Craft Beer Guide

Remember, kids, it’s not alcoholism if it’s for a craft beer guide

Why is craft beer so expensive? What does craft beer even mean? Are we at the point of peak craft beer? Look, I don’t know the answers to those questions. Or more accurately, I kind of do have some insight into them but would rather write a separate post to address them in the future. For now, let’s get down to the craft beer tastelist!

Quick note: They are titled according to “Beer name” – “Brewery” – “Alcohol by volume percentage”

This is a constantly-updated list which will reflect all the craft beers I’ve had the pleasure of trying. Last update: 22 October 2017 

Alice Porter – Brewdog – 5.2% ABV

A robust, dexterous, complex porter. There are coffee notes, a resiny mouthfeel and a surprising aftertaste of the faintest hints of spice and brandy at the tail end. Great for the middle of a tasting course, especially when you’re at a table for one and pining over that person you used to go for drinks and dinners with who now occasionally likes some of your posts on Facebook where you’re both still connected because who knows what you’re still holding out for. Punchy body and enough layers to keep the palate satisfied through the whole glass.

Bloody ‘Ell – Beavertown – 7.2% ABV

Grapefruit, blood orange, and all that good fruity stuff. Nominally an IPA but it’s not the run-of-the-mill variety. The difference is rather like that of factory-farmed vs organically grown poetry. This is marmalade in rum and hops, lemon in caramel, and teeth like squares of paper towels, hands like burr grinders, spinning out of place, slicing not crushing, like if we held close tightly enough, tonight would forget itself. We could keep walking into each other on off days far apart on out-of-sync schedules. 25 would come and go before we stop singing, spraying foam into the air thick with sweat and gridlocked taxi lights. A tasty IPA from a consistently impressive brewery.

Brave New World IPA – Tempest – 7% IPA

Excellent stuff. Deep, dry and resiny with a crisp and controlled aftertaste. As close to perfect as an IPA gets – it’s like the A Love Supreme of IPAs, really. Other than the fact that A Love Supreme is literally perfect. Well, kind of. Okay, I didn’t mean literally. Can we not get into this now? We’re in public. No, I’m not trying to avoid talking about it. Can we just –

Breakfast of Champions IPA – Moon Dog – 7.6% ABV

It’s a Bloody Mary Red Ale. You’ve seen it before, it’s everywhere. It tastes like a bloody mary red ale. Zesty. Sweet. Spicy. Tomato-y. Strange. Good.

Brewlander Joy Session IPA – Brewlander – 4.5% ABV

Hazy colour on this boy. Meek aroma with a very light hoppiness to it. Taste-wise a lot richer. Very much like pine needles, with a tangy bitterness biting through the bright fruitiness. Bit like biscuits and shortbread in the body. Give it time to warm down, the fairly mild flavours are harder to taste when it’s cold.

Buxton Axe Edge – Buxton – 6.8%

A very special IPA that brings back the colour into dreary days. Strong, hoppy, refreshing with a delectable aftertaste and thick, chewy mouthfeel. Exquisite drink. Almost masks the pain of continued existence.

Check In IPA – Lervig – 6% ABV

Spicy floral ale. Sizzles out quite fast in the mouth though. Smooth mouthfeel without being particularly silky. Resinous. Not much of a tail end. Couple this with Ryo Fukui’s A Letter From Slowboat.

Double Chocolate Stout – Rogue – 9% ABV

Chocolate-y, creamy stout. It hits the nose immediately with a head of deep roasted malt and cocoa. It’s pretty intense, in the same vein as freshly ground coffee beans. The smooth swirling body builds into a lasting creaminess that unfortunately never quite lives up to the promise of the aroma. Not a fan of most of Rogue’s stuff, but this one is a pleasant exception. Pair with Gerry Mulligan. Alternatively, have this at the Great Beer Bar with the girl from Alice Porter and spend the next month regretting your decision to ever tell how you thought you felt.

Founders KBS (Kentucky Breakfast Stout) – 11.2% ABV

This is a strange one. Tried it twice and wasn’t particularly blown-away but it gets rave reviews across the board.

A very dark brown-black (closer to just pure black, really) with not much head. Initial aroma is of burnt caramel notes – in a pleasant way, of course. Full, thick mouthfeel. A very heady taste. Strong punch of coffee is very upfront and obvious, with hardly any sweetness present to compensate for it. Not that it’s a bad thing. There’s a whisky smoky note in the after-taste, presumably from the oak barrels previously used for bourbon.

Freshly-squeezed IPA – Deschutes – 6.4% ABV

A fresh, bright and refreshing Indian Pale Ale that instantly announces itself with the most striking of aromas. Citrusy without being overtly acidic, the initial pineapple and mango notes quickly bloom into an impressive depth of flavour. Pleasant, perky, easy drinking stuff. Best consumed with Lydia Loveless in the background.

Fuck Art This is Architecture – To Øl – 5% ABV

A delicious, delightful pale ale. Crisp and fruity, wonderfully fresh, and almost floral. And yet the body still retains the fat chunky hoppiness which floats around subtly in the background. Fans of the Aqua-Puss analog delay from Way Huge will enjoy this one.

Heretic / Evil Twin Evil Quadruplets – Heretic – 14.4% ABV

American Red Ale? Very long-lasting frothy white head. Initial sip is full of toffee and caramel. Very sweet with a vanilla undercurrent that darkens into a richer malt as the body develops. Gets oilier as it warms down. Drinks very easily, almost like a beery liquid treacle. Lovely. Smooth and dark, very rich, thick and rather chewy. Excellent beer.

Hop Fiction – Brewdog – 5.2% ABV

Hazy, tropical, and understated. It tastes vaguely like a nondescript tropical fruit juice tempered with a mild citrusy bitterness that seeps in right before the body fades away. An interesting drink but not exactly something I’d bother picking up again. Best experienced after reading Heidegger and wondering what in fuck the lad was on about.

