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The Hobby Drinker Blog

T(twelve)-7

On the seventh day of Beermas I went and bought for me

Seven avian vampire teasers

Six plans a-hatching

Five collaborations

Four miles of nowhere

Three tropical tree eggs

Two staring wings

And an icy raven looking needy

Half the days over and we are almost done with the birds.  This is the last one, those elegant white bastards.  There’s no bird on the can really, but there is the impression of a swan neck winding its way across the front, reflecting the colors of a volcanic sunset.  Caravelle’s Peachy Keen Wit also sounds artistic and sophisticated, ready for a flowing chat about things that matter in life.

This is a summery straw colored beer, very clear, especially in comparison with those hazies. The very subtle aroma has more to do with sours and that gassiness than wheat beers and their grain and spice. It also smells a little soapy. The taste is light and clean, not sour or astringent. It’s a little fizzy and there’s a hint of peach floating around, so it’s a little more like flavored mineral water than straight beer. Actually not too bad to finish off the night with, it’s refreshing and thirst quenching, without weighing you down for the trip home.

T(welve)-6

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On the sixth day of Beermas I went and bought for me

Six plans a-hatching

Five collaborations

Four miles of nowhere

Three tropical tree eggs

Two staring wings

And an icy raven looking needy

This was one of the bird suggestions, grabbing at straws a little bit.  It is a bird, for sure, not one that’s in the song I think, but maybe I can make do…in fact, I’m sure I can make do.  Look at that face!  That bird has a plan.  We might even say he’s hatching something.  A plan like an egg, right?  Right?  It’s not that much of a stretch!  This might be the first can of Cosa Nostra I’ve picked up, although I remember them from the Vallecas beer fair.  Then it was a porter, and now it’s a Double Hazy IPA, a little backwards some might think.  But, Brufol might have some tricks up its feathery sleeve.

Extra juicy looking, with very fine bubbled head, very much like a fresh-squeezed orange juice. Similar aroma, maybe a little bit lighter. The feel is also very juicy, thick and mouth-filling. It feels like it wants to get to sweet, but can’t quite make it out of bitter, although it isn’t fair to call it a bitter beer either. It’s weighty and pleasant to drink, without disappearing into the ether, but there’s no over-reliance on acidity or citrus, so it’s really well balanced. I’m hoping the plan was to make a perfectly drinkable hazy because that’s what was achieved.

T(welve)-5

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On the fifth day of Beermas I went and bought for me
Five collaborations

Four miles of nowhere

Three tropical tree eggs

Two staring wings

And an icy raven looking needy

What do I get for number five this year, another golden ale?  Can I get away with any blond beer on color alone?  Actually, Península comes to the rescue with Entre Amigos and its friendly circles on the can.  Not only is it an invitation to potential drinkers, it’s a collaboration beer, with Sparkle, only deepening the ties.  It’s a hazy IPA, so a style that several friends of mine would be happy to share a can of.  Later I found out there were more than one iterations of Entre Amigos, with different partners.  Makes sense, and now I’m wondering if I can track more down…

For an IPA, it has a surprisingly ruddy color, even being a hazy. Quite opaque too. The aroma is perky and sharp, with a very modern feel to it. The taste is no surprise based on that: a little spice, caraway, snappy, not very citrusy but there’s some light summery fruit in there. In the mouth it makes itself unignorable, but once swallowed it disappears cleanly, so really a very nice drink. I might prefer it on a warmer day, on a sunny street, but then again I drink inside whenever I can.

T(welve)-4

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On the fourth day of Beermas I went and bought for me

Four miles of nowhere

Three tropical tree eggs

Two staring wings

And an icy raven looking needy

Ok, this one is pretty close to the song, although the birds aren’t seen actually calling.  And there are only two, but the other two are just out of frame I’m sure.  And they are birds!  Probably calling their friends a long way off, in that desolate landscape.  Gekko Brew’s The Other End of Nowhere looks like it should be some dark beer, for a depressing sipping session, but it’s a NEIPA, so at least visually it ought to be pretty cheerful.  Some of those NEIPAs are a little abrasive though, and so strong they might leave you in a place you have to memory of going to.  This one is a pretty standard 6.5%, so I don’t think we’ll go that far.  If by chance we do, I guess there will be some calling involved.

