Baird Suruga Bay Imperial IPA
The first key to a great Double IPA is dryness of character despite the high original gravity. This is accomplished, foremost, through high attenuation by the yeast during fermentation. We aim for an apparent attenuation around 85% which yields relative dryness and alcohol strength. The second key is a fantastic and powerful hop aroma. This we achieve by dry hopping Suruga Bay Imperial IPA with several varieties of pungently strong American hops. We conduct this dry hopping not once but twice, in two separate tanks. Then, at packaging, to ensue a vigorous secondary fermentation and natural carbonation, we krauesen Suruga Bay with a percentage of peak fermentation beer from a different batch.
Suruga Bay Imperial IPA is a wickedly compelling flavor experience. Its hop character is as rich as Japan’s Suruga Bay is deep (it is Japan’s deepest bay and Baird Brewing is located on its inner shore). The greatness of Suruga Bay Imperial IPA resides in a supreme drinkability that pervades in spite of the potency.
Suruga Bay Imperial IPA is a wickedly compelling flavor experience. Its hop character is as rich as Japan’s Suruga Bay is deep (it is Japan’s deepest bay and Baird Brewing is located on its inner shore). The greatness of Suruga Bay Imperial IPA resides in a supreme drinkability that pervades in spite of the potency.
3.6
408 reviews
Numazu, Japan
Community reviews
Full bodied, smooth, lightly carbonated
Bitter but rounds up well, passion fruit, tropical fruit, herbal.
Golden with minimum head.
Bottle. Hazy, orange, frothy, tan foam, light sweetness, medium bitterness, medium body, oily feel, soft carbonation, & bitter finish.
On draft at Goodbeer Faucets, Shibuya. Copper coloured double IPA. Lots of bitterness, but a good balance of flavour and a nice long finish. Quite strong, so one to drink slowly and savour. All in all a very pleasant drink. ft
33 cl. bottled 02/05/2016. Lightly hazy orange-copper with a lasting thin cream. Aroma is caramel, tea leaf, citrus zest and a touch of mint. Flavor is orange tea, toffee, wooden hops and mint. Smooth low carbonation in this well balanced medium bodied brew.
440ml from tap at Popeye (Tokyo). Intensively hoppy (90IBU), a little short in smell. Expecting something slightly for an Imperial IPA
Tap at Tadg’s. Aroma is earthy and pine, caramel, hops. Medium bitterness for a double but the heat hits like one. Oaky and tree bark sappy sweet in the finish. Nice stuff.
Aroma is citrus/fruit, malts and a hint of fusels/hard water. The flavor is citrus/fruit, mild tropical fruit, malts, a hint of hard water and a mix of hops and slight tartness in the finish.
On tap at Harajuku Taproom. Had a flight of pale ales and this was the favorite. A nice gold, a solid hop flavor that isn’t too citrusy and isn’t too piney (and actually, closer to west coast style.) Good all around.
Pours an extremely cloudy golden with a thinner white head. The aroma is of moderate strength. It contains a good amount of both tangerine and pineapple, along with peach, grapefruit, and mango. The taste is a bit dry with some bitterness. A fairly heavy amount of pine is found that is complimented by peach and grapefruit. Undertones consist of caramel and pineapple. The aftertaste is a bitter pineapple. It lingers for awhile, though its not to potent. Medium bodied, slick in texture, and about average in carbonation. This feels more like a standard IPA as opposed to an Imperial.
Bottle 33. Aspect : orange limpide, fines bulles, mousse honorable. Odorat : pêche, orange, abricot, raisin, autres fruits, résine. Goût : un peu sucré en entrée de bouche, un peu de poivre mais ensuite, une vraie macédoine de fruits avec dominance de l’abricot et de raisin et une amertume finale très sympa. Carbonatation moyenne pour cette bonne IPA japonaise mais Akihito pense-t-il qu’elle soit vraiment "impériale" ?
330ml bottle. Pours hazy orange-gold, medium sized white fluffy head doesn’t last very long, lacing. Aroma is sweet, piney, hoppy, caramelly, something spicey, orange peel. Taste is sweet, resinous, piney, caramelly, orange, malty, candy. Medium bodied, average carbo, extremely well covered-alcohol. Nice easily drinkable strong IPA, tastefull!
On tap at Goodbeer Faucets in Shibuya. Well done DIPA. Lots of hop aroma. Really clean and crisp. Not a huge malt backbone. The expected pine and citrus flavors of a DIPA. Good stuff just wouldn’t want to down a lot of them!
