Herevana – Small Gods/Heyday – Basabasa Japanese Cold IPA

Basabasa. Here we have an IPL, or Cold IPA, or IPA made slightly differently. It isn’t the first cold IPA I’ve had, which might be a surprise, but shouldn’t be, there are always new beers and experiences to be had.

Heyday Beer Co and Small Gods made the Basabasa Japanese Cold IPA in Wellington, 🇳🇿 New Zealand, they say as an IPA of 7.7% ABV in a 440ml serve which is 2.7 standard drinks

So what could go wrong? Light hoppy aroma on opening, and a pale clear pour without any hint of head retention, it now sits like a pale yellow liquid in a glass. It’s not the most appealing.

Light carbonation of a beer that hints towards hops (and IPA) but it’s a very light touch. You can’t tell that it’s 7.7% beer. You can barely tell it’s a beer. It has a delicate flavour set about it, which is enough to keep you interested and trying to find that sweet spot.

The Pdubyah-o-meter rates this as 7 on the arbitrary number scale. I can’t find the spot. I don’t not like it, it is really quite pleasing and pleasant to drink, light, delicate and quite easy to get on with.

Music: Lizzo – Special

Herevana beers are those I drink at home, I’m not at some beer festival, like, for instance, Beervana, but am just in my kitchen, usually, dining room table, sometimes, or outside, occasionally, where I can take an average picture and write in real time about the beer that I’ve invested in, both in a monetary and emotional way.

Philip himself.

Only the briefest flash of a red cockscomb gives away Basabasa as it picks its way through the shadows of a mountain village. Silence grips the night, only interrupted by swaying sprays of rattling bamboo as they shift in the cool wind. Doors creak and windows rattle as the locals, hidden in their homes, try to catch a glimpse of the furtive fowl. Suddenly an eerie rustling echoes out as Basabasa flaps its wings and lets out a burst of cold ghost fire, illuminating the chill night. As the afterglow fades from fearful eyes, darkness and silence surge softly back and the figure is gone. Was it ever really there?

Basabasa is a Japanese Cold IPA. Brewed with a bright and crisp Japanese Rice Lager base of Pilsner malt, Puffed Rice, Flaked Rice and Rice Syrup. This clean platform allows Sorachi Ace hops to sing with a complex herbal character backed up by supporting citrus notes from the addition of Motueka and Cryo Lemondrop. This was fermented with a Lager yeast and cold conditioned for an extended period to enhance the crisp and bitter finish.

Brewers Notes

IPA

The India Pale Ale (IPA) is used to describe a hop-forward, bitter, dryish beer. None of these beers ever historically went to India, and many aren’t pale.The standard version generally stands for the American IPA and range between 5.0-7.0 ABV. The American IPA is a decidedly hoppy and bitter, moderately strong American ale, showcasing modern American or New World hop varieties. The balance is hop-forward, with a clean fermentation profile, dryish finish, and clean, supporting malt allowing a creative range of hop character to shine through. The “East Coast IPA” is more balanced, offering a malt sweetness with citrus and fruity hop character with a nice little hop bitterness, more reminiscent to traditional english IPAs. In the case of the “West Coast IPA”, bitterness is the at the frontline and pushes malty sweetness to the very back. Stronger and more highly hopped than an American Pale Ale. Compared to an English IPA, has less of the English character from malt, hops, and yeast, less body, and often has a more hoppy balance and is slightly stronger than most examples. Less alcohol than a Double IPA, but with a similar balance. Color ranges from medium gold to light reddish-amber although many substyles exist, each having their own color tone. These other IPA substyles generally are closer-related to their base IPA substyle and should be listed with them, if the substyle is listed.