratebeer.com rating: 4.1

Intro: A 500ml can, canned on 11th December 2023. Poured into a winebar glass.
Appearance: A hazy milky orange colour, with an almost two finger white head that had good retention and left nice lacing.
Aroma: Juicy, citrus peel, orange rind, tropical fruits, papaya, mango, with light melon and grassy notes.
Taste: Juicy, tropical, mango, papaya, citrus pith, orange rind, light melon, and a touch of grass.
Mouthfeel: Medium bodied with moderate carbonation.
Overall: Good juicy aroma and flavours. Enjoyed it as much as Freestyle Sandbox Vol.4. Still wish we could get these within 1 month of the canned on dates… 2 months is pushing it, and probably doesn’t do it justice, and also makes me reluctant to buy more than one can, just to give it a try, especially since I feel they’re currently doing some of the better IPAs in Asia.

3 - Indifferent (might buy, probably drink), Beer Reviews, Japan, Lager - Black / Schwarzbier, West Coast Brewing

West Coast The Schwartz

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Brewery: West Coast Brewing
Country: Japan
ABV: 5%
Style: Lager – Black / Schwarzbier

Brewer Description: (from website) Ladies and Gents, It’s officially dark lager time. Hop Dude lager aficionados are ringing in the fall with “The Schwartz” our first ever take on a dark classic, schwarzbier. Lightly roasted coffee feels with hints of milk chocolate and dark fruit in an easy to consume low ABV elixir format—helllll yes. We may not end up comparing the size of our Schwartz, but we will end up having a damn good time taking it down. If and when, the next iteration we will def aim for a touch more bitterness, but for now we’ll gladly take the roasty drinkability.

My rating: 3
My beeradvocate.com rating: 3.57
My ratebeer.com rating: 3.5

Intro: A 500ml can, canned on 11th October 2023. Poured into a winebar glass.
Appearance: Black in colour with a two fingered tanned head that had pretty good retention, while leaving some lacing.
Aroma: Light roast, milk chocolate, a touch of coffee, and dark fruit notes.
Taste: As you’d expect from the aroma, light roast, malty, black coffee, milk chocolate, with light plum dark fruit notes.
Mouthfeel: Light bodied with moderate carbonation.
Overall: Aroma and flavours were a little light in that I was hoping for stronger and more bitter roasty notes.

4 - Good (buy), Beer Reviews, IPA - New England / Hazy, Japan, West Coast Brewing

West Coast The Sheriff

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Brewery: West Coast Brewing
Country: Japan
ABV: 7%
Style: IPA – New England / Hazy
Other Notes: Hops – Citra & Wakatu

Brewer Description: (from website) Introducing our new juicy IPA (yes it has lactose) THE SHERIFF. With the recent re-emergence of The Black Book and the Darkness growing more powerful with every passing day, Hop Dudes turn to new Heroes. We had him wield cans instead of guns because, hops? Mochimune is on high alert for Nemesis sightings, and The Sheriff will stop at nothing to keep evil at bay. Our deputy dude takes a hint from The Prodigy and rides the lactose-added tropical fruit flavor wagon in circles, around the brewery presumably. A revamped hop regimen means a totally unique flavor profile – peach and orange zest and a touch of citrus peel bitterness round out our newest addition to the WCB hazy lineup.

My rating: 4-
My beeradvocate.com rating: 4
My ratebeer.com rating: 3.9

Intro: A 500ml can, canned on 14th November 2023. Poured into a winebar glass.
Appearance: A hazy orange colour with a just over one finger white head that had pretty good retention, while leaving some nice lacing.
Aroma: A touch muted, but there’s orange peel, citrus zest, and citrus rind.
Taste: Juicy, a touch sweet and bitter. Orange juice, citrus zest and rind, mango notes, and a light but lasting bitter finish.
Mouthfeel: Light to medium bodied with moderate carbonation.
Overall: The aroma was a bit muted, but other than that, the flavours were pretty good and drinkable.

