Since Beerbeer started, a lot of people ask me this question “What is my favourite beer?” I understand that the more you drink the harder it is to choose your favourite. The more you drink here is more towards the type and brands not the frequent or how much you drank.

I do have my favourites in certain time and place or even certain food. I love to drink beer according to my taste of that day. Of course to have my favourite beer is hard to find. My favourite type is still IPA (Indai Pale Ale). One of the hoppy, floral, bitter beer that many dislike. I quite like the Dogfish 60 min IPA, which I drank in Singapore Beerfest.

My favourite beer for this year is actually Pannepot from Belgium. The owner of BruxAle collect the beer and was kind enough to share it with Minjie and me. Something so surprisingly good that it make me happy the whole day for a reason I know that this is by far the best beer I tasted this year.

I guess some of the readers will go along my choices and try what ever I recommended. So far not many will like my favourite beer as it always come with hoppy and full flavour beer. I still wish we have better lager or pilsner in Malaysia. So far the commercial brands are not really giving any good taste to it. The simple after taste are not there. I actually think the Malaysian still have the mentality that darker is always stronger. Hope this will change one day.

As writing for Beerbeer have lead me to discover more types of beer. Beer of my life will keep changing. As I discover new type and new style to slowly sips to my mouth, eventually new favourite will come. Ale or lager who knows? But ale will be a better choice for now.

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When the beer is served?
Some light aroma.

How’s the taste?
The first taste give a slight aroma with a hint of salty taste. Is quite smooth with nice head on the beer. It does have a hop’s bitter end plus a nice floral aroma after taste.

What’s the colour?
Hazy Reddish Brown

How’s the glass design?
I do like the logo, although the glass got nothing special about it.

Where to get?
I drank it at Ice Cold Beer @ Singapore

My Opinion:
Is quite an easy beer to drink, light and smooth but not much strong taste to it. It does easy to pair with food with simple taste.

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Again we are back in Craft Brews, this time around we are here for the Rogue. A beer that make their name by winning many awards and have arrive in our shore. This beer really something I look forward, not everyday you can try different brand of beer in Malaysia.

The heroes of the night is Juniper Pale Ale, Dead Guy and American Amber Ale. This 3 are basically upper fermentation beer, which is not the usual stuff we have in Malaysia. So without further introduction we start our beer tasting number 2 at Craft Brews. This time around we have 2 Beerbeer writer and 1 ex-wine importer.

#1 Juniper Pale Ale

When the cap is pop?
Sweet floral fragrant aroma with slight malty.

How’s the taste?
The beer leave a bitting bitter, not so fizzy body. Quite easy to drink but the hoppy taste will linger in the taste bud for a while. The sweet aroma does make the beer pleasant. It does leave back an aromatic bitter after taste. Not much head on the beer during the pouring process.

Guest Verdict
The aroma is really nice but the bitter is something we didn’t expect from this aromatic beer.

#2 Dead Guy

When the cap is pop?
Slight aroma of malt.

How’s the taste?
A very smooth beer with nice head. Very nice and balance taste with some fizzy body. The beer come will bitter taste that linger around your mouth. Even the after taste have the bitter end. Light body and easy to drink.

Guest Verdict
Like the balance of the beer, the smooth and easy to drink make this beer thumbs up.

#3 American Amber Ale

When the cap is pop?
Smokey malty aroma with some floral fragrance

How’s the taste?
The beer is nice carbonated, the first gulp can feel the fizzy body of the beer, the bitter is more round up with aroma lingering in the taste bud. The after taste has some roasted smell with fruity sweetness.

Guest Verdict
A nice carbonated beer, quite refreshing and easy to drink.

These 3 beers are beer with character of its own. Is widely depends on personal taste how you like your beer to be. 3 of us decided to go with Dead Guy as this beer give the overall balance of taste and aroma. For those who like the bitting bitter taste, they sure will find Juniper Pale Ale their favourite. Many ladies prefer Juniper Pale Ale because of it’s floral aroma that really open up the appetite. If going by sequence to try all this 3 beer, I would go with American Amber Ale, Dead Guy and end with Juniper. As by this time the Juniper Pale Ale bitter taste would be different, added with a nice aroma end. Perfect combo!

But be warn, this beer is not a layman beer, not everyone can enjoy this beer. This beer is for those who understand how the taste works. We understand now why this beer win so many awards as the beer bring a different level in drinking beer. American beer do have their own character. Rogue definitely a beer to be recognise. Cheers!

