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stout

dvanactý

  • por

On the twelfth day of Beermas I went and got for me
Twelve thunders thundering
Eleven drinkers drinking
Ten drug lords delivering
Nine priestesses priesting
Eight pirate maids a-sailing
Seven boney swimmers
Six geese post-laying
Five gold nuts
Four obvious non-kiwis
A three-time remade masterpiece
Two guarding lions
And a crow glaring silently

It’s the end! Another Beermas drunk through! There were some stretches in meaning and metaphor here and there, but there’s always one that just doesn’t fit like you hope for. This final beer is a good finale. It was the label that caught my eye with the wild sky and moody color palate, but then I saw the brewery: Laugar. Hooray! And then I saw the style: Imperial Stout with marshmallows. Double and triple hooray! Nimbus carries a threat of rain and dark days, but with a sweet surprise, or maybe a consolation. The solstice is over anyway, so we’re on the way to brighter and brighter times.

Beautiful pour wit a sensible amount of mocha head. It doesn’t look quite as thick as number ten, but still presents body and substance. There’s a vapory whisp of marshmallow in the aroma, riding a stout dragon through the storm clouds of the can. The smell is disarmingly light so when you take a sip it’s a real wallop. While not the thickest beer ever, there’s a good amount of weight that floods over the tongue, and the touch of marshmallow sweetnes gives the whole thing an essence of s’more. It’s silkier than Midnight Call, really in keeping with the stouts from Laugar. Even though they produce some heavy hitters, and Nimbus comes in at 10.5%, the majority of their stouts are easy to pour down the hatch, even dangerously so. This is quite a climax to my Beermas; sometimes the stars, or the clouds, align.

Supplier: La Buena Cerveza
Price: €7.18

décimo

  • por

On the tenth day of Beermas I went and got for me
Ten drug lords delivering
Nine priestesses priesting
Eight pirate maids a-sailing
Seven boney swimmers
Six geese post-laying
Five gold nuts
Four obvious non-kiwis
A three-time remade masterpiece
Two guarding lions
And a crow glaring silently

Hey…isn’t that a scene from a Tarantino movie? Not the famous one, that other one, less famous and sillier. Well, maybe not, it’s been a while since I’ve seen it, or any Tarantino movie for that matter. Suggestions for holiday films? Ok, not only is it stirring film nostalgia, it’s an imperial stout (finally!) and from La Quince. A safe bet if I’ve ever heard one. Maybe I’m stretching the definition of lord, but I imagine people in illegal occupations do a lot of leaping. If not physically, then morally and philosophically. Collaborator Seven Island is a Greek outfit, so philosophy is almost certainly a part of this beer. I seem to recall an earlier collab with Yria that resulted in a stout that would leave you one the floor – almost literally, since it was a seventeen percenter. Midnight Call looks powerful, but manageable. Let’s find out!

First time in a while I don’t get a good head on the first pour, but there is a little beige crown there. While not pitch black, it’s a pleasing dark brown, hot fudge syrup if I had to compare it. The aroma is pretty standard stout, a little toast and earth. Wow, it’s a real mouth filler! The taste is surprisingly subdued for such thickness. It hits hard with bitter, but then there’s a support structure of something sweet. Could it be the oats? It has kind of a breakfast element to it. There’s a tingling to the sip, like a thousand teeny tiny bubbles at once. It does leave a sticky residue on the lips, although no unpleasant aftertaste or other problems. Is it one that you’d get a hankering for at midnight? A secret treat that has to come under cover of darkness? That might make it more exciting, but stouts are a pretty acceptable indulgence. I would call for this beer any time.

Supplier: La Mundial
Price: €7.50

fifth

  • por

On the fifth day of Beermas I went and got for me
Five gold nuts
Four obvious non-kiwis
A three-time remade masterpiece
Two guarding lions
And a crow glaring silently

While the birds are difficult due to their abundance, the rings are hard to match just because.  You’d think there would be more references to gold, but maybe craft brewers are just too modest.  With a little imagination, though, there’s enough out there to find something satisfying.  I feel like I will be satisfied with Nuts & Crosses.  It’s a stout, there’s peanut butter, I’m expecting some kind of liquid Reese’s.  It’s a little bit of a surprise to see the name Buxton on the can, since I don’t associate England with peanut butter consumption, but there have been quite a few peanut butter stouts put out there from a number of European breweries, so I guess it shouldn’t be too surprising.  Sometimes a liquid snack is a very different experience than a solid one anyway.

Somewhat sunny head, lighter than you expect to see.  It’s a mocha with extra milk.  The beer is good and dark, a well brewed coffee or dark chocolate.  The aroma a vegetable tang, like the juice in canned green beans.  It’s slightly metallic, slightly earthy.  The flavor is deeper and richer than the smell, with a feeling of quality chocolate and a salty hint of peanut butter.  It’s quite and armchair of a beer, an invitation to grab a fat book and invest some time in it.  It’s a very light, maybe milked down, stout, at only 4.5%, but it has a power and presence and does not slip by unnoticed.

