A vividly aromatic “Northern” West Coast IPA brewed with fresh spruce tips brought back from Hokkaido
[Character]A classic American style IPA, but brewed with Hokkaido spruce tips, giving the beer a refreshing pine and resinous character. A blend of American hops are used to heighten the spruce character, with citrus and even more resinous pine flavors. This beer has a crisp dry finish to ensure great repeat drinkability.[Food Pairing]Grilled lamb chops, smoked salmon and cream cheese potato salad, seafood tacos, fresh spring rolls with sweetcorn and curry spices[Naming]Modern craft beer is really possible thanks to the wonders of modern logistics. While there is something great about using local ingredients, the truth is that for the best hops and malts, and for the variety of such ingredients, we need to get them in from a variety of places.
For this two part mini series, we also decided to play with ingredients from a ilttle further afield. For the second of the two, we looked yonder north, with the addition of spruce tips that we picked by hand in Hokkaido.[Brewer's Voice]When we originally started talking with Gareth up at Be Easy brewing about our collaboration, one of the many beers we talked about was a spruce tip IPA. Sadly, we realized we were almost half a year off being able to harvest spruce tips to make it together, so we went a different direction. However, our desire to attempt this beer remained. Spruce tips can give a wonderful aroma and resinous flavour to beer. Pine and resin are often used when describing certain hops, and so the flavour combination is a fit anyway, but there is no way to truly replicate the freshness of character that the spruce tips can offer. Unfortunately, this freshness comes at a cost. Unlike hops that can be processed and stored, spruce tips have a very short harvest window and a even shorter shelf-life. They needed to be used fresh and, on top of that, they lack some of the preservative quality that hops have, so using them on the hot side of brewing is recommended. We discovered that, unfortunately, none of the spruce native to Kyoto can be used in beer, as there are many species that have a toxic compound in them making them unusable. Because of this, we had to send one of our brewers up to Hokkaido to harvest these tips directly and bring them back, then rushing to make the beer the day after he landed back here, harvest in hand. This brew day filled the air with such wonderful pine character, one of our brewers noting that it “smelled like Christmas”. To compliment this wonderful spruce character, we made a beer that had a nice clean malt bill of golden promise, wheat and Vienna malt, offering a nice clean base to build on. We paired the spruce tips with classic American hops that contribute pine-like qualities, including Centennial, Cascade, Simcoe, Amarillo, and Idaho 7. This beer really encapsulates a taste from Northern Japan, and the aromas of a very fleeting moment, allowing us to enjoy them in a delicious beverage.StyleSpruce Tip IPASeriesKBC2.0ABV7.0%IBU35Gas Volume2.65MaltGolden Promise, ViennaCategoryHapposhuJAN4589718742625Shipping Start2025/07/03Regarding shipping datesPlease note that, when multiple items are ordered together, they will be shipped out after the shipping start date of the latest product in the order.Best Before2025/12/30
