I’ve been spending the majority of my time in Asia especially Singapore, Thailand and Malaysia and challenged myself to complete this list of top 20 Asian beers (that you’ve got to try before you die!).
I’m on 17/20 after 3 months. It was actually surprisingly easy as my local Fairprice as well as Boatquay is very well stocked. I’m still trying to tick off Harbin, Cass and Ankor. Favourite is definitely Taiwan Beer, have no idea why but it’s incredibly refreshing especially when you are in 35 degrees and high humidity.
That’s a quite “biased” list towards lagers/pilsners mainly from corporations (and often relatively easily available outside of Asia) - many of them are relatively “middle of the road” lagers. There is an emerging craft beer scene also in different cities/countries in Asia which is much more interesting
Lemon Sherbet by Untitled Art (Waunakee, WI) - Fruited Sour
Very reminiscent of a high quality lemon sherbet with a good balance in not overly sweet but with a nice tartness from the fruit and zest. The additional sourness of the beer nicely accentuates all these components. Really good fruited sour, very refreshing and pairs nicely with fish dishes
Typical citra IPA with mainly citrus (grapefruit, lime) notes as key flavors and some lighter mango and floral aromas. Some very slight malty sweetness lingers in the background, before a quite dry, bitter finish.
Velvet Storme by Austin Street Brewery (Portland, ME) - Dark Lager
Caramel and bready flavors dominate this dark lager with darker toffee and light raisiny sweetness in the background. Dry, low bitterness finish. Overall mainly driven by the malts but quite light body.
Silhouette - Peach by Hudson Valley Brewery (Beacon, NY) - Sour IPA
Taste resembles very much a classic sour with very little impact from any hoppy IPA. Very little hop flavors but strong sourness. The strong, natural peach flavors towards the finish really saves the beer. Overall good but a bit unbalanced.
Bavarian Dream by Maplewood Brewing Company (Chicago, IL) - Hefeweizen
A typical hefeweizen has a nice grassy, wheaty background with strong notes of banana, cloves and some spiciness. This version has some of these characteristics but kind of dialed down from 10 to 5. Everything is very muted and the beer tastes kind of one-dimensional.
Berry Pusher by Great Notion Brewing (Portland, OR) - Fruited Sour
Classical Great Notion sour - heavy on the fruit components (mix of berries with an strong blueberry flavor upfront) and very well balanced with the tartness of the sour which rarely lets these sours become overly sweet.
Elegant APA with dominant fruity citrus (grapefruit, lemon, tangerine) with a heavy dose of floral, slightly herbal aromas, in the second half. Some very light malt sweetness in the background. Dry, medium bitter finish - refreshing, but yet complex beer.
Waves of Silence - Embayed by Fort George Brewery (Astoria, OR) - Imperial Pastry Stout
Reminiscent of a breakfast with flavors of coffee, chocolate and some light toffee before a more pronounced taste of cinnamon sets in with some background notes of vanilla which reminds ofsome cinnamon rolls. Surprisingly light overall flavor which tastes a bit watered down for 9% ABV.
Tiki Punch by Wild Barrel Brewing (San Marcos, CA) - Fruited sour
Good fruit flavor reminiscent of tiki cocktails with tropical notes from pineapple, mango, papaya and guava but the tartness of the sour is surprisingly mellow so that this sour feels unbalanced and to fruit-forward and sweet. One of the weaker Wild Barrel sours.
Mighty Mango by Great Notion Brewing (Portland, OR) - Fruited sour
Thick consistency with a dominant mango flavor - very fruit forward but not too sweet. Relatively moderate tartness from the sour. Not bad and very refreshing (like mango smoothie) but the tartness could have dialed up a bit to make it more balanced
Juice Enthusiast from Henhouse Brewing out of Santa Rosa, CA. NEIPA with Citra, El Dorado, Nelson hops. Got it at Safeway. Lots of juicy tropical fruit-like flavors, slightly viscous mouthfeel. Not much bitterness. I like it.
Zoktoberfest by Kings County Brewers Collective (Brooklyn, NY) - Maerzen
Quite light beer with bready flavors as the backbone with some hints of spices and caramel. Relatively low hop bite and bitterness in the dry finish. Overall too light and could use a bit more character.
Cone Club by Lamblighter Brewing Company (Cambridge, MA) - Hazy IPA
Quite mild/tame NEIPA with mainly notes of citrus (lemon and grapefruit) with some faint hints of peach upfront and some light floral flavors later. Dry, medium bitter and very short finish. Overall not bad but feels quite light flavor-wise
Barrel-Aged Ten-Fidy by Oskar Blues Brewery (Longmont, CO) - Imperial Stout
Deep notes of espresso, burnt sugar, dark caramel before quite significant flavors (and funk) of bourbon. Quite thick consistency which leads to a very light sweetness with vanilla aromas, then some warming (from the high alcohol content) before a surprisingly very bitter finish for a stout. As the beer warms up it gets smoother/balanced but still has a too bitter finish
