Photo by Claire Zheng
On the Lazy Guys’ business card in forewarning red letters runs the assertion: “We specialize in beers.” With around 120 different beers from the UK, the States, Belgium, Germany, Ireland, France and South Africa available for quaffing, that’s a claim that carries.
Lazy Guys is a two-floor, eclectically decorated bar that used to be a massage parlor. Think wooden conservatory cum American tavern. On a platform that overlooks the downstairs area is a well-maintained free pool table. Does anyone else get better at potting the more they drink down?
The masseuses have long since gone but that sense that anything can happen still remains. For instance, I was presented with a bottle of Northern England’s Samuel Smith, a beer produced in the next town on from the one I grew up in.
Thirty-one year-old local Rocky Wang runs Lazy Guys with his girlfriend Kay Liang. Wang learned to brew beer from his housemate while studying near Toronto. Knowledgeable and always willing to recommend, he is happy to talk facts and fermentation with any punter. His three microbrews take anywhere from 12 days to three weeks to make and consist of the Golden (4.2 percent, RMB38), the IPA (approximately 6 percent, RMB40) and Oatmeal Stout (6.2 percent, RMB38). Not great names and we did suggest more literary titles – Oatmeal Stout will soon be rechristened Black Beauty.
The Golden (soon to be Drop of Gold) is sweet with honey undertones and a familiar full-bodied texture. Light on the palette with a slight hint of green tea, it’s a bankable summer favorite.
Wang’s IPA is full flavored with a hoppy aftertaste which lasts much longer than the Golden. A letdown is the Black Beauty, which tastes like bottled Guinness: watery and insipid.
A recommendation: try the Gouden Carolus Classic 8.5 percent (RMB58). It’s a boozy, dark Belgian beer with the warmth of red wine and the sweetness of dark cocoa and caramel.
// No. 105-106, Huaqiao Garden, 1 Zhengping Nan Jie, Taojin Bei Lu, Yuexiu District 越秀区淘金北路正平南街1号华侨乐园105-106 (153 6003 3696, 138 0882 9951)
0 User Comments