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what’s his story anyway?

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Hoo boy, it’s really summer now! Not my favorite season, really, even though I am blessed with A/C at the moment. Maybe it’s my aversion to beaches that turns me off of the season. Also, the dearth of dark beers in the past. This year there are a few more stouts around than other years, which certainly warms my heart, and you’ve already seen some evidence of my enjoyment. This is the last one from La Mundial, a Lervig Imperial Stout with a name that makes me thing there ought to be a story – Konrad’s Stout. Can’t find a story in a quick Google search, but maybe that’s a Google problem. We’re having more and more of those.

Beer float worthy head, thick and bubbly, and a little nest of tiny bubbles at the bottom. It’s slightly cakey in aroma, but only a mild whiff. It smells fresh and bready, almost perky. Tastewise, it is a full-fledged stout, bitter and toasty warm. It warns of coffee or licorice, but doesn’t quite go there, staying strong in its stouty identity. It doesn’t quite feel as strong as its 10%, but it definitely has presence. It’s also fairly clean going down, not a whole lot of afterfeel, although there is a little bit of film on the back of the tongue reminding you that you have had a drink. In a way it’s good, since you don’t have the desire to just chug the thing. As usual, it might be too heavy for some given the weather, but I have no problems sitting in a shady place and enjoying a fine northern stout.

Supplier: La Mundial
Price: €5.20

moonlighting

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We are past the longest day of the year, and in Madrid the changes are actually easily noticeable from week to week. Still, it isn’t quite time for drinks outside under the moon. I mean, you could wait until night and moon are fully in force, but the atmosphere can be a bit oppressive on the ears. Much better to have your favorite style at home and at your leisure. Oh yes, the favorite style, you know what’s coming now. This time it’s a German-US collab, so that ought to be fun. It certainly has an intriguing label, this Dead Moon Cove. It looks a little like a classic Halloween movie poster. Will Third Moon Brewing and Sudden Death Brewing give us something so good it’s scary? Or just a horror?

It pours out thick and oily, barely letting any head build up at all. It smells like a bakery. Pretty much that’s it, a bakery. One that never burns the product and uses the best chocolate and vanilla. It’s another thick one, almost like a melted milkshake, but really it’s thicker than that. It’s almost like drinking chocolate syrup, except there’s an extra level of flavor besides the chocolate part. The alcohol sits boldly in the middle with a halo of decadent sweeteners around it, like the most extravagant 18th-century dessert. I’m saying 18th-century because after all my video watching, my impression is that they just didn’t overload their taste buds the way we do, although they did like a little, quality, spice like vanilla and cinnamon. Oh yeah, some cinnamon wanders out too. The glass is positively covered with a sticky film after the beer has been there, something they say about stronger alcohol sometimes. It’s not a beer that I would identify merely as imperial stout, although it does have strength and majesty about it, but one of the better crafted pastry stouts. The rich bakery sensations are there, as is an exceptionally weighty mouthfeel, but it’s restrained and refined, not punch you in the dental work sweet. Highly enjoyable, any day of the year for me, maybe with some ice cream just out the freezer for the rest. They say stouts are having a moment this year, but I think this one might be stronger than most people want at poolside. Missing out, I say!

Supplier: La Mundial
Price: €9.90

a toast, to the past and future

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Number two stout from my last foraging, Basqueland’s Seven Minute Siesta. It sounds more like some kind of IPA than the Imperial Pastry Stout is claims to be, but we’ll see if there isn’t a surprise in the can. It might be that an 11% beer is just the thing to knock you out for seven minutes. This is part of their 10th anniversary series, one of the two stouts in a sextet of other ales, including a black IPA. For some reason, it seems to me like Basqueland ought to be even older than 10, but we must remember that the 2010s was the high point of establishment of Spanish craft beer. 2015 is a solid year to be born. Actually, it’s my nephew’s birth year too, so it must have been a year for crazy creative things to come into the world.

