This was another one that I couldn’t just leave behind. Sachertorte pastry stout? Fuck yes, Frontaal! You might imagine that some Austrian brewers or even Bavarians were behind this, but it’s the Dutch Frontaal Brewing Company. Calling it Piece of Cake #1 makes me think there’s a whole series that I should be looking for. Beer for thought, indeed.
Small explosion but no disaster, head accumulates but then dies back quickly, good dark beige to it promises cake. This beer has more of a marzipan aroma than the one that claimed to have it, along with a touch of bread and wood. It has a much richer flavor than the first few stouts, although not quite as layered as Dead Barrel. It definitely gives the sensation of liquid cake, with a little chocolate, nuttiness, and perhaps just a whisper of ginger. It feels like it ought to have to little bit of spice to balance out the sweetness, but it really doesn’t. It’s a heavy battery baked good in a can. Maybe all that weight will keep your thoughts from wandering too far.
I could not leave this can behind, no way, even though it’s on the pricey side. It’s coming on Christmas, so I guess that’s my excuse. But really, marzipan chocolate stout? Who can resist?! I do have my doubts about the creaminess of Choco Cream with the use of almonds, but I’m happy to see where it takes me. La Grua and 28030 cooperate in its creation, so it’s a reliably made labor of love.
Another extra heady one, although this foam isn’t quite so luxurious and dies back quickly. It has kind of a green scent to it, foresty, slightly woody. I was expecting a little more sweet chocolate or vanilla, but if anything it tends toward chili. Some deeper breaths pull back the curtain on some cacao-ishness. Taking a sip it becomes clear that it was all hiding out and waiting for the tongue to come along. The taste is an explosion of rich choco-nilla, like a well-made slab of gourmet chocolate. It develops a little bit of powdery texture, not quite as smooth as most gourmet chocolates, but there are certain companies that insist that sort of thing is proof of natural ingredients. It’s not distracting from the overall experience anyway. The beer has a nice moderate weight and never gets overbearing, which seems like a great accomplishment. It could have gotten syrupy or sticky, too sweet or even sour, but it stays balanced and controlled, extremely pleasant and a good for an animated talk or a quiet read.
Let’s get a little more into the kind of beers I expect in my Advent calendar – stouts, dammit! Now, this is a Belgian stout, with the medieval name of Troubadour, but it fits right in. As much as I’m going to lean into darkness, Christmas beers can be admitted, and who makes Christmas beers? Most famously? The name of the brewery makes me think it would be a secret pastry stout, or at least a much sweeter stout than normal. But maybe The Musketeers are just about collaboration and solidarity.
Head is extra-fluffy coffee ice cream, and not prone to melting off fast. It’s not terribly strong in aroma, but there is a tiny bit of pleasant toastiness and dark chocolate. It feels creamy and luxurious, spreading hints of licorice as well as the expected coffee over the tongue. It leaves a tiny taste of char at the back of the tongue, otherwise sweeping down the throat easily and without the typical Belgian beer tang. I was afraid it would develop at first, but it’s another pretty standard stout, maybe a little bit thicker and smoother than Bidassoa’s. It gives you a slightly wooly feeling, being a strong and atmospheric beer, and maybe just a little nod to the well-known seasonal beers of its country.
Success! I have completed my month of darkness…even if it was only the Saturdays. As hard as it is to find black beers on tap most of the time, bottles and cans to take home and drink at your leisure aren’t scarce. Thankfully. A sentiment that fits the weekend. Most stouts you come across are a little bit extra, if you know what I mean, but there are still some that are plain Russian Imperial Stouts. Yeah, at one time that didn’t sound plain at all. How things change! What I trust hasn’t changed is Bidassoa’s product quality, since this is their work for their Dark Series.
As soon as the cap comes off little puffs of malty goodness fill the air. It has a warm brown-black color and quite a respectable head, one of the fluffier I’ve managed to get in a while. I seem to detect hints of woodiness in the aroma as well, like wet forest walkways. After some sweeter stouts, this one gets back to basics – toasty, smoky, a cloud on the tongue. The simplicity is even a little imposing. This is a beer that’s very sure of itself and you can tell. A sweetish woodiness starts to make an appearance once the beer gets more towards room temperature, but it has a very natural feeling to it, certainly not like sweetened or even barrel aged stouts. I feel like this is a little throwback to earlier days of stout enjoyment, when everyone was vying for the most representative result instead of the most innovative. Not that innovation is bad, it will come in handy later, I think.