Jukebox Hero – Moon Dog – 7% ABV

The Aussie brewery Moon Dog has a whole line of highly-laudable craft beers and the Jukebox Hero fits comfortably in amongst the best of them. A 7.0% ABV IPA that sizzles and buzzes confidently, it even veers towards the spicy territory at times. There is the slightest hint of floral but in general Jukebox Hero avoids the traditional route of the fruity, crisp IPA. This so-called “head honcho of hops” eschews conventions and flaunts its quirks and…it does (kind of) work. Good solid beer worth picking up as your second or twenty-third drink which I wish I could do but I can’t, not without money. Not like this, not living the way I am right now.

Kaiju! Where Strides the Behemoth – Kaiju Beer – 10.5%

I can unreservedly say this is the best beer I’ve ever tasted in my life. Rich oily coffee-y spicy toasty pine-y dark dense bojack-y rickandmorty robust dry smoky herbal strong toasty warm sad puffy tired stronger somehow than all my hate

Magic Rock Common Ground – Magic Rock – 5.4% ABV

An accomplished muddy beer where the thick malty body fights with a tangy, bitter bite and traces of hazelnut. Smooth and rich drink throughout. Try enjoying with vivienxo in the background.

Mochaccino Messiah – To Øl – 7% ABV

It’s like the first and second waves of coffee making a comeback in the form of a roasted malty ale. Easily one of the most unique beers I’ve ever tasted. The first notes that hit the nose are a sharp, bold, almost spicy wave, that quickly gives way to a punchiness of dark roasted “coffee” notes. Usually coffee ales/stouts have a coffee-ish taste distinct from the body of the beer. Not so here. The two feel almost interlaced, and yet you get that strange hit of chili with every fresh sip. It’s intense and bizarre.

Siren Soundwave IPA – Siren – 5.6% ABV

Fruity and zesty with jackfruit, mango and peach to balance out the bitterness. Great with heavier meals. Enjoyable and drinkable. Isn’t that all we want?

Stone Delicious IPA – Stone Brewing – 7.7% ABV

Bitter, citrusy IPA. Rough around the edges but finishes well and is versatile enough for serving with food. It’s not Beavertown though. It’s never Beavertown, to be fair. We’re always steps away. The moment comes and goes, in blue blinks, in inward cries for more than what any one person can realistically deserve, but we can’t live anywhere else. This is the start and the end, the place we go to when there’s nothing else. A solid IPA that retains its flavours even when it warms. Consider adding this to your standard walk-around kit for everyday situations/street shooting.

Stone Coffee Milk Stout – Stone Brewing – 5% ABV

An imperious stout. Hoppy at the start with a creamy head, then explodes into a thick, rich burst of milky coffee. Dark, roasted flavour profile that has the slightest hints of smokiness. Not the most rounded of stouts, but still impressive nonetheless. Goes great with Stranger Things.

Thornbridge Baize – Baize – 5.5% ABV…or was it 6%?

Thornbridge is a behemoth of a brewery. And this is a chocolate mint stout. There are some initial sour notes (strange), and a chocolate tinge (not too bad), but the two sensations feel vaguely disconnected, like a sort of deconstructed After Eights. I guess it’s mainly because the chocolatey-ness only really settles in after the first few sips/gulps. A decent introductory stout perhaps, for those uninitiated to the strange flavours of the craft world. Though I find myself saying that a lot.

Wells Banana Bread Beer – Wells & Young – 5.2% ABV

A peculiar yet masterful beer. The immediate top notes are a melow, muddled malt that almost immediately give away to the most brilliant bright burst of banana. Much like its colour (a pale brown-orange shade), it’s light, refreshing and very accessible. It Was Written is the best Nas album.

Wells Bombardier Premium Bitter – Wells & Young – 5.2%

Surprisingly light (and arguably even refreshing) despite its creamy mouthfeel, it then takes a quick final detour and ends with an incredible toffee-like finish. In many ways, it feels like the inverse of a regular stout. Peer closely enough and it’s a light amber instead of the brownish black it first appears to be. It starts with a brash hit of malt and closes with a thick, rich sweetness. The mouthfeel is creamy without being a throaty-thickness. At times, it feels like every bit of the experience was engineered to subvert the notion of a typical stout. Without a doubt one of the best picks from The Great Beer Bar. Too bad it’s going to be difficult to head back there again.

Wells Sticky Toffee Pudding Ale – Wells & Young – 5% ABV

Great sticky rich toffee ale modeled after…the British pudding? Sweet and thick caramel body (almost butterscotch-like), rounded off with a cola-like aftertaste that at times threatens to be cloying. Slightly one-dimensional, especially compared to Young’s Double Chocolate Stout. Better to pair this with Rick & Morty than with Steven Universe, ceteris paribus.

Wild Beer Billionaire – Wild Beer – 10% ABV

A very pleasant imperial stout. Sweet aroma, thick caramel initial notes that build into a savoury saltiness. Creamy and malty with lashings of roasted umami throughout.

Young’s Double Chocolate Stout – Wells & Young – 5.2% ABV

Cheap (MYR19 per bottle at point of purchase), decadent, and deceptively named. This isn’t a rich dark chocolate-y stout, but rather a sweet and light one with a creamy toffee body. There’s a noticeable absence of the typical chewy malt mouthfeel one expects from a strong stout, and the roasted notes that tickle the palate quickly dissipate before building to a significant aftertaste. Think a traditional Guinness but cut with laces of cocoa. It’s a perfect introductory stout and/or dessert beer. Pairs well with PG Wodehouse and Terry Pratchett.

And to wrap it up, here’s a nice little video about the lads from To Øl.