something missing?

Once there was a beer store on a street of bars.  It boasted chocolate and jelly along with a fairly eclectic selection of beers.  It was called The Beer Garden, although there wasn't even street seating.  Then, not long ago, they moved house, to c/Juan de Austria 23.  Now there is more space inside to sit and partake of the many beers they have, on tap and in the bottle.  Still don't have a garden, though.

When I arrived it was early, and there were two groups of adults with a baby in each group, one upstairs and one at the bar.  No escape.  I figured I would be better off upstairs, with a little more space.  I ordered my beer first, Birrificio Pontino Cryo Runner Ale.  Glass and peanuts in hand, I went up.

Cryo Runner Ale is listed as a NEIPA, but it's a lot less cloudy than the ones I've seen before.  It's also less pungent.  The taste is quite smooth, though, hinting at citrus and never letting loose with a punch of bitterness.  Even the salt-dusted peanuts couldn't draw out sharper, harsher flavors.  It's similar to a lot of more recent IPAs and APAs in that there is a fruitiness in it that is a lot more delicate than what we've come to expect from a craft IPA.  The heavy hoppiness is absent and the flavor is more subtle, and perhaps more summery.  It would be welcomed by those who find IPAs too bitter, but still want the essence of the tropics they can evoke, as opposed to plain ol' lager.

Oops...hey, bartender

The place is fun, with a carefully careless style of decoration.  The music is of interesting, retro/classic selection, although maybe a tad loud if you're looking to have a quiet conversation.  Just be careful with some of the chairs.  Their joints seem to need some attention.

Some record collection, but the phone has the playlist

Have silent contemplation you will not

my better half

Time to visit some beer stores!  Artesana Week took up my time last week, and now I'm getting back to the roots, scuttling home to have a drink in front of my own window, with my own music in the background.  One of my newest discoveries is minutes from work, Ruta 33cl on c/ Hilarión Eslava.  Like a lot of the beer stores that first popped up, it's kind of a hole-in-the-wall, but with space in the back for tastings and other events.  The gentleman behind the counter is very helpful.  Hell, that's what you come to expect in these places by now, everybody wants to find the best beer for you.  Since I always lean towards the dark beers, those are the ones that got pointed out, some of them with delicious descriptions and uncomfortable prices.  Finally, Nickel Brook's Half Bastard Stout came with me, if anything because of the name.

It pours really nicely, somehow just sounding smooth.  It lets a little light through, but the color is mostly rich and dark.  The head is stouty beige, but quick to disappear.  There's a lightly smoky scent, very delicate, and promising of a relaxed drink.  Bitterness heads up the flavor, but it's a pleasant, coffee-like taste, leaving a hint of licorice behind.  It's rather light for a stout at 4.5%, but the feeling isn't thin or watered down by any means.  It's a calm and laid-back beer, with subtle notes of flavor instead of blaring taste trumpets.  The smoothness makes me think I would enjoy it year-round, no matter the temperature.  At the moment spring is springing, and summer is making waking noises.  But with a bastard by my side, I can get through until the fall.

Supplier: Ruta 33cl
Price: €5

overwhelming!

Some fun having beer festivals during the week when you get up early every day!  Well, I managed to squeeze out a couple of visits to Lavapiés Artesana Week anyway.  If I had the time, I could probably visit all 31 venues over the course of the week, with a 28cl beer in each, but since I had to economize my time, there are only four to show.  First on Thursday, when I only had a couple of hours in the afternoon, I had to find a place that opened before 6pm.  There are a few, taverns and restaurants, and I thought I would try La Mancha (Miguel Servet 13). 