Half of the darkest month is over, although I think I’ll be able to keep a good shadow over December too. While last week was a can of surprises, this week looks like something a little more predictable, which should not mean unpleasant. Garage Beer Co. and Track both contributed to this imperial stout, a rich blend of coffee, vanilla and chocolate from the looks of the ingredients list. Blue Straggler has an unlikely label for this blending I would say, but who knows? There might be some unusual aftertaste that pops up unexpectedly when you look at those featured components.
This one also has some fruity aroma about it, but the head is less satisfying. Colorwise, it’s deep and dark, befitting my streak. It’s not as exciting as that old Diamond, really just plum on the fruit side and the barest whisper of chocolate tickling the nose. The chocolate was lying in wait for the drink it seems, giving a good wallop of bittersweet right up front. The fruit aroma might have been a ghost of my own making, influenced by the can design. Anyway, a very filling and fulfilling beer, with good body and subtle flavors after the initial impression. It has a bit of a dusty coat but is easy enough going down without stickiness or excess sweetness. I am not getting the vanilla or coffee to be honest, it’s actually a fairly simple flavor in that regard. Maybe the chocolate and tonka are asserting themselves a little too much; maybe those notes were only supposed to be suggestive anyway. In any case, it’s undeniably cozy and warming, just what you want on a dark, dark post-Halloween night.
It’s still the month of darkness, only the beginning in fact, and already I have a super cool stout. It’s even called a Glittery Imperial Stout, which makes me wonder a little about what color it ended up after brewing, and it’s a collaboration by Amundsen and Vault City, the latter from Scotland, so a good place for something strong and dark to get brewed, and the former a success at giving me what I want in the past. I’m hoping Diamonds in the Mud is chock full of diamonds, or be made of chocolate mud.
There’s a small explosion of tasty smells with the pop of the tab, liquory, vanilla-y, woodsy, coffee…y. While not quite pure black, the brown is darker than an early winter night and the beer is not letting a drop of light get through. Glitter? Diamonds? Maybe that’s what you see when you finish that can. Not terribly heady, but what there is is stubborn and clingy, a nice little cap. The flavor is a festival of fruit and chocolate, cherry, raisin, raspberry, grape? It’s a surprise as a stout, and not an unpleasant one. While a sour stout is not exactly appetizing as an idea, this one has a good balance with the fruitiness lifting up the dark earth of the black beer. There’s a creaminess that you don’t get with sours and I find it very nice, I don’t always appreciate having my throat stabbed by a beer on the way down. Of course, there are stouts that will take a chunk out of you with bitter claws too, but in my experience they aren’t quite as dangerous in that regard.
Oh, I just can’t stop myself from picking up another black beer! It was a hard choice too, there are a lot of new names on the shelves. But Lervig is always trustworthy and it’s been a while since I’ve enjoyed one of their fine products, and while it’s still default vacation I feel like cake. Kransekake, that is. It’s labeled as an imperial stout with almonds (there’s a warning label about them on the back), not a pastry stout, but I have the feeling that it’s going to brush up against that variety.
Although it contains almonds, I’m getting more of an egg nog hit off the smell from the can. In the glass it’s a little nuttier. I haven’t been able to pour for head recently, but again, the beer is a rich and inviting color, and temptingly opaque. It has that syrupy pastry stout sweetness, and more than natural almonds I detect marzipan on the tongue. Good for me I love the stuff. There’s also a good whack of raisin and preserved fruit, another kind of Christmas-y note. It’s a thick and heavy beer, not what most people would choose for a summertime sip. I’m happy enough with it being sweet, that gives you a little kick when you feel run down, even in Madrid summer.
It’s true that stouts aren’t the beer of choice in a Madrid summer for most people. It’s not a surprise, I can’t fault them too much. But dammit, why can’t there be just a couple floating around for us lovers of darkness? Well, at least packaged stouts aren’t too hard to find, and very tempting ones too. La Quince astonished me with their Vanilla Black Velvet years and years ago, and it’s still a class act, although different years give slightly different results. Part of the fun! They also have different versions of Black Velvet, sometimes with different collaborators, but this is the old team of La Quince and Guineu, back with a new variety – Doughnut Black Velvet Pastry Stout. I now what you’re thinking, it’s going to be far too heavy for the current temps, but I say a little sugar water/beer is just the thing to get you up off your sweaty ass.
It’s extra foamy, very resistant dark milk chocolate head. I was expecting a little more aroma from the get-go, but it’s pretty subdued. There’s kind of a sweetish smell, but there’s a little bit of milk that’s just a tiny bit too old floating on top. It also seems kind of … meadowy? Clovery maybe? The taste is smooth at first, and very much Black Velvet. The doughnut doesn’t weigh it down very much or add excess sugar. Weirdly, it’s toward the middle of the sip that you notice the fizziness, so the beer actually ends feeling more like a soda or sparkling wine even though the flavor is unmistakably stouty. It’s quite pleasant and not at all a burden of a drink on a summer evening. Sure, some might prefer a fruitier or zippier style, but this is a remarkably light pastry stout and a tasty evening beverage. La Quince (and Guineu), you’ve done it again!
