Jim & Dad's (吉姆老爹啤酒) comes from Taiwan's Yilan County, a more agricultural rich and less urbanised area just an hour's drive from downtown Taipei. Locally it's known as a great place for a nature retreat, away from the hustle and bustle of the city, and for producing the best water in Taiwan. Internationally, the area has become known for being the home of Taiwan's first single malt whisky, the multi-award winning Kavalan, the distillery that put Taiwan on the map and made the whisky world take notice. 

And just down the road from Kavalan Distillery is Jim & Dad's brewery! With ambitions just as large and more heart than you would guess from its humble two-story brewhouse that at times can look alittle more like an American fast-casual burger joint from the outside.

Jim & Dad's is regularly listed as amongst the best craft beer that Taiwan has to offer, as any local will attest. But before all of that, there was the rather studious looking and very youthful Jim Sung (宋慶文), who had won his first homebrew competition in 2013, at the second Taiwan homebrew contest.

Despite having an incredibly high affinity for alcoholic beverages, Taiwan certainly took longer than expected for its consumers to find their appreciation for craft beer. Up until Taiwan joined the World Trade Organisation in 2002, there was really only one alcohol producer in Taiwan, and that was the Taiwan Tobacco and Liquor Corporation (or TTL), which is run by the local government and was the absolute monopoly in all things alcohol. This curtailed any possibility for craft producers to join the fray. When Taiwan had joined the WTO in 2002, it was required to open up more of its economy to competition, of which alcohol production had happened to fall under. This meant that craft producers could now get in on the action.

And yet, it wasn't to be. What started out as a frenzy to get in on the lucrative beer market quickly fizzled. It appeared that the local Taiwanese palate simply did not enjoy the taste of craft beer. The incredibly hoppy and dank beers that had boomed in America, did not at all find even an inkling of such success in Taiwan. It was said to be far too bitter and harsh by the standards of most Taiwanese consumers. This was despite the locally government produced Taiwan Beer being wildly popular, despite its reputation as a rather cheap commercial lager.

As Taiwan's first foray with locally produced craft beer had slowly receded, Jim Sung was over in the US studying at California's Santa Clara University as a marketing major. Jim had spent the better part of his early adulthood in the US, where even by his own admission, he had "excelled at being Asian", being the nice kid who never did anything he wasn't supposed to. Probably save for some unofficial drinking in high school. Nevertheless, it wasn't until he had tried some of Boont's Amber Ale, that he began to find his curiosity in craft beers. He thus began seeking out various craft ales, ranging from Sierra Nevada to Stone, the tried and tested well-established names in the US craft beer scene.

Back in Taiwan, he began to work for a big global accounting firm, but thought it best to find a hobby. Thinking back to his time in the US, he had figured that perhaps he would give homebrewing a go. Jim would get his friends to help him bring over supplies from the US, and began to toy around with producing his own beers. When it came time for the second edition of the Taiwan Brew Beer Contest in 2013, Jim decided that he would take part - and he won!

This gave Jim the motivation to leave his job and focus entirely on setting up his own brewery. And that's where the other half of Jim & Dad's comes into the picture. Jim's Dad was not only an engineer but also an entrepreneur, and so had espoused to Jim that if he was going to undertake this endeavour, he should go all in. Despite Jim's initial concerns that the project might've been too big, his Dad would tell him otherwise, better to go hard or go home. Jim's Dad would help with finding a suitable location, the construction work and setting up of the brewery, as well as the subsequent ongoing operations of running the brewery day to day - till this day, Jim's Dad continues to oversee the beer-making operations, making sure that everything is in order.

The dynamic father-son duo would pick out an abandoned gravel warehouse in Yilan to create what became one of Taiwan's first destination brewery. “Where else in Taiwan can you drink craft beer and be surrounded by so much nature?” says Jim. It would take Jim and his Dad two years to get the brewery up and running. Yet, the location was well worth it as it has also offered Jim the opportunity to work with local farmers and their produce, which means beers that incorporate more local flavours. Jim & Dad's kumquat beer gets its fresh kumquats from a farm just 10 minutes away from the brewery, whilst their wheat ale makes use of locally grown Taiwanese wheat.

Space is also afforded in the vastness of Yilan, where the brewery is able to include in its premises an indoor tasting hall, an outdoor seating area along with a gaming area where visitors can play frisbee and whiffle ball, as well as a 5-storey tall viewing tower that overlooks the Lanyang River. This is all on top of the brewery area itself! Jim has even talked about potentially growing his own beer hops at the front of the brewery space.

Jim had envisaged a place where whole families can hang out and everyone would enjoy themselves and have something to occupy themselves with as they take in the Taiwanese countryside.

