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Spanish beer

this one counts

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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

unrattled

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A festive season is approaching, but for the moment, a lighter beer might be the most appropriate. I am saving up the darkness for the near future, when I intend to wallow, wallow, wallow, so even a radler is acceptable as a nice contrast. To be honest, I don’t see too many craft radlers or shandies, although they are around, sours seem to be the fashion of our time if you want to get away from strong bitterness. So, it was somewhat surprising to see Bidassoa standing innocently on the shelf. They’ve been around for a while, so I guess it’s time to try even these commercial creations.

It pours out like the fizzy drink that it really is, although with a good whiff of musk. The bright white head dissolves into a thin mat pretty quickly. The taste is sharp and summery, very sweet lemonade at first with a mildly bitter beer chaser. It feels very full at first, the sweetness probably makes you think the beer is heavier than it really is, but once you swallow it doesn’t leave much behind. To be honest, it’s a little too sweet for me and a little too sticky when in the mouth. As a more equinoxial beer I think it would do fine, but while summer is still strong I would actually be happier with something a little more bitter or foresty. Or a stout, always a stout.

Supplier: Hop Hop Hurrah
Price: €2.65

bee’s knees

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Things are cooling down outside but about to heat up in work, so it feels like a good time to grab one more strong drink. Of course, stouts are my go-to at any time for any reason, but I have plans for the future and variety is always good. So, why not an IPA? Why not indeed, and let’s make it double! Garage, makers of oh so many fantastic brews, has a hearty product on the shelves – Hexagons Honey DIPA.

Slightly spicy aroma, something like caraway, and a color that speaks to its name. Head appears fragile with larger bubbles, but does keep a pretty good cap on for a while. The scent in the glass takes on more sweetness, mostly typical IPA citrus, but there’s some honey lurking at the base. The first impression of the flavor is that it’s more like the first NEIPAs I had, smooth, sweet, like a beermosa. It has some extra sharpness in the throat, so it’s not completely a pushover, but for the most part it’s very drinkable light. I get a bit of coating on the tongue, although the beer itself doesn’t feel sticky at all.

Supplier: Be Hoppy
Price: €6.75

tinta de verano

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Weather patterns are strange things. Last summer was unbearable straight through, and this summer is only intermittently so. It’s bad when it’s bad, though, makes you feel like hibernating. The best I can do, I think, is turn to Oso Brew, with their snappy label designs and wild pastry stouts and sours. Or maybe not so wild this time, Tinta porter is actually a very laid-back can in comparison with others.

Perhaps a little extra bubbly, and with murderous bubbles at that. You can see them attacking the head and eating it away from the second you stop pouring. The color is nice, rich chocolate brown, and the aroma sends up tendrils of plum and cocoa. Yes, you might think it’s more appropriate for colder days, but I will not be denied my dark beer at any time of year. The chocolate carries over into the flavor, with shades of fruit – I can’t quite tell if it’s more cherry or raspberry, but it is a lot like those fancy dark chocolate bars with bits of fruit in them. Maybe more cherry, like the ones with chili and cherry gel. The taste is pleasant and mouth-filling, although the beer doesn’t feel very heavy in itself. There is a slight trail of aftertaste, leaving hints of smoke. It’s a happy little beer, maybe not as elaborate as Oso’s pastry stouts, but it gives you something extra in the style, something that leaves you well satisfied.

Supplier: Be Hoppy
Price: €4

7/10 would drink again

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As we roll into the month of vacations, it’s nice to look back as well as forward. Spain’s craft beer scene has just barely cleared a decade, and the field is still vibrant, changeable and volatile. Bars and stores come and go, breweries appear, expand, and sometimes get absorbed or simply vanish. As humans, we like to celebrate round numbers especially, those multiples of ten making the biggest emotional impact. Is the first decade the most exciting? It might be in most cases, actually, but the desired answer would probably be that the excitement will only grow as time goes on. San Frutos Siete, a Catarina Sour, shows the blending of fashion and tradition we still see in craft beer. Let’s see if it shows their typical quality as well.

Very, very light color, kind of a washed out gold. It has good head at first, but that goes down quickly. It’s extremely fruity in aroma, without the usual sulfur or swampiness that I get off of sours and some fruity beers. My first impression is mandarin, but there’s some passionfruit and maybe mango lurking in there too. Very tropical overall. There might be a hint of banana? Maybe that’s just psychological as I imagine a typical fruit basket, which tends to have some bananas. It’s not nearly as sweet and fruitpunchy as it seems when you get it in your mouth. The sour part of the style comes back with a vengeance, wiping out most other flavors you’re looking for. It even hangs around like a powerful sour candy, just waiting to take out anything you send after it. After the initial shock, I think some fruitiness does come out in the aftertaste, a little citrus and maybe some other tropical fruit I can’t describe properly. It has almost a ghostly feel, no weight at all, leaving all the heavy lifting to the flavor. It’s extremely refreshing, and not a bigass beer at a modest 4.6%. To sit in the shade, let the world pass by, and enjoy by itself, it’s a good choice. Happy Anniversary indeed.

