Today we've got on our hands, quite literally, Singapore's own Brewlander's Experimental Jasmine IPA.

Locally in Singapore, one of the most ubiquitous drinks is Pokka's Jasmine Green Tea. And for any millennial in this sunny island, I'm sure some light digging through the recesses of our collective memories will allow us to hit a sort of space-time continuum-esque brick wall of a time when green tea suddenly became a thing.

How did that saying go again? Oh yea, squeezing blood out of a rock. (Image Source: Mothership)

In this country, people are always busy and yet somehow not much happens - so much so our most popular social media native news source The Mothership even has to make news out of randomly plucked Facebook comments regarding someone's complaint about a school boy who had a bad haircut.

That Mothership is able to posts such "news" something like 5 times daily is really proof that their newsroom folks are truly the SWAT team of news editors.

The point is, nothing really happens here. And so there was once upon a time when Singaporeans had begun to discover green tea - and boy, let me tell you, they had a blast. Suddenly it was green tea everything. Some more highbrow folks had their matcha instead, but you get the idea. Whole country went gaga for the stuff.

An unlikely object of Singapore's collective fascination.

And as the years rolled on, we had the salted egg craze, the truffle craze, the cheese tart craze - and yet, as each one boomed and busted, green tea stayed strong. Guess we really the stuff - heck, I do too.

It was certainly enough for me to take a 45 minute drive across the island in pursuit of Brewlander's Experimental Jasmine IPA when I saw that it was only to be served on draft.

Let's give this a go!

Brewlander Experimental Jasmine IPA, 6% ABV - Review

Tasting Notes

Color: Pale Straw

Aroma: Rather aromatic - there’s a sweet, bright, floral very singular scent of jasmine flowers in honey that stands out. This is supported by other similar scents of jasmine green tea.

Taste: Very smooth, lighter bodied with gentle notes of jasmine green tea, with a growing bitterness of fresh cut grass.

Finish: Alittle more bitter here, more grass, before a light note of jasmine green tea hits. It’s a clean finish, with more on lightly drying bitterness. 

My Thoughts

By all counts this was a solid more gentle expression of a West Coast IPA - it tastes good with the apparent hoppy bitterness of fresh cut grass coming through. It’s cohesive, drinks well, good body and a nice clean finish.

The only qualm I’ve got is that the jasmine notes are still very mild - it hits hardest on the nose, but on the palate it’s a lot more dialled down and gets overpowered by the stronger bitterness.

I think this could use more balance and in which case a stronger flavour might be necessary to match up to the more aggressive bitterness. Jasmine florals are by definition very brighter and gentle and might be difficult to hold the bitterness at bay.

Kanpai!

@111hotpot