By Jon Abernathy

Boneyard Beer Company (https://boneyardbeer.com/) recently released a new fruit-infused IPA, a specialty beer in collaboration with Japanese craft brewer Y.Market Brewing (https://craftbeer.nagoya/) as part of the Fuji to Hood Festival (https://fujitohood.com/) that took place in Portland last month. The new ale, Yokozuna IPA features the addition of citrus peel and purée to play off of hops with a similar profile.

Fuji to Hood is billed as a Japan and Oregon collaboration festival, celebrating beer, cider, and Japanese culture including food, music, arts, and more. Each year the festival alternates between Portland and Japan, and Oregon breweries and cider makers team up with Japanese counterparts to brew specialty beers and ciders specifically for the festival.

Every creation incorporated at least one Japanese ingredient, and this year these included Japanese black honey, sansho peppers, green tea, seaweed, sweet potatoes, koji rice, cedar, plums, citrus, and more.

Boneyard x Y.Market

Established in 2014, Boneyard’s collaboration partner, Y.Market, is located in Nagoya in the Aichi Prefecture of Japan. The company brews a wide range of styles, but doesn’t maintain a standard lineup, instead releasing something different with each batch.

The brewery often works with unusual ingredients which has allowed it to develop a distinctive local expression in its beers.

In teaming up with Boneyard for this year’s festival, the pair settled on an IPA, a style well within Boneyard’s wheelhouse, hopped with six different hop varieties known for their fruity and citrus character—Simcoe, Chinook, Citra, Amarillo, Comet, and HBC 1019. The hops get a complementary orange fruit boost with the addition of Sumo Citrus (https://sumocitrus.com/) and Cara Cara orange.

Sumo Citrus wrestling

Dekopon, better known as Sumo Citrus in the United States, is a sweet variety of satsuma orange developed in Japan. The large fruit is known for the large protruding bump on the top and its bumpy textured peel.

It was this peel that was added to the beer, along with purée of Cara Cara oranges. Boneyard is no stranger to working with citrus; one of its most popular beers is Incredible Pulp Blood Orange Extra Pale Ale (https://www.bendbulletin.com/lifestyle/incredible-pulp-blood-orange-extra-pale-ale-is-no-fiction/article_1ad959df-c6f0-5d4c-9331-44c2cdee94ea.html), which features blood orange purée. These additions boost the fruit and floral character as well as help to dry out the body for drinkability.

The name of the beer, Yokozuna, is a play on the use of Sumo Citrus, as the word means the highest rank one can obtain in Sumo wrestling.

A taste of Japan

I didn’t make it to Fuji to Hood in Portland, but I did try the beer locally; it’s currently on tap at the brewery’s Lake Place tasting room. Yokozuna IPA is 6.5% alcohol by volume with 50 IBUs. 

The fruit leads with a big citrus aroma, bright with bitter oil and peel character; it smells a bit like a basket of oranges to me. There’s a nice balanced bitterness in the nose that evokes citrus zest along with piney hops and bitter greens.

In flavor, the beer has a clean pale malt cereal note with a bit of toastiness to it. Orange pith and resinous hop character bring a bittering balance that lingers long into the aftertaste, a bit earthy and green with a touch of woody pine or fir character. It’s refreshing and drinkable with a zesty medium body, finishing with a bitter orange flourish.

Sumo Citrus is an unusual fruit to find in beer, which makes Yokozuna IPA a great opportunity to taste a bit of Japanese sensibility in a well-balanced brew.

Jon Abernathy is a beer writer and blogger and launched The Brew Site (https://www.thebrewsite.com) in 2004. He can be reached at jon@thebrewsite.com.