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stout

mother of beers

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Now this looks like a beer I should have had a few weeks ago! Still, better late than never. Of course the can was what caught my eye first, but it is also a desired imperial stout, and from Sibeeria! The design should tip you off to the specific type of stout therein. That’s right, Mexican hot chocolate! I think it will definitely be…Padrísimo.

It pours like a heavy stout, not quite liqui-gel but getting there. I manage to get a nice head of dark beige foam this time, and while it settles down to a much more unassuming level, it still looks like it will do the job. As I have been learning, if anyone knows how to make beer head work, it’s the Czechs. It’s surprisingly un-aromatic, with just a whiff of smoky fire lurking. Getting deep down into the glass, it seems like there’s a little chocolate in there too. The first sip is pure stout, just a little bitter and earthy, but that rolls back to reveal the chili infused chocolate. It’s only a touch of spiciness, a lot like the chocolates with chili bits. You get more spice in the aftertaste than in the mouthful itself. The chocolate part is lighter than I would expect; usually these types of stouts have a darker, baking chocolate character, but this one puts milk chocolate in mind. It’s a sweet middle-taste, lightening the touch of the heavy stout before letting the tickle of the chili follow everything down. The combination of a lighter chocolate and the uplift of chilis makes this stout a very easy drinker and happy company rather than the limelight seeker that some strong-flavored or higher alcohol beers can be. Está padre, de verdad.

Supplier: Más Que Cervezas
Price: €8.20

wake up

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It seems to me that the stouts are getting more and more extravagant, which means they are also getting more and more expensive. I guess if you want something special you better be ready to shell out. I also guess since it’s the end of the year we can treat ourselves a little bit. And if anything’s a treat, it’s a flavored imperial stout, something like vanilla, coffee and maple all together. Latvian Arpus and Michigander Transient have made something that appears gentle and subdued on the label, but might turn out to be quite the flavor bomb.

Another next-to-headless pour. Maybe I’m letting things get a little too cold. Somehow the aroma is frosty, even though it’s clearly the vanilla and maple promised on the can. It’s one of those very dark brown beers, not terrifying black, like overdone syrup. The taste is a maple explosion, with a good floor of pancake. It’s really like drinking breakfast, although there’s no scrambled eggs or breakfast sausage in the beginning. It is pretty heavy on the sweet side, without any of the savoriness or even saltiness some of the other pastry stouts have brandished. If there’s any change in the flavor over time, it’s that it gets a little more sour after a while. It still feels slick and unburdensome, much softer than you would expect from the advertised elements. Maybe I should have kept this one for a little while longer, getting closer to the end of the season with a greater emphasis on the sweet and sugary to keep your engines burning. Oh well, I’m sure I won’t be without tasty beers over the month, extra sweetened or not.

Supplier: Be Hoppy
Price: €9.50

from the café

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This was another one that I couldn’t just leave behind. Sachertorte pastry stout? Fuck yes, Frontaal! You might imagine that some Austrian brewers or even Bavarians were behind this, but it’s the Dutch Frontaal Brewing Company. Calling it Piece of Cake #1 makes me think there’s a whole series that I should be looking for. Beer for thought, indeed.

Small explosion but no disaster, head accumulates but then dies back quickly, good dark beige to it promises cake. This beer has more of a marzipan aroma than the one that claimed to have it, along with a touch of bread and wood. It has a much richer flavor than the first few stouts, although not quite as layered as Dead Barrel. It definitely gives the sensation of liquid cake, with a little chocolate, nuttiness, and perhaps just a whisper of ginger. It feels like it ought to have to little bit of spice to balance out the sweetness, but it really doesn’t. It’s a heavy battery baked good in a can. Maybe all that weight will keep your thoughts from wandering too far.

Supplier: La Buena Cerveza
Price: €6.75

taste of the season

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I could not leave this can behind, no way, even though it’s on the pricey side. It’s coming on Christmas, so I guess that’s my excuse. But really, marzipan chocolate stout? Who can resist?! I do have my doubts about the creaminess of Choco Cream with the use of almonds, but I’m happy to see where it takes me. La Grua and 28030 cooperate in its creation, so it’s a reliably made labor of love.

Another extra heady one, although this foam isn’t quite so luxurious and dies back quickly. It has kind of a green scent to it, foresty, slightly woody. I was expecting a little more sweet chocolate or vanilla, but if anything it tends toward chili. Some deeper breaths pull back the curtain on some cacao-ishness. Taking a sip it becomes clear that it was all hiding out and waiting for the tongue to come along. The taste is an explosion of rich choco-nilla, like a well-made slab of gourmet chocolate. It develops a little bit of powdery texture, not quite as smooth as most gourmet chocolates, but there are certain companies that insist that sort of thing is proof of natural ingredients. It’s not distracting from the overall experience anyway. The beer has a nice moderate weight and never gets overbearing, which seems like a great accomplishment. It could have gotten syrupy or sticky, too sweet or even sour, but it stays balanced and controlled, extremely pleasant and a good for an animated talk or a quiet read.

Supplier: La Buena Cerveza
Price: €7

all for me

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Let’s get a little more into the kind of beers I expect in my Advent calendar – stouts, dammit! Now, this is a Belgian stout, with the medieval name of Troubadour, but it fits right in. As much as I’m going to lean into darkness, Christmas beers can be admitted, and who makes Christmas beers? Most famously? The name of the brewery makes me think it would be a secret pastry stout, or at least a much sweeter stout than normal. But maybe The Musketeers are just about collaboration and solidarity.

