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?