Sankt Gallen is a Japanese brewery I’d not come across before, but I’m very happy to have found it now.

Their Yokohama XPA recently won the World Beer Awards in the IPA category, so I can only assume it’s something a bit special.

It’s a 6.0% ABV IPA, with a rich orange colour and a lingering, fine bubbled foam on top.

The nose is wonderfully sweet, full to overflowing with preaches and a hint of orange zest.

The flavour has a sweet fruit start, slightly syrupy without becoming cloying. Behind that is a huge hop punch, deeply bitter with some nice pine resin. The finish is long, and has just the right dryness to counter the syrupy fruit.

It’s a big, classic American IPA, and although I’m not sure I’d call it the best IPA in the world, I love it. That said, there’s not much here to set it apart from a hundred other great IPAs – 3.5 stars.