The dark blue of the can first caught my eye. "A microbeer!", I thought. When I looked again I saw the words, India Pale Ale.
1. I like pale ales; they usually have a fruity taste that you don't find in lagers.
2. I've never had a beer from India before.
Tonight when I opened it up after a week at work (anybody out there think beer tastes good on a Friday night?) I took the first sip. Sure enough there was that fruity flavour I enjoy in ales. After that a familiar and slightly bitter taste followed which reminded me of some beers from hot, Asian countries (Singapore, Thailand, etc) as well as beers from Trinidad, Barbados, and so forth. It was ... almost... a twang that I associate with tropical beers. and that made sense as India is definitely one of those hot, Asian, tropical countries (in the south anyway).
Another interesting thing I have found in my travels is that the hotter countries seem to have beers with a slightly higher alcohol content. I don't know why that is but I have seen it on more than a few occasions. Blue Devil Beer is on the upper end at 7%.
People in the UK might find this a familiar taste to some degree as the British brought their brewing technique to India during the 18th century when they were traveling to the continent. The label says that they had to bring a beer over the seas that would withstand the long travel and not lose its flavour.
I don't know what this is called in India, maybe "Blue Devil" as that is the kanji used for the Japanese name: 青鬼 AOONI.
It was good.
Have a great weekend.
I love you!
Cam
P.S. Here is a little history if the IPAs:
Britain's colonisation of India in the 1700's created a problem of beer transportation, as standard beers simply could not survive the long voyage from the UK to India, the beer would arrive flat, stale and of no use. The problem was the long journeys into a very hot county was simply too much for the beer to take. It was not until George Hodgson came upon the idea of dramatically increasing the hops used and increasing the alcohol level, that a beer could survive the challenges of travel to a harsh environment. The resulting beer was given the title IPA and was greatly enjoyed; a new type beer had been invented.
I have really grown to love beer over the last few years... I always thought I disliked it, but then realized that I simply am a Beer Snob. I don't like the cheap, mass produced brands; Bud Light, Coors Light, etc. I like the microbrews, the imported beers and the off the wall weirdo ones that often times are over looked.
ReplyDeletePer my request, our local liquor store now carries Kirin and Sopora.. (Sapporo? I can't remember) two different Japanese beers that I had when I visited you!
A friend of mine makes his own beer... I've yet to try it. It looks.... worrisome. I'm not a fan of home made wine either.... makes me nervous.
There are a lot of really good micro beers out there, and the USA does have a lot of them. Coors, Bud, Labatt's, Molson Canadian, etc. are TERRIBLE. It's no wonder you never liked beer. I can't drink Canadian mass market beer when I go there either. It really is not good at all.
ReplyDeleteBut like my dear old Dad used to love to say to Mayu whenever he would catch her drooling over cherry pies in the supermarkets in Winnipeg, "Lips to hips, dear. Lips to hips." Beer REALLY puts on the weight very easily, so finding a bunch of really delicious brands can be... "dangerous". When I was first working in Fukui, I found Japanese beer, and put on about 15lbs of unwanted beer fat over one year. I was shocked! It took a while to get it off, but I had to cycle up mountains, do hard aerobics, etc. about five times a week to do it. Ugh. One of the drawbacks of beer.
ReplyDelete