My memory has been jogged. I wonder if one of those isn’t Mac Queen’s Nessie, which is a Scottish whiskey-malt lager available here in Taiwan. I now remember having had this beer… think I got it at Eslite at the Dunhua-Jen Ai circle.
Although brewed in Austria, it is a whiskey-malt/strong Scottish ale. Michael Jackson (the Brit beer expert, not the American freak) describes this beer as having a “real heftiness of malt in both the aroma and palate, with a late dryness and faint smokiness.”
This one is worth a try… but watch out, its 7.3% abv.
Nail on the head, Tigerman. That is indeed one of the beers they have, along with several others. I really don’t like it too much, though – I just can’t drink these strong beers without being reminded of Carlsberg Special Brew, the destitute alky’s choice where I come from.
Interestingly, I took a friend from Germany there not long ago and he was very dismissive of Austrian beer. “Look at the list of ingredients,” he said. Sure enough, all of the Austrians (at least at that cafe) had various additives and preservatives, “something you won’t find in ‘proper’ Bavarian brews,” he added, a litle snootily, I thought.
But I DO know that those sulphites are surefire hangover material, at least for me.
Its funny, the Germans are very proud of their beer purity law (and rightly so), yet as German beer consumption continues to fall year after year, those Germans still drinking beer are increasingly mixing it with fruit juices and sodas :?
I wonder, why worry about purity if one is going to pollute the product prior to consumption anyway? I mean, I never drink beer from a frosted mug or glass, so as not to alter the amount of water in the brew that the brewmaster intended, let alone pour coca-cola or lemon-ade into my beer!
[quote=“tigerman”]Its funny, the Germans are very proud of their beer purity law (and rightly so), yet as German beer consumption continues to fall year after year, those Germans still drinking beer are increasingly mixing it with fruit juices and sodas :?
I wonder, why worry about purity if one is going to pollute the product prior to consumption anyway? I mean, I never drink beer from a frosted mug or glass, so as not to alter the amount of water in the brew that the brewmaster intended, let alone pour coca-cola or lemon-ade into my beer![/quote]
Well I would agree that adulterating fine beers is a waste of money, but sometimes a longer sweeter drink is more refreshing. A friend of mine who lived in Germany for years calls coke & lager “diesel” and says it is quite popular in Germany. I would prefer a lemonade shandy myself, but I’d make it with some cheapo lager, not a Reinheitsgebot (sp?) beer. I also like to put water in my whiskey / whisky from time to time for a longer drink, much to the annoyance of several hotel barmen over the years. My wife insists on using my XO to make French coffees and swears they taste better for it. I just swear. So I guess it all depends on your mood at the time.
I had several warm stouts and lagers last night and my head was very sore today. The crap they put in beer over here is a shocker, and more and more continental beers are being brewed under licence here. It’s not the same thing ! The most important thing in beer is the water !!! The real imported versions are much more expensive. The only German beer on sale in the UK which is brewed and bottle in Germany (that I can see) is Becks. And despite its popularity, I like it. And their non-alcoholic one is excellent. It really is, and at last I can drink a decent beer-tasting beverage, and drive about sober. It’s a revelation. Beer for breakfast. Beers at work. Beers in the car. I can beer all day because there’s no alcohol !
Sorry about that, too excited. Found it on the Star Cruise boat at Jilong. Four cans for only $NT260. Unbelievably cheap. Made sure to buy 24 before the trip finished, and carried them out in my backpack. Cheers Amos.
I was looking for some traditional beers this evening and thought I’d revisit my Yorkshire student days with a selection of Samuel Smith beers, all in lovely old traditional pint bottles. I have dusted down my CAMRA 1999 British Beer Festival oversize pint glass, and am getting methodically sloshed on 8 different Samuels from the local offie. All in the interests of critical analyshish of course. Offisher. Currently working my way through various ales, lagers, and a porter whish I have almosht finished.
But the best thing is I rediscovered Nut Brown Ale, which I havent seen for years. Lovely stuff. Nutty and malty and almost chocolatey believe it or not. And the Taddy Porter is just the way a good London porter should be, dark, and tangy, in fact what the bottles of Guinness Extra Stout used to be like. It’s a good balance, not too gassy or strong like the export Guinness, but not bland and sweet like Murphy’s.
Now, letsh shee. Remove the crown from a bottle of India Ale. This has long been my favourite beer. Yummy. Ahhh, there’s nothing like a good IPA [a gallon of beer a day !?]. I think its the aroma, and the bite of the hops, I love that slightly bitter aftertaste. In Ireland bottles of Smithwicks are the closest thing we have to an IPA (the draft beer is nothing like IPA, being a timid gassy nonsense pumped from aluminium kegs), but this is excellent. I hope I can get it in Taiwan.
Now here’s a strange thing. Samuel Smith Pure Brewed Lager. Generally considered by the assembled bellies of CAMRA to be (literally) the bottom feeder of the beer world, lager is now being brewed in Tadcaster. Let’s have a sip then. Very full flavoured. And a very deep scrumpy colour. It takes a few sips for the lageriness to come through. Tastes too much like Any Old Beer though. No character. Nah. Waste of money. Much nicer than any other lager I’ve drunk, but not an option whilst I still have the full repetoire of English Ales to chose from.
I’ve seen Newcastle Brown Ale here in Taiwan, but not recently. Unfortunately, you’ll not find any of the Samuel Smith brews in Taiwan. If you’re returning via Hong Kong, and staying overnight there, you may want to pick up a few bottles of whatever ale or porter you can find there and bring them with you to Taiwan… and then hide them away for a time when you really need them.
The only IPA I know of in Taiwan is King Fisher IPA sold in some of the Indian restaurants here.
Hello Tigerman and all of the other beer lovers on this thread. Thanks to Tigerman for starting this thread.
