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Spanish beer

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+

can’t undrink

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Is this the first Saturday of a series of terror? Will darkness descend and drive us into madness? Probably, but it’s not so dark today! After my taste sensation last week, I have something that’s almost more of a palate cleanser, although only for hobby drinkers like myself. It’s an Oso-Prizm collab, and I have had some mindblowing Prizms recently, at a respectable 8.5%. It promises a basket of fruit, although more in taste references than in actual fruit puree as an additive, and I notice with interest that there are three, count ’em three, grains in the ingredients list: purity-compliant barley; exception-demanding wheat; because-they’re-there oats. With all the curiosities, the name makes a lot of sense. Let’s indulge in some Clickbait DIPA.

It’s cloudy and lemony colored, pillowy headed and lightly spiced. Very lightly in fact, there’s hardly any aroma at all. I suppose there’s a hint of fruit in there, just an echo of a can of mandarins or pineapple opened hours ago. I am once again surprised by the explosion of flavor that comes with the first sip. It’s a tangle of tropical tastes, I can’t really pull them apart at first. I also feel a real weight to the beer, maybe from the triplet grain content. It’s one of the less citrusy IPAs, with more of a peach and mango character, and that squeeze of pineapple on top. It’s like the last echo of summer vacation, with a yellow-y orange sunset belying the coming dark evenings. It’s a candle in a pumpkin, sending out just a few rays of light from squirrel chewed holes (that was a crazy photo to come across). It’s a torch leading the way…down what road, we can only wait and see.

Supplier: Lambeer
Price: €7.50

counted

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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

won’t leave you crabby

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So, a quick break from the road of darkness, but don’t worry! We’ll be back on it soon enough. It felt right at the moment to get a variety pack from Lambeer, since I’m focusing on cans in the refrigerator. I hesitated before picking up Crab Fruit, to be honest, but it doesn’t look like it has isinglass or anything. It is a smoothie sour ale, packed with tropical fruit and a restaurant mascot quality crab on the label. We thought it might have been coming on fall, but it looks like temperatures will be going back up. Oh well, a good sour can perk you up on a steamy night, no matter the season.

Very bright and lemonadey color, fizzy and nice head at first, but it soon fizzles out. There’s a tiny bit of sour and seashore in the aroma, barely gassy, peachy and coconutty. It almost tastes like a piña colada, but maybe a little more sour than they usually are. There’s a light covering of tropical fruit flavors over a sourball center. I’m clear on the pineapple and coconut, and I think I can detect the vanilla, although I had to be reminded that it was there, but damned if I can’t identify the passionfruit in it. It stays tangy and with a little prickliness even as the fizziness peters out, but the brightness does keep it easy to drink. It’s an absolute ball of sunshine. The end of the can is … suddenly chunky. There’s quite a bit of sediment, I’m assuming the fruit puree. It doesn’t disrupt drinking at all, and brings a lot more pineapple to the flavor for the final kiss.

Supplier: Lambeer
Price: €6.90

carved out

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This was the first beer I grabbed off Más Que Cerveza’s shelf, with that luscious cake on the can and the promise of a dessert stout in the name. It certainly looks promising, this Black Forest Gateau. It’s an imperial milk stout with cherry puree and aged on oak chips, which makes it sound all fancy. I assumed Soul Fire was an English brewery, but the price should have tipped me off; you don’t often find big cans under €5 anymore, and an imported one would be absolutely unheard of. It is, in fact, a Spanish brewery, based in Jerez de la Frontera. The contact with wine-making was a benefit for a lot of the early craft breweries in the center of Spain, so maybe sherry will have a similar effect.

Finally a blacker stout, not so heady as recent ones though. There’s chocolate in the aroma, but with some kind of rubber. It smells more like a chocolate toy than real chocolate. Keep sniffing and the cherries will also come out to greet you shyly. Not as sweet as the name implies, and a little rubbery in flavor too. I wonder if it’s some reaction in the oak that brings that out. Eventually the fruit essence goes more banana than cherry but it never really gets sweeter. The woodiness comes out more and gets a little rougher, which is something different. Although the flavor is unignorable, the beer itself has a very light feel and a certain smoothness in spite of the up-front oak presence. I think this one would really benefit from some dessert along with it, just so you don’t feel like you’re chewing on wood chips through the whole can. It starts to pick up some smokiness after a while, is the wood doing something special in there? I can’t say that this is my favorite of any recent beers, or even one I would recommend. Somebody probably likes it, but I wouldn’t want to presume.