Again, very appetizing going into the glass, with a very fluffy mocha colored head and more tiny bubbles than I was expecting. As the head dies back I take a whiff of a cakey, fruity, chocolate syrupy beer. It has the aroma of the best kind of pastry stout, the one that has sweetness but isn’t a sugar bomb. A deeper sniff brings up some toasty maltiness too. The mouthfeel is surprisingly thick, much more robust than I thought it was going to be. The sweetness is well-balanced, strong but not overwhelming. It’s something akin to dark chocolate, doing away with the bitterness of stouts without drowning the flavor in lactose or sucrose. While filling, it was not very sticky at first, although there is some build-up in the mouth over time. It doesn’t leave much of an aftertaste, just the sensation of having your tongue varnished. And not shitty cheap stuff either, high-class celebratory shine for the ages. Happy birthday to you, Basqueland, may you keep your quality and your market for decades to come.

Supplier: La Mundial
Price: €8

not fried

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I had quite the selection before me at La Mundial. I feel sorry for Lorien, who seemingly happily brought down all the examples of stout from the shelves and dug a few out of the fridge too. I guess it’s his job and all, but there were people coming and going and it has to be a distraction to have a bunch of beer all lined up on the counter, waiting to go back to their proper places of display. Anyway, I did see a few that looked like they should not be passed up. Although it’s part of the ethos to do your best to consume locally, I just had the urge to be international this time. I did of course buy a national beer, but the one I have now came from Scotland. It’s Vault City’s Mini Mars. This “stellar” stout is certainly going to be more of a dessert than a meal, or even than just a snack. It might be mini, but these things have a way of punching above their weight, if they’re any good that is.

Powerfully pastry aroma, with the vanilla giving it a touch of cola. There is a good head – for about 5 seconds and then it dissipates, also cola-like. It’s still a good, dark brown color, though. There’s also the chocolate and caramel notes that you would expect from its namesake. Although it flows easily and doesn’t look like a thick beer, it definitely has a heavy feel. The caramel is dominant in the first sip and leaves a stouty bitter aftertaste. There’s a feeling of consuming something burned or at least caramelized, something that almost tastes like it should be crispy. It leaves a little tickle on the tongue, again harking back to the cola with its fizz, but is otherwise smooth. Even the “burned” taste is not very abrasive. Although thick and mouthfilling, it’s a slippery and easy beer for drinking. It is probably fortunate that it isn’t especially alcoholic, although the impression is one of a much stronger beer. It’s a beer that shoots for the stars, and at least for me, it’s out of this world.

Supplier: La Mundial
Price: €7.10

gift of the gods, yeah those ones

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In spite of, well, everything, there’s nothing like a stout to calm your nerves. And sometimes it’s nice to have a stronger one than normal, one with a little more oomph. If it happens to have a cool label too, so much the better. It was both the label and the name that pulled my hand right to Abduction in Be Hoppy’s fridge; pink rainbow unicorns can’t be ignored and above the name? Double fudge barrel aged. Fall on your knees, this is now your god. Lo, it has descended from the heavens. I would call the aliens on the lest hand side of the can Simpsonsesque, although that’s probably only because of the cyclops look. The two-eyed one on the right reminds me more of Toejam and Earl. I wonder of the people at Pipeworks have those influences in their pasts. They are from Chicago, so it’s certainly possible.

It’s promising in the pour, looking thick and sleek, and oh my god it’s as chocolately and liquory as you would ever want in a beer. I tasted even before sniffing, and there’s a good layer of graham cracker in the aroma, but the same notes of the flavor are present. Every piece of the style description comes out, with a slightly bitter stout entrance, a long cocoa road and a sweet bourbon tail-end. It develops kind of a tang as you drink and leaves a syrupy coating on the glass. At some point, the wood of the barrels starts making an appearance and you think the whole can might have been a bad bet to make. Eyes bigger than your stomach, as it were. It’s delicious, but definitely heavy. It’s a little strong in alcohol and in nature to be an accompanying drink, to a dessert or anything else, but it’s certainly a course of its own.

