Pyrene Brewing Co. – Let's Learn Beer!

oopsie

by Ceit
June 14, 2025June 17, 2025

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…

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 Ceit
September 16, 2023October 19, 2023

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