So, once again the football transfer window slams shut (stay with me here…), but I’m still going to do my best impression of someone leaning out of car window and wax lyrical about something ‘triffic. Relatively quickly following his last exertions, our man in Hong Kong; Mr Palmer, has sent another scintillating salvo of beer based goodness over for your delectation. On this occasion, Luke has provided a double whammy of reviews; the first of which is a glance across his experiences on International Beer Day (which was right at the beginning of August) and the second was a tasting session at a Tap Takeover Event he enjoyed with Evil Brewing Company at the Globe in Hong Kong. So without further fanfare, please welcome Luke back… ----------------------------------------------------------- International Beer Day The Globe is a great pub in central Hong Kong, largely focusing on supplying a large range of craft beers to the people of Hong Kong, who like myself, are rather thirsty folk. A range of guest taps has been installed at the bar in the Globe, with a regularly changing roster of draft beers from around the world. Regular tap takeovers are events well worthy of attendance, enabling punters to try new and interesting beers that they would normally pass over, also affording some smaller breweries their time in the sun, so to speak. International Beer Day arrived this year on the 1st August, so I headed to The Globe ready to try the array of IPAs they had on offer. As mentioned, there were beers from all over the world, from the USA, New Zealand, to the Netherlands and back to Hong Kong, covering a variety of styles of beers. So a tasting flight was definitely in order and the reviews are as follows: Founders Brewing Co: All Day IPA (Session Ale) *** American IPA ABV: 4.7% Clear orange colour, with aroma of citrus and pine. Has a Citrussy hopped taste with a nice malt base, a very drinkable yet basic session ale. I believe this is quite readily available in the UK now, and Pedro informs me there are a few places in Liverpool at least that stock it? Worth a shot if you’ve not already partaken. Rogue Ales: Rogue Farms 7 Hop IPA **** Double IPA ABV: 8.02% With a golden, amber colour and with a light hoppy aroma, this beer has hints of astringency in the way of tealeaves and dried citrus. A lot of taste with a light crisp bitterness, citrus and tea carried over from the nose into the flavour, this double IPA has a slightly bitter and dry finish. Evil Twin Brewing: Hop Flood ***½ American Amber ABV: 7% This American amber ale has the Dark amber and red hue you would come to expect from the style. Carried by the aroma of pine, citrus and layered onto a base with hints of caramel, this has a good balance of fruit character, bitterness and caramel. It has a slightly harsh sharp and alcoholic aftertaste in the finish, but otherwise a good beer. Tuatara Brewery: Aotearoa Pale Ale ***½ New Zealand Pale Ale ABV: 5.8% A golden coloured ale with crystal clarity. Comprising a solid base citrus and pine aroma, these elements translate directly into the flavours. The length is slightly less hoppy but still contains those citrus and pine notes. Well-balanced and drinkable, having tried both this beer is certainly good in the bottle, but certainly much better on draught. Brouwerji De Molen: Zwart & Wit **** Black IPA ABV: 8.4% A Solid black coloured beer with a light aroma of chocolate and floral hops. The flavour is layered with a sweet and dark malty base, surprisingly fresh flavours of grass and with a lingering bitterness. The finish is remarkably smooth, contributing to the velvety mouth feel and a reasonable length. Young Master Ales: Island 1842 Imperial IPA **** Imperial IPA ABV: 8% The 1842 Imperial IPA is a lovely dark IPA, packed full of hoppy flavour, resonating citrus and pine notes, bitter grassy notes and with a solid malt backbone to provide some body and balance. All in all it was a great range at the Globe that were enjoyed by all those in attendance, if I had to pick my favourite from the selection it is a close run between 1842 by Young Master Ales and the Zwart & Wit by Brouwerji De Molen. I can’t really pick between the two at the moment. Fingers crossed you guys get to see some of these beers before too long! Evil Twin Tap Takeover The Globe set up yet another great tap take over with Evil Twin Brewery providing six beers, some of which will be first time they have been available in Hong Kong. The beers available