Do you know if anyone is doing any homebrewing of beer here in Taipei? Are there any organizations or clubs for this in Taiwan? I know that this was (perhaps still is) popular in Australia and the States for a while. I’d like to give it a try, but I don’t have any of the ingredients or equipment. Any information is welcome. Thanks.
[quote=“fee”]Hello Tigerman and all of the other beer lovers on this thread. Thanks to Tigerman for starting this thread.
Do you know if anyone is doing any homebrewing of beer here in Taipei? Are there any organizations or clubs for this in Taiwan? I know that this was (perhaps still is) popular in Australia and the States for a while. I’d like to give it a try, but I don’t have any of the ingredients or equipment. Any information is welcome. Thanks.[/quote]
I have the “Homebrewer’s Bible”… its yours if you want it.
Unfortunately, I don’t know of anyone brewing at home here in Taiwan. Of course its been illegal to do so for a long time, so it may take a while for people to get into it.
I know of one Taiwanese company importing homebrewing equipment and kits. I can’t remember the name now, but I do remember that their website was ‘beerdiy’ (try ‘beerdiy.com’, or maybe ‘beerdiy.co.tw’). ‘diy’ is Taiwanese English for ‘do it yourself’. They will deliver the equipment to your place for you I think.
They are a small company, set up some time last year. They don’t have a big selection of malts etc., just the very basics. You should be able to make a basic ale or lager, but I don’t know if they have the dark malts you need for a porter or a stout. They don’t sell any special yeasts, only a basic brewer’s yeast. However, if you want to try a different yeast for a more interesting beer you can always culture your yeast from the dregs of a bottle of bottle fermented beer (i.e. some of the Belgian beers from Cafe Odeon in Shida Road, or an Erdinger or Coopers from Wellcome supermarket).
The brew they gave me tasted bloody awful. However, the problem was poor brewing on their part. I saw the kits they were selling, and there was nothing wrong with them.
Hopefully you can track them down and get a nice brew started!
By the way, I haven’t actually seen Coopers in the Wellcome for a few months now. Have they stopped selling it?
I found the Web site that you mentioned, hrx, and I have e-mailed them to find out some more information. I will post information later about what they offer if the info comes through.
By the way, it sounds like you have a bit of experience homebrewing. If I do end up getting a kit, I may have to PM you for some more details and advice–hope this is OK.
Tigerman, if I do get the kit, I may need to have a look at the book you mentioned. Thanks for the offer. You mentioned something about homebrewing being illegal. Is it still illegal? I thought with Taiwan’s enterance into the WTO, it was now legal to do homebrew, microbrew, and so on.
Anyway, thanks for the help. I hope to be homebrewing soon–but probably won’t get started until after CNY.
Like I said, the book is yours if you want it. What I mean about the illegality of home-brewing was that prior to Taiwan’s WTO entry, Taiwan’s Tobacco and Wine Monopoly had, well, it had a monopoly on brewing. I think the laws have already changed, and I suspect that if you can now purchase home-brewing equipment here, then the laws have been relaxed. Someone else posted a while back re a brewpub in Neihu or Xindian… so I think you can go ahead without any fear.
If you want the book, PM me and we’ll make arrangements.
I heard that in Taipei, in the area of Dan Ryan’s bar, that you could get English beer. Is this true, if so where and is it any good ?
I’ve kinda given up hope, because “good” english beer doesn’t travel - a beer that’s great in Yorkshire is usually bad in London.
With all the care needed (beer cellar at the right temperature, not to mention conditions during shipping) it seems impossible to get anything good.
The closest I’ve found is the canned / bottled stuff in Tesco.
I was an avid home brewer in my younger days, having made wine and beer, and wouldn’t mind getting into it again.
I seem to remember seeing home-brew kits on sale at one of the big duty-free shops at HK’s airport. Maybe if any of you guys are going that way for a visa change, you can look around and post whether they are still available.
Biggest problem I remember when brewing was where to get hold of that bioengineered “super yeast” which can tolerate very high alcohol levels before killing itself. If you can get supply of that, you’re sorted.
[quote=“sandman”]There’s a cafe down in Bitan on the waterfront that has outdoor seating and sells five or six Austrian beers, one or two of which are quite good. The others? – feh! – I don’t enjoy these 7%-alcohol-and-up brews. YMMV, of course. I’ll get some names next time I’m down there. It also has those weird “biker beers” with the Vargas-style babes on the can, which also has the same type of cap as Grolsh – I don’t know what nationality they are – as well as the stuff that comes in a big earthenware-type bottle.
The cafe also has those outdoor space heaters you see outside Paris cafes in winter, so you can sit outside whatever the weather. Quite nice during the week, when the Taipei mouth-breathers are absent.
[/quote]
Is the cafe you mention on the MRT side or across the bridge? Do they serve food? How to find it (all the way upstream, half way upstream etc)?
Can you recommend some other restaurants along the waterfront? It seems like a year-long project to try to check all of them by myself.
[quote]Is the cafe you mention on the MRT side or across the bridge? Do they serve food? How to find it (all the way upstream, half way upstream etc)?
Can you recommend some other restaurants along the waterfront?[/quote]
Its on the MRT side. Stand on the footbridge, look to your left down by the water and you’ll see a hut with a large blue neon sign on it advertising the cafe. Can’t miss it. I don’t rate the food, though, although others seem to like it. Think of “foreign food, adapted to Taiwanese tastes.” Euuuurgh!
Can’t really recommend any of the restaurants there, there’s certainly nothing outstanding. However, you could do worse than getting a Sri Lankan curry roti from Athula. He has a street stall just a few feet past the entrance to the bridge.
Tell him the drunken Scotch git from Bitan sent you, and he’ll charge you double!
