[Click above pic for full label]

(Grimstad (Rygene), NORWAY) – The brewers of Nogne O recently worked with Toshi Ishii of YoHo Brewing in Japan on a double IPA or W-IPA (as it is referred to in Japan). Most of the cases will ship over there though Head Brewer, Kjetil Jikiun, notes that it would be likely that some would make it over here to the states as well. Talks with the Shelton Brothers, Nogne O’s importer, have not gone beyond the preliminary stages yet.

The hops were Millenium for bittering, (Amarillo, Centennial and Brewers Gold) for late additions and Chinook and Centennial for dry hopping. Five hop varieties in all for a beer that will feature 100 IBUs and 8% alcohol. [ed: I wonder if that would make it one of the hoppiest if not the hoppiest Norwegian beers ever brewed?]

Toshi Ishii has built a strong legacy in craft brewing worldwide. He learned American brewing philosophy with Stone Brewing years ago and has taken that experience overseas with him to complement the rest of his brewing knowledge…Says Carolyn Smagalski of BellaOnline, “He brought the art of cask-conditioning into the Japanese pub, and became a strong proponent of West Coast hopping.” Ishii has even helped start a few major beer festivals in Japan during his time there. Andy Crouch, author of The Good Beer Guide of New England, discusses Ishii further at Beerscribe.com.

Though not directly related, Alan McLeod of A Good Beer Blog wrote a piece on Japan and beer recently. Earlier this summer, Banjo Bandolas wrote an article for the Realbeer Beer Therapy blog on his experiences with a group of first-time Japanese craft beer drinkers.

The Nogne O team updated its site/blog this week with a report of last week’s brewing project with Mikael Dugge from Dugges in Sweden. They created a Sahti using sea wormwood, juniper twigs and honey from heather flowers. You will also see the new design of Dark Horizon Second Edition at the bottom.

[Ed: Oh, and post a comment or send me an email if you know what the two characters above mean. No prizes.]