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review

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.

wake up

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Oh yes, there had to be at least one more!  Guineu and Mala Gissona give us a porter now, Txoko.  I’m hoping that that’s a hint of chocolate or cacao, but a regular, rich porter would hit the spot really well right now.  The November rain has been delayed until winter’s door, so it feels like a good time to sit with good dark beer and unwind.

A little thin looking, coffee smelling. Nice head at first, but it fizzles away quickly. The taste is much bigger than expected based on the color and aroma: it’s an extra chocolate and vanilla syrup shot in the morning brew. While slick, it does have a bit of a sticky feel. It’s a little strange for a mid-week beer for some reason, it feels like something you should be having on Friday night before going out for some real fun, or Saturday afternoon to wake up completely.

mysterious

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Alright then, let’s have another pale ale, or more precisely, RIPA.  I guess that isn’t a real repeat for this calendar.  The label looks so familiar, I have the sensation that I have done Jack the RIPA before, but it doesn’t come up.  Maybe I only thought about it in the store and then grabbed a stout instead.  Anyway, it is Guineu, so trustworthy brewers, and it’s a dark idea even if the beer is on the lighter side.  I could have chosen it for a Hallowe’en special.

It’s darker orange than plenty of normal IPAs, a little more along the lines of an imperial. There’s a very bouncy citrus aroma from this one. As for taste, it’s extra bitter rather than extra orangey, but it’s that pleasant IPA style. It’s a deep, rounded bottom kind of flavor, making me think of grapefruit without the actual taste of it. After it settles down a little there is more citrus on the tongue, but the overall effect is still very bitter-hoppy.

in the light of evening

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Oh dear, more pale beers!  This Hoppy Pilsner is from a new discovery, thanks to the calendar, Hoppit.  Their last contribution was quite pleasing, although no stout.  Now that the rain has stopped it’s starting to head towards more wintery temperatures around here, so a darker beer would be appreciated, but the extra light of La Llum might just be the thing to brighten my evening.

Pale, yellowy gold, pure white foam on top, it’s definitely a pilsner. It’s a little bit sharper and citrusier in smell than what I expect from regular pilsners. It is also very sharp in taste. It reminds me of a lemon candy, sour and puckery and first, but smoothed over with a sweet tail-end. It has a modern touch, not nearly the level of bitterness that more traditional pilsners have, a sting that pushes it towards IPA territory.

the mascot

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Still with Guineu and its fox, now an amber ale.  Again, it looks like a very solid offering, although nothing special or extra creative.  Simple Birita, casual, unfussy.

It seems extra heady, and it has a rich dark orange color. Interesting aroma, a little honeyed and not very fruity. There’s a little bit of orange in the taste, but it’s more watered down than I expected. The first seconds of the sip give a bubbly heads-up but then it does down and practically disappears. It’s a good beer for sitting and relaxing but not thinking too much about. A little snack to go with it would mix well. Something kind of woody starts to come out after a few minutes, giving the beer more body and a little more interest, although it’s not the kind of taste that I particularly favor.

a call back

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There are plenty of breweries on the box and I think they all make plenty of beers.  But, it isn’t too surprising to find a couple that I already know in there, if they were quality products.  La Quince does pretty reliable when it comes to that, and I have in fact had their Llipa! IPA before.  It was even in last year’s beer calendar!  Worse performances have had encores, I would guess.

Looking just like I remember, bright and shiny golden color and perfect head, at least for a little while. The sharp pine aroma is immediate and summery. A whole medley of flavors rolls out on the tongue, from melon to peach to minty pine. The hops are quite strong and forestal, not so much on the tropical side. The beer is not overly bitter, however, balancing its components well. Although it has a very noticeable presence in the mouth it is more of a summer beer, in my opinion. It goes with warm sidewalks and strolling people, not so much scarves and jackets. There is a lightness to it that just shouts sunlight. I guess a lot of people do look for an extra point of brightness while they grump about winter evenings, though, even if they enjoy the Christmas season.

wandering now

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Kind of a ’60s reminiscent style on the label, but it sounds like a more traditional leaning beer – kellerpils.  I guess it’s a reminder of the goal of any brewer, to make a product that people long to have in their glasses, but there are lots of ways to get there.  Normally similar, only a few have significant differences of make-up or difficulty.  Everyone heading the same way to the same place of happiness, not with Santiago, but with Sanfrutos.  Time to mark out some Caminos Paralelos.

Very light in color and not a hint of cloudiness, also very classic head. The aroma is pure German lager, lots of grain, a little grass, practically honey sweetness. Flavor is surprisingly light as well. I was expecting either a striking bitter or a rounded breadiness, but the beer is almost difficult to even feel in the mouth and the taste is really subdued. It is more bitter than anything else, but there’s a tad bit of corn and cucumber sneaking around too.

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