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Spanish beer

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

sneaky sophistication

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Back to the black stuff, it’s just a black hole for me, drawing me back in. Not that I fight at all, and sometimes I even get a running start. I collected quite a few examples for the next couple of weeks from Labirratorium, which seems to have piled in a few more stouts than the last time I was there. I feel like I have run across Redneck Brewing before, possibly when out and there’s nothing interesting on tap, but this is an Imperial Pastry Stout, so I can’t ignore it. It’s not the most alcoholic of pastry stouts that I’ve seen, but if you’re not careful Teniente Dan-Up could leave you legless.

Plummy, liquory aroma, and heavy appearance. Not a lot of head, though. It looks like a thick but slick liquid, although at 8.5% it might have quite a bit of heft to it. There is body indeed, although it’s not too prickly, but there’s more wood and toast than I was expecting. It takes a couple of sips before some of the expected pastry starts to come out, very fruity and earthy-berry tasting. The plum scent comes through on the tongue eventually, and the overall impression is of jelly donut filling. At first, I thought the whole donut was coming out of that bottle, with the roasted grain being very noticeable, but when it starts getting fruity the grain and bread back off. It rounds out in the end, gaining a little bit of roughage in the mouth and mild grain undertones to the fruitiness, but it’s more of a fruit tart than anything else. It might not be sweet enough for some, or thick enough for others, but it’s good enough for my Saturday night.

Supplier: Labirratorium
Price: €3.45

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

dark dreams

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It’s unseasonably warm right now, although cooler temps should be on the horizon. That’s what usually happens around Easter anyway. Still, how do you say no to a stout? You know very well that I don’t! And this is a special one too, Drunken Bros Black Maiden Imperial Mocha Stout. It’s from the Nightmare series, with a touch of oak conditioning that ought to add some strength and body.

It’s magic radiating off the can, that’s why it’s blurry, that’s the ticket!

It pours thickly, but silky smooth, and settles like some sci-fi B movie monster in the glass. It’s black enough to pull your soul out through your tongue, and even the head vanishes in minutes, unable to contain the power. It is one of the heavier beers I’ve had for a while, like a barely melted shake. It plays on the mocha angle heavily too, with a dark roasted coffee coming on strong at the end of the sip. It has a very toasted grain flavor, with a mild chocolate undertone. While not excessively sweet or coffee bitter, it’s not the easiest beer to drink. It has a robust body and a little bit of crinkly texture that keeps your attention, but doesn’t exactly whip down the hatch like a whisper of wind. I happen to have some white chocolate on hand, and since it isn’t an extra sweet stout, it might be a good little helper….Well, it does cut through the body a little, but it lends a more sour quality to the flavor. Was not the best outcome. Oh well, there’s still beer in the can and more chocolate for another day.

Supplier: La Buena Cerveza
Price: €6.95

so what?

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That’s the beer, and there’s no need for any other title I think. It’s the call of a generation, several generations in fact. It’s the lament of those in the middle of a long road with no end in sight. That’s just the kind of design that appeals to me too, such a reminder of, well, all my past. You’d think Naparbier would have more optimistic offerings, being one of the most successful craft breweries in Spain in terms of longevity and reputation, but we can imagine a more positive interpretation. It’s the monster itself that elicits the phrase, from the traveler, not the viewers response to the situation. We may find difficulties in our way, but they might only be phantoms. We create problems for ourselves and use them as excuses to avoid making an effort. And that sucks, because there are real things that we can overcome if we actually invest some energy in it. Thanks for the push, Naparbier!

It’s a bright, happy yellow, with piney and citrusy scent to match, but doesn’t hold its head very well. Flavorwise, it’s also bright and bubbly, with a light sheet of bitter across the tongue rather than a rolling boulder that you might get from a stout. It’s very much a West Coast style, with little to no fruit in the taste but still maintaining a sunny and modern quality. It smooths out with time and warming, gaining a touch of citrus sweetness, and a little more weight in the mouth. If you’re fast it’s a good warmer weather treat, with the sharp bitterness to jab you out of lethargy, but if you’re patient it’s a little more of an all-year choice, sweet and summery but also warmingly full. No apathy at all!

Supplier: La Buena Cerveza
Price: €5.20

diva in a can

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Nothing like a stout on a potentially rainy day, and nothing like a pastry stout for a relaxing weekend. Attik’s Soprano sings out to me with promises of delights and joys on the tongue. The cacao is pretty standard at this point, but I don’t recall seeing hazelnut in a pastry stout, although there was a Black Velvet version a few years ago. There’s something vaguely art deco about the design on the can, which is another plus for me, although I can’t quite make a connection with the song and the art. Maybe the beer is so good it makes you squeal those high notes.

It lives up to its style perfectly, oozing out of the can and trailing chocolate, vanilla and some kind of liquor through the air. It doesn’t build up a thick head, but looks almost jelly-like in the glass. A couple more careful whiffs tilt my perception more to chocolate syrup than anything else. It’s oddly not sweet at first, sort of a mild dark chocolate taste, but then fingers of orange and red berry grab at your tongue. It doesn’t quite go sweet, but more fruity-tangy. The pastry part becomes more and more apparent, sort of a raspberry pie drenched in chocolate. I may not be hitting high Cs, but I was always more in the alto range anyway.