Supplier: La Buena Cerveza
Price: €5.90

first

  • por

On the first day of Beermas I went and got for me
A crow glaring silently

I’m under a little pressure to get my Beermas together, since there will be traveling this year. I came across El Cuervo a while ago, and thought, “Why not start now?” And then let it lie around for a couple of weeks. It is a session stout, though, so it shouldn’t suffer very much. It’s also Sanfrutos, which makes solid and resilient beers, so no need to worry at all.

Is it me or do a lot of Beermases start with a crow? They must end up being solitary on cans more than other birds.

Extra foamy and bubbly, but good color and pleasantly roasty aroma. It’s thin, which shoudn’t really be a surprise, but the dark roast carries through. It has a hint of coffee but without some of the lactose or sweetness that other lighter stouts have. There is some milky aftertaste, so it’s not completely free of Starbucks connections. The beer consistently froths up with each new pouring, although the glass isn’t so bedecked with dew-drop bubbles after the first time. It’s not quite a stand-alone beer, but one you might like with food, or snacks, and maybe a scary movie. Up for The Birds?

Supplier: Más Que Cervezas
Price: €4.07

Sneak preview!

what season?

  • por

It took only seconds to see Ostara on the shelf and see that it was a blessed stout, so that went right into my metaphorical basket. I only buy a few beers at a time, I don’t normally need a real basket. This is a Galway Bay beer, so it is promising, although the back gives some information that makes me pause. Ostara, it says, is the Irish name for spring (not what Duolingo says, but what would you expect), and is meant as a push to celebrate the change of seasons. Well, it’s either late or early for spring, but I guess I am about at the cusp of a season change. Hopefully no old gods will be offended.

The can seems extra full, burgeoning like a coming spring, and it also produces another lavish head. This beer is even more chocolatey looking than fossil fuely, but has a sharp and slightly seawater aroma. They taste is malty, rounded and somewhat vegetal. A thin layer of smoke lies over it like a wreath. While light in feel, there is a slight dustiness as well, like a piece of dark chocolate that has been sitting around just a little too long. It has a pleasant, convivial experience to it, definitely the kind of beer you drink in pints at the bar while hours slip by in conversation. It isn’t actually a session stout, but it does have that feel to it, being solid and and reliable in its flavor and feel from beginning to end. It’s smooth enough to suck down with some speed, but also tasty enough to savor for a while. While it isn’t a flavor explosion or surprise, it’s a beer well worth spending some time with.

Supplier: Lambeer
Price: €4.90

warmer upper

  • por

I was pointed to a number of almost experimental stouts on the shelves of Más Que Cervezas, it’s so hard to choose! In the end I went with a whisky barrel aged stout. It felt better than the bourbon barrel one, and it seems like both a less complicated and an extra packed choice. I have partaken of Kees before, and probably a stout, since that where I see them most represented on these shelves. This is a promising Caramel Fudge Stout, lovingly (I’m sure) aged in Craigellachie whisky barrels, and canned in standard yet playful design. I hope I don’t regret having a light lunch.

A little sparse where head is concerned, but good color and aroma. It has a deep, rich caramel smell with a toasted edge. It’s resonant where others can be thin and shrill. The flavor is not quite as substantial, although it does deliver on stout, caramel and a drop of whiskey. While the beer looks opaque and thick, it’s rather thin on the tongue and slides down the throat without complaint. Even the whiskey doesn’t give much resistance. It doesn’t feel like it’s 11.5% with all the smoothness, but it doesn’t take long for a little buzz to kick in. Strong it is, after all. There’s a feeling of relaxation about it, like it should be poured in a snifter and sipped in front of a fire, or in a mug to go with a terrible comedy. I don’t know why it feels more like a bad comedy than a good one; maybe the good one would be too distracting.

Supplier: Más Que Cervezas
Price: €7.18

right name for the times

  • por

It’s a crazy time we’re living in, and good beer does much to steady the pulse. While I’m always open to a new possibility, I also tend to rely on old standards. You can only take so many surprises. Oso Brew is a reliable choice, if more focused on lighter beers. This is an oatmeal stout, one I might have had during a Sunday chat, with a mildly dizzying label and a fitting name: Delulu.

Much more subdued than Affogato, so it’s been unmolested in the fridge. Not as impressive headwise, but respectable. There’s more earth and nature in the aroma, no hint of sweetness. It carries over into the taste, although there is also a milky balance to it. Like other oatmeal stouts, it’s smooth and with a touch of breakfasty grain. I’m getting kind of a medicinal taste, something almost cola-like, which is a surprise. Not altogether unpleasat, though. It is a bit surprising how robust the beer is, given its relatively modest alcohol content. Oso has always seemed like a maker of tasty but delicate beers, even their IPAs have a lightness and fleeting quality that you don’t find often, but Delulu really holds its own. It’s well-balanced, certainly, a centerpiece of a drink. Oso, you’ve done it again!

