Sake disguise in RED....

新加坡回来之后，没有喝过什么酒，带回来的三支就等“吉时”开瓶。

那是个炎热的星期六下午，和朋友约了尝味。

一开始不是正主儿，朋友选了VICTORY BREWING, ROUGE, 还有来自比利时的几支爽口易喝的瓶子“开开胃”。

到选择先开哪一支当天主角瓶子时，朋友选了RED HORIZON 2,这是挪威酿酒师采用日本清酒酵母酿制的SAKE 啤酒。其实开瓶之前我以为会是浅黄色或甚至有点像清酒那样的浅白色。结果不是，颜色是深棕，有点像比利时高酒精或修道院啤酒（STRONG ALE/ABBEY ALE)那样。口感，一点都不是想像中那样清酒的淡香或纯顺，这支SAKE啤酒的口感是复杂的，带点烘烤过的谷类香，有让人立即注意，放慢喝的魅力。

因为有点惊喜，接下来选了来自同门的RED HORIZON 3，不过，可能是同类啤酒直接比较的关系，系列3明显要比系列2来得甜，口感也比较平顺。虽然还是很不错的酒，不过直接比较之下就会觉得有点无奇。

无三不成礼，接下来的就是另一支当天的主角，来自美国STONE酿酒师的DOUBLE IPA---RUINATION。这算是有盛名在外的瓶子，所以会期待。开瓶第一口就觉得，果然名不虚传，除了期待中的苦味，还有更复杂的爽口，完全能盖过之前刚喝完，残留口中的SAKE甜味谷类味道。。。简直像只是开始单一的在喝RUINATION。好厉害。好好喝。

It was a Saturday afternoon, it's been few weeks after S'pore trip and it felt like it's time to taste the few bottles brought back across the causeway. 

and so the tasting session started off with some refreshing/ hop infused/light bottles from Victory brewing, Rouge,as well as a Belgium saison.

and then came the moment for the "real deal" of the day, the two sake beers brewed by Nogne using Japanese sake yeast, and a double IPA from Stone. 

Back track a few weeks ago, when the idea of bringing back a few bottles from SG floated, out of no where the thought of "sake beer" just pop out and instead of getting one sake beer + an IPA & maybe a stout or something, ended up with 2 sake beer & one IPA. How i totally forgot to ask for DARK HORIZON from Nogne...remain a complete "mystery".

we started with Red Horizon edition 2, it was hazy brownish in color---nothing like the white of sake one would expect, it actually look more like a Belgium strong ale color wise than anything close to sake.

I would say, it is one hell of an interesting beer, one that literally made me leave my seat and noticed---i mean, yes, I stood up, take a second look at the bottle, and started to sip slowly( unlike the 3 earlier "warm up" beers where you just sit,drink and chill...). This one is a serious brew that makes you go a bit like "hhmm...oohhh..."
In short, in was really good, and nothing like the usual sake taste that one would come to expect.

The surprisingly tasty Nogne eidtion 2 hurried the next bottle of Edition 3 to be opened, well,as it is in direct comparison taste bud wise, Edition 3 was found to be a bit flat, a bit too sweet for our liking, But, because it was drank right next to each other, maybe if Edition 3 were to be tasted under different circumstances, the outcome could very well be different.

The tasting session went on with another highlight of the day, the ever famous imperial/double IPA from Stone---Ruination. Though the sweet influenced of Edition 3 might have lingers on the mouth feel, there is no doubting whatsoever the hop power and "cleansing effects" of this delicious IPA, it just felt...o so right.

well, probably because of the "cleansing effects" of Ruination, the tasting session kind of went slightly over board( just slightly, no glasses broken, no one fell off the chairs or anything like that...)but that's another story which i would just make a note and say, too much good drinks probably a bit of waste on the taste bud?

we just need a bit more push factor.....

