The Hobby Drinker Blog
Sticky* This blog is a mirror of new posts from https://theuniverseami.blogspot.com, Ceit’s original blog.
can’t undrink
Is this the first Saturday of a series of terror? Will darkness descend and drive us into madness? Probably, but it’s not so dark today! After my taste sensation last week, I have something that’s almost more of a palate cleanser, although only for hobby drinkers like myself. It’s an Oso-Prizm collab, and I have had some mindblowing Prizms recently, at a respectable 8.5%. It promises a basket of fruit, although more in taste references than in actual fruit puree as an additive, and I notice with interest that there are three, count ’em three, grains in the ingredients list: purity-compliant barley; exception-demanding wheat; because-they’re-there oats. With all the curiosities, the name makes a lot of sense. Let’s indulge in some Clickbait DIPA.
It’s cloudy and lemony colored, pillowy headed and lightly spiced. Very lightly in fact, there’s hardly any aroma at all. I suppose there’s a hint of fruit in there, just an echo of a can of mandarins or pineapple opened hours ago. I am once again surprised by the explosion of flavor that comes with the first sip. It’s a tangle of tropical tastes, I can’t really pull them apart at first. I also feel a real weight to the beer, maybe from the triplet grain content. It’s one of the less citrusy IPAs, with more of a peach and mango character, and that squeeze of pineapple on top. It’s like the last echo of summer vacation, with a yellow-y orange sunset belying the coming dark evenings. It’s a candle in a pumpkin, sending out just a few rays of light from squirrel chewed holes (that was a crazy photo to come across). It’s a torch leading the way…down what road, we can only wait and see.
Supplier: Lambeer
Price: €7.50
counted
Officially fall and no excuses to not have a black beer. I’m not exactly enamored of oatmeal stouts, they are often a little too soft for my demanding tastes, but they can be a pleasant evening unwinder. This one comes from Garage, so we can be sure that it will be delicious. It’s also an Imperial Oatmeal Stout, so any concerns about lightness are probably in vain. The label makes me wonder if I should be working to put this beer together with a good meal, but I just can’t be bothered. Yambic Pentameter will have to do on its own, and going by the name it’s one that would be put off by a heavy meal anyway. It could very well want to have center stage to itself.
The can is quite full and spits out a little on opening. It looks fizzy although not too thick, just oozing out onto the top. A good pour produces a good, mocha colored, fluffy head, but little aroma. I have to really get my nose in there to find that fine stoutiness. It has some dusty sweet oats and a touch of malt. The flavor and feel are a surprise compared to the scent; I was expecting something lightly sweet, not exceptionally thick, a mild and calming evening drink. Instead, it’s bold and thick, full of body, and real oatmeal feel. There’s kind of a licorice aftertaste that I wasn’t expecting either. After a while I get something kind of appley, like apple cinnamon oatmeal. Well, actually not as sweet as that tends to be, just a nice level of inviting snackiness. It bridges the summery desire for sugar and relaxation with the fall feeling of warmth and energy.
Supplier: Lambeer
Price: €9.40
opening day
Well, it’s a day that many look forward to, a historic and tradition honoring day – opening day of Oktoberfest! Yes, in September. They aren’t the seventh and eighth months of the year either, so what’s in a name? It just so happens that La Mundial had a märzen sitting proudly on the shelf, and that just seems like a sign. It’s also an Oso beer, trustworthy local that certainly won’t be overaged or overjostled. The can indicates that it’s a beer to sip languidly and enjoy deeply, no need to hurry and empty your glass for the next one. So, raise your glass and Prost!
It a glowier gold than what I expect from Märzens, but there’s a stab of aged grain scent that is expected. It has a pretty, fluffy head, but it descends quickly. The flavor is also brighter than others, with a touch of honey and a soothing texture. There’s also a zing of toasted herbs, giving a depth that sets Prost at a higher level than some other specimens. The layers of bitter, herbal and sweet continue throughout the beer, getting slightly stickier with a little warmth. Would it be a drink for a plate of kraut, potatoes and sausage? And a pretzel with spicy mustard? Hell yes it would! There’s gotta be a German food truck that will set up next to you, Oso Brew. La Ruta del Lúpulo and Madbeer have found them. And it wasn’t even Oktoberfest!
Supplier: La Mundial
Price: €4.20
won’t leave you crabby
So, a quick break from the road of darkness, but don’t worry! We’ll be back on it soon enough. It felt right at the moment to get a variety pack from Lambeer, since I’m focusing on cans in the refrigerator. I hesitated before picking up Crab Fruit, to be honest, but it doesn’t look like it has isinglass or anything. It is a smoothie sour ale, packed with tropical fruit and a restaurant mascot quality crab on the label. We thought it might have been coming on fall, but it looks like temperatures will be going back up. Oh well, a good sour can perk you up on a steamy night, no matter the season.