I have not traveled far and wide to beer fairs and festivals, a little to my chagrin. Well, I don’t like to drive, I don’t like crowds, and I’m not a good trip planner. So much easier to stay close to home – Beermad, La Ruta del Lúpulo, other assorted fairs and fests, there’s no lacking of opportunity in the area. For some reason, this seemed like the year to add Barcelona Beer Festival to the list. It’s supposed to be the biggest in Spain, with the most professional bent, in previous years they had up to 600 beers on the list.
So…it wasn’t quite as big as that. It was a little bigger than the last Beermad, but not too much. The professional area was bigger, but I don’t think there were many more stands and there certainly weren’t more toilets! That seems like poor planning to me. Also, the food just wasn’t as nice as from the food trucks at Beermad, although it was quite a bit cheaper. I was unsurprised to see all the info on the food stands in Catalán, and where there was Spanish it was lower down and a little smaller. They have to make their point. The best thing about BBF was that it was convenient to get to; I came in on the train and walked about 15 minutes down the street. Beermad is always a little bit out of the way for people from out-of-town, and even for people in town sometimes.
I didn’t want to waste time once inside, but I had just had a two hour train ride and a walk in the sun (it was kinda hot that weekend!) so I snapped up the first pick-me-up looking beer I saw, and it was Naparbier. A fruity apricot sour, something that sounded both soothing and like a good opener to more. It’s dark orange, rusty, with some potent alcohol fumes and a coating of old fruit. It really tastes like the liquor part of chocolate liqueurs, with the apricot being on the sour side and only a film of sweet on top. There’s a base of woodiness underneath, what you might expect from a barrel aged beer. I think I almost feel shreds of pulp as I drink, but it’s probably just the intensity of the flavor. It is a thick beer, though. While it starts out refreshing, it gets heavy if you don’t drink it fast, which is a little hard to do with the texture and alcohol feel. It’s a little stronger than I meant to start at, but definitely tasty.
Next I find something a little more local, Kom’s Amazonas NEIPA. Not quite ready to dive into stouts yet. It has a good color, very juicy looking. It turns out not to be as spiky as some in flavor, quite soft and creamy in fact, something of an easy drinking beer. The taste gives you the impression of natural, fresh squeezed orange juice. It’s a lovely NEIPA, happy on its own and probably not too bad with a little snack (was a little put off by some fishier odors by the food stands, so no lunch yet).
The time has come for a stout to take the stage, something bitter and black at last, so Petrolis seemed like the place to go. They had a Bidassoa Russian Imperial too, but I was told Mica Roble y Pino was more bitter, and that’s what I was hankering after. I don’t think it is that bitter, but it’s a barrel aged stout and that part is evident in the flavor. It’s even a bit peppery somehow. I was warned about a little wine taste coming out, and some does indeed, but I’ve had more obvious wine-beers. The combination of flavors is fairly heavy, but the beer itself is smooth and goes right down with little cling to the mouth. Well done, Mica!
Practically all the beers were Spanish and mostly from the north if not Cataluña (although Península was also there), but there was a stand with Polish beer on one end and French on the other. There must have been some buzz about the Polish beer because a line formed out of nowhere and snaked all the way around the corner, leaving me with little desire to stand around. The French beers looked like your typical craft offerings, IPAs and pale ales, and I thought after a barrel aged stout a hoppy IPA would hit the spot. They had Cambier IPA Mosaic/Idaho 7, which sounds like it ought to be bright enough to balance out the previous darkness. It is a perfectly acceptable IPA, good Mosaic flavor comes out, it’s not very bitter, mildly fruity, really a good pick-me-up after a disappointing pizza. The info on the stand recommended a Czech style pilsner as the beverage of choice, but I think the stronger tasting IPA is needed to make up for the disappointment. I was also treated to a taste of La Pirata’s barrel aged Black Block from a South African/Canadian couple at the table. They were on a Mediterranean cruise, spending the day in Barcelona and coincidentally saw the festival happening near their hotel. Hope you enjoyed the rest of your trip, Tim and Robin! Also, I hope I guessed right on the spelling. The Black Block was a delectable contrast to the IPA, even more of a comfort after underwhelming food.
