of Whisky, Turkey & Monkey。。。

感恩节和圣诞节都是有火鸡和美酒的季节。

对火鸡大餐的兴趣不大。这里讲的TURKEY是来自美国肯德基州的wild turkey bourbon barrel aged Stout by Anderson Valley.刚巧在接近感恩节时候喝到。

长成一串的名称，简单说就是经过威士忌桶浸泡酿制的黑啤。

对威士忌有兴趣的都知道在苏格兰酿的威士忌叫WHISKY，爱尔兰酿的叫WHISKEY，在美国酿的威士忌不叫威士忌，叫BOURBON。基本是同中有异，像泰国人说的same same but different。

肯德基火鸡黑啤的酒精度是6.9%，比印象中跟威士忌扯上关系的啤酒显得很“轻”。

开瓶后，味道没有浓厚威士忌痕迹，口感是有那么一点点烈酒的香料影响，不过无论是刚入口或是余味，都显得很“轻”，属于容易喝的黑啤。

同一天喝的还有来自美国的金猴，是比利时修道院酿法的TRIPLE ALE，Golden Monkey by Victory，出于需要转换口味的选择。 

虽然TRIPLE酿法是比利时人的骄傲，不过，来自美国的猴子也不差，爽口微甜之余也有啤酒花带来的轻微甘苦。作为开场或中场啤酒都是不错的选择。

“火鸡黑啤”之后不久，上星期喝到另外一瓶由苏格兰CRAFT BEER 酿酒师 BREWDOG 所泡制的威士忌桶浸酿San Diego Scotch Ale。

这是不同风格的瓶子，味道，口感，余味，酒精度（9%）都比较浓，不是浓厚烈酒味那种，而是醇厚果香，朗姆酒，焦糖等等，属于慢尝味道更好的啤酒。

ratebeer link for wild turkey bourbon barrel aged Stout by Anderson Valley:-
http://www.ratebeer.com/beer/anderson-valley-wild-turkey-bourbon-barrel-stout/199689/

ratebeer link for Victory Golden Monkey:-
http://www.ratebeer.com/beer/victory-golden-monkey/630/

ratebeer link for San Diego Scotch Ale by Brewdog:-
http://www.ratebeer.com/beer/brewdog--ballast-point-san-diego-scotch-ale/183313/

Recent weeks had seen a bit of change in beer preference personally, was trying out different style of beers, slightly away from the "dark side" of black IPA, porter and imperial stout.

I had a bit of Whisky, a turkey and a monkey lately.

San Diego scotch ale by Brewdog was the whisky casks aged beer I had very recently.

At 9% ABV, this bottle is relatively easy going, with distinct dark fruits, rum, burned malt taste lingering on the palate, and thought it taste better as it gets warmer from initial ice cold condition.

for a small 330 ml bottle, this is one scotch ale you could drink all by yourself and would not feel too full or too "thick" to finish off. (of course it would still be good to share, drink less taste more!)

This is the second bottle of whisky/bourbon aged beer that i had in the past two weeks.

The other one was a "cold turkey' .

it was very close to thanksgiving when i had wild turkey bourbon barrel aged Stout by Anderson Valley.

for those who are into whisky/bourbon, this would certainly give a very clear picture on the style,taste,aroma of the stout. I mean expect something rather strong in terms of smell, taste and alcohol content for a beer brewed this way.

i was a little surprise to find that this 'turkey stout' is rather mild, at 6.9% ABV. as for the aroma, taste, mouth feel, after taste, would say its basically all in the mild side. In fact a very easy to drink barrel aged beer, especially if you consider the word "bourbon". 

Second beer of the afternoon, having finished off the cold turkey with a friend, we decided to try out a Golden Monkey by Victory brewing company.

Golden Monkey is a Belgian style triple abbey ale with 9.5% ABV.
As with all triple beers, the ABV is usually on the higher side, this one is no exception. 

The golden monkey indeed does taste very smooth, a little fruity sweetness with a hint of spices, easy to drink yet never feel flat as a beer. Personally thought this beer is good to drink as 1st beer or change of palate kind of beer.

Cheers!