Saturday Night Live wasn’t a live broadcast … but indeed was Live Barrel Pig exclusive VIP beer night!
As the night slowly appeared, the guests arrived for an exclusive beer tasting to the new series of HopTop unique beers. It was held in the tasting room of the wonderful wine shop of WineHub. Were able to taste continuously 6+1 beers, but may also tasted 3 special IPA beers as to warm-up ourselves. The premium beers selection were terrific: Surprise beer – Rudeboy – Sex on the barrel – Fear of the dark II. – Canadian Lover – Fear of the dark I. – Mental trainer.
Unfortunately, Ali Rawech Szami – owner of the HopTop brewery had to leave earlier. We, the audience heard interesting facts about the Barrel Pig beer from László Szilágyi – head of marketing. Ádám – brewing masters. Talked about the special flavors given from the wooden barrels. During the ongoing tasting were initiated about the Barrel Pig project and overall made the audience spice up a bit with the features of the new series as introducing the 6 items for tasting. As it turned out, they had been at the brewery continuously tasting from the start of the first barrel-aged beer and its flavors for a year.
Each of the HopTop beers are matured in a special barrel. The whiskey barrels bought from abroad gave the taste to these special new beers. Indeed … no wonder the resulted superb beers. For each batch, the Barrel Pig is aged from the aroma and flavor gained from the previous life of the wooden barrel. There are rum, bourbon, whiskey and even maple syrup barrels. Within these the aromas extracted from different barrels that can be tasted the characteristics of dark chocolate combined with soft-creamy and vanilla notes.
What really dominates are Imperial Milk Stouts and Multigrain Barley casks. Imperial stouts with the unicorn pig barrel logo and a barley wine rested primarily in the Kentucky Bourbon barrels, maple syrup barrels and a Barbadian rum barrel. The beer called Sex on the Barrel kept various periods of time and bottled when deemed appropriate. There is no addition to the beers. The outwardly look shows something different by the color of the cap draining wax. Stands as a crown making it truly special and elegant. Mouthwatering were the sublime fruity and spicy flavors. These HopTop beers really deserve to be served outstandingly and now reached their best form.
Going to another level and watching with high eyebrows – shining eyes came to be really in the mood to the mental training taste. Indeed looked as all liked what tasted. Was told next we are tasting the Milk Imperial Stout (11.8%), which was aged for 1 year in a Kentucky Bourbon barrel to extract all the aromas from it. The end result was a real, creamy Mental Trainer! The reason why the “Milk” stand on some of the beer label is a reminder for those to know it is not lactose free!
At the Winehub which gave the platform to the exclusive beer tasting is an awesome wine shop which is usually operating as a bistro.
Entering their store sight catching venue welcome the visitors. The guests were perfectly cared and led to the tasting tables by Péter Lakatos – experienced Sommelier with a demonstrated history of working in the wine and spirits industry. Heard about the enormous “plant” one the spot where more than 500 wines from nearly 60 Hungarian and foreign wineries were out on display. The wine center is also unique on an international level. May connect all players of wine making and the wine world without restrictions. They provide countless services that are not too much different on the Hungarian wine market. They are wholesale partners, but in their wine center they also offer tasting rooms, meeting rooms and special sales points. They pay attention to the wine-drinking community. They offer much more than an online and offline wine space. In addition to their wine shop and web shop, they welcome guests with continuous training, courses, tasting events, tasting rooms. Not to mention, a well arranged comfy community space, where grooving on the 60’s-’70s music with friends along a smooth wine. They have a bistro and a fine dining restaurant for those who want to immerse themselves also in the world of gastronomy.
Riport and snaps by Aggie Reiter
Rolling in Budapest 