WEEK 82---Bitter -Spicy -Sweet -Sour - all in the name of Craft beer

I was actually asked a while ago by someone very new--or rather still very blur about craft beer:-

"what's there to be so fussy or excited about?"

Think i said something along the line of "because you can find many different flavours which can be found in real food items--and they are not those cheap/ fake kind of food chemical flavours.."

有新人朋友问---Craft Beer有什么魅力让啤迷玩的那么入神？

答案很简单，只因真材实料，变化多端，很多食物中找得到的味道，在Craft Beer中不单只找得到，有时还因为酿造过程增添/丰富了新滋味----这期就挑最基本的酸甜苦辣说。

this weekly column is a piece about basic flavours which can be found in a pint/bottle of beer... 

BITTER

i still remember someone told me few years ago--that when he first started drinking an American pale ale---a bottle of Dead Guy by Rouge---"it was so bitter, i have to stop drinking..."(*thanks to WayneLin from Taiwan Geek's group--who pointed out that this is NOT an APA but rather a German style Mailbock or Helles Bock)

That was many years ago--the same beer is tasting "very sweet" already to that same person.

苦啤酒

很多新朋友刚开始接触Craft Beer喝的第一二三杯\瓶，八九不离十会是Pale Ale 或 IPA。
很自然的，新朋友都会觉得苦，很苦，甚至苦到喝不下去。

真有那么苦涩难喝吗？
有位啤迷朋友说，好多年前刚开始接触Craft 级别啤酒时，第一瓶喝的美国啤酒是Rouge的Dead Guy Ale，当时觉得苦不堪言。不过，这支美式Pale ale 在啤迷朋友味蕾经过一段时间历练後，再喝已是"甜"的。(谢谢台湾啤迷朋友WAYNE LIN指正--这其实是德国风格MAILBOCK/HELLES BOCK）

TOO Bitter--that's usually the first comment we hear from someone having his/her first Hoppy ale--be it a Pale Ale or an IPA or even a hop base Pilsner. Sometimes newbies got scared and thought "That's It"--craft beer is no fun--not for me...

The idea people have about how a BEER should taste is almost 100% basing on what they know from drinking MACRO Beer--ice cold, fizzy, easy to sip---nothing more than that....

BUT Why so Bitter you ask?--that's because your palate was never properly develop as far as beer taste is concern--the mind and senses were precast with the idea of how a crappy beer should taste like--and when finally challenged with a craft beer --the mind & senses/palate just crumble!

这是喝Craft Beer好玩之处，大家之前基本都被单调无趣大厂啤酒预设对啤酒刻板印象，味蕾处于未开发境界，一喝到真材实料加了适量或大量啤酒花酿造IPA或Hoppy Pale Ale感官就被震撼/醒觉，一开始不适应觉得苦不堪言是正常。

不过，不吃苦的啤迷也不用担心，只要经过一段时间味蕾开发训练，很快的会发现，这些开头的苦，其实只是甘香，甘甜，易喝/好喝的很。

If you still think Pale Ale or IPA is too bitter--keep trying--you will soon find out it's really fruity/citrusy/bitter sweet--or down right sweet! so easy to drink and tasty--- *(FRESHNESS of Pale Ale/IPA is very important--but that's for you to find out--learn your lesson by drinking some "dead already" bottles/pint along the way--and you would know how to differentiate soon enough)

SOUR

That people actually love drinking sour beer is something most non -geeks cannot understand.

in Asia--sour food item is not a big preference- especially among Men.

Not so long ago, a geek friend shared a bottle of highly regarded Lambic with his family member/s--and got this remark:-

"WORSE TASTE ever in my mouth!!!!"

 酸啤酒

亚洲普遍来说，酸味不是很多人，特别是男人会喜欢的风格。
或许是饮食习惯影响，或许是一路来被大厂灌输所谓<啤酒>观念影响，很多新朋友都不知道啤酒原来可以是酸的。
不久前，有位啤迷朋友兴致勃勃把一支备受推崇很难找到比利时LAMBIC分享给家人喝，结果换来一句"有生以来最难喝东西"评语，让人哭笑不得。
酸味啤酒什么概念？ 基本可以想象下把酸味水果比如橘子，柠檬，酸樱桃之类的用来酿酒，如果你看到Wild Ale，Sour Ale，Berliner Weisse，Gose，Flanders RED/BROWN标签啤酒，基本就是酸味为主，或酸咸兼具。

What is so nice about Sour Beer?

