This is part 2 of the super popular Land of Le Beef exclusive series, "32 Bottles of Beer". Basically it's a loose, illustrative review of some random beers that have been delivered to me through the Beer of the Month Club at the Bottle Shop in Hong Kong. Since the first review, I have grown an appreciation for hops and IPA's, I have discovered a few breweries that are awesome, and I have learned how to draw a clown riding a really short unicycle.
Wells - Sticky Toffee Pudding Ale
When I first saw the label of this beer, I was expecting not to like it. Not that I have anything against sticky toffee pudding (and I certainly don't have anything against beer), but the combination of the two just don't interest me much. In fact, it is not a bad tasting beer. There is definitely a toffee taste in there, but it lingers for just a moment, and sits amongst a light refreshing beer taste. Although I probably wouldn't order this at a bar, I could imagine drinking one of these at a seaside carnival while watching a clown on a unicycle juggling bowling pins - it’s like the grown-up version of eating a candy apple.
Moonzen - Moon Goddess Chocolate Stout
This beer comes from a small brewery in Hong Kong. It took me a while to actually taste it because I carelessly poured it into a glass and gave is an inhibiting amount of head. With the first sip (several moments later), I found it refreshing, slightly sweet, and a pleasant amount of bitterness. There is also a hint of vanilla somewhere in there. None of the flavours seem to scream for my attention - they are perfectly unified, living together in harmony. I feels like a night time beer - a quiet reflective, staring up the night sky beer. Perhaps that’s why they called it Moon Goddess.
St Austell - Big Job
This is a big manly-sized beer (a full half-litre), with a very proud label. It claims to be a ‘massively hopped cornish double IPA’ - this means that it should be the hoppiest beer that I have ever encountered. It smells excitingly hoppy. The taste is fresh, light, full of flavour, and just mildly bitter. It is well balanced. The flavour comes in with its full size - like a cowboy kicking in a saloon door. It holds nothing back. At 7.2% alc, it packs a fairly heavy punch as well.