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Drunken Bros.

taste the music

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I went looking for stouts as usual, and lo and behold, they have appeared for the fall! We will see them soon enough. I got caught up with a sour first, a strawberry and black currant number. Funny how they get stored near the stouts, maybe they’re going alphabetically. This sour bears the name Syd and is part of Drunken Bros. Memorial Series, which I didn’t think about at first, but now I suppose it must be named for a certain punk musician. Well, no, after a little research it is a different musician altogether that the beer is namesake for. Wrong spelling for the punk’s name anyway. In any case, it does look more fitting for this other Syd, with the somewhat psychedelic design on the can and the ruddy color scheme.

A little explodey, possibly from not being chilled enough, but no real disaster. It very much has a natural strawberry appearance, with a calm orangey salmon pink, not so much black currant. Abundantly headed, not so well-endowed aroma-wise. There are tantalizing hints of bread and jelly, a morning sort of smell, maybe triggering a wake-up response. It does not taste like toast and jelly, though, it tastes exactly like a fruit sour beer. There’s the tang with some sweetness underneath and a clean and smooth feel down the throat. Strawberry sours often have some kind of dustiness to them, and do not tend to be desserty really, and there’s a touch of that, but there’s also an almost syrupy currant nectar playing alongside it. My impression is that currants themselves are not that sweet, maybe even astringent like cranberries, but a black currant drink always carries a heavy load of sweetness. A warmer beer, more settled, starts to show more character and bite, giving a little bit of sting on the way down. It’s not quite winter yet, and doesn’t even completely feel like fall, and this beer has a fitting last gasp of summer in it to my palate.

Supplier: Más Que Cervezas
Price: €5.19

down to darkness

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Finally I have another dark beer in my hand! It’s been a bit of time. I would have liked something sturdier, but a porter can also be very enjoyable, with its layers and details that make you stop and think about what you’re really drinking. Drunken Bros. Remastered Porter might have crossed my table before, but this is “remastered”. And it looks like there have been some additions to the ingredients list for some extra flavor sensations. It’s not a pumpkin beer, nor a pumpkin pie beer, but there might be some dessert elements.

A handsome chocolate syrup colored liquid, and a mocha head, it starts out well with its appearance. The aroma is smoky, with a whisper of fruit. Maybe raisins? The orange is not especially noticeable, which I appreciate. However, it does pop up when you take a nice soothing sip, a little orange drink in a watered-down coffee. It’s an interesting balance of typical black beer warmth and a little citrus to lighten the load, probably making it more attractive at all times of the year. There’s a weird prickliness about it, it’s not as smooth as it seemed like it was going to be, but that gives it some punch and something memorable. I have the wish in the back of my mind for something heavier, more seasonal…I guess it’s time to go shopping.

Supplier: Hidden Beers
Price: €6+

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

dark dreams

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A week ago it was supposed to rain for days, but that dried up pretty quickly. I picked up a few black beers in anticipation, and now I feel a little bit cheated by the weather. But it’s hardly the first time for that. At least a Double Black IPA has some of the light and dark to fit in with any eventuality. Drunken Bros. has some good ideas, and some damn interesting label designs. It (the name of the beer, not just the pronoun) is one of a series, which can only stimulate the desire to find those beers and drink them too.

It comes out like a porter, dark chocolatey brown and fizzy head, but it has the unmistakable IPA aroma. With concentration you can pick up a little bit of toast, but it’s subtle. The taste starts out like an IPA, bitter but herbal, but it drags a good amount of burned toast behind it. Actually, it’s more like burned pizza crust, with the herbs infiltrating from the sauce. The beer feels light enough, but it leaves a sensation of tickliness after the swallow, like the carbonation has escaped the liquid somehow and decided to lie out on the tongue. The toastiness dies down after a while and a sort of marmalade develops in the flavor. The beer feels smoother and sweeter, oddly a little more like a blend of IPA and porter than at the start.

Supplier: Labirratorium
Price: €5.05

modern nostalgia

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What to do about a holiday dedicated to drinking? Skip it since it’s too mainstream? That sounds like me, although not really because of the idea of the mainstream, but because that usually means crowds. I’ll just take something to go, thank you. The least I can do is have a black beer, even if it is a porter rather than a stout, and “remastered” instead of classic. It’s Drunken Bros Remastered Porter, promising something new in the comforting shell of the familiar.

The can seems extra full, with a little spit up on opening the tab, but it doesn’t explode in fury. The aroma explodes, like a freshly ripped open pack of coffee. It’s one of the more coffee than petroleum beers, a rich dark brown and only beige-ish head, and a roasted and lightly sweetened scent floating off it. The beer feels smooth and light, and starts out like a nice milky coffee, but it doesn’t take long for claws to grow. First there’s more bitter that rises up and grabs your attention, and then the beer itself leaves some of its smoothness behind. Now it’s a little more like a coffee cake that got left out overnight, crumbly and scratching but still delicious.

Supplier: Hop Hop Hurra
Price: €3.55

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