the beers of Futenma: Grand Kirin Galaxy Hop session IPA

You don't get a lot of IPA's in Japan, but they are starting to catch on. I think I actually had this last time I was here, but I don't remember allot about it. I actually found this after I went on a beer run to the AEON grocery store, It was in the convenience store across from camp Foster. Now that I'm reviewing interesting beers instead of just drinking them and trying to tell interested parties about them with a foggy memory from 2 1/2 years ago, I can now tell Y'all what this tastes like with some accuracy.

The bottle is interesting, it is shorter and fatter than the bottles you usually associate with a brewery as large a Kirin and more akin to those found in craft brews, which is what I think they were going for. It has something you don't usually see outside of drinks made in the Pacific, a pull tab crimp cap. The label has a nice starry night scene, with Kirin's Unicorn running in the background. According to the bottle it is 4.5% alcohol, which is very low for an IPA. Let's pop this sucker open and see how it heads.

 I pull the tab on the crimp cap and can't believe how wide the mouth of this bottle is. From the bottle it has an orange/grapefruit nose. I don't expect the nose to change, as the bottle is so wide, but lets pour it in the super traditional Orion mug and see. That's quite a bit of head, I wonder how long it will last. It has a golden amber color, nose is the same from the bottle. On fist sip, its very citrusy and has a very barley finish. Odd really, two extremes like that, especially such strong barley flavor out of an IPA. Mouthfeel is rather acidic, you can't really hold it's medium body in you're mouth for too long. As far as the citrus flavor goes, it's definitely grapefruit.

So, Hilgar keeps going after me about frosting the super traditional Orion mug. I just want y'all to know, It takes me a while to do these reviews, short as they are, and by the time I'm finished it has warmed up. The frozen mug keeps it from getting warm almost immediately (it's hot in Okinawa).
I'm listening to classic gospel right now, One of my favorite genres of Christian music. To put it on a scale, It shares my top spot with folk hymns, which is on the opposite end of the spectrum from contemporary Christian/Jesus baby/inspirational. I realize those last three are not all necessarily the same style of music, but as far as I'm concerned, they can all just go away. I would like to list Casting Crowns as the only redeeming band for contemporary Christian, and thus I will be referring to them stylistically as Casting Crowns and not as contemporary Christian. Just as God lifts us out of the pit of our own sin, we need to lift Casting Crowns out of the pit of contemporary Christian. To explain why such sub-par music persists, allow me to present my starved market theory, which I imagine you've already figured out from the name. There is a market for modern Christian music, but not a great deal of musicians with any writing skill willing to fill it. It is so starved sub par secular musicians can (and do) enter it and make a killing.
I'm out of this one. It's a good, interesting IPA. If you are ever in Japan, I suggest picking it up. I give this my blurry seal of approval.