Nagano is the home of great craft beer in Japan, and Tamamura‘s House IPA fits in well. You might know the brewery from their Shiga Kogen brand.

I figured that XPA stands for Extra Pale Ale without even looking it up. I guessed it’d be a very strongly hopped IPA. I was right.

Karuizawa beer has a fame that it’s gotta live up to. My expectations were high for this IPA, and it was indeed quite a ride.

When I see a bright blue can of beer with a logo design using a font that could as well be from VTKS lineup, furthermore called “punk”, I just feel this urge to give it a try.

The Blue Demon of India (インドの青鬼) is an IPA by the same people who brought you Yona-Yona.

Now I get it why people are all going on about IPA this, IPA that. (Although I see people going “it’s not even a proper IPA” in the reviews all around, I don’t have any other point of reference…) It’s pretty damn good indeed. It stays an ale while having all the hops and bitterness that I like in beers. It was a bit surprising that I could taste the alcohol in it, which I usually can’t in good beers. It has what I missed from the other two Shepherd Neame I tried the past days: a lingering aftertaste. Out of the three so far, this is one I definitely would buy again if I got a chance.