were; 1) Hop Flood American Amber ABV: 7%; 2) Lil’ B Double Porter ABV: 11.5%; 3) The Cowboy Smoked Pilsner ABV: 5.5%; 4) Noma Oxalis American Pale Ale ABV: 5.5%; 5) Biere Blanca Berliner Weisse ABV: 4%; and 6) Luksus One Berliner Weisse ABV: 4%. Tasting flights were on offer at the Globe for partaking in the beer, specifically in three’s or for the full six. Sadly, with time being a particularly restricting factor on the occasion, I opted for a choice of just three, The Cowboy, Noma Oxalis and Luksus One. The tasting notes for you lovely people are as follows… The Cowboy Smoked Pilsner ABV: 5.5% **** The Smoked pilsner is a typical golden hue associated with pilsners, belying the aroma and flavour within, all sealed beneath a thin white head. The pilsner has a pretty restrained smoky aroma with hints of hop aromatics below. Taste is subtly smoky with has a lightly bitter quality and with some freshness from the grassy and acidic flavours. This beer has a dry finish, although not much length, with a pretty truncated and bitter aftertaste. Noma Oxalis American Pale Ale ABV: 5.5% *** This beer was brewed exclusively for the award winning and possibly one of the most famous eating establishments in the World, Noma in Copenhagen, Denmark. The beer has a dense copper/yellow colour with decent white head gained from the carbonation. The aroma was of a delicate grassy citrus quality, whilst the taste has hints of both the citrus by way of grapefruit, continuing green character from the grass and has a slight bitterness. The Aftertaste is little bitter on the palate, although there may have been some dulling of taste buds from being slightly overpowered by the Cowboy Smoked Pilsner. Luksus One Berliner Weisse ABV: 4% ****½ This berliner weisse has a vivid Orange colour with a thin white head resting above. The aroma is of soured fruit and no shortage in acidity and slight spice. Rather surprisingly, the taste is light, very pleasantly sour, whilst the body is rather smooth and has a good silky mouth feel. The finish has a gentle kick of sweetness above the dry notes from the malt and hops used here, although it is pretty rounded. All in all, this was a pleasant set of beers to try and would for sure have another Luksus One if it was on tap again in any of the bars I frequent over here. There are some great beers made by Evil Twin and I am looking forward to finding more in the future and sharing my thoughts!
Cheers! Luke Palmer.
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So, after a little gentle coaxing and a liberal amount of (metaphorical) prodding, I have managed to cajole a good friend to get in on the act and start doing some writing for me. With a little bit of luck, we’ll get a few articles winging their way over from the far east and roosting here on ElectroKemist Cuisine, giving us some insight into some of the fantastic beers we are sadly missing out on, but may also see soon. Without further ado ladies and gents, please read on for the inaugural piece by Luke Palmer… --------------------------------- So, Summer is here in Hong Kong (it has been a little while) and that surely means it is time to enjoy oneself and participate in a local party celebrating craft beer at the picturesque Pui O beach. This venue for the CBAHK event was the recently opened, featuring delights such as the beach front bar and restaurant, Mavericks. A convivial, lively and colourful venue for the event, considering its philosophy of good drinks, food, beach life and board sports. The organisers behind the event were some of the top craft beer distributors in Hong Kong; distributors such as Americraft (Founders Brewing Co, Jolly Pumpkin Artisan Ales, Lost Coast Brewery and Anchor Brewing Company), Hopleaf (Rogue Ales and Baird Brewing) and BestBev (Black Isle Brewery and Matso’s Broome Brewery) to name a few, who were there in full force. Their offering to the lucky people able to procure themselves a ticket for the event was the circulation of a selection of free tasters and to be on hand for the discussion on the beer at the event. Chef and co-founder of Mavericks, Austin Fry, was busy along with his team preparing and cooking some food to compliment the beers on offer, this meant I was able to tuck into some homemade juicy burgers and stunning hot dogs along with the other punters, washed down with a selection of great beers. The event required that a temporary bar be set up; this offered a range of bottled beers and