August 25, 2011 at 12:00 pm
Asians have a mixed opinion about beer, owing to its intoxicating effects. Although the region is known for being religious, there are probably as many Asians who enjoy beer as there are those who avoid it due to religious tenets. International beer brands like Carlsberg, Tiger, and Heineken are well known and is widely available in Malaysia.
While some of us may share the same partiality to beer as Westerners, most of us have a low regard for beer as a beverage, perceiving it as, well, nothing more than beer. It does not exude a touch of class like a bottle of wine, nor does it match up to a bottle of hard liquor. For some, beer is for ‘lightweights’ and beginners, while hard liquor are for the ‘big boys’. After all, beer is beer is beer. Or is it?
We recently had the pleasure of learning more about beers when we were hosted at Craft Brews. Located at Mutiara Damansara, just near the Curve, this brewhouse restaurant gave us a sneak preview of some of its newest beers that are set to be launched this 13th of September. Craft Brews is set to bring in 8 beers from the renowned Rogue Brewery, a microbrewery in Oregon, United States. Craft Brews’ Benjamin Chong was kind enough to teach us the finer points in appreciating the world’s most widely consumed alcoholic beverage as we sat down to two of Rogue Brewery’s finest ales. The beer tasting (yes, there is such a thing as beer tasting) went well, and we gained a better understanding and a new found respect for beers, especially those painstakingly produced by microbreweries worldwide.
Most ‘mainstream’ beers are often made with lower quality ingredients, and manufacturers use additives and certain advertising gimmicks to mask the beverage’s inherent limitations. One such gimmick is the emphasis on drinking mainstream beers ice cold as the low quality becomes apparent at warmer temperatures, affecting the taste of the beer. Some of the beers offered at Craft Brews, including one of the two that we sampled, taste better warm.
As mentioned, Craft Brews will be offering 8 new beers selected from Rogue Brewery, starting from 14th September. These beers can only be exclusively found at Craft Brews, never having been available in Malaysia previously, and are an ideal introduction to the many variety of beers, such as pale ales, stouts and porters. We at Malaysia.com will be bringing you a detailed look at all the 8 beers during the official launch at Craft Brews come this 13th September.
So don’t forget. Craft Brews. 8 Great Beers. September 14 onwards. Every day. Every night.
Tags: Beer, Beer Launch, Craft Brews, Kuala Lumpur Restaurants, Pubs