说起来有点奇怪，离吉隆坡不远的城市，自己很少去。

听说了新加坡CRAFT BEER情况比这里活跃好些时候了，也知道隔岸的朋友比我们多瓶子选择。

没有什么计划的，最近下去了一趟。

三天走走看看，算不上对新加坡craft beer 情况有多了解，这之间，去了一家小型酿酒作坊看/帮酿酒师准备了千多加仑的IPA，算是对酒怎么酿有那么一点点看过。当然，最主要的还是逛逛人家卖瓶子卖ON TAPS的地方，喝喝聊聊。

三天以来尝味了不少啤酒，比较期待的是ROUGE的DOUBLE CHOCOLATE，因为一年多之前有幸在上海一家酒吧喝过ON TAPS的，当时口感印象深刻，一听到新加坡有瓶子卖就即刻要了。

这瓶DOUBLE CHOCOLATE 之外，三天在狮城喝过比较有印象的有EVIL TWINS的BISCOTTI BREAK，口感其实比期待的那瓶更浓郁。也喝了按照二十五年前原有方式酿的ROUGE 25 INTERGRITY ALE（口感觉得追不上现代舌头了）。。

也有口福尝了小口别人分享的瓶子， HIGHWAY 78 SCOTCH ALE 和 LAKEWOOD BOURBON BARRE TEMPTRESS。。都是属于有威士忌影响的黑啤。。可口。

IPA方面，个人还是偏向来自美国的两瓶，ALESMITH IPA和STONES IPA。哦，还有在一家专卖日本啤酒BAR喝到的志贺高原SHIGA1 KOGEN IPA。

当然，三天以来，尝味的不止这些提到的瓶子，还有好些来自不同国家的佳酿。可以肯定的是，我们或许可以大声说槟城小吃，吧生肉骨茶，或者NASI LEMAK比较好吃。。不过，现阶段说到CRAFT BEER，在选择方面我们还是落后了一些，要说到对CRAFT BEER有热情有投入的爱好者，从业者的话，新加坡还是多了一些。

还好，我们也不太差，只是需要更多喜欢CRAFT 的人们出现，作为纯粹消费者也好，尝试做点什么推广也好，又或是开店卖craft beer也好，这里，需要的就是更多人的参与，更多的推动力。。。

its only a few hour's drive to Spore from KL.

but somehow i have not been to the Lion city for quite a while despite knowing it's a more happening place as far as craft beer is concern.

and so the day came last month, it was more like a spontaneous trip.
the 3 days were spend largely from place to place, shop to shop, although the first day were more of a learning session where the guys from the pump room were kind enough to let us "participate" in brewing an IPA...(well...more like watch from the sideline, do a bit of hard labour, pour in the Wheat,Hops....its was certainly good fun)

and so the main activities were going around, meeting some people and drink lots of good beers....well, there were quite a bit consumed, of which some don't lingers on the main frame date base, others do still having a clear image in mind.... 

i was looking forward to drinking Rouge Double Chocolate when i heard there's bottle available since i last had it on taps many months ago in Shanghai. On the same night, I had the opportunity to try out Evil twin's Biscotti Break, which i would say is thicker and kind of tastier than the one I was expecting, as well Woodlake bourbon barrel Temptress...ending the night with a Stone IPA was indeed... de..li...cious!

other bottles tasted that still lingers on includes:-
milk porter from TO OL

a few sip shared by someone next table, tasty nice bottle though..

as well something nicely sour from this one:-

well, there's certainly more choices than meets the eyes over the other side of the causeway, and when it comes to people who are into craft beer, i would say there's most likely more over there than what we have here in KL.

while there is no way we would Not say our Penang/Malacca street food, Klang Bahkuteh, or even Nasi lemak is probably way better than what our friends have in S'pore, we have to somehow admit that we still need a lot more people getting involve with craft beer here in KL, be it just purely as drinker/s, or try to do something/ anything to help promote the craft beer culture, or even just open up a store/bar selling craft beers...then we could have a more vibrant than it is craft beer scene in KL....and that would be a nice scenario to have....for now....well....we are not very far behind, but we are....behind....:)