You might think Kaiju! are strangely named, and you would be right and wrong. Strange in the sense that Kaiju is Japanese for Strange Creature, but it makes sense for a Brewery which used to be called Monster Mash before the evil overlords at Coca Cola (owners of the energy drink Monster) threatened legal action. Now the only threatening monsters are on the labels.
Can designs by US artist Mikey Burton
But that was about 6 years ago, and since then Kaiju! who are based in the outer suburbs of Melbourne, Australia have built a reputation for making aggressive hop IPA, and today we are sampling two of them, at either end of the spectrum. Hopped Up Red is a gentle (for Kaiju!) red ale and Where strides the Behemoth is a once a year 10% hop monster.
Each can has a different Usual Creature on it
So let's start with the Hopped out red, it's a deep browny orange colour, with a slight off white head. It's an old school west coast IPA with notable by friendly hops, straying toward the fruitier end of spectrum. The mouthfeel is solid and it has that thing I'm looking for in a IPA, balance.
Yes he is eating a sheep, no I don't know why
Where strides the Behemoth is a beer that was originally brewed as a one off for a Beer festival we have in Australia called GABS. Everyone else where doing sweet stouts and gimmick beers so Kaiju! went with a knock your head off Black IPA, because, well that's what a monster would do.
They were looking for something black, so they named it after a death metal band Mastadon's song - which in turn is named after a lunchbox one of the band members had and they turned it up to 11 - % alcohol that is.
People loved it so now they make it once a year and it's dropped to a more tame 10% - but it's still about 120 IBU's for you beer nerds. It pours pitch black with a big creamy tan head. The hops are aggressive, oily with a bit of resin. The mouthfeel is silky and smooth. It is a massive experience, not for the faint hearted, big in every way, which means strangely it's balanced and very drinkable.
Kaiju! beers actually have reasonable international distribution, particularly through Asia, so if you go to good craft beer bars you might be able to spot their amazing can designs in the fridge and if you do, try them. If you are in Australia you can get Kaiju Krush in Dan Murphy's, the other cans in the better independent bottleshops.
As always this post is part of #Beersaturday organised by 