Devil Craft: Uncommon Cali (Japan: Californian Common: 5.4%)
Visual: Clear pale yellow gold. Thin off white head that leaves suds, no real evident carbonation visible in the body.
Aroma: Lemon and mango. Orange skin. Popcorn hop style.
Body: Good hop feel and moderate bitterness. Gritty. Mild vanilla custard. Mango. Lightly chalky.
Finish: Mango. Good bitterness in a slightly gritty style. Good hop kick. Palma violets. Fluffy feel. Popcorn hop character. Long lasting in general.
Conclusion: Having had very few Californian common beers, I was intrigued to see if this would have the same fluffy “Steam” feel of Anchor’s Steam Beer which is my main image of the style.
It doesn’t really, having more of a popcorn fluffiness that seems to fill the same role with a different take, and this also has quite a hop kick in the finish that makes me think of cold IPAs, and in a good way!
The aroma hints at a lemon freshness as a release, but the beer overall goes with a drier mango style for the fruit hop character, especially in the main body. There the bitterness is a bit more restrained than in the finish so the two work well, rather than coming across as over dry and acrid, instead having a just slightly dry and slightly gritty feel against that popcorn fluffy feel. It is kind of sessioniably intense in both abv and flavor (not to me mistaken for actually sessionable in the abv, at 5.4% it is a tad high for that). It is big and just about manageable for a few in a session, but not one you can drink as much of as an actual session beer.
There is a kind of drier take on a vanilla custard sweetness that gives a nice sweet release to the body, and the palma violet notes in the finish call to imagery of noble hop styles in a German and Czech pilsner way which is unusual but works and makes for something very drinkable.
It doesn’t quite feel like a Californian Common compared to the others in the style I have tried, but that may just be due to my lack of exposure to the range that style has. It does feel like a very good beer. Bitter, easy to drink, dry with a bit of fruit rounding.
Yes I am just describing my love of west coast IPA influenced beers again, no that is not a bad thing.
Anyway, enjoyable, kind of steam beer, kind of west coast IPA, kind of Cold IPA, Kind of but not really sessionable, kind of delicous.
Background: So, I was recently in Japan again, so decided to go on a dive through what had changed in their craft beer scene in the last decade. This brewery opened in 2011, so would have just been open last time I was there, and has a few of pubs which have opened since and helped their visibility. Unfortunately it turns out the one I was arriving at closed at 9pm that day, unlike the rest which close at ten, giving me time for just this and a half of a double IPA. Thanks to everyone there for putting up with me turning up right at the end of the day! Decided to with their Californian Common as it is a style I don’t see much so thought it would be nice to mix things up a bit.