I have time for more! There’s Althaia, who I remember from beer calendars. They have an interesting sounding smoked chilli stout, I ask if it’s very spicy and am told not very. Let’s try it out. There’s a smoky bacon aroma, good stout appearance. First flavor impression? Tabasco rauchbier. It has a good feel to it, very balanced in the smoke-earth-spice, but not much of a mealtime beer in my opinion. It’s a good little taster, actually perfect for the glass size at the festival. You get a good idea of what it is, but when it’s gone it’s just in time. It might actually be good with ice cream. I’ve had a bit to eat so now I feel like I might deserve dessert.
But I spend my last wristband tokens on Gecan Porter. This is a beer festival after all. It has a good dark color, but nothing in particular on the nose. It’s bready and toasty, more what you’d expect from a stout than a porter, although it’s not especially strong. Certainly not as fruity or smooth as I have come to expect from porters, but it is supposed to be a more traditional take. We can probably chalk it up to that.
And that was my Saturday in Barcelona Beer Festival. It could have been worse in so many ways, but it was a let-down from build-up on their website. Much more of a local festival than a national or international one. Next year what, Hamburg? Granada? I guess it depends on if I feel like flying or not.
Beermad is back to its regular schedule it looks like, and this time they’re making the most of a local holiday weekend to have four days instead of the normal three. It’s still at Casa de Campo, still somewhat limited entry, although there are morning and afternoon passes, plus all-day passes this time around. Unsociable person that I am, I go in the morning, when fewer people are looking to really drink down some beers, and of they’re there it’s really to enjoy the experience.
There was also a stand called Vamos a Beer. Good puns!
I always start on the dark side; just that kind of girl I guess. There are more to choose from than in other editions, but the first one I lay eyes on is a real licker too: Toccalmatto’s 28 Imperial Stout. They specialize in making low-carb beers and this one is also no added sugars, just the natural malts. That sounds like a pretty normal stout, but it also has some chipotle that you might think needs a but of balancing. Happy to try it out! It smells a little winey, but there’s a good thick head. The color is slightly lighter than I expect from stout. The taste is woody, malty, leafy, very nature-focused. I would even call it a healthy flavor. As promised, there’s a touch of chili. It’s a 12%-er, so the lightness in the mouth is surprising, and the alcohol does catch up to you if you’re not careful. It’s a chili-chocolate sensation, only slightly bitter, and could be hard to beat today.
Next I ask for Vandalia’s Azabache Porter. This one isn’t on tap, the lack of head is probably my own poor pouring skills. It’s fizzy and with a nice porter color, with a kind of root beery, vaguely sour fruit smell. This porter also has a woody flavor, but a different kind, more robust. It’s drier than the stout and not very fruity for a porter. While solid and mouth filling, it doesn’t make you think of road tar (“azabache”), it’s quite easy on the palate and would even be a good accompaniment to a meal.
In a whole-ass bottle!
My quest for the darkness continues with La Charanga’s 28850 Stout. Also little head (and I didn’t pour this time), but otherwise good appearance. No strong aromas off this one. It’s very malty and slightly smoky, with an underlying bitter just lurking. It has more body than the previous beers, a little sticky and moderately heavy. Notes of licorice and coffee surface over time. It is a nice beer, more imposing than Vandalia’s porter but simpler in presentation than Toccalmatto.
It turns out I’m not impervious to a good invitation. While I could have stuck to black beers, From Lost to the River offered a taste of all three of their beers before making a decision (none were stouts) and I couldn’t resist. There was an English bitter style – very nice – a light and normal IPA, and a very hop forward dry hopped version. I had to have something to equal those powerful black beers from before, so that was Lost IPA, with some more hops behind it. It’s very golden, little head, and sports a bubbly hop aroma. It’s not actually super bitter but very modern hoppy, juicy, with a little bit of peach. You get a good mouthful of beer rather than a poof of overwhelming hops that claw their way down your throat. It’s a bright and blinky beer, styled more as a West Coast IPA than other types, and I would call it fairly standard for IPAs today. I would also say there’s a reason for that being standard.
I only have a morning ticket, so I can’t stay forever. I do have plenty of time for one more, though, and I usually feel like I should leave on a light note. I was intrigued by Cervecería La Política and thought that might be a good closer. I was hoping for a big story about one party or another, but it seems like they’re just playing off the current feeling of dissociation. Anyway, another IPA, fitting aroma and good strong head. Faintly opaque. It’s very much a normal IPA, hoppy, biting-bitter, floral soft and clean. A finishing beer, really, although it does have a hint of dust in it. It feels like a quick gulp and a soft swallow, very easy on the tongue and yet it still has a certain amount of personality to put forward. I only wonder what kind of politics might be represented by the color on the label…
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English