Ardnave Ale
Islay Ale Co. Ltd.

Found a selection of Islay Ales at a pacakage store about 1/2 km east of the Taipei 101 tower. Even if the indigenous southeast asian beers are pretty uniform macro lagers, their shopkeepers have scoured to world for some offbeat and intersting brews.

Ardnave pours a slightly hazy (its bottle conditioned) golden yellow with just a hint of red. Active carbonation fades to a chunky remant that laces up the glass rather thoroughly. The aroma is a nice balance between the mostly pale malts and the British and European hops. Nothing extreme, just well-crafted and pleasant. A nice light middleweight body that once again strikes a balance and plays well with the rest of the beer's attributes.

A very quaffable beer that unveils new depths as it warms in the glass. A nice example of the Scots making a classic English style their own.

500 ml Bottle Conditioned from The Whisky Shop in Dufftown,Scotland. Orangy/brown beer,slightly murky, very small head. The aroma is quite malty but with smokey accents. Malty flavour, citric hopping, drying finish. Again i get some smoky flavours.Low carbonation. Quite thin in the mouthfeel, though it is smooth enough. I dont really know how I felt about this, other than it was OK but boring.