no small beer

hic. 'twas a cheery and beery week.
in between some wines, beer cooled an otherwise sultry week in kuala lumpur this past seven days, from local brews to some fine amber liquid from down under and the caribbean.
started with a carlsberg draught - the mild and sweetish pale lager and ended with bottles of tiger beer - a bit bitter but insipid, could be the bottles. then again, maybe the fa cup match between manchester united and arsenal was far better.
that was that. let's now enter the chamber of the amber.
plonked - hey! another usage of the word - my butt down at chinoz in klcc and ordered an ice-cold bottle of bucanero fuerte. the head disappeared quickly but this full-bodied cuban export - with 5.4 percent alcohol by volume - kept its promise to chill the evening.
i could taste the hops but sweetness dominated the palate, understandable as it is brewed with fine cuban sugar, the major ingredient for rum - the major drink in that region.
the next beer was cuba's cristal beer. it was pee-yellow in colour and the head disappeared as quickly as it came. at 4.9 percent alcohol by volume, the beer was very light and almost shandy-like in taste with citrus notes dominating the malt. finished it in double-quick time and sought a carlsberg to maintain alcohol volume in the body.
men at work - the band, not the phrase - came to mind as bottles of australia's coopers beers surrounded our wine glasses last friday.
i was thinking of a snatch of the lyrics - i come from a land down under, where beer does flow and men chunder, can’t you hear, can’t you hear the thunder? you better run, you better take cover. - from down under when the first bottle popped open.
the first bottle was the coopers pale ale and it looked like an albino but the cloudy appearance suggested in-bottle fermentation. google-driven research revealed it as the burton-on-trent style fermentation.
that explained the need to roll the bottle before opening it. it was light and fruity, and had some head to whisker the lips. at 4.5 percent alcohol by volume, this ale was just a precursor for a heady night.
the next beer is called the coopers sparkling ale but it not only sparkles, it packs a bitter punch too. again, we conducted the bottle rolling ceremony to stir the cloudy sediment of this beer, first brewed in 1862.
the dark gold beer - with 5.8 percent alcohol by volume - kept its head and taste throughout, leaving a filligree of lace as i slowly sipped and savoured the taste. more was to come.
we were on a roll, so to speak.
night was falling and out came the coopers dark ale. performed the standard bottle-rolling and opening act, and creamy beer foamed at the glass like the sea, disappearing soon after.
hot chocolate and coffee came to mind as the dominant taste as we quickly quaffed the 4.5 percent alcohol by volume beer.
it was time to join the dark side by the time coopers best extra stout came to view. the force was pretty strong in this one as the blackness spread through the glass with a bit of head making an appearance.
a good stout effort that tasted like carbonated coffee, albeit a strong and robust espresso but a shade less than the best irish stouts. still, a satisfying stout, bitter to the end at 6.3 percent alcohol by volume.
that's enough beers for the week, i guess. cheers!