They were serving Bizarra, a beer from Salamanca, for the fair, although they might have it regularly?  I wandered in at about 2pm, and the place was gloriously empty to my eyes.  There was one couple at the tables on the street and one small group inside.  I got my Bizarra Tostada and my little tapa and sat down myself.  The beer has an apply, kind of cidery scent and a color that also recalls American apple cider.  The taste, on the other hand, would be described as bittersweet.  It's really quite a dry flavor, especially for a brown ale.  I keep expecting the sweetness to break through, but it really doesn't.  There is an interesting nutty background, but the taste is definitely bitter and a little smoky, like burned toast.  The acidity stays in the throat, building up, like with a strong lemonade.  There is a hint of caramel in the fore of the sip, but it is fleeting, and it takes a while for a smoothness to develop in the taste.  Only at the bottom of the glass does it seem like a little sugary teaser comes out, but the beer is never really sweet.  It's too strong to be a conversation or a meal beer, but quite nice to relax with accompanied by a mild snack and an interesting book.

Evening market

Friday night came and so did the desire to toss back a few.  We started at La Buena Pinta in Mercado San Fernando, which was surrounded by adults and children alike.  I'm not sure if this isn't the regular thing here, people coming with their kids to the market for a Friday night drink.  La Buena Pinta had La Virgen and Medina on tap, the latter being the represented brewery of the fair.  The promotion was a wheat IPA, suspect for me, but I'll try it.  It's light yellow, cloudy, looking quite a bit like a NEIPA.  The aroma also falls in line with that, being light and fruity.  The flavor is sweet, a little dusty, certainly not citrusy.  While it's a little sticky, the taste is very regular and balanced, not veering into bitter or cloying with a little time and temperature (it was damn hot in there!)

We escaped to the street looking for a snack and fell upon Como Vaca Sin Cencerro near Metro Lavapiés.  We were lucky to find one table free.  Their offering was La Loba IPA, but we got one IPA and one lager.  I took the darker colored beer, and it seems I got the lager.  A little disappointing, it had the same color as many Imperial IPAs.  The smell is a bit sweet, and the taste a bit flowery.  There seems to be a little dust in this beer as well.  It reminds me of Sagra Premium actually.  This is more of a company beer, not demanding too much attention, but it does develop a little more character in the presence of food.  Our small meal of potato/egg/mushroom/ham forced a little sharpness out of the brew.

Looking suspiciously like an Imperial IPA

Action tapas!

Wandering out into the rain, we darted down the likely streets looking for the posters in the windows.  For the last drink of the night we got into Aguardiente on calle de la Fe, more of a cocktail bar than regular bar.  Nice place, though, and the music wasn't too loud, with an enjoyable selection.  The beer here was from Alegría, a saison with a touch of lambic.  It was definitely fruity, but on the sour side.  While cleansing and refreshing, it goes a bit outside the comfort zone for typical beer drinking.  As I said, it really harkens back to lambics.  I found it to be a pleasant end-of-evening beer, which would have been better if I'd had something heavier before, stouts for example.  My drinking buddies were not so impressed, finding it more vinegary than they like their beers to be.

Don't forget those dates...

Once the glasses were drained, we tumbled out into the wet streets of the old city, fortunately not being rained on at the moment.

unstoppable

Edge Brewing may be based in Barcelona, but their labels proudly state American Craft Beer.  Given the importance of the water used in brewing, I'd suppose that American breweries would have a hard time emulating the final product.  It's certainly better than Barcelona tap water.  Edge has a number of interesting and delicious brews, but today I felt like a good strong ale.  Juggernaut Double IPA was on the shelf to meet the need.

It's a rich orange tinged yellow color with a bright, foamy head.  There's an immediate whiff of citrus when opening the bottle, but it's delicate and fruity, not overbearing.  The flavor is an interesting blend of sweet and bitter, in the best sense; they seem to work as a swirling yin-yang rather than angry racers trying to pass each other on the road, so while the taste seems to change by the moment, it's in complimentary ways.  There is a tendency for the flavor to hang around, so it's not as clean as other ales might be, but the taste itself remains light.  For a double IPA it's not very harsh, although some might find the hops a little much.  But they should know it's a double before they start drinking.

Supplier: La Birratorium
Price: €3.65