4 - Good (buy), Beer Reviews, IPA - New England / Hazy Double, Japan, West Coast Brewing

West Coast The Alchemist’s Shadow: Boss 04

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Brewery: West Coast Brewing
Country: Japan
ABV: 8.5%
Style: IPA – New England / Hazy Double
Other Notes: Hazy Double IPA. Hops – Wai-iti, Cashmere & Moutere

Brewer Description: (from website) Everyone has a Dark Side? The Alchemist’s Shadow is the Dark Soul of our Full Hop Alchemist, bound to serve the Nemesis and The Darkness. Our band of heroes must defeat and free the Shadow from the Nemesis’ grasp to weaken him and more importantly to obtain the final sigil (enough gatekeeping already?). In phase 1 The Shadow has potent peach/grape/lemongrass abilities and should be tanked by a Hop Dude with high Hop Burn Resistance. At 75% he becomes Full Bodied (resistant to physical attacks), and equips a more yeast-derived (maybe reduce pitch?) magic attack, with watermelon and lychee tank debuffs and far more heat than any of the previous bosses. It’s a race to the finish after 15%–if you’re feeling the chalkiness/sweetness you might need MORE DOTS (or drop a healer for more DPS) to push through the enrage and get him down. Epix and sigils on the other end, in addition to yet another WCB hazy trip that we hope you love as much as we had fun cooking it up!

My rating: 4-
My beeradvocate.com rating: 3.98
My ratebeer.com rating: 3.9

Intro: A 500ml can, canned on 31st October 2023. Poured into a winebar glass.
Appearance: A hazy orange colour with an almost two finger beige white head that good retention and left nice lacing.
Aroma: Juicy, orange juice, citrus rind, tropical mango notes, and a splash of toasted coconut.
Taste: Melon, sweet mandarin, orange zest, citrus rind, a touch of mango, and a slight booze throughout.
Mouthfeel: Medium bodied with moderate to soft carbonation.
Overall: Good aroma, while the flavours were balanced albeit a touch boozy at times.

3 - Indifferent (might buy, probably drink), Beer Reviews, IPA - New England / Hazy Double, Japan, West Coast Brewing

West Coast Full Hop Alchemist v.32

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Brewery: West Coast Brewing
Country: Japan
ABV: 8.5%
Style: IPA – New England / Hazy Double
Other Notes: Hazy Double IPA. Hops – Enigma, Sultana & Sultana Lupulin

Brewer Description: (from website) Word on the street is that our Alchemist just sits in his hop closet juggling massive bags of Big Boi IPA hops all day—not (entirely) accurate. The combos gon’ get real Hop Dudes. V32 is about to hit taps and shelves (and your squeaky clean glass… fingers crossed) and is a bold blend of two hops that are not as familiar to modern IPA savants—Enigma and Sultana. Full disclosure: it’s a little sweeter than most of our FHA offerings, and a touch out of balance (missed the mark just a touch?), likely due to a lighter body and slightly warmer mash temp (the jury is out, but adjustments are in order). It is however also absolutely delicious, loaded with fantastic FLAVORS of the lychee / white grape and overripe mango persuasions, with a subtle yet solid strawberry candy-like component. In a word V32 is very tropical, but brings all kinds of fascinating sensory in a hazy quite unlike anything we have cooked up to date.

My rating: 3
My beeradvocate.com rating: 3.94
My ratebeer.com rating: 3.8

Intro: A 500ml can, canned on 6th November 2023. Poured into a winebar glass.
Appearance: A hazy darkish orange colour with a two finger white head that had good retention and left nice lacing.
Aroma: Grassy, orange rind, citrus zest, mango, and a touch dank.
Taste: Sweet, maybe on the verge of being too much for me. Mango, mandarin, candied grapefruit zest, and notes of citrus bitterness that helps with the sweetness a bit.
Mouthfeel: Sticky, medium bodied with moderate carbonation.
Overall: Generally, it was on the overly sweet side for me, but luckily there was some citrus rind and zesty bits that helped balance the sweetness.