Supplier: Be Hoppy
Price: €13.95

no punch

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The only nice thing about not being in the city center should be having less cement around you, but this neighborhood is at least as paved as any central neighborhood. Yes, there are some dirt areas trying to nourish some plant life, but the streets and the luxuriously wide sidewalks are all cemented and bricked and fake stoned, and they do not stop being little ovens after the sun goes down. Last week, when it was very windy, it was bearable, I must admit. Anyway, enough complaints, it’s time for a drink! This one impressed the guy at Hidden Beers when I pulled it out of the fridge and he waxed eloquent over its positive qualities. It’s an IPA, with no other qualifiers, from Triple Crossing in Virginia, very well made, very stable, very drinkable. It certainly looks to me like it has aspirations. Ready to fly into the sun, perhaps. Here comes Falcon Smash!

Once again, an abundance of foam in the first pour. It’s not quite completely white, and very bubbly. The beer itself is bright gold and just a little cloudy. It gives off a typical IPA aroma, slightly citrus and gruffly hoppy underneath. Most of the head vanishes in a minute or so, leaving a sort of crown around the edges of the glass. A fried egg of a beer, looking down on it. There’s a lot more forest in this IPA than tropics, tilting it towards more classic English styles with a touch of West Coast. It has a snap of citrus at first, but it gets rolled over with pine and climbing vines. Although smooth and light, it has a stickiness that hangs around the mouth, without any unpleasant aftertaste, just a sensation of just having swallowed something. While it looks like the perfect summertime beer, it has a deep almost bitter to it that lurks and clings, and might make it less refreshing than you want for a sidewalk drink. Inside, with the A/C wafting over you, you might just have a winner.

Supplier: Hidden Beers
Price: €9.99

PS. I learned about a week ago that Chinaski has shut its doors, so there goes another craft bar in town. Sure, they have a taproom in Valdemoro, but how often do I go there? Maybe I should look into it.

popped off early

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How hot is it? Hot enough to explode beer cans! No, actually it isn’t today, I’m not sure what happened to Samhain. Maybe it just isn’t a summer beer in any way. I was told it was something akin to barleywine, with a lot of spice and a heavy body to it, a specialty beer from its northern brewery. I assumed it was Galician, since it has that Celtic touch, but it’s actually Reptilian Brewery of Cataluña. It wasn’t quite chilled in the fridge at Hidden Beers, but that just means it wasn’t hit with a big temperature difference on the street, where it swelled out the top of the can and popped a hole in it. Fortunately I was close to home and I didn’t lose much. An hour in the shitty fridge here and we’ll see what this does.

As expected, extra frothy, but still spicy and autumnal in aroma, nothing unpleasant about it. It’s a good dark amber color and a nice light beige head, which does calm down eventually. It’s a thick and robust feeling beer, yet smooth. I was expecting it to be a little rougher, maybe like that Australian ale, but it has almost a pumpkin pie filling feel to it. It also has a little bit of pumpkin spice taste, which makes it a shame I couldn’t hang onto it until October. Chestnuts and habañeros are in the ingredient list, but for the life of me I can’t pick out any heat. The wood aging is also not clear to me, although I don’t know what kind of wood was used. Apparently not one that had been infused with other alcohol. The chestnuts might be part of the nutty pie filling sensation. Since it isn’t thoroughly chilled, the candiness is evident in the flavor, not as overwhelming as some pastry stouts, but definitely in the realm of a dessert beer, or perhaps just a sweetish snack.

Supplier: Hidden Beers
Price: €4.54

surprisingly safe

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I’m not the biggest fan of pale ales, especially with an unreliable fridge. But, the label swayed me this time, as many another time in the past. It’s so focused, so determined, so much a beer that wants to kick itself down your throat. Plus, it’s Australian pale ale, so that’s something unusual up here. Bomb Squad is the name, but there’s also a little tagline at the bottom that resonates in these times: There Is No Tomorrow. Hits a little harder than that carpe diem crap, doesn’t it? Oso Brew does not have a particularly dour image, quite the opposite, but maybe it’s meant to be a call to action. I hope it doesn’t blow up in my face, after being shoved around in that fridge.