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So who let the dogs out? Must be Craft Brew, the only place in Malaysia you can find this Dogs flying around. Still don’t understand what I mean… Is the Flying Dog beers that CB is offering. I was invited over by Benjamin to come over to try the Flying Dog’s beer.

They have six range of Flying Dog offering in CB but because this beer are imported some are not available, most of the time is depends on the stock availability. Flying Dog Brewery is from USA, is another alternate taste from another continent.

We were chilling outside, as what can better then a chill beer in hand while the weather is like oven. This month is sure a good month for beer. Warm weather + beer = perfect pairing. So I invited 2 more friend to join me for the beer tasting. So I can see how the normal beer drinker felt about the beer.

For that night, we tasted four Flying Dog’s beer, which each have it’s own character. For each tasting we try not to taste so many beer at one shots as our tongue palate may confuse the taste, as beer always leave back after taste, so I think 4 is sufficient for the taste bud.

#1 The Flying Dog “In-Heat Wheat” Hefe Weizen Ale

When the cap is pop?
Some light floral with malty aroma.

How’s the taste?
The first gulp give a nice carbonation and fizzy to it’s body. The floral and malt give a lingering flavour in the mouth. Light bitter end with nice after taste lingering. With 4.7% ABV this beer is easy to drink.

Guest Verdict
Both give a combination of 9 out of 10, as the beer is easy to drink with the nice aroma.

#2 The Flying Dog “Doggie Style” Classic Pale Ale

When the cap is pop?
Nice sweet aroma that reminds me of lychee.

How’s the taste?
The beer has a nice carbonation, which give the fizzy in the tongue. Lychee aroma sweetness that linger with a hoppy bitter end. As it goes along the bitter actually stay and stick in the mouth. The beer come with 5.5% ABV.

Guest Verdict
Both give a combination of 6 out of 10, 1 like the bitter taste, the other hate it.

#3 The Flying Dog “Snake Dog IPA” Indian Pale Ale

When the cap is pop?
I like the floral aroma.

How’s the taste?
Have a good head in the beer, light fizzy with floral aroma flowing through as you drink the beer. It’s have the after bitter taste with some touch of floral end. Can spot some lychee sweetness in the beer. The beer come with 7.1% ABV but very easy and smooth to drink.

Guest Verdict
Both give a combination of 4 out of 10, both hate the beer. On the other hand, I like this beer very much, because this beer is balance with nice after taste.

#4 The Flying Dog “Old Scratch” Amber Lager

When the cap is pop?
Light Sweet Aroma

How’s the taste?
The beer is smooth, with 5.5% ABV the beer is easy to drink. Have some malty flavour, some fizziness to it. A bit diluted and not bitter. Have a slight end of salt brush off. The beer do have a nice head but not too strong in taste.

Guest Verdict
Both give a combination of 10 out of 10, both of them like this beer.

Of course everyone have different taste to like different beer. For me the beer is not bad and come with some nice taste, I prefer the IPA more then the rest as IPA have the balance that I like in beer. But majority drinker are so used to the lager beer like Tiger and Carlsberg, so Amber and Weizen from Flying Dog may suit them better.

Interesting of the bottle design is the art work. Not those typical emblem but very edgy art work. The bottle is quite typical looking beside from the art work.

Surprisingly the beer mostly are light body, I expected some to be more heavy body and volume. Overall the beer is quite easy to drink, with warm weather this beer will sure chill you down. If you drink too much, you may even act like a wild dog. But to make you fly, that is priceless.

Flying Dog is an imported brand that cater to those exclusive beer drinker that hunting for new stuff. I believe many have try, some like it some may not. This beer have it’s own characteristic to match with the food. Food pairing with beer will open up even more palate to taste. So next time you around Craft Brew drop by and do some beer pairing of your own. Cheers!

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Westmalle Tripel 9.5% abv

Type: Trappist,  Strong pale ale
Origin: Belgium
website: http://www.trappistwestmalle.be/
Tried: 10th NOV 2009, dinner
With: chicken and potatoes

Now.. This is supposed to be the “original” blonde strong ale.. and Westmalle was very easily found in nearly every pub I went to in Brussels. Having said that I prefer the Westmalle Dubbel more.. mmm.. why? There seem to a tinge of spice in the body which I did not really like (maybe it was the crushed pepper of my chicken) but I just didn’t like the distinct flavour of its body.

Otherwise, completely drinkable Not too gas-sy, had a good texture.. just me personally no likey

plus I am writing these review 3 days after drinking it.. so .. the beer was fresh but my memory not.

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