I guess if you can imagine having a beer brewed with whole fruits of say Lemon, Yuzu, Sour Cherries and so on( and sometimes with pinch of salt to make it sour & salty....:)--then you get the rough idea of how a sour beer might taste like---BUT-- do take into consideration that though brewing process with combination of malt/yeast, and/or other accompanying food items--the SOUR you imagine it to be --can be a lot more interesting than you thought( this applies to beers with other taste profile too)

Generally speaking--if you see on label saying Wild Ale-Sour Ale- Berliner Weisse-Gose- Flanders RED/BROWN  then you are basically looking at beers which would taste sour--fruity but sour--sour & salty....

至于比利时特有的Lambic--天然发酵果酸啤酒就更复杂些，因为是空气中野生菌起发酵作用，第一次接触的朋友会觉得Lambic特有的<发酵Funk香>是很怪异的发霉味或酸味，不明白个中奥妙的朋友分分钟会觉得是一瓶已坏掉的啤酒！

Of Course when you see LAMBIC--like Famboise, Kriek, Oude Gueuze, then you are looking at something uniquely Belgium with at times very strong hints of FUNK/Horse Blanket/ or like rotten cheese---whatever you might want to call it---just DON'T throw the beer away--those are perfectly fine beers--they just smell a bit odd--if you are very new to Lambic.

SWEET

Yes--there are beers that taste like dessert.

In fact the whole idea of sweet beer is like chewing on dessert in liquid form--though there's a sub-category that says " Sweet Stouts"--you do not have to limit yourself to only searching for sweet tasting beers within that sub-category, there are other beer styles which do have sweet variants....you just have to try on and seek them out...

甜啤酒
啤酒也有偏向甜味的。
比如黑啤就有一个叫Sweet Stout的小分类。
就像饭后甜品那样，偏甜啤酒也有不同程度甜味，也用很多不同食材比如巧克力，香草，甜甜圈，水果等等来酿酒，只要是酿酒师想象得到的，基本就有机会入酒。
近期，一种用蜜糖为主要酿酒原料的蜜酒(Mead)开始被啤迷注意，虽然是很古老酒类，严格来说也不完全是啤酒类，不过蜜酒已逐渐被纳入CCCraffft圈内。
既然主要以蜜糖酿造，蜜酒自然偏甜，不过，千万不要定论说这是很单调甜味酒，因为，通过跟不同食材水果还有其他酒类木桶的风味结合，蜜酒会呈现不同层次的味道与个性，是一个介于啤酒\陈酒\红酒\水果酒之间的好玩类别，绝对值得探索。

Well--if you want a category that's predominantly skewed towards the Sweet category--look no further than #MEAD 

BUT--though mead is essentially based on fermented honey for whichever variants they brew--to conclude that mead is only sweet, one dimensional and nothing else is VERY WRONG. 

Mead is something in between a cider/beer/port wine/bourbon/red wine/white wine....it's certainly more than just sweet sensation.

SPICY

Have you ever drank a beer so spicy--you practically need to run for the toilet within half hour of drinking some of it?

Though comparatively ASIAN FOOD is more known for it's spicy selection---but you be surprised to find out just as interesting are some beers brewed by US/European brewers with spicy in mind.

辣啤酒

亚洲很多城市食物都有辣味选择。

好玩的是，来自欧美酿酒师的不少酿品也强调辣味啤酒。
在本地出现过的辣味啤酒就有丹麦米记的Texas Ranger, 美国Prairie的 Bomb---这两款都是黑啤，在黑啤特有的烤麦芽香，黑巧克力，香草味中有一股很特出的辣味--与其说像我们习惯的红辣椒或小辣椒，这两支黑啤的辣味比较像是是墨西哥食材辣味。至于辣到什么程度，当然因人而异，不过，有一位洋人啤迷朋友喝了米记那支後一直喊辣，说像是喝了一支Tabasco。（个人觉得还好，没那么辣）

One of my old favourites-- Texas Ranger by Mikkeller--it's more like Mexican spicy than Asian chilies spicy--in a nice way--but i do remember a Geek friend had that one bottle and was like "i just drank a bottle of Tabasco....its burning!!!"

Craft Beer当然不止酸甜苦辣那么简单，多找找多尝试，肯定会让味蕾发现新境界。

Obviously craft beer is NOT ONLY about sweet & spicy or bitter & sour---there's a lot more quirky or tasty beers out there --you just need to look for it....