Supplier: Be Hoppy
Price: €4.50

is there a mug on amazon?

  • por

We’re waiting for the shitty fridge to be moved out to the balcony so the cooling system can be cool. How can that be the solution? Why not replace it with a fridge that works in the space that was constructed? Why not buy an appropriate appliance in the first place? In the meantime, beer! My imperial stout seems to be cold enough, although it looks like it did get knocked over today. Hopefully this morning so it’s had some time to relax. It’s a promising one too, from Garage, very trustworthy. It is a coffee stout, which can be a little overwhelming, but I’m willing to give it a shot with its vanilla essence. I hope Affogato Tears doesn’t leave me in tears…nah, like I said, it’s Garage.

A little jumpy, so maybe not felled too long ago. No disasters, just a few drops over the edge. Although extra-bubbly on the side of the glass, the bubbles appear static and the head maintains itself well. It’s a chocolate milk kind of head, mostly creamy with a few intruding bigger bubbles. The liquid is going for dark coffee colored rather than black, but that makes sense with its development. There is a good whiff of coffee too it, although it’s not as roasty as most coffee. Maybe cold brew leaves the aroma a little watered down. The first sip rushes in with the coffee flavor, but some vanilla creamer is right on its tail. Given the alcohol content it’s not a surprisingly heavy beer; while not syrupy it lies heavy on the tongue and slurps its way down the throat. The chill and vanilla really solidify the connection to iced coffee or frappuccino for me, more than simple cold brew.

Supplier: Be Hoppy
Price: €8

true names

  • por

Now is the time to delve into the darkness (as if it’s never that time for me), since the stores are stocking a greater variety of stouts and similar beers. A lot of them are fancy pastry and barrel aged stouts, with a few classic examples mixed in. How can I resist those flavor bombs, though? I can’t, that’s the answer. Which brings me to tonight and Yanawa, double vanilla imperial stout, in a can that looks like Big Cat Rescue might sponser it. Well, maybe not, they lean heavily into AI these days. I am almost fooled into thinking it’s a northern Spanish beer with the Basque coming first on the label, but it turns out to be French. True, Anglet is part of the French Basque Country, but I don’t really know how much Basque is present there. They certainly think highly of themselves and their product if the name is any indication. Who wouldn’t want their business to be known as La Superbe? Let’s see if it lives up to the presentation.

It’s a little floofy, coating the side of the glass in tiny bubbles and supporting a kingly crown of dark mocha foam. There’s not a huge aroma coming off it, but there is a hint of quality chocolate, which is due to the vanilla I guess. The taste is weighty, with a good load of vanilla and an undercurrent of toast or coffee. It starts out smooth, but builds up a tickly body over time. There’s a wink of high-falutin’ bonbons, with the sweetness, the smoothness, the feel of luxury treats. Although it starts off easy and light in feel, it develops some stickiness and grabbiness. It doesn’t have the complexity or surprises that some other beers have had, but it’s definitely tasty and satisfying, after so long without indulging in my stouts (who am I kidding, I had some at the bar last weekend), BY WHICH I MEAN my Saturday special in my own space. A fine choice to curl up with a good book or movie!

Supplier: Más Que Cervezas
Price: €7.37

counted

  • por

Officially fall and no excuses to not have a black beer. I’m not exactly enamored of oatmeal stouts, they are often a little too soft for my demanding tastes, but they can be a pleasant evening unwinder. This one comes from Garage, so we can be sure that it will be delicious. It’s also an Imperial Oatmeal Stout, so any concerns about lightness are probably in vain. The label makes me wonder if I should be working to put this beer together with a good meal, but I just can’t be bothered. Yambic Pentameter will have to do on its own, and going by the name it’s one that would be put off by a heavy meal anyway. It could very well want to have center stage to itself.

The can is quite full and spits out a little on opening. It looks fizzy although not too thick, just oozing out onto the top. A good pour produces a good, mocha colored, fluffy head, but little aroma. I have to really get my nose in there to find that fine stoutiness. It has some dusty sweet oats and a touch of malt. The flavor and feel are a surprise compared to the scent; I was expecting something lightly sweet, not exceptionally thick, a mild and calming evening drink. Instead, it’s bold and thick, full of body, and real oatmeal feel. There’s kind of a licorice aftertaste that I wasn’t expecting either. After a while I get something kind of appley, like apple cinnamon oatmeal. Well, actually not as sweet as that tends to be, just a nice level of inviting snackiness. It bridges the summery desire for sugar and relaxation with the fall feeling of warmth and energy.

Supplier: Lambeer
Price: €9.40

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