CNY or Chinese New Year comes and go every lunar calendar--it;s the time of the year where people who celebrate CNY gets home--wherever they might be at--to see family members/home town friends.--from China to Taiwan to Malaysia, people travels in all directions just to get home for the annual get together--during this time of the year--being home could also meaning being at a place where there's no supply of craft beer/mead--unless you bring your own supply back home.
新年是回家乡团聚的日子，对一些在外地生活的啤迷朋友来说，有时候春节回家等同于要跟Craft暂时说拜拜。
绝大多数新春聚会，有啤酒的话都只会是超市买得到的一般大厂啤酒，很多时候因为主人家不懂啤酒有选择或什么是Craft Beer，有时候因为所在地除了大厂啤酒完全没其他选择。这意味着，新春期间啤迷想喝好的，只能自己带酒。
<顽啤主张>也属于回家过年没Craft喝的类型，以下是回吉隆坡後喝到的一些很不错啤酒/蜜酒，虽然绝大多数都是啤迷朋友私藏分享，不过只要新朋友有心寻找，还是能通过啤迷渠道找到的。
Personally this is the time of the year where i would be in a place with no craft supply whatsoever since i don't bring any bottles back, and it's also perhaps the only time in a year where occasionally i'm "forced" to drink commercial piss lager during old friends dine and drink session.
Hence it's natural to want to make it up with some really nice craft beer/mead after coming out of the real craft desert, back to KL to share some brew with geeks, here's a few nice ones shared recently:-
Cantillon Fou Foune
To drink a bottle of Lambic here in KL is always a thankful pleasure since there's very little supply in Asia, let alone South East Asia. This is a bottle shared by guy from the KL tasting group, a relatively fresher bottle than previously had bottles of the same variant. The apricot taste/aroma/smell is evidently fresher, livelier than the recent bottle shared at Upstairs Bangkok, this is one beer that's so nicely done it makes you happier as you sip, but then the truth is i have yet to find a bottle of Lambic which would make me feel bad about, it's probably a bit silly to say this--but i would go as far to say if anyone says they like sour beer or don't like sour beer but NEVER properly tasted any Lambic( or variants of lambic for that matter)--then they don't really know what they are saying.
不少第一次喝的新朋友会觉得Lambic特有风味是让人难以一喝就接受的啤酒类别，不过，对已经跨越初期抗拒感，并逐步明白其独特性，喜欢上比利时天然发酵果酸啤酒的啤迷来说，Cantillon酿品水准是大师级别，属于指标性的，众多不同风格酿品中，这是款用了大量新鲜杏子浸泡桶陈版本酸啤，水果指定来自酿坊主人的法国朋友农场（啤酒名称其实就是农场朋友花名），浸泡比例是每一公升酸啤用300公克杏子提味，酿品喝起来除了Lambic特有野生菌发酵“怪味”和木桶味，更多的是果香鲜酸，有点像是介于发酵果汁/啤酒/白葡萄酒之间，层次复杂口感优雅美味喝着喝着心情就很好的顶级酿品。
Struise Black Damnation Ivan The Terrible
There's no doubt that Black Albert from the same Belgium brewery is one hell of a benchmark beer for stouts---Black Damnation is the "playful"/"upgraded"/"imaginary"/"adjunct" version of Black Albert--using it as the base beer and play around with added food items/fruits/barrels/whatever the brewers fancy---it was supposed to be just an experimental brew but it's been going on since the first addition.
Black Damnation series is all about playing it BIG in terms of playfulness/intention and such--this one we shared was a Whisky barrel-aged version--Glenlivet 15yrs old french oak barrel---there's obvious taste/aroma/smell of dark fruits/cherry/oak influences--with hints of alcohol burn but gets a lot smoother as it gets warmer.
Only thing about this bottle to say is--while Black Albert is pleasantly doable--you would not want to drink this alone.