As for Jim's beers, the self-professed beer geek who cheekily calls his locally isolated Taiwanese beer yeast his bestfriends, has taken away lessons from the early innings of Taiwan's craft beer foray. Having learnt from the experience of those early to introduce American-style craft beers to Taiwan, he's tailored his beers to be less bitter and more refreshing. This works all the better when its recipes work in local produce from osmanthus to passion fruit and even maqaw pepper. Yet, the experimentation never stops, and even in the early days before the brewery was up, Jim would work out of a container next to the construction site, testing his recipes, and when the brewery was up and running, he would live in the top floor and would often find himself getting up in the middle of the night to check on the brewery's equipment.

Since the brewery's establishment in 2015, it has now expanded to include a taproom and bottle shop in the heart of Taipei city. 

And so today, we've got two flagship brews from Jim & Dad's that we picked up from the brewery's taproom in Dadaocheng, Taipei. Let's give them a go!

Egret Black Tea Weizen, 6.5% ABV, Jim & Dad's Brewing Company | 白鷺紅茶小麥啤酒 吉姆老爹啤酒 - Review

First up, the Egret Black Tea Weizen. I had heard quite abit about this from others and as someone who likes the flavours of tea, this was something I was really looking forward to.

This was made with Taiwan Tea No. 17 Egret Black Tea that's sourced from the Zhengfu Tea Garden in Dongshan, Yilan, which is then combined with wheat beer.

Tasting Notes

Colour: Gold

Aroma: Opens up to some light florals of chrysanthemum and jasmine, along with some well folded in wafts of aromatic black tea. There’s some honey at the base giving it a touch of sweetness, along with some barley sugars. With time, more runny honey.

Taste: Medium-bodied, with a mix of honey and tea notes of jasmine and oolong. There’s a middle note that gets quite Saison-like, that sort of neutral isotonic water. The tea tannins shows up alittle towards the back, black tea leaves, and a slight bit of oversteeped tea, but nothing overwhelming. It does, however, bring out this very rich earthiness of aged tea, specifically pu’er tea cakes. Just a gentle sweetness.

Finish: The floral tea notes persist into the finish, as does some of the black tea tannins. Light honeyed sweetness with more on chewy barley sugars.

My Thoughts

This was really enjoyable - it was really aromatic and well-balanced on the nose, with an elegant bouquet of florals and just a touch of sweetness. Y'know what they say "not too sweet" is the biggest compliment an Asian adult can give. On the palate I got this bigger sensation of earthiness of aged tea which was absolutely enjoyable - it's rich and yet conveys this depth of flavour without itself being necessarily too heavy on the palate or tasting overly sweet or tannic. It's a richness of flavour rather than taste or texture, embodied in a refreshingly medium-bodied beer that's again well-balanced.

It's like high quality tea that's given a richer and more hefty body - all the elegance is preserved, with just that much more body. The finish continued on all the work that was done on the nose and palate. This was easy to drink, refreshing, really approachable, and yet if you looked under the hood, there's a good understated complexity to be appreciated. 

Dark Ale, 5% ABV, Jim & Dad's Brewing Company | 暗夜行者 黑啤酒 吉姆老爹啤酒 - Review

We move on to the Dark Ale, already loving the label. This is brewed using two different categories of dark malts - light black malt and brown caramel malt. This is on top of a base of pale ale malts. Magnum hops are then used here.

Tasting Notes

Colour: Cola

Aroma: Really rich umaminess - soy sauce and oyster sauce comes to mind. Along with some molasses, and a light roastiness to it. Roasted coffee beans and charred meat. Well-balanced, none of the scents dominate too much, although the rich umaminess is what stands out most.

Taste: Medium-bodied, with more notes of roasty espresso, as well as a few drops of umami soy sauce and oyster sauce. Some black tea as well, along with some toasted rye bread, with a light bit of char. Almost reminiscent of Kvass (a Central European drink made of fermented rye bread). It’s smooth, and alot lighter than the nose would indicate. It’s certainly not heavy or even creamy, although it does retain this very well-balanced richness. It’s not cloying nor bitter. There’s a little bit liquorice and craft cola syrup here too.

Finish: Pretty clean, some lingering umaminess, as well as alittle bit of dried mushrooms. Just a squeak of charred meats bitterness.

My Thoughts

This was a lighter style of Dark Ale, trading in those heavy caramels and char bitterness for a more gentle roastiness that is also more refreshing and approachable. Ordinarily, with these sorts of Dark Ales, you'd be hardpressed to even finish a single standard bottle yourself, but this one, you could easily finish two whole bottles. 

As mentioned, it keeps that coffee roastiness, and also the umami savouriness that you tend to find in beers made with roasted malts. I did find this well-balanced, and I appreciated that it wasn't cloying or bitter (as someone who doesn't enjoy intense bitterness!). This is really friendly and approachable for those just starting to try out darker beers, or particularly for those who don't like heavy bitterness (like me!).

Kanpai!

@111hotpot