四頭龍 (Four Headed Dragon)

It is hard to believe, but we have just recently celebrated our 4th anniversary and entered our 5th year of operation here at Kyoto Brewing Co. One thing we look forward to every year around this time is our anniversary brew.

While there isn’t a predetermined style or category of beer that we set out to brew each year, we always look to the anniversary beer as a way to let our hair down and have some fun. We looked to a new challenge this year and set out to blend a New England-style IPA with one of our all-time favourite styles: Saison.

On paper these two styles don’t really have too much in common, so it goes without saying that this brew was both a huge challenge and a lot of fun to brew. Plenty of tropical hop aromas from the huge amount of hops (nearly 10g per liter) are immediately apparent, and in the background is an interesting combination of the fermentation character of both NEIPA and Saison. The beer is much drier than your typical hazy IPA, but the liberal addition of both malted and unmalted oats keeps the mouthfeel soft and drinkability high. In short, this year’s anniversary brew is one of the most unique to date, and we can’t wait to share it with you as we celebrate our 4th anniversary!

Naming: Starting and running a brewery is no simple task. No matter how much time and effort you put into it, things always go wrong, schedules get delayed, money runs short...at times it feels like you are trying to tame a Four Headed Dragon as each one is breathing fire at you! With this beer we were trying to tame quite a few heads as well, namely two very diametrically opposed beer styles, two yeast strains, and six types of hops. While we just about came out on top in this battle, lets just all be thankful it wasn’t a nine headed dragon!