位於英國威爾斯南部Newport的Tiny Rebel酒廠十分新、十分積極、十分有商業設計創意，也又是另一個極重 (我所謂的)『長期實驗性釀酒計劃』(Permanent Craft Brewing Project) 的小酒廠。

觀察現在許多 - 很喜歡玩 - 的小酒廠都會做的事，就是實驗性地用不同烘培程度的麥芽、不同種類的酒花、不同的風味摻加物、不同種類木/酒桶熟成等等，套用在某一個Recipe上，看看表現如何，受不受歡迎，再更換配方、調整比例等等，以決定是否作為常項供應的酒款。這些實驗品，大都還是拿來賣的喔！一個我曾造訪過的迷你酒廠 - 倫敦的Kernel Brewery - 在RateBeer網頁上列出的總共品項近扣200大關，而就算是我嚐過的18款裡有10支是賣完即不販售的實驗酒了；另外8支則是上上周買的，也許過了幾個禮拜，亦不留鴻爪。

Tiny Rebel沒有玩得那麼大，至少，以有販售的陣仗而言。目前總共有6款常態供應，而實驗性產品，所謂的Tiny Batch Edition則有3種，在賣完前都還有二次發酵桶裝(Cask-conditioned)、加壓桶裝 (Keg)、和瓶內熟成瓶裝(Bottle-conditioned)版本限量供應。

這三支裡，最有創意的，便是這裡嚐的 Hot Box：一款以美式IPA風格概念為基調，配合遠洋運自紐西蘭的兩種酒花，再混合德國Bamberg 區傳統的燻麥芽(Rauch Malt)，譜成的所謂 “Smoked Indian Ale”… 在店裡剛看到這酒的名字時，還真莞爾，心想，現在好像開始對酒名留意後，不管望哪兒瞧，總是會碰到矛盾又新穎的名稱，躲也躲不掉… 就大膽開荷包買來嘗試囉！

酒廠網站提供的釀造成品與原料資訊如下：

Bitterness: 49 IBU
Malt: Pale, Rauch, Munich, Carafa
Hops: Pacifica, Pacific Jade
Special Additions: Dry hopped with Columbus

Tiny Rebel, Hot Box (Smoked Indian Ale – Tiny Batch Edition No.3), 5.7%abv. (Smoked Beer)

Bottle-Conditioned Version

A special beer to celebrate my 3*th Birthday today, this bottle was picked up at the UTOBEER in Borough Market, London last week. Coming in a 330ml slim brown bottle, BB June 2013, served cool in Gulden Draak’s tulip-shaped short-stemmed sniffer.

4/5 Appearance: pours a deep mahogany to dark brown colour, coming with a creamy off-white frothy head (following a force pour) retaining well and an unknown level of carbonation.

4/5 Smell: lovely aroma, full of stinky-sweet smoked longan-fruits, old leather, hickory smoked nuts, licorice, and very very juicy smoked, caramel and/or crystal malts; served a good swirl, the creamy/buttery texture of malt-yeast mixture as well as superb perfumy exotic hops (like overripe guava!) abound, accompanying the fruity malts and smokiness upfront all too well. It smells exceptionally rich and sweet though, not quite tallying with an imagination based on the reported strength 5.7%abv..

4/5 Taste: softly carbonated, the flavour is bitterly hoppy from the start with tangy, earthy, flowery and spicy hops developing hand in hand with darker malts’ tar, smokiness, roast-coffee and bitter-sweetness; the foretaste is fast ensued by a deepening flow of chewy, tannic and roast-tea-leafy bitterness where the salty-sweetness typical of smoked malts adds complexity to the otherwise overwhelming earthy bitterness. Rauch malts also lend a lingering smoky aroma, but only just, seemingly well-integrated into the overall balance with skill.

3.5/5 Mouthfeel & 4/5 Overall: pretty decent on the palate, the carbonation is not quite enough for a bottle-conditioned beer but not far off, either; the flavour profile points to, yes, like the name suggests, a smoked-malt-influenced AIPA. The length of the tannic bitterness is not achieved only through hops, but the dry-ish palate I suspect is rendered also through deeply roast malts. All in all, a very very enjoyable, medium+ bodied smoked hoppy ale this is. Was wondering how different it might be like when served on cask and cooler on tap?

--Yau (tasted 07/03/13, notes transcribed 09/03/2013)