Supplier: La Mundial
Price: €7.70

following instructions

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I almost passed over this porter, thinking it being “by the book” as a little too uninteresting. Am I getting to be too much of a beer snob to enjoy the simple things? No, but they do have to be particular things, like a black beer rather than not. In the end, I had to come back to a porter. Also, who am I kidding, I love things by the book. Those tentacles make me think the inspiration might have been 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea…did Captain Nemo have a homebrew kit on board? Maybe his roaming inspired nomad brewers La Quince and their collaborator of the moment Es Pop. Black, Bold & Bookish ahoy!

Dignified dark brown and a firm not-quite-beige head make the first impression. The aroma gives up mild coffee, fresh woodiness, the tiniest bit of winter wind. The flavor is much smokier than expected from a rule-following porter, although it isn’t as heavy as the average rauchbier. It takes a couple of sips for the coffee to make an appearance on the tongue, but it does amble up eventually. It’s a bitter and smoky beer, giving the impression of a traditional recipe, and has echoes of cold northern shores. A bit of coffee-drink sweetness develops over time, but with a heavy hand still on the medicinal or herbal fruit of the coffee tree. It’s pretty light, fairly easy to swallow, an easy-going drinking experience. With oddly warm temperatures, it’s a good choice for a dark beer for many, although I could always do with something heavier, lover of darkness that I am.

Supplier: Labirratorium
Price: €4.65

rosy gateway?

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What desperation is this, a Mahou beer? Are all the beer stores shuttered forever and the craft breweries wiped from the face of the earth? No, although I feel a little embarrassed. I guess my face can go with the beer – La Rosé de Mahou. It’s supposed to be a lager “with a fruity touch”, something for people who want to explore different flavors in beer. It feels like they’re trying to push their not-ABI/not-Heineken side, like when they picked up their share of Founders as a “family company”. Being the industrial beer that it is, I doubt there’s going to be any of the weirdness that fruity sours give off in scent, and I kind of doubt that the flavor is going to be that strong. It is a Mahou, after all. Although, most of the craft styles that the Spanish macros have made have been perfectly acceptable, so I might be in for a treat.

It does look a lot like a rosé, with a fluffy head on it. Very similar to some sours too. It’s an interesting aroma, slightly fruity, although that might be psychological, but mainly malty sweet. It’s lager sweet at first, but the taste deepens and develops a little bit of herbalness. It has the mouthfeel of a bock, although one that leans a little syrupy. I get a hint of licorice too, even kind of an artificial raspberry flavor. Although sweet, it’s probably too heavy to be one of the more refreshing hot weather beers, but that weight with its color could make it festive. It has the potential to be a gateway beer, one that people who don’t really like “real” beer can enjoy drinking, only graduating to the more bitter, less soda-y at a later time. I’m not sure who the target consumer is, to be honest. They might be trying to fool the more unsophisticated wine drinkers rather than rope in young beginner beer drinkers. Who knows? We have to take risks if we want to get stuff sold, I guess.

stubborn bastard

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OK, I skipped last Saturday, after more than a straight month of tasting and explaining. Call it a little holiday. It was, in fact, a holiday technically, if you’re a follower of Catholic tradition. Just imagine I was waiting for the Magi to bring me some beer for the new year. What I have today seems like something you would gift a special someone, as long as they liked beer. It’s Fábrica Maravillas’ 2023 La Cabrona Cuvée. The Cabrona they were making when they started a full decade ago was a Belgian quadruple, dark and meaty, and surprisingly strong for some. A couple of years ago, I first encountered their cuvée, but I was not especially enamored with it. I think passionfruit might have been involved and there was a distinct taste of bubblegum. Not so much to my liking. But, I have such fond memories of Cabrona, that I don’t think twice about giving it another chance, it is another recipe after all, and picked up this little can right from the brewpub. It also has an image you could argue is topical – never forget Disco Baphomet!

It’s a lighter brown than I remember the classic Cabrona being, more like a murky märzen than a Belgian quad. It has a pretty malty and even incense-like aroma, a little bit flowery and more like fruit scent than real fruit. The head is resistant and protective. It tastes very bready up front, not toasty even though there’s also a strong element of smoke. It’s a little bit like a mouthful of smoke from a grain barn fire. The grain part has sweetness, but it doesn’t reveal the expected fruit. It brings me back more to the Cabrona of my memories, a dark, strong beer, and I definitely like it better than the bubblegum result of a few years ago. Praise Disco Cabrona!

pumpkins

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On the twelfth day of Beermas I went and got for me
Twelve pumpkins smashing
A scene ripe for peeping
Ten space lords leaping
A third of nine dancers carefree
Eight spice rack maidens
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

Another Beermas at an end, and what do I have? A beer I probably should have had at Halloween! Well, better late than never, and things keep pretty well in cans. It’s Oso Brew’s Smashing Pumpkin Ale, with a decidedly autumnal look. How do we get from drumming to pumpkins? The smashing, obviously. Whatever connection you want to make for it, it’s a celebratory beer, one that has a little something special, something you just aren’t going to see every day. Or even every Beermas, probably.

It’s a cidery color with a not quite pumpkin pie aroma. Head is nice at first, but vanishes within a minute of pouring. It does smell more like natural pumpkin than pumpkin spice, although there is a tiny bit of clove or maybe allspice. It tastes like a märzen with a little pumpkin infused in it, something like Fabrica Maravillas’ märzen a few years ago. It’s a little dusty in texture, makes you think it just came in from the pumpkin patch. Is this the most appropriate beer to finish Beermas? Who knows? The fact is that this year it’s the grand finale, and it might not be Christmas-y or even New Year’s-y, but it has a definite holiday feel. My favorite holiday no less. Twelfth day down, Beermas complete!

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