Supplier: La Mundial
Price: €6

wake up

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It’s as summery as you want and I will insist on a stout. Pastry stout! It’s almost more refreshing to have a pastry stout than a normal one, since that sugar kicks in. And this particular stout by Malandar is not only sugary, it’s chocolatey and coffee…-y. Some might be put off by the name – Donkaccino – but those people probably shouldn’t be drinking exotic liquids anyway.

Appealing color, but not very heady, even with an abundance of bubbles. There’s a good whiff of chocolate and vanilla, although with a touch of licorice. All come through in the flavor, although there’s also a good bit of toastiness, almost to the point of burned toast. The smokiness of charred bread hangs around in the aftertaste, well after everything else floats away. It starts off smooth and silky, every easy to get down, but the stickiness rises over time and after a few sips starts to leave a little residue along with flame-based aftertaste. Towards the end a woody flavor develops, reminiscent of barrel aged stouts, but maybe it’s just some absolutely sucked-dry coffee beans.

Supplier: La Mundial
Price: €7.90

always a season

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It’s been a hallmark of craft breweries to do some seasonal beers, either traditional styles or more modern innovations. Sometimes they become regular, like Christmas beers, sometimes they appear and vanish into the dark expanses of memory. Even those breweries taken under the papery wings of Big Beer sometimes continue fun, like Leinenkugel’s Summer Shandy or La Virgen’s Castaña ale. I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised to see Estrella Galicia joining the fun, after all they hype themselves as being at the level of craft breweries in terms of innovation and attitude. Is Fresh Summer Ale another way to resist the summer temperatures?

Very bubbly, fluffy head that gently dissipates, very light orange and transparent. It has a somewhat ale-y aroma, but it’s more like industrial beers with a good load of grain than the citrusy craft ales. Flavorwise, it hits you with a firm bitter, but rolls back into more of a maltiness. It’s light and easy going down, doesn’t leave a lot of aftertaste. It gets a touch of lemon after a couple of sips, although not to the point of being shandy-like. It has a very summery profile, definitely something that you would enjoy under an umbrella on the beach or at the bar, you could probably put several down without thinking much about it. I don’t mind this for a little change, but I think I prefer helles even for the summer. Keeps my grounded, or something.

touch of perfume

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A present! Yay! A friend had gone to the lavender festival not far from Madrid, where musicians had performed and many snacks had been sold, and brought me back a lavender beer. It turns out about 10% of the world’s lavender comes from Brihuega! Not bad at all. I have the vague memory of coming across a lavender beer at a past Beermad, when they were still at the Railroad Museum, which I did not hate. I know because I have not hated a single Beermad beer. Could it have been the same maker? This bottle says it was made by a butcher shop, so perhaps not. But who knows? Maybe Carnicería Clemente got Vulturis or some other brewer to cook up and bottle a few years ago too. The beer contains wheat, so I’m expecting that that will be the overwhelming experience of the beer and the lavender will be more in the aroma without affecting the liquid parts so much.

Very light golden color, straw yellow at first but gaining in golden quality. Not a lot of head, and what there is fizzles off into a tiny ring around the edge. The perfume is double-edged; searching for the lavender, you do find it floating on top, but there’s a much stronger almost musky aroma coming in low. It’s a little more like a wet field than a field of lavender, at least based on the scents I’ve been exposed to. But maybe this is the more natural aroma before it gets processed? The taste starts out tingly, flower-sweet, with a sort of perfume essence to it, then rolling down into a more spicy-sour, a battle of field and hay barn. The flowers come back in the aftertaste, although I don’t think I would be able to identify them as lavender if I didn’t know. Whenever something tastes flowery I default to clover. It has a quality of a sour beer without being especially sharp and yet it’s not a beer that you would drink without even thinking. It makes me wish I had a cheese board or something, it’s a beer that would not be harmed by a little mellow snack to take the edge off the bite of nature.

not electric

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There’s a fine brewery to my north where many a fine beer has been produced. Maybe not the most interesting beers, mostly varieties of pale ale, but all quite tasty. Of course they have branched out into sours, it’s the hot, hot summer, and we need that little snap of almost sugar with that cheek grabbing sour. The can is almost subdued, pastels but promising something exciting. Not a Boogaloo, actually, but maybe you’d want to get up and dance with all those blueberries, mangoes and currants flying around your mouth. Oh, you want to know what brewery is making this potion? Of course you do! It’s Península.

It’s kind of a fizzy grapefruit color, with a little head in the beginning, although it fizzles out. That sulfury aroma that many sours have is present, along with whiffs of astringent fruit. There’s a balance of sweet and sour in the taste, but definitely more weight on the sour. It has kind of a sour candy sort of flavor. While bubbly at first, the carbonation starts to wane with the minutes and the beer takes on the smoother texture, leaving only the sourness to smack your tongue around. It starts off pretty clean, many the fizz sweeps up on the way down, but as it gets flatter it gets thicker and heavier. Not to the point of unpleasantness or where you wouldn’t want to finish the glass, but it is a noticeable difference. Still, for those that are wary of taking on a black beer under a broiling sun, it might be a good option.

Supplier: Labirratorium
Price: €5.20

summer treat

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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!

Supplier: Labirratorium
Price: €4.75

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