Head is extra-fluffy coffee ice cream, and not prone to melting off fast. It’s not terribly strong in aroma, but there is a tiny bit of pleasant toastiness and dark chocolate. It feels creamy and luxurious, spreading hints of licorice as well as the expected coffee over the tongue. It leaves a tiny taste of char at the back of the tongue, otherwise sweeping down the throat easily and without the typical Belgian beer tang. I was afraid it would develop at first, but it’s another pretty standard stout, maybe a little bit thicker and smoother than Bidassoa’s. It gives you a slightly wooly feeling, being a strong and atmospheric beer, and maybe just a little nod to the well-known seasonal beers of its country.

Supplier: Lambeer
Price: €3.70

dark curtain

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Success! I have completed my month of darkness…even if it was only the Saturdays. As hard as it is to find black beers on tap most of the time, bottles and cans to take home and drink at your leisure aren’t scarce. Thankfully. A sentiment that fits the weekend. Most stouts you come across are a little bit extra, if you know what I mean, but there are still some that are plain Russian Imperial Stouts. Yeah, at one time that didn’t sound plain at all. How things change! What I trust hasn’t changed is Bidassoa’s product quality, since this is their work for their Dark Series.

As soon as the cap comes off little puffs of malty goodness fill the air. It has a warm brown-black color and quite a respectable head, one of the fluffier I’ve managed to get in a while. I seem to detect hints of woodiness in the aroma as well, like wet forest walkways. After some sweeter stouts, this one gets back to basics – toasty, smoky, a cloud on the tongue. The simplicity is even a little imposing. This is a beer that’s very sure of itself and you can tell. A sweetish woodiness starts to make an appearance once the beer gets more towards room temperature, but it has a very natural feeling to it, certainly not like sweetened or even barrel aged stouts. I feel like this is a little throwback to earlier days of stout enjoyment, when everyone was vying for the most representative result instead of the most innovative. Not that innovation is bad, it will come in handy later, I think.

Supplier: Lambeer
Price: €5.10

not left behind

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Half of the darkest month is over, although I think I’ll be able to keep a good shadow over December too. While last week was a can of surprises, this week looks like something a little more predictable, which should not mean unpleasant. Garage Beer Co. and Track both contributed to this imperial stout, a rich blend of coffee, vanilla and chocolate from the looks of the ingredients list. Blue Straggler has an unlikely label for this blending I would say, but who knows? There might be some unusual aftertaste that pops up unexpectedly when you look at those featured components.

This one also has some fruity aroma about it, but the head is less satisfying. Colorwise, it’s deep and dark, befitting my streak. It’s not as exciting as that old Diamond, really just plum on the fruit side and the barest whisper of chocolate tickling the nose. The chocolate was lying in wait for the drink it seems, giving a good wallop of bittersweet right up front. The fruit aroma might have been a ghost of my own making, influenced by the can design. Anyway, a very filling and fulfilling beer, with good body and subtle flavors after the initial impression. It has a bit of a dusty coat but is easy enough going down without stickiness or excess sweetness. I am not getting the vanilla or coffee to be honest, it’s actually a fairly simple flavor in that regard. Maybe the chocolate and tonka are asserting themselves a little too much; maybe those notes were only supposed to be suggestive anyway. In any case, it’s undeniably cozy and warming, just what you want on a dark, dark post-Halloween night.

Supplier: La Mundial
Price: €6.80

shiny, shiny possibilities

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It’s still the month of darkness, only the beginning in fact, and already I have a super cool stout. It’s even called a Glittery Imperial Stout, which makes me wonder a little about what color it ended up after brewing, and it’s a collaboration by Amundsen and Vault City, the latter from Scotland, so a good place for something strong and dark to get brewed, and the former a success at giving me what I want in the past. I’m hoping Diamonds in the Mud is chock full of diamonds, or be made of chocolate mud.

There’s a small explosion of tasty smells with the pop of the tab, liquory, vanilla-y, woodsy, coffee…y. While not quite pure black, the brown is darker than an early winter night and the beer is not letting a drop of light get through. Glitter? Diamonds? Maybe that’s what you see when you finish that can. Not terribly heady, but what there is is stubborn and clingy, a nice little cap. The flavor is a festival of fruit and chocolate, cherry, raisin, raspberry, grape? It’s a surprise as a stout, and not an unpleasant one. While a sour stout is not exactly appetizing as an idea, this one has a good balance with the fruitiness lifting up the dark earth of the black beer. There’s a creaminess that you don’t get with sours and I find it very nice, I don’t always appreciate having my throat stabbed by a beer on the way down. Of course, there are stouts that will take a chunk out of you with bitter claws too, but in my experience they aren’t quite as dangerous in that regard.

Supplier: Hop Hop Hurrah
Price: €10.50

going darker

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Oh, I just can’t stop myself from picking up another black beer! It was a hard choice too, there are a lot of new names on the shelves. But Lervig is always trustworthy and it’s been a while since I’ve enjoyed one of their fine products, and while it’s still default vacation I feel like cake. Kransekake, that is. It’s labeled as an imperial stout with almonds (there’s a warning label about them on the back), not a pastry stout, but I have the feeling that it’s going to brush up against that variety.

Although it contains almonds, I’m getting more of an egg nog hit off the smell from the can. In the glass it’s a little nuttier. I haven’t been able to pour for head recently, but again, the beer is a rich and inviting color, and temptingly opaque. It has that syrupy pastry stout sweetness, and more than natural almonds I detect marzipan on the tongue. Good for me I love the stuff. There’s also a good whack of raisin and preserved fruit, another kind of Christmas-y note. It’s a thick and heavy beer, not what most people would choose for a summertime sip. I’m happy enough with it being sweet, that gives you a little kick when you feel run down, even in Madrid summer.

Supplier: Más Que Cervezas
Price: €6.47

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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