Skip to content

Let's Learn Beer!

Facebook Twitter Instagram

Let's Learn Beer!

Twitter Youtube Instagram Facebook

Let's Learn Beer!

Twitter Youtube Instagram Facebook

Let's Learn Beer!

Facebook Twitter Instagram Youtube

Pyrene Brewing Co.

say it three times

  • by

Although I am not the biggest fan of sours, sometimes something in the ingredients, or the name or the label convince me to pick one up. This is one of those times. It’s Pyrene, a reliable brewery, so good start. And it’s covered in creepy monsters, so another point in its favor. And finally? Those monsters come from … BEETLEJUICE! No, I won’t repeat it twice more, I need to get down to drinking.

It’s leaping to escape the can, so much that it can’t even ruffle up a good head for itself. It does fizz so it kind of lean towards a soda more than a beer. The typical sour gassiness comes off it when you take a sniff, but it’s a very faint aroma this time. While it has good color, it’s almost pastel peachy, not a saturated red or pink. It has a delicate flavor, sweet, a little melony and strawberry, kind of a shaggy texture, but not spikey. This is very much a summer drink at first sip! It stays consistently fresh-fruity, not going sour, bitter, or syrupy. A very enjoyable sour, if I do say so myself. It’s a good choice on days when the street is like an oven, in triple digits Fahrenheit (a little more impressive than the double-digit Celsius measurements).

Supplier: Lambeer
Price: €6.50

oopsie

  • by

What kind of German film watcher am I, without German beers for my weekend? Not to worry, I’ll have a couple on Sunday. For tonight, it’s a strong imperial stout, to go with bittersweet feelings about film festivals. This is not the first time I’ve picked up a Pyrene, and I seem to recall being impressed. This Black Boots is also a collaboration with Pink Boots Brew, named for the women’s society looking out for them in the industry. Maybe I should have had this one in March…

Yep, yep, new towel

It is a very proud pouring beer, with quite a thick head. It does kind of deflate like a cocoa soufflé, though. There’s a very breakfast cereal-y aroma, with chocolate, but also a savory breadiness, so toast is definitely present and maybe a little bit of sausage? The flavor starts out with a somewhat cold dark chocolate whisper, but then something green floats up out of the abyss. It tastes like a health drink pretending to be a shake or something. It doesn’t taste so much like an old beer as a beer that hasn’t quite settled yet, but it could still be that it’s older than it should be. And has been dragged around out of refrigeration more than necessary. I’m not enamored of the sprouting flowers flavor, that also starts to develop a little sourdough aftertaste, but it’s not the worst beer I’ve ever had. It’s not even the worst one I’ve had this month. But maybe I really should have had it in March.

this one counts

  • by

We’re on the cusp of fall and Oktoberfest, what better time for a beer called Nosferatu? It’s not a German beer sadly, but we can’t have everything. A mountain brewery like Pyrene will be able to give their product the light and shadow worthy of a Murnau movie. Maybe there’s even a little bit of the supernatural spirit of old Iberia left up there that nobody in civilized, modern cities talks about anymore.

A very agreeable introduction, with a dusty rose color and hint of grapefruit aroma. Plenty of tiny bubbles on the sides of the glass, but not much head. Even upon closer inspection, it smells more like grapefruit soda than anything else. But upon tasting, that vanishes. The taste is also quite a surprise, though, with gingerbread, apple and just a little bit of dirty wood in the starring roles. The color makes it look like spring, but the flavor is definitely fall. It might even lean a little more into Christmas, making Jack Skellington a more appropriate namesake than Count Orlok. It takes a while for the expected sourness to make an appearance, and then it’s only drifting in on the aftertaste. I was also expecting some saltiness, but I guess that’s wrapped up in the gingerbread. It’s definitely a surprising beer, and a welcome surprise at that, although a gose purist might not be so happy with it. I did not double check the fruit content before drinking, so it’s a little odd that none of the listed fruits came through at all, and even knowing to look for cherry or current, they are only discovered with difficulty. I think the tonka bean has completely escaped me. Must have flown off into the darkening night.

Supplier: Labirratorium
Price: €5.15

en_USEnglish
es_ESSpanish en_USEnglish