two beers on draft, namely, the draft beers were Young Master Ales 1842 Imperial IPA and Coedo Setsugekka. The bottle beers on offer were sourced from breweries across the world, from the more familiar hoppiness of Brewdog’s Punk IPA, to Tuatara Bohemian Pilsner, Kona Long Board, Baird Single-Take Ale, Cornish Orchards Cider and the locally produced Hong Kong Beer Co Dragon’s Back Pale Ale. All varying styles available at the event and all infinitely drinkable, nonetheless. An enthusiastic crowd descended on the event on the 26th July, eager to enjoy the range of craft beers and beautiful beach surroundings. The weather was initially, not too kind to the revelries, but it did pick up in keeping with the event being held on the beach, resulting in stronger flow from the bars. The presence of Mavericks bar usual premises continuing to provide other drinks gave the event goers even more choice than that available at the temporary set-up. Notable beers included the Young Master Ales summer season offering, “Mo’ Mo’ Wit”; a light witbier, carrying the aroma and flavours of citrus, coriander and some bitter notes, perfect and refreshing for this sunny day and worked rather well with a lot of the food on offer. Alongside the offerings by Americraft and BestBev, an Italian brewery Birrifico Sant’Andrea who are just entering the Hong Kong craft beer scene, were offering tasters of their main beers. In the UK, the presence of some of their Italian counterparts has been notable; it shouldn’t be too long before they make their presence known in Blighty if they haven’t done so already. Among the beers Birrifico Sant’Andrea were providing, was their golden ale “Mozkito” which is described, somewhat amusingly, as a sexy summer beer! Luckily I was able to get a bottle to try and it was a lovely light bodied and refreshing ale, with great taste of orange peel and other citrus fruit that was indeed perfect for this hot summers day. Birrifico Sant’Andrea have four of their beers at The Globe in Central Hong Kong as I write; I am definitely looking forward to trying the rest of their range, especially their beer “Hey Ho! To Go!” as a Ramones fan (it’s close enough!) and it being an English IPA, which is still one of my preferred styles. As to why I was there, not only as lover of craft beer, I was also there working to promote one of my favourite breweries, Young Master Ales. Since the head brewer, Rohit, was unable to attended due to prior working commitments (giving people a tour of the brewery at Ap Lei Chau) I had to take up the reins. The main beer the event had on offer from Young Master was the 1842 Imperial IPA (my personal favourite, making talking about the beer much easier). The 1842 Imperial IPA is a lovely dark IPA, packed full of hoppy flavour, on the floral side with some slight citrus, pine and a touch of cut-grass paired with a solid malt backbone (as the colour would suggest) to provide some body and balance. At 8% (after all, it is an imperial!) the beer maybe could to be said to be a little on the heavy side for a summer event, but it was well received nonetheless by people at the event trying it for the first time, those already familiar to it also made a few return visits for a glass.
The outstanding beers I had at the event included Calabaza Blanca by Jolly Pumpkin, quite light on the palate for a witbier but retains a heady aroma and great sour taste with a strength of 4.8%, the Double Trouble by Tuatara was also highly enjoyable, along with the double IPA and Red Barn Ale by The Lost Abby, the latter of which is a saison with a hatful of flavour. All beers to consider on mail order or look out for should you see them in the UK. Overall this was a excellent and enjoyable event, which hopefully introduced the people of Hong Kong to new beers and showed the strength of the ever growing Craft Beer scene in Hong Kong which is enjoying a parallel to the US and Europe (in places, I understand!). I myself am looking forward to coming back to Mavericks and try the food, enjoy the beach (maybe not the surfing) and definitely take in a few more beers! The next event I will be attending (and hopefully writing about? – Pedro) in this vein will be International Beer Day on 1st August, which I am sure will involve a lot of new beers to try at venues in HK. I hope you enjoying my sideways glance at this event, stay tuned for some more from me in the future! Luke Palmer. |
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