It is indeed a pale ale, straw colored, almost glowing white foam. The aroma comes in like a double decker bridge, with a strong whiff of fruit on top and a piney woodiness chugging in on the bottom. That bridge in Sydney isn’t a double decker, is it? Not like our beloved Gummint Bridge. I can’t quite see trains being bright and tropical at this time, since I don’t think they’re bringing in fruit these days. Somebody else must know a breezy pineapple bridge somewhere. There isn’t a lot of fruit in the flavor, it’s almost more of a rind or even grassy taste. This could be what you get when you eat dirt in an Australian football game. A pale ale is not an IPA, so you don’t expect it to be overwhelmingly hoppy, but it’s not a lager either, so you shouldn’t expect too much sweetness. This is a much more powerfully flavored pale ale than I’ve had for quite some time. It’s not quite what I expected, but I get to like it more with each sip. It might not be to everyone’s taste, especially in the summer, since it’s not especially easy-drinking. It’s rough around the edges and with a low and foresty flavor, not light and airy like other pales. Those traits make it feel like a get-up-and-go beer, though, not a sit-back-and-sleep one. Good for an early afternoon, in the on-street seating, ready to attack the rest of your obligations right after. If I’m not mistaken, 4.1% fits in the mid-strength category, so I guess it’s one Ozzie Man might recommend.

Supplier: Be Hoppy
Price: €5.50

coincidences

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New place and new surroundings…not especially impressive for me. Who knows, though, I didn’t like my old neighborhood when I first moved there and when I got kicked out I was sad about it. Maybe I’ll come to enjoy Las Tablas. In any case, I have a metro station to take me to my beer stores, and this time it took me to Be Hoppy. I hadn’t read the story of the French artist when I bought the beer, so it’s just by coincidence that I have the preening sheep and the embarrassed Statue of Liberty. Garage might have some better connections to France than I do. You might expect a dark beer, given the circumstances, but this is an IPA, a DIPA in fact. It’s Pacific Trifecta, named for its three hops: Centennial, Idaho 7 and Simcoe. Classic.

A little happy to leave the can, maybe thanks to the weak fridge. Unsurprisingly hard to pour smoothly, I something like one of those Czech pours with all the foam at first, and it’s pretty resistant head too. It looks appetizing, with a distinctly golden color and clean white head on top. The aroma is IPA all the way. I get a little bit of rubber as an undertone, though. The flavor starts with an arrow toward bitter, but quickly swivels to fruity with a mild sweetness and a velvety feel. It would be more refreshing at a lower temperature, but it’s still bright and delicious, with essence of hops wrapped around it. I can complain about a lot of things, but I can’t really complain about this beer.

Supplier: Be Hoppy
Price: €6.45

let it flow through you

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Yes, it’s still summer. Just the damn beginning, in fact, and it already feels like it’s been summer for years. I had my nod to most people’s summer preferences last week, so now it’s time for my tastes to come back – stout! And not just a stout, imperial stout. And not just imperial stout, but chocolate! And coconut. Coconut is also good. It was really the name that called to me, though. How could I not pay attention to something called Hokey Religion? From Emperor’s Brewery, no less. Welcome to the dark side!

Black, black, black, and while fizzy, not much head accumulates. The adjuncts are evident from a whiff; I’m getting a good amount of marzipan. Flavorwise, it has more liquor than simple stout. There’s a wine-y tang, a slight whiskey burn, and not a whole lot of sweetness, actually. The beer has body and soul, very mouthfilling yet drinkable. At its 12.6% it does pack a punch right away, so not one you really want to indulge in on an empty stomach. It smooths out with some time, though, getting even easier and more dangerous to drink. These days are not for savoring this kind of beer right on the street, unfortunately, but hidden away in a little cave and lurking in the shadows feels just right for this brew. I don’t know if I could stand wearing a hood, though.

Supplier: Más Que Cervezas
Price: €9.30

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