又碰見一個矛盾的酒名, 一支定義不良的好酒... Durham釀酒師Steve真是辛苦了, 非要把一款很 "現代" 的 - 重熱帶水果香酒花且高酒精濃度的 - 淺色麥酒 (還比較像IPA與Tripel的混體)和 Stout 這個已經被貼上名詞與風格標籤的形容詞扯上關係, 算是傳統中創新, 也算是玩了一回短命的文字遊戲... 不過這酒名再怎麼看都還比所謂的 "Black IPA" 像話一點, 因為 "Pale"/"White" 與 "Stout" (strong/thick/heavy) 沒有直接的語意對立; 但想想"Black IPA" 又是Pale, 又是Black, 還真的會把人搞迷糊了... X-D

好喝就好, 酒師創意是無窮的!!

Durham Brewery, White Stout, 7.2%abv. (Strong Pale Ale)

Purchased at the Durham Brewery’s brewery shop, this ale, according to Steve the Head Brewer, is a re-creation of an old tradition of strong pale ale (termed “Pale Stout” here), before Stout was permanently attached to the increasingly popular Porter ale in the 18^th century. Judging from this intention, against the background of British brewing history, I would have thought that it only does justice to categorise this ale as a Barleywine, or a Stock Ale even, given that the paler type of ales (e.g. Burton-style pale ale) had not been invented and distributed around the globe (right?). Coming in a 500ml brown bottle, BB 08/2014, served cool in a straight imperial pint glass.

3.5/5 Appearance: pours a translucent, dark orange amber body, coming with a dissipating white fluffy beer head and rather restrained carbonation. The colour is a bit… too light, for any Barleywine, I’ve got to say.

4/5 Smell: the nose gives itself away – there’s no stale-ness or weighty maltiness; instead, this ale smells like a modern, hoppy IPA! It’s full of mango, green guava, ripe star fruit like fruit esters, sherbet, and aromatic, piney, hay-ish & orangey hops, on top of a weaker presence of rather pale malts. The smell is rich and condensed enough to serve as a reminder of its alc. content, and also of the weight of malts, although it definitely does not manifest in the form of sweetness.

4/5 Taste: wow… the initial, clean palate of fruity hops is quickly superseded by a flow of lightly stinky/leather-ish/earthy biscuity malts and Fuggles-like dried leaf hops, underneath an overwhelming wave of chewy but not overly tannic hop bitterness, then the bitterness sinks in to render a really deep, long aftertaste of earthiness with a mild savoury touch as possibly caused by yeasty elements/sediments, as well as tropical-fruit estery aroma that lingers well. The IBU is certainly on the high end, while the body of malts seems to retain itself pretty well on the other hand; the result is a harmonious strong pale ale that indeed is like one’s modern IPA but not quite… so.

4.5/5 Mouthfeel & 4.5/5 Overall: very well bottle-conditioned, as demonstrated by the healthy supply of tiny bubbles experienced on the palate, this ale tastes fresh despite its alc. content, and the alc. hides exceptionally well behind, leaving only a wee bit of warmth to be enjoyed in the long finish. Like the previous reviewer, I can’t seem to agree on the category submitted here, but this is a successful bottle-conditioned strong pale ale all the same, deserving a round of applause for the lovely aroma and taste it shows.

--Yau (03/01/2013)