This is one of those very juicy looking NEIPAs, with its cheery gold color and light cap of lacy foam. It has kind of a zesty aroma, orangey but with a little something extra. Caraway or some other spice maybe. The juice is echoed in the taste, although the beer is a slender and healthy feeling one, not an overwhelming mouthfeel, very light in body. It kind of evokes the hopelessness of the label, a sensation of being in complete solitude without even a beer to weigh you down.

T(welve)-3

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On the third day of Beermas I went and bought for me

Three tropical tree eggs

Two staring wings

And an icy raven looking needy

Getting creative again!  Is it because I ran out of time and had to make do with what I grabbed off the shelves?  Is it a true challenge propelled from within?  Is it just the cussedness of refusing to not have a stout?  All three?  Let’s say all three.  It’s true, I really really wanted to fit Gran Cacao in somehow, just by virtue of it being an imperial stout with cacao nibs.  So instead of French hens imagine French Polynesia or the French Caribbean.  It’s not quite the temperature up here right now, but there’s an almost tropical humidity the past couple of days.  Weird, but could be worse.  I guess the people at centrally Spanish Península and Caleya also wanted to enjoy a warm weather fantasy.

It pours smooth and creamy, with almost a nitro like consistency in building the head, although with much bigger bubbles. It looks delicious and doesn’t smell like sunblock at all. There is just a tantalizing whiff of cacao, but it’s mostly a sturdy, earthy stout. The cacao is present in the taste, but very…natural. Meaning, it’s not overly sweet or sticky, there’s kind of an earthy sensation to it, like dusty nibs grabbed off the ground for the brew. Also, it’s impressive how smooth and slick the beer is for it’s mouthfeel; it’s a weighty one, and at almost 10% to boot. It’s a really pleasant stout, with a delightfully easy balance. It might even be acceptable for the squeamish in the summer, with it’s tropical hints, especially going along with a cold dessert. And for me and those of my tastes, it’s a beer for every day of the year.

T(welve)-2

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On the second day of Beermas I went and bought for me

Two staring wings

And an icy raven looking needy

I guess I’ll have to be a little creative, since there are a damn lot of birds in this song and not that many beers with birds.  Surprisingly few, actually, it seems like something people might like to use.  Symbol of freedom, knowledge, power, why wouldn’t you link it to a beer?  Especially in a country where beer has not been the drink of the average citizen until quite recently.  Anyway, I went looking in some less-frequented places, and I got this tentative suggestion.  Almost immediately taken back, since that’s a moth, or something, on the can, but what the hell?  Things that fly count.  Also, taking the place of turtledoves, it makes sense to have all the eyes and be a monstrosity, because if there’s something you like to look at it’s your lover and if there’s anything that makes a monster into a masterpiece it’s love.  This is Rec Brew with Naked Lunch.

It’s strongly aromatic, with a whole tropical fruit basket flowing out as soon as it’s opened.  While cloudy, the color isn’t very bright, sort of a muted lemonade.  The flavor is less tropical, but still strong, snappy, and a little bit acidic.  It has some elements of certain NEIPAs, being a little throat-grabby, but it isn’t quite as strong as the DDH IPA set.  There’s a depth that keeps it from being a simple warm-weather drink, something about the hint of abrasiveness I think.  It is light in the mouth, but you can comfortably drink it surrounded by wintery figures and gray streets and not feel like it’s leaving you unprotected from your current weatherscape.  After a little while I start to get some woody notes, sort of pencil shaving-like, so a reference to a possible winter fireplace?  You put wood shavings in fireplaces, right?  Probably better that than moths.

T(welve)-1

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On the first day of Beermas I went and bought for me

An icy raven looking needy

It’s the first day and I have to decide between bird or fruit.  In some ways it’s the easiest one to find something to represent it.  There’s something about a wintery old raven that makes you think of some solitary place, the loneliest number if you will.  Even the name of this IPA, Hold Me Tighter, brings up feelings of isolation.  Somehow I thought Wylie had a more jovial and social image, but I’m not complaining.

