So here's the deal. I'm stuck in Penang, Malaysia for the next three months. Beer here, aside from being very expensive, is either locally made trash or exorbitantly overpriced imports. And by imports I mean Budweiser and Corona. However, they do have a penchant for Belgian and German beers. There are a couple of special restaurants that have these beers. But I am an IPA guy. Specifically, west coast IPA. More specifically, anything by Bear Republic. Anyway, I was hoping those of you with more beer knowledge than me (which would be all of you) can help me determine which common, and i must stress common, style of Belgian or German beer is most like an IPA. I need my hops fix otherwise I am seriously considering a weekend trip to Singapore just for beer. Here are some beers that are locally available: Hoegaarden White Hoegaarden Rosee Stella Artois Leffe Blonde Leffe Brune Belle-Vue Kriek Grimbergen Ambree Konig Ludwig Weissbier Franziskaner Weissbier Dunkel Leffe Radieuse Tripel Karmeliet Timmermans Strawberry Lambic Timmermans Framboise Lambic Grimbergen Blonde Grimbergen Blanche Chimay Peres Trappist (blue) Chimay Peres Trappist (red) Maredsous Tripel Duvel Pauwel Kwak Beck's Franziskaner Hefe-Weissbier Warsteiner Konig Ludwig Weisbier Konig Ludwig Dunkel Erdinger Weissbier Erdinger Dunkel Foster's Victoria Bitter Crown Lager Little Creatures Pale Ale Little Creatures Bright Ale Kronenbourg 1664 Kronenbourg 1664 Blanc ...and Corona. Please throw out a few styles/breweries that can give me my hops fix. Thank you!
Wow you are hard up. None of those is an IPA You stick with the german beers and the tripel karmelite, the coprona and the fosters and you will be fine for meals and for after meals. becks duvel frazikaner,leffe I mean you have good choices just not iPA's. Cheers.
Time to expand and explore something else. Leffe blonde is always decent and the Warstiener is a fairly crisp pilsner with a good bite. IF they even had an IPA in Singapore, bet it has been there a while--expand into Germany and Belgium.
Best thing to do would be go to touristy area. Not sure about Penang Malaysia but IPAs and DIPA are pretty easy to come by in thailand specially near muay thai gyms(though home brewing is illegal in thailand), a lot of fighters want a beer after 5 hours of training. And brewdog beers where all over.
Knock down the Victoria Bitter, settle back with Tripel Karmeleit, and rely on the German beers for moment to moment. I would suppose that the weather is warm and maybe the beer is safer than the water? Your choices aren't really that bad and you might find some new favorites. Have a good stint!
You might have to get a french coffee press and some hole cone hops .. make your own randal Jr and hop the beers yourself.
