Series Intro: Mari 'Hop' Family

As shared yesterday, we plan on splitting our limited release beers into 5 separate series, to get across a clearer concept. Today, we would like to introduce our first, our 'Mari-ichi-zoku' or “Mari (taken from the kanji “毬”, meaning “hop”) Family”.

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In our December 28th blog post, we talked about our decision to go with a Belgian yeast strain for our year-round beers. Our love for Belgian beer complexity derived from their yeast strain was a key part about what we knew we wanted to do and, along with the adoption of science and new world hops that formed the backbone of the modern craft movement, were why we created the year-round range that we ultimately went for.

We didn’t want this concept to stop with just our year-round beers, however.

Many of our regular customers will be well familiar with Mariko and Mario, two of our limited release beers very dear to our hearts. Starting with Mario in August 2017, this beer was conceived as an “older brother” to Ichii Senshin (our yearround Belgian IPA), but using plenty of new world Simcoe, Columbus and Chinook hops to create an intense tropical, citrus, pine and spice character. While most Belgian yeast varieties would clash with these juicy modern hops, we are fortunate that our strain, with its apricot, banana and pineapple nuances only serve to enhance the experience.

No sooner had we tried Mario that we knew we had to look to give him a little sister, who came in the form of Mariko. Mariko was everything we hoped her to be and then some, and these beers were from thereon bound to hold a regular place in our release calendar. What could be more in line with our company’s very concept than a traditional Belgian yeast strain perfectly married with modern new world hops?

These beers are so fundamental to our identity now that they are like family to us, and so we decided to experiment over the past year or so with some more combinations, such as our recently released Marizo, making it into a series unto itself. Some of these will be sticking around and some will just be stopping in for a fleeting visit but what we know is that we wish to continue experimenting with our house yeast and the constant flow of exciting new hops coming in. We will look to expand upon this in 2021 and, following our adoption of cans, will also look to develop a stronger visual representation of this series in our future labels.

Come meet the Mari Family and stay a while!