Very bright and lemonadey color, fizzy and nice head at first, but it soon fizzles out. There’s a tiny bit of sour and seashore in the aroma, barely gassy, peachy and coconutty. It almost tastes like a piña colada, but maybe a little more sour than they usually are. There’s a light covering of tropical fruit flavors over a sourball center. I’m clear on the pineapple and coconut, and I think I can detect the vanilla, although I had to be reminded that it was there, but damned if I can’t identify the passionfruit in it. It stays tangy and with a little prickliness even as the fizziness peters out, but the brightness does keep it easy to drink. It’s an absolute ball of sunshine. The end of the can is … suddenly chunky. There’s quite a bit of sediment, I’m assuming the fruit puree. It doesn’t disrupt drinking at all, and brings a lot more pineapple to the flavor for the final kiss.
Supplier: Lambeer
Price: €6.90
we’re all mad here…or is it just me
It’s amazing how the days are noticeably shorter in a week, just the opposite as in the spring. Is it the latitude? The altitude? The misaligned time zone? In any case, the time for dark beers never ends, and with a certain holiday only weeks away, why not a chocolate porter? Thornbridge’s Cocoa Wonderland has an almost majestic look to it and a promise of desserty fun. Will this be another highlight of my weekend? There have been fascinating and fun metro visits, and now a tasty looking can before me. Wait, did Alice get bigger or smaller from drinking?
It looks rich and chocolatey, with a very fluffy coffee ice cream head. It’s more chocolate in scent than coffee, but there is a hint of a warmer brew lurking. It delivers on the name, full mouth of chocolate, not sickly sweet but not weighed down by earth or smudged by smoke. It isn’t thin and vapory, which I appreciate, but has a round body that sits perfectly on the tongue and rolls down the throat. This is quite a companion beer, something that works well alone, with a snack (I’m imagining dark chocolate or pretzels), in a group of friends, all alone in contemplation. The options are many. I don’t think I’ve grown or shrunk, by the way, but maybe there needs to be a rabbit around for things to work.
Supplier: La Mundial
Price: €5.90
mine!
It’s a almost a new month, with old tastes. Sure, there will be some surprises later on, but for now, my old reliable stouts. There’s something both ancestral and futuristic about this label. That animal could easily be some kind of heraldic symbol, but it could also be a modern fever dream. The website for Stigbergets does not provide much history, so I’m guessing they aren’t some off-shoot of a traditional brewery. Fever dream seagull it is. The name Batch 1000 gives the impression of some kind of experiment, although it could also be that they’re just counting their production closely. 1000 is a big number, but with a number of beers going on, it could also be fairly soon after founding. Let’s see if it lives up to the aura of the big, round number.
Extra dark and heady, with almost a milk chocolate foam crowning this beast. The aroma is subtle, peeking out from under a bush, just light touches of malt. Somehow I smell more forest than field, it’s interesting. It’s quite a thick and heavy stout, oozy yet smooth body. Even the earthy bitterness is mild and muted, leaving the mouthfeel to do all the work of making you work at drinking it. It has a sophisticated and classic taste, leaning on tradition and history rather than any sort of experimental surprise. After some time it develops a warmer, woodier, toastier flavor, while maintaining a good amount of body without falling into stickiness. It’s not dazzling with bells and whistles, but it’s a beer you might fight off a seagull to keep.
Supplier: La Mundial
Price: €9
from the heavens
So, the end of the month, almost the beginning of new opportunities. Or something? I cannot keep away from my dark beers, although this is a porter rather than a stout. It’s quite a well-known name too, Northern Monk. The ethereal name is Northern Star, but it’s description as a chocolate, caramel and biscuit stout makes it sound very earthy, if not temptation from the underworld. Perhaps a little early for dessert, but let’s just call it an evening snack.
Delicious appearance, practically black, but slightly lighter head than others. Very light aroma, with just a hint of toasted grain and a tiny ding of grass and chocolate. Chocolate floods through on the first sip, but is quickly overwhelmed by a dusty maltiness. There’s also a sour tang at the end, almost like a chocolate/orange thing. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised at a little fruit from a porter, but it isn’t the typical dark fruit of the porters I’m familiar with. It’s an extra sweet porter, with that touch of caramel coming through if you look hard enough. Looking at the label, you’d think it would be a thick and heavy kind of beer, but it really isn’t heavy at all. There’s a good amount of body, it’s very pleasant to drink, but it’s almost whispery going over the tongue. You finish the can surprisingly quickly, so it’s fortunate that the beer is a “normal” level alcohol-wise, at just over 5%. Maybe it is a trustworthy guide.