Bottle. Orangey Gold in colour. Very Fruity; citrus (tangerines, oranges, grapefruit) and tropical fruits (pineapple). Very Hoppy; piney oily resinous hops. Malty backbone. Good fruit/hop/malt balance. Bitter very citrus fruity hoppy throughout; but not at all extreme. Dry in the finish. Very drinkable. Liked this a lot. Lovely IIPA! (2011-09-18)
Flaska från St. James Tokyo. Disigt, bärnstensfärgad med smutsvit skumkrona. Knäckig doft av tallbarr och annanas. Smak av detsamma. Välbalanserad kropp.
Food and drink is rarely done poorly in Japan and this DIPA is no exception to that rule. Lovely sweet malt, quite thick, matching sweet then bitter hops with aromas of pineapple, peach and passionfruit. Would happily come back to this one.
Very nice ipa thick malty Base to. A nice flowery aroma vwymwktu4u4itrejeeg dfdjfjejdjeje
Bottle at my parents. Light brown in colour. Hop aromas of pineapple and citrus are well balanced by the sweet caramel malts. Very tasty.
330ml bottle from Beer Merchants. Hazy orange/amber colour with a small off-white head. Aroma: tropical fruit, citrus, malt, pine. Taste: tropical and citrus, orange, malt, piney, herbal. Some malt sweetness finishing with a decent hop bitterness. Smooth oily mouthfeel, moderate carbonation, medium bodied. Good.
Bottle: Very hazy dark yellow to orange color, many suspended solids, white creamy head. Aroma is mainly pine hops and malt. Citrus zest, some sweetness. Flavor is malty with a light to medium sweetness, hints of candy, pine, zest, some tropical fruitiness and a herbal bitter finish.
CBC2015, Pours yellow to orange with a small head, aroma of marmalade, fruits and orange, flavor is bitter with marmalade, fruits, orange, medium bodied
Bottle. Reddish golden color. Malt, lychee and citrus in the aroma. Malty sweetish oily hopbitter flavor. Floral, citrus, lychee. A bit perfumed and alcoholic.
Kicsi, nem túl tartós hab, narancsba hajló szín. Nem túl intenzív, citrusos, mandarinos, ananászos illat. Ízében ananász, mangó, mandarin és barack érezhető, hosszú lecsengéssel. Közepesen testes, enyhén szénsavas, erősen keserű. Ízletes gyümölcsözön, jó egyensúllyal.
Bottle at home. A lovely fresh, hoppy and slightly piney ipa. Woulsn’t call it imperial since it’s not that sweet. Pretty drinkable. Nice!
Pours hazy orange with light white head. Aroma is bitter, flowers, some hops, grass, sauerkraut. Taste is quite bitter, sourish, quite same as nose, but stronger little bit. Drinkable.
33cl bottle into a Chimay chalice at home on 14th Sep 2016. Sediment into the chalice, so I got a dirty, dull orange bodied beer with no head, just a wisp and weak collar. Hops abound in the nose and flavour, piney and semi-bitter throughout the brew, hides the alcohol content well. Would have liked to have tried it ’pre-sediment’ and after sediment added, so I could have picked up more flavours, maybe? Decent enough, just wished I had paid attention when pouring!
A 33cl bottle Apperance: A hazy yellow to light orange , with a small quickly diminising off-white head. Aroma: Light malts, lightly fruity and fruitpeel, and some bitter hops. Taste: Malts, lightly fruity, and quite some bitterhops, lacks complexity. Medium body and average carbonation.
A bit dissapointing, as it only seems to tick the boxes.
Draught. Aroma of tropical fruits and citruses, very sweet. In taste fruity with medium maltiness and nice high bitterness in the finish. Imperial factor really nicely hidden, drunk as normal IPA.
(Bottle) Pale amber colour, slightly hazy, with frothy off-white head. Fruity, hoppy nose with citrus, grapefruit, orange peel, dried apricots, lychee and some caramel. Fruity, hoppy taste with notes of pink grape fruit, blood orange, caramel, tropical fruit and a generous citric bitterness in the finish. More than medium body, well rounded mouthfeel. A light sweetness. Fresh and tasty with a generous hop character. Nice one.
Amber/copper hazy with medium white head. Aroma is medium pine cone, some lychee, elder, apricot, also cake, tart. Taste is little honey sweetness with more resin bitterness and a tiny bit of fresh sourness. FInish is very heavy of much resin. Heavy mouthfeel as well. Could have less of the bitter resin and it lacks a special character. Still nice!
This will most likely and sadly be the only top 50 Japanese beer during my time in Japan.
Tap at Doutonbori. Hazy orange-gold with a nice head. Good piney citrus aroma and flavour. Really well balanced malt and hop mix, nothing out of place, carries a full feel pine hop flavour, notes of orange rind, peach. Medium body, not too aggressive, easy to down. Solid all round.