Gigantic Brewing & Tamamura Honten Brewery Collaborate On Kagami-Biraki IPA

D.J. | September 13, 2017 | Beer releases | No Comments

*A bottle of Kagami-Biraki IPA Collabo IPA aged in sake barrels brewed at Tamamura Honten Brewery (Shiga Kogen Beer) Japan. (photo by D.J. Paul)*

After last Friday’s release of its collaboration beer, Powder Green Tuxedo IPA with Other Half Brewing, Gigantic Brewing will release its next New England Style IPA on Thursday, September 14th. With this release Gigantic’s Ben Love traveled to Nagao, Japan to brew in collaboration with Tamamura Honten Brewery. This collabo resulted in Kagami-Biraki IPA.

This past spring Love traveled to Japan to participate in the Shiga Kogen Snow Monkey Beer Festival. The festival was founded by Tamamura Honten owner/brewmaster Eigo Sato. The event featured live bands and DJs, along with beer from craft brewers around Japan and American brewers Gigantic, Hair of the Dog, Jester King and Oxbox. Some of you may remember Eigo Sato when he visited Portland during the 2016 Oregon Brewers Festival.

*Eigo Sato and Riku from **Tamamura Honten Brewery** (Shiga Kogen) from Japan in the International Beer Garden at the 2016 Oregon Brewers Festival. (photo by Cat Stelzer)*

*Gigantic Brewing and Tamamura Honten brewing Kigami Baraki IPA. (photo by Gigantic Brewing)*

*Ben Love of Gigantic Brewing and the brewers from Tamamura Honten during the brewing of Kigami Baraki IPA. (photo by Gigantic Brewing)*

*Tamamura Honten owner/brewmaster Eigo Sato and Gigantic Brewing’s Ben Love. (photo by Gigantic Brewing)*

While in Japan, Love collaborated on a new beer, Kagami-Biraki IPA, with Eigo Sato. This New England Style IPA was then aged in sake barrels made of Japanese cedar for a few additional months. The beer was dry hopped in the fermentor and then again a second time after removing it from the barrels, right before packaging. We tasted this beer a few weeks ago and truly enjoyed the citrus hop forwardness along with a bit of dryness from the cedar. Kagami-Biraki IPA sits at 6.5% ABV.

The name Kagami-Biraki comes from the tradition of the sake barrel breaking ceremony that occurs at happy events like weddings and ceremonial openings.

Gigantic Brewing’s Taproom will be pouring from the few kegs that were shipped over from Japan. There are a few empty bottles around the taproom that show the beautiful label artwork. Makoto Yamaki and Kamikene, artists from Japan who regularly work with Tamamura Honten Brewery, designed the Kagami-Biraki IPA label.

*Gigantic Brewing and Tamamura Honten – Kigami Baraki IPA. (photo by Gigantic Brewing)*

Don’t delay, as Kagami-Biraki IPA will not last long.

Gigantic Brewing Company
5224 SE 26th Ave
Portland, OR 97202

Tags:barrel-aged, Eigo Sato, Gigantic Brewing, IPA, Japan, Kagami-Biraki IPA, New England Style IPA, Sake Barrels, Shiga Kogen Beer, Shiga Kogen Snow Monkey Beer Festival, Tamamura Honten

About The Author

DJ

D.J. is a Portland, Oregon based writer that spent his formative years in the Midwest. With over 25 years under his belt of drinking beer at festivals across America and the world, he has developed a strong appreciation and understanding of craft beer and the industry that surrounds it. He can be found in any of the great breweries or beer bars that make Portland the best beer city in the world. His writing can also be found in the archives of Northwest Brewing News and can be followed on Twitter and Instagram at @hopapalooza.