Supplier: La Mundial
Price: €3.90
carved out
This was the first beer I grabbed off Más Que Cerveza’s shelf, with that luscious cake on the can and the promise of a dessert stout in the name. It certainly looks promising, this Black Forest Gateau. It’s an imperial milk stout with cherry puree and aged on oak chips, which makes it sound all fancy. I assumed Soul Fire was an English brewery, but the price should have tipped me off; you don’t often find big cans under €5 anymore, and an imported one would be absolutely unheard of. It is, in fact, a Spanish brewery, based in Jerez de la Frontera. The contact with wine-making was a benefit for a lot of the early craft breweries in the center of Spain, so maybe sherry will have a similar effect.
Finally a blacker stout, not so heady as recent ones though. There’s chocolate in the aroma, but with some kind of rubber. It smells more like a chocolate toy than real chocolate. Keep sniffing and the cherries will also come out to greet you shyly. Not as sweet as the name implies, and a little rubbery in flavor too. I wonder if it’s some reaction in the oak that brings that out. Eventually the fruit essence goes more banana than cherry but it never really gets sweeter. The woodiness comes out more and gets a little rougher, which is something different. Although the flavor is unignorable, the beer itself has a very light feel and a certain smoothness in spite of the up-front oak presence. I think this one would really benefit from some dessert along with it, just so you don’t feel like you’re chewing on wood chips through the whole can. It starts to pick up some smokiness after a while, is the wood doing something special in there? I can’t say that this is my favorite of any recent beers, or even one I would recommend. Somebody probably likes it, but I wouldn’t want to presume.
Supplier: Más Que Cervezas
Price: €4.89
don’t get salty
Can I ever get enough stouts? Nope! At least this is a little bit of a change with the country of origin. Who wants a fancy French beer? That’s right, Fauve Sensation Pure a chocolate and caramel beer, comes from the land of wine. The beer stores are still well stocked with stouts, but I notice that the bars don’t have all that many on tap or in bottles/cans. I thought this was the year of the stout! Maybe I’ll just have to wait a little longer.
This one is also more brown than black, and a little thinner brown that yesterday’s. Still good head. The aroma is packed with caramel, with a touch of chocolate and salt. It’s a dark chocolate caramel filled snack bar. Again, it isn’t as sweet as expected, but there is a hint of sweetness that slips through the middle of the suckerpunch of bitterness. It’s almost old IPA bitter, since the beer is not exceptionally weighty. It feels sneaky, like it has something it’s hiding from you, waiting to spring it when you least expect it. The dark chocolate bitterness is almost overwhelming, but it does keep you from sucking it down too fast, at its 12%. It starts out a little rough around the edges, but smooths out with some time. I wasn’t feeling the pastry side of it at first, but eventually it comes around.
Supplier: Más Que Cervezas
Price: €6.50
looking for friends
Still on my chocolate kick, here’s a Double Chocolate Stout from Rogue. At first I thought its name was “Share Me”, but that seems to be an instruction. It’s a one pint can though, and I can easily drink one pint all on my own. It’s brewed with “natural flavor” too, although it doesn’t specify what flavor on the front. There’s a flavor star on the back promising full chocolate flavor, no increase possible. We’ll see about that. Also high in roast and malt, and a balance of bitter and sweet. They recommend pairing with Brie, Porterhouse steak or Baked Alaska. That’s a versatile beer, it seems to me.
Head’s looking good this time around! As a chocolate stout it makes sense for the beer to be more dark brown than black, and the head has a coffee ice cream look. The aroma is chocolate at first, but quickly starts to remind me of graham crackers. The beer is weirdly dry for all the chocolate hanging around it, with a taste of unsweetened chocolate powder. It isn’t unpalatable, but it is surprising. It definitely feels cooked, roasted, pulled from the fire, but there’s no smoke to speak of and it isn’t in any way burned. I’m on the lookout (tasteout?) for toast, but it’s chocolate through and through. Is it the very top of chocolate? Eh, not really. But, I will allow that if it’s only natural flavors and real cacao nibs or something, it’s hard to get that saturated knock-you-on-your-ass flavor. Being a more subtle beer, it would be a good pairing with more than one dish. And at 9%, it’s a beer you might protect yourself from with a little something extra in your stomach, or by following instructions and sharing with a friend. Could have been a Valentine’s beer!
Supplier: Más Que Cervezas
Price: €6.24
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