Category Archives: Hong Kong

4 - Good (buy), Beer Reviews, Hong Kong, Winter Warmer, Young Master Brewery

Young Master Celebration Ale

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Brewery: Young Master Brewery
Country: Hong Kong
ABV: 6.6%
Style: Winter Warmer
Other Notes: 30 IBUs. Porter. Spicy, warming, roasty. Malts – All Malt (blend of 5 varieties). Spices – Vanilla, 2 types of Cinnamon, Nutmeg, Allspice, Black Pepper, Clove, etc…

Brewer Description: (from website) Decadent Porter with notes of chocolate and coffee layered with a holiday spice blend featuring cinnamon, vanilla beans, nutmeg, cloves and all spice. It’s an aromatic brew perfect for holiday season festivities.

My rating: 4
My beeradvocate.com rating: 4.21
My ratebeer.com rating: 4

Intro: A 946ml crowler, filled on 11th December 2017. Poured into a Lost Abbey teku glass.
Appearance: Dark brown and near black in colour with a big three finger dark tanned head that had good retention and left nice lacing.
Aroma: Lots of Christmas related spices, cinnamon, nutmeg, gingerbread mixed in with milk chocolate and creamy vanilla.
Taste: Gingerbread cookies, milk chocolate and vanilla stand out with cinnamon, nutmeg and allspice popping up in the background.
Mouthfeel: Creamy, medium to light bodied with low carbonation.
Overall: Very enjoyable as the creaminess of the chocolate and vanilla combined well with the holiday spices which were not overpowering.

3 - Indifferent (might buy, probably drink), American IPA, Beer Reviews, Hong Kong, Young Master Brewery

Young Master Another One

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Brewery: Young Master Brewery
Country: Hong Kong
ABV: 3.3%
Style: American IPA
Other Notes: 10 IBUs. All Day Session Ale. Crushable, juicy, refreshing. Malts – All barley malt (four variety blend). Hops – American hops in the boil and flameout; Dry-hopped with a blend of American and Southern Hemisphere hops

Brewer Description: (from website) Crushable, juicy and refreshing, you will always want another one of this delightful session ale.

My rating: 3
My beeradvocate.com rating: 3.79
My ratebeer.com rating: 3.6

Intro: A 946ml crowler, filled on 11th December 2017. Poured into a Holy Mountain tulip glass.
Appearance: A hazy dark golden orange colour with a big three finger white head that dissipated fairly quickly while leaving some lacing.
Aroma: Citrusy, grapefruit pith and rind, pineapple, mango with hints of grass and pine.
Taste: Light bready malt, sweet mandarin orange, orange rind, light bitterness on the finish.
Mouthfeel: Light bodied with moderate carbonation.
Overall: A nice and refreshing session ale.

2 - Maybe (likely wouldn't buy, might drink), American Pale Wheat Ale, Beer Reviews, Hong Kong, Young Master Brewery

Young Master My Blueberry Days

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Brewery: Young Master Brewery
Country: Hong Kong
ABV: 3%
Style: American Pale Wheat Ale
Other Notes: 10 IBUs. Blueberry Wheat Beer. Fruity, creamy, refreshing

Brewer Description: (from website) Inspired by Wong Kar-wai’s movie, “My Blueberry Nights”, My Blueberry Days is a session wheat beer fermented with fresh blueberry purée and lightly sweetened with milk sugar. A subtle, grainy note from a light malt base brings out the ripened blueberry flavor nuance. Combination of juicy fruit sweetness and a creamy texture makes this beer as tasty as a piece of blueberry pie, ‘Wait! I want a piece.’

My rating: 2
My beeradvocate.com rating: 3.37
My ratebeer.com rating: 3.2

Intro: A 946ml crowler, filled on 11th December 2017. Poured into a Lost Abbey teku glass.
Appearance: A cloudy, moderately dark, watery reddish purple colour with a two finger white head that dissipated quickly to nothing and left no lacing.
Aroma: Blueberry muffin and those blueberry hard candies.
Taste: Sweet, blueberry candy flavours, maybe a bit artificial, with a hint of milky vanilla.
Mouthfeel: Creamy, light to medium bodied with low carbonation.
Overall: I really enjoyed the aromas in this one as ‘blueberry muffin’ was as accurate a description as I could get. The flavours on the other hand though were a little artificial for my liking and perhaps a little too sweet.

2 - Maybe (likely wouldn't buy, might drink), Beer Reviews, Belgian Dubbel, Hong Kong, Moonzen Brewery

Moonzen Golden Gourd Ale

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Brewery: Moonzen Brewery
Country: Hong Kong
ABV: 8%
Style: Belgian Dubbel
Other Notes: One-off release

Brewer Description: (from bottle) Moonzen’s Golden Gourd Ale, a double mushroom dubbel (8%ABV, 330ml) brewed with Golden Tremell and Russulaceae vinosae, essential ingredients that nourish the blood. Concocted to celebrate the release of Moonzen’s Golden Gourd beer glass.

My rating: 2
My beeradvocate.com rating: 3.19
My ratebeer.com rating: 3

Intro: A 330ml bottle with no clear bottled on or best before date. Poured into a Moonzen Golden Gourd glass.
Appearance: A dark amber red colour with a big three finger tanned head that had good retention while leaving some lacing.
Aroma: Dark fruit raisin, plum and prunes with a hint of banana and toffee in the background.
Taste: Some prunes to start but it goes away real quick to be replaced by watered down plum and dates before a finish of light savoury mushrooms, which I was not expecting.
Mouthfeel: Creamy, medium to light bodied with low carbonation.
Overall: This one was strange for me. The aroma of lots of dark fruits was actually great, but the flavours didn’t match up to the aroma and disappeared quickly. Everything was just kind of abrupt. All that said, I do really like the design of the Golden Gourd beer glass.

4 - Good (buy), American Double IPA, Beer Reviews, Hong Kong, Young Master Brewery

Young Master Yat Cheen

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Brewery: Young Master Brewery
Country: Hong Kong
ABV: 10%
Style: American Double IPA
Other Notes: 100 IBUs. Malts – All Malt (five variety blend). Hops – Citra and Mosaic

Brewer Description: (from website) When life (or your hop supplier) gives you €1,000 of free hops, you do the obvious. Make a single 1,000L batch with all the hops thrown in the same batch and of course you make it a punchy 10.00% DIPA. We genuinely thought this was going to be a one-off. Having (extensively) tasted it now though…

My rating: 4
My beeradvocate.com rating: 3.83
My ratebeer.com rating: 3.7

Intro: Young Master released 100 specially bottled versions of Yat Cheen on 24th May 2017. I am unsure of their reasons to hold back the release of these bottles though as I would definitely prefer this as fresh as possible, but it is what it is, and I was just glad to be able to try it as I missed the earlier opportunities. It was a 750ml corked and caged bottle, bottle number 46 of 100, and poured into a Lost Abbey teku glass.
Appearance: A slightly cloudy golden orange colour with a two finger white head that had good retention and left lots of nice sticky lacing.
Aroma: Lots of citrusy grapefruit, grapefruit rind, pine and pineapple with hints of mango on the backend.
Taste: Grapefruit rind and peel with hints of pine, light malt sweetness and a nice long bitter finish.
Mouthfeel: Medium bodied with moderate to light carbonation.
Overall: It was nice and easy to drink with the 10% ABV well hidden. From the description, it appears that YM have reconsidered the one-off decision and will brew this again, and I am excited as I definitely want to try this fresh.