本周8月13-17日，英國一年一度的啤酒盛事 - 大英啤酒博覽會  (Great British Beer Festival – GBBF) 又回到位於倫敦那建築風格古典的 London Olympia  熱鬧登場了~~

我作志工服務有八個年頭的無國界的佳釀 國際啤酒區(Bières Sans Frontières - BSF bar) 今年的規劃與往年有蠻大的不同，依照啤酒產區與供應方式分成了四個小區，有近1000種精選各地的佳釀喔~~

•               The Waterloo Arms (比利時、荷蘭、義大利)
•      The Spread Eagle (德國、捷克)
•        The Globe (美國及以上未涵蓋的國家的瓶裝啤酒)
•        The Spirit of Enterprise (美國桶內二次發酵版啤酒)

 一如往常，美國『釀酒人協會』(Brewer’s Association) 今年也繼續鼎力相助， 協助遠洋運來了近85款(！)各地中小型精釀酒廠的桶內二次發酵生啤 (American Real/Cask Ales) 以及百種瓶裝啤酒，由於實在種類太多，連美國啤酒都分成了兩個吧來經營...

** 酒單查查這裡 –真是『哈死ㄟ羊』~~ http://www.gbbf.org.uk/beers/foreign-beers/

哀... 生氣啊！ 

今年去不成大英啤酒節作美國啤酒區的志工 + 喝不到好棒好棒的桶內二次發酵版... 今晚只好開瓶好酒解解饞(悶)！！慶幸地，這真是近年來喝到最最最棒的美式雙重IPA啊啊啊啊啊啊啊~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Port Brewing, Mongo (India Pale Ale), 8.5%abv. (American DIPA)

Coming in a slim, 650ml brown bomber; bottled on 11/3/11, served mildly chilled in a straight imperial pint glass.

4.25/5 Appearance: pours a lightly effervescent, dark golden colour, coming with a superbly lasting light beige frothy head and very fine and consistent carbonation.

4.25/5 Smell: the nose is packed of resinous perfume and tropical fruits on a sound bedrock of pale malts, featuring sweet mangoes, ripe lychee flesh, flower nectar, finer touches of sweet citrus/grapefruits, and almost English pale malt-like lightly stinky but deeply gristy malt aroma, while the overripe fruit-estery tones come almost seamlessly as part of the overall fruity theme. Given the alc. level clocked at 8.5%, there comes almost no sign of alc. on the nose.

4.5/5 Taste: effervescent with fine fizziness, the aromatic entry boasts tremendously delicious, complex and yet “focused” (what do I mean??!!) flavour of mixed fruity and spicy hops, then an intense palate of resinous hops cuts deep down, coupled with nicely dry and almost lychee-shell-ish aromatic tannic bitterness and a whiff of rather rounded alc. warmth to linger in the end. The acidity is tuned to level with the bitter-hoppy and sweet-malty departments on a harmonious ratio, appreciated fully at the tail of each sip, where the beer’s well attenuated quality just manifests itself naturally.

4.75/5 Mouthfeel & 4.75/5 Overall: absolutely sensational, the quality of this double IPA is likely at its prime (can’t be sure as haven’t tried the same beer at a different stage of its bottled life); the carbonation comes sublimely soft, the body robust yet approachable, the flavour profile complex but intriguingly neat, well-structured and beautifully balanced, and the attenuation nearly perfect to showcase everything without rendering a heavy/thick feel. All in all, this is definitely the BEST IPA-style ale I’ve had in recent years. Toast to Mongo, and toast to GBBF-BSF bar which unfortunately I couldn’t volunteer to work for this year!

--Yau (14/08/2013)