Supplier: Más Que Cervezas
Price: €4.89

roll for luck

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It’s coming down to the end and I just need to fill another week with beer. As if that’s a problem. Maybe today I’ll take a short detour from the path of darkness, and pour out something new and shiny – a West Coast Pils. Hang on, what’s that? Is it just a pilsner with West Coast hops? According to some, it does hang quite a bit on the hops, although not exclusively. This one is primarily flavored with Krush, which is indeed a hop from the West Coast, and also “a touch of Citra”. It was the newish style plus the name Loco Dice that decided me, and only checking out did I realize it was from Garage. Now I’m well and truly sold on it.

It’s ridiculously light, with an abundant head that almost glows. It’s also perfectly clear, showing the tiny bubbles flying around like sea monkeys. The hops are present from the first second of the can being opened, jungly, catnippy, hitting both West Coast and pilsner notes. Straight from the beer, the aroma is extra bready and with a generous helping of savory. It’s like a liquid pretzel. A little bit of salty spice comes through in the flavor, but it’s definitely balanced with a natural grain sweetness. I’m pulled to try to identify a fruit sensation in keeping with the traditional connection of WC with IPA, but it really pulls off the pilsner. There’s that touch of honey and lemon that the classic ones give you, after a startling caraway puff into your nose. Despite it’s pilsiness and appearance of a quiet summer drink, it has a complexity that you feel the need to examine and almost brood over. From Garage, you can expect no less.

Supplier: Be Hoppy
Price: €5.75

a possible preview

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Boy, time flies when you’re having fun with beer, and it’s the last Arriaca in my stash. Maybe the red IPA would have been nice to save for the end, something powerful to go out with a bang to, but I do have a soft spot for märzens. I like to have one at the end of most days to shove me off to sleep. Thus far, Arriaca has been strong in both drinkabiliy and style compliance, so we can expect nothing less from Tostada Märzen. Just letting the Spanish drinker know what they’re in for with that first part, I guess.

It’s as typical a märzen as you could find, with the reddish gold color, the slightly honeyed aroma, and the rough malty flavor. As similar as it appears to Voll Damm, it has a little more stability and body. It’s smooth and soft, very pleasant drinking, and would be a nice counterpoint to sour-savory kraut and wurst or the blandness of potatoes. I have Oktoberfest on my mind already, especially since I’ve already seen signs around town for it. Maybe it’s a little heavy for some, but märzen is supposed to carry the strength of a whole summer of lagering. Once again, Arriaca shows its talent and skill, producing a quality beer that’s a true representative of its style and its maker.

ruby noma

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Now we’re getting daring! Parting from the pale ale and lager, it’s time for a red IPA, and Imperial Red IPA to boot! At least it must have been easy to choose the color for the label. I have learned that Arriaca was the first craft beer to appear in cans, certainly a trend later and practically the norm now, and one of the founders of AECAI, the association of independent Spanish craft brewers. They aren’t as old as some, but they are more than a decade old at this point, and as far as I can tell are still forging their own path. It’s probably a little romantic to hope for things to be long-lasting and unchanging, or at least changing slowly, in this day and age, but we all need some stability in our lives.

This is an appetizing look, with a dark rusty brown liquid and a thick off-white head. This one, despite its IPA category, is not especially aromatic. There’s just a little tickle of hops, but it’s more toasty than fruity. Like many red ales, it doesn’t follow a particular pattern, but has a wavering flavor between sweet and bitter. For most of the sip it’s on the sweet side, but there’s a definite bitter aftertaste. It has a well formed body that fills the mouth without being overwhelming, goes down easily, and is disarmingly soft for its alcohol content. It’s a little dangerous in fact, so easy to sip down that if you’re not careful you’ll have drunk the whole can, and a second one, before you know it.

hop day

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Right in the middle of my Arriaca flight, with a hoppy lager. While a more modern style, I’m expecting something of a traditional bent, much like their ales. My can is a little dirty, which I didn’t notice before, but it must have been something that happened on the shelf. The shitty fridge isn’t going to have dirt raining down from the top, is it? Nobody’s complained about food contamination yet. I’m a little disappointed that Arriaca does not list their hops like some other breweries do; it would be interesting to compare the varieties used in their styles.

This one has aroma that leaps out of the can. It’s not quite head-butting, but it makes itself known. The look is classic lager, bright golden color and bright white head, which really fills up the top of the glass. It takes its protective role seriously for this beer, I see. The taste is also practically an homage to traditional lagers, with sweet maltiness and just a touch of hops to cover up excess grain (not that I suspect excesses). It’s a bright call to arms, more energetic than the session IPA, although not too much more complex. It has a few layers to it, with the malt and a touch of lemon and honey. The frothy head decreases little by little, but pouring out the rest of the can revives it to its original glory. It’s a well balanced hoppy lager, with both components clearly detectable, but in a way that complements each other rather than fighting for attention.

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