Mandalay Strong Ale - Mandalay Brewery

lacqueredmouse

Australia

3.18/5  rDev +21.8%
look: 2 | smell: 2.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3 | overall: 3.5

The red-labelled Mandalay beer. Quite possibly brewed as a lager and labelled as an ale. I was unable to ascertain for certain if this is the case though, so I'll give them the benefit of the doubt and believe the label.

Body is a lagery amber yellow with a slight copper hue. Thin head, no lacing, very bubbly extreme carbonation.

Yeasty malt-sweet nose, with little else. I imagine smokiness, but that might be from the guy smoking cheroot next to me.

Strong metallic hoppy bitterness to lead off on the front palate, which mellows to a pretty smooth and sweet aftertaste. There's maybe a hint of solvent-like extra alcohol here. I appreciate the level of bitterness that they've included, which balances the rather heavy malt and alcohol. Mouthfeel crisp. This has a pretty good character, all said and done.

This drinks very well for a heavier ABV beer. More lagery than I'd consider appropriate for something claiming to be an ale, but not so much as to be outside the realms of possibility. Overall, it's a pretty drinkable beer. A suitable countepart to its little brother blue-labelled Mandalay Beer.

Serving type: bottle

04-19-2007 01:00:50 | More by lacqueredmouse

tbeckett

Ontario (Canada)

2.04/5  rDev -21.8%
look: 2 | smell: 2 | taste: 1.75 | feel: 3 | overall: 2.25

Had this at a restaurant in Bagan. From notes. The pages I wripped out of a guide book on Myanmar describe the beer as "piss".

A - Medium gold pour. Bright with little to no head. White fizz on top. Good carbonation. No lace, no retention.

S - Grainy, honey, not adjuncty, but not interesting. Warms up and gets gasoliney.

T - Honey, sweet, tastes a little skunky and putrid, oily kinda flavour. Started decent b/c it was so cold, but warmed to bring out some pretty awful flavours.

M - Medium body, good carbonation, sweet and clean finish.

O/D - Pretty plain and lacking flavour when cold. When the temperature came up it got tough and hard to finish.

Serving type: bottle

01-25-2013 01:59:45 | More by tbeckett