这是比利时黑啤高手酿坊的玩味之作，开始时把自家的基本版黑啤Black Albert拿来实验性玩不同处理方式，比如加入咖啡摩卡水果之类食材看看可以有什么不同变化，然后也玩不同酒类木桶浸泡陈放，就那样，从一开始的只是想玩一下，变成一玩不可收拾的推出好多不同变奏版，这瓶是啤迷朋友从荷兰搜购回来分享的GLENLIVET 15年份威士忌桶陈版，虽然开始比较冷喝起来酒精感明显，过了十多二十分钟酒体暖和後则变得比较圆润饱满，更多黑巧克力咖啡黑色果实等元素，让酒体能比较完整呈现，也是喝啤酒或蜜酒乐趣之一，看看酿品能在不同温度变化中带来什么样的变化。
Superstition Banana PBJC & Chocolate Strawberry Sunrise
Both are adjunct added variants of the base version, and unlike the original version which were bottled in 750ml, came in a smaller size of 375ml.
the Banana PBJC is quite interesting that it gives off unripe banana smell but the sweetness is there when first encountered--followed with peanut butter afterwards.
Sipping on Chocolate Strawberry Sunrise--the first thing that struck on was the tartness rather than sweetness as anyone would expect sweet sensation from a mead--it's obvious tartness for a mead--- the added cocoa nips/vanilla beans makes it "darker"/"thicker"--it felt like drinking a sour/light sweet strawberry mead swimming in a pool of dark chocolate/coffee beans.
这家美国蜜酒酿坊有不少高水准作品，这两款都是在原有基本款中加入不同食材的变奏版，前者原版是水果蜜香中带着浓郁花生酱，这次加了香蕉，多了一股比较青涩香蕉气息和甜味，喜欢香蕉的朋友会觉得有趣。另一支加了香草豆和可可粒变奏版草莓蜜酒则喝起来像是在黑巧克力和咖啡豆中漫游的带酸草莓酒，虽是蜜酒，但不感觉甜，反而果酸味更觉突出。
Cloudwater Collaboration IPAs
undoubtedly one of the darlings of the in-trend NEIPA, the two cans shared here obviously did not come in via any distribution channels in Asia but hand carried in from London by a geek friend.
Both IPAs but with different twist, look and taste different too.
Exit Right(green color can) is a collab with Barcelona brewery--Garage Beer Co--playing with 2 variants of hops and added white grape juice for some added juicy touch.
Biscuit Town(red color can) is collab with Modern Times--emphasizing on use of malts and single hop.
Both tasting pleasant with one more fruity/juicy than another--the fact that the cans were air flown/hand carried in obviously help in a big way--it's not easy wanting to get fresher ipas this part of the world.
英国酿坊Cloudwater是近两年来备受关注的新贵，拿手好戏是酿造IPA，特别是近期大热的类果汁风格印度淡陴，这两罐是跟两家不同酿坊合作的，青色罐Exit Right是跟巴塞罗那酿坊Garage Beer Co合酿，除了两种主要不同啤酒花使用，也特意加了白葡萄果汁提味。至于红色罐Biscuit Town则是和美国Modern Times 酿坊合酿，强调大量使用的麦芽和单一啤酒花功能，两罐IPA喝起来都平易近人，除了因为是英国朋友手提带进来本地分享还新鲜之外，作品风格其实也朝向易喝舒适方向去，没有一些IPA死命丢啤酒花只求苦味弊病。
Omnipollo Lemon Meringue Ice-Cream Pie
The name says it all--the idea is making a lemon/ice-cream pie into a beer--though beer being liquid don't really gives off the chewy feeling like eating a real pie--you get the idea when you drink this one--especially when the temperature changes from cold to warmer.
If you never had this one and lives in KL--you might still be able to find one at the craft beer bar.
说瑞典Omnipollo是近年最受啤迷追捧新晋酿坊绝不为过，这家厉害之处是作品风格多样化，而且总是能在不同风格酿品中做出一些让人惊艳之作，这次喝到的作品属于微酸易喝类型，概念是将柠檬蛋白冰淇淋派做成啤酒，听起来就蛮有趣的，虽说啤酒是液体没有冰淇淋或派的实际嘴嚼感，不过，这支作品还是能让人感受到原概念影响，也很适合炎热天气解渴，更重要是，本地专卖吧应该还有机会买到。
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