Minor explosion on opening, the beer is eager to escape and better existence outside its can. It’s a very pale IPA, sort of lemony, It’s very heady, with a bright white and fluffy cloud perched on a sea of dirty lemonade. Even the aroma evokes summery lemonade more than beer, with a lemon candy scent that just tickles the nose. The taste comes as a bit of a shock, wielding a much more bitter punch than you expect. It isn’t actually that bitter, but from the aroma you don’t quite prepare for it. It’s also pretty clean and even a little dry, leaning towards a wine sensation rather than juicy, sticky modern IPA. Left standing a while, more spicy notes start to come out in the smell, but the flavor doesn’t pick up much in the way of spice. It’s the sort of beer you wouldn’t mind having with you on a break from doing work in your orchard. Of pear trees, of course. Where a crow or even a partridge could find a place.

wrapping up

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With anticipation, the door opens on slot 24…and it’s a strong dark Belgian.  Well, at least it’s dark.  This collaboration between Guineu and Juguetes Perdidos might be fitting, in fact, for the holiday, since some Belgian beers do have a certain level of winter-appropriate spice.  I’m cautiously hopeful about Pajaro Viudo.  If it turns out to be a disappointment, I can say that I did have a chocolate stout earlier today (Thank you, Ossegg).

There’s a strong whiff of banana, and the beer looks thick and almost oily coming out. The head is tightly bubbled and deflates slowly. The flavor starts with bitter and Belgian level of sour, but not quite in the aftertaste you get an odd almost fishy sort of taste. Well, not fishy exactly, more like seaweed. It’s like a miso was added to the beer at some point. Going with the look, there’s a very full sensation that goes along with the liquid; it is smooth, but there’s a good amount of weight in it. The taste seems to contain itself, not expanding or deepening, leaving the drinker in a mood to sip and sip some more. It’s not that it’s lacking in taste, but it doesn’t have the extravagant explosion that I’ve come to expect from craft beers. Still, it’s probably good to back off from the excesses a little bit from time to time, and with Beermas starting tomorrow I don’t need to dull my sense of taste just yet!

newbs beware

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Second to last and not as dark as my desires, but expecting to guide the tastes of others can be a mistake.  It might even be a … Rookie Mistake.  I’m not sure if Guineu is quietly admitting they meant to make something else, or warning off people who don’t quite know what to make of a Special Bitter.

It has the dark caramel color of stronger, toastier beers. There’s a certain Christmas spice in the aroma, a little ginger maybe and something like clove. But will it be spicy or bitter? Turns out neither, really. It’s unsweet apple mostly, but not quite enough to be astonishingly bitter. The potential spices are a bust in the taste. Too bad, could have been sort of an apple pie beer. It has some roughness, a little throat-grabby, and I get a mild aftertaste that is more bitter than the beer itself. So, although surprisingly subdued, it does make you pay some attention when you drink.

wildly

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There’s no white Christmas around here, but maybe no wet one either.  Good temperatures for walking and window shopping and pretending we have enough room in our houses and lives for the shiny things they make us want.  And after a good tour of the neighborhood, a little beer seems to be called for.  The can is colorful, wild, vibrant, so not what you expect for a black beer, and indeed it is another IPA.  It’s a new brewery for me, though, so that’s exciting.  Valkiria IPA is also trying to be an exciting name.  Blot Craft Beer seems to be playing up a northern connection, and they are north of Madrid, but Vikings they aren’t quite.  It appears they have a restaurant in Andorra, although the beer was brewed in Barcelona.  I guess it has to count as a Spanish beer, then.

Once again, a typical IPA color and aroma, golden and fruity. This one does have a lot of tropical sensation to it, and very little pine or bitter. The flavor is smooth and sweet, very much a modern IPA. It’s a bright and happy beer, very well-made, very pleasant to drink. Not very heavy or sticky, barely any aftertaste, so it’s one of the cleaner IPAs. It stays very constant and light in taste and consistency, the kind of beer that you would hope to have with a meal. Maybe Andorra should go on the list of places to see.

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