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Basqueland Brewing

waking up

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Many people think their favorite meal is breakfast, but that might be because their favorite flavor is sugar. There’s still something appealing about anything connected with breakfast food, though, including beer. A pastry stout, imperial at that, seems likes the most likely beer to tackle that particular sector of gastronomy, although some NEIPAs get there with their overwhelming orange juice spirit. Basqueland, proven maker of stouts among other things, has presented us with French Toast, looking very much like a breakfast mimicking dessert.

Not much head, but slippery dark liquid, and tempting and subtle aroma. It has a hint of cinnamon and toast that make you think of fancy breakfast. Breakfast carries over into the taste, with a thick syrupy feel and tingly sweetness. There’s some kind of preserved fruit carrying the flavor on its back, possibly blueberries, which leaves the beer with a slightly winey presentation. Not even brunch goes that far, although I wouldn’t be surprised if some people indulge in champagne cocktails or the like. It really feels more like an alcohol drenched cake than a slice of French toast, with that warm and burning sensation, and the kind of sweetness that comes through careful manipulation of ingredients. The fruit becomes more and more noticeable, and starts to remind me of a blueberry ale I had once. Not the kind of beer you expect to find in a southwestern hotel, but there you go. Anyway, French Toast pastry stout does not disappoint in terms of its name or its will to please, but I don’t think I could handle it for breakfast.

Supplier: Labirratorium
Price: €7.65

arisen

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Another rainy Saturday, and not a stout for me this time. No, I found something that seemed more appropriate, at least in name – Fruit Jesus! The label looks very similar to those fruit portraits from some Renaissance painter whose name I can never recall. It’s not too surprising that this comes from Basqueland, they have a record of interesting labels and names. It would be quite a shock to find that it’s anything but a sour, and there’s no shock in store. Will it be a transcendent experience, or just an earthly delight? Better open up that can and find out.

It has that sort of gassy puff that a lot of sours do, sort of sulfury, but probably not what you’d get by opening a grave. It has a very juicy appearance, opaque, maybe a shade lighter than orange juice. The head is not abundant, but it is bright white and resistant. Other aromas start to make their way out, a little citrus and pineapple, something smoother too. I’m not sure if it’s mango or some other tropical fruit. It’s supposed to contain passion fruit, and peach, but I think I don’t really know what passion fruit tastes like. The peach might be the smooth part I think I can sense. The taste starts out on the sweeter side, sort of a fresh fruit salad. Then the sour creeps in, leaving a sort of champagne tickle feel along with a lingering aftertaste of sour candy. Not a bad beer at all, not too crazy for a sour, but I don’t know if it would wake the dead.

Supplier: Más Que Cervezas
Price: €6.37

swimming

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On the seventh day of Beermas I went and got for me
A taste of one of seven seas
Six alarms a-ringing
A high-powered ring of fire
Four silent moths
Three frisky parrots
A bottle but not two cans
And more than half a liter of perry

As I have said before, there are a damn lot of birds in this song. Although there are quite a few breweries or beers that have a bird on the label, after a few years it gets a little bit difficult to find a new one. Gotta be creative. Swimming, right? Number seven? Everybody’s heard of the Seven Seas and that’s water. It fits! Maybe it’s also kind of an excuse to sit down with a Basqueland, and a Baltic porter at that. Hopefully Baltic Storm wouldn’t sink a flock of swans braving the elements.

Just the stream of it out of the can is tootsie roll brown, but it collects into a handsome near-black beverage in the glass. Head is somewhat scanty but aroma is strong. It has a firepit quality to it, very smoky and nose-tickling. Maybe the wood that could have built a ship, or a plank, is in the background too. The smoke doesn’t quite translate into the flavor, coming out as toasted but still grainy bread. I feel like there’s something chocolatey too, but not bitter baking chocolate and not sweet and rich spreads. Maybe it’s a sugarless mocha that I’m imagining. As always with Basqueland, it’s well-made and a pleasure to drink. If the rum runs out it’s a foolish sailor that would complain about this tempest in a cup.

parrots

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On the third day of Beermas I went and got for me
Three frisky parrots
A bottle but not two cans
And more than half a liter of perry

I had some trouble deciding where the parrots should go, and in they end they got day three. There are three of them after all, not to mention I couldn’t find a better match. Maybe we could imagine them in French Polynesia. As befits the tropical label and the habitat of many parrots, this is a fruited sour, made by the geniuses at Basqueland. Parrot Head Punch, they call it. Actually, punch is a pretty seasonal drink, so in spite of being bright, light, and probably full of papaya, this might be a fitting beer for our season.

There’s the sulfur I often get from fruited sours, but the color is very happy and carefree. It’s pinkish with a hint of orange, looks like an expensive cocktail actually. Up close there’s a clear aroma of sesame, which I think is a first for me. It’s definitely sour and fruity, and I don’t think I detect any sesame seed taste. What fruit could it be? It has a dryness that some berries give you, and the snappy sour makes me think of cranberry. It’s a clean tasting sour, without any extra stickiness or candy-sour, and very light in body. It might be a good party beer, although for just having a drink in winter, it’s a little too unsubstantial for me. I know, picky, picky. Third day down!

eternal depths

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Life can be a complicated thing. You think a decision is simple, but then you realize there are many factors at play. This applies not only to your own decisions, but understanding the decisions that others make. There are reasons within reasons within reasons, everything fitting together like a finely made toy. Another thing that fits together finely is a well-made beer, and Basqueland is a brewery that has a history of making beers well. To be honest, I have come across more ales than stouts from them, but everything is top of the line and a delight to have in the glass. I don’t suppose Matryoshka is going to be any different.

It’s weirdly slow-pouring, but sits nicely in the glass, without an abundance of head. There’s a slightly green plant-y aroma, like freshly pulled carrots or zucchinis. It smells a lot like a standard well-made beer, with a nod to the earth that produced the ingredients. While other stouts have had enticing scents and more subdued flavors, this one goes the other way. The taste is full and earthy, hinting at bitter but sticking with slightly savory. It’s a pretty classic Russian Imperial Stout, heavy and slightly bristly, but pleasing in the end.

Supplier: Más Que Cervezas
Price: €5.65

another heavyweight

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Coincidentally, there’s another Jumbo in the list, Mumbo Jumbo India Stout to be precise. This is a hopped stout, with Chinook, calling itself a classic stout with a hoppy punch. I wonder if this is going to be something of a black IPA. While it’s enjoyable to wallow in the depths of a pastry or barrel aged stout, there’s something about a hoppy beer that clears your head and lets the world in. The clash of expectations with the dark beer and the hop brightness also promotes focus. It’s not quite freezing cold, although the days get dark early at this time, and the spice of a hoppy beer can be like sitting next to a cozy fireplace. Of course, that’s also true of an extra flavorful stout. Well, let’s see how Mumbo Jumbo measures up.

There’s a very vegetal aroma with the pop of the tab, a little bit floral but not fruity. It has a more savory character than even a black IPA might. The beer itself is a good dark color with just an off-white head. Once in the glass it gives off many more spiced wafts of scent. There’s grainy bread, maybe rye, caraway, a little bit of catnip sharpness and muskiness. The taste is very toasty but also with a good garnishing of hops. It has a warmth that many black IPAs did not quite reach, with their shining citrus hops taking center stage, so it does deserve the title of India stout.

Supplier: La Buena Pinta
Price: €5.50

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