O'Hara's 51st State IPA Beer: A Taste of Ireland in Japan

The Friday session in Roppongi has reached the point where someone switches from the stout to something else, and the bottle that gets passed across the bar is deep gold, not black. The label references a joke that every Irish person in the room understands instantly — Ireland as America’s 51st state, the closeness of the two countries played for a laugh on a beer that takes the joke seriously in the glass. If that bottle is part of your Friday at home, it ships to Tokyo in cases of twenty-four.

An Irish brewery’s love letter to American hops

O’Hara’s 51st State IPA is brewed by Carlow Brewing Company, founded in 1996 in Bagenalstown, County Carlow — one of Ireland’s earliest independent breweries and a name that became closely associated with O’Hara’s range of ales as Irish brewing moved beyond the dominance of the large stout producers. The brewery built its reputation on traditional Irish ale styles before expanding into American-influenced beers, of which 51st State is the most direct statement.

The beer is an American-style IPA: deep gold in the glass, with pronounced US-variety citrus and pine hops sitting over a caramel malt body. At 6.0% ABV it carries genuine weight — this is not a session beer, but a proper IPA built to the American template, brewed by an Irish operation that understands both traditions. The name is a wink at the long-standing joke about Ireland’s relationship with the United States — closer than geography would suggest, and close enough that an Irish brewery making an American IPA does not require any explanation to an Irish drinker.

Carlow Brewing Company, founded in 1996, has been part of the wave of independent Irish breweries that expanded what Irish beer culture could include without displacing what came before it. 51st State sits at the intersection of that expansion — Irish-brewed, American in style, available in keg, bottle, and can.

How O’Hara’s 51st State IPA Beer is drunk at home

Sláinte! (SLAWN-cha) — Irish Gaelic for “health,” the toast that opens every round at an Irish pub, regardless of what is in the glass. At a Friday pub session, it returns with each fresh pint, and a 6.0% IPA changes the pace of those rounds slightly — this is a beer that rewards a bit more attention than the pint that came before it.

Irish stew is the pub-meal standard, and the caramel malt body of 51st State holds its own against the richness of the lamb and root vegetables in a way that a lighter beer would not — the citrus and pine hops cut through the broth’s depth at the finish. Fish and chips, the Friday tradition rooted in Catholic abstinence days, pair with the IPA through its citrus character specifically: the same brightness that a lemon wedge brings to the fish is present in the hop profile itself, which makes the pairing feel almost redundant in the best way.

Boxty, the older potato pancake that predates the modern pub menu, is the third pairing — a simple, starchy dish that the caramel malt body complements without the hop bitterness becoming a distraction. St. Patrick’s Day, March 17, is the occasion where 51st State appears alongside the stouts on tap at Roppongi’s Irish pubs — a nod to the American side of the Irish-American St. Patrick’s Day tradition that the Tokyo parade itself partly reflects. Friday pub sessions are where this beer lives the rest of the year, the IPA that signals the evening has moved into its more considered phase.

How to drink it in Japan

51st State is available in keg, bottle, and can, which makes it one of the more flexible imports in the Omori Mart range — a keg for a proper gathering, bottles for a dinner table, cans for a fridge stocked through the week. Serve it cold but not ice-cold, since the caramel malt and the citrus-pine hops both lose definition at very low temperatures. Pair it with a Lawson karaage pack: the seasoned fried chicken and the citrus hop character of the IPA are working in the same direction that fish and chips and 51st State do at home.

For a sit-down pairing, try it alongside yakitori with tare sauce at an izakaya — the sweet, slightly charred glaze and the caramel malt body of the IPA are operating at the same weight, and the pine hop note cuts through the richness of the sauce at the finish. It is a combination that gives the beer the attention a 6.0% IPA deserves.

Spring is the season that suits this beer most directly in Japan — St. Patrick’s Day in March, the Tokyo parade filling Roppongi’s streets, and a keg of 51st State alongside the stouts that usually dominate the day. At an Irish pub in Tokyo, a pint of 51st State runs ¥1,100 to ¥1,500. By the bottle, can, or keg from Omori Mart, the per-serve cost is noticeably lower.

Get O’Hara’s 51st State IPA Beer delivered in Japan

O’Hara’s 51st State IPA Beer is available at Omori Mart in three formats — a 20L keg, 330ml x 24 bottles, and 330ml x 24 cans — with nationwide delivery across Japan.

Free shipping on orders over ¥15,000
Konbini payment accepted at FamilyMart, 7-Eleven, and Lawson — plus bank transfer and card
Nationwide delivery

Rakuten and Amazon Japan do not carry O’Hara’s or other Irish home-country brands. Omori Mart does.

[Shop O’Hara’s 51st State IPA Beer →]

Sláinte in Bagenalstown, deep gold and American hops since 1996. Kanpai (乾杯) in Tokyo, where the Friday session and the izakaya share more in common than either tradition usually admits. The joke in the name works in both languages.