little mysteries

The bartender at BeerGeek kindly gave me some recommendations for more places to explore for craft beer, one of them being Malý/Velký.  It's actually fairly convenient, being towards the other end of the nearby streetcar 22.  No transportation transfers!

It was a little strange to walk into.  The placard is in the street (which is in the midst of roadwork) and the sign is on the door, but it looks like you're just walking into an office building or something.  Then I saw a tiny mark on the far wall - M/V -> - which sent me past the door to the kitchen of the restaurant next door, and down a flight of stairs.  The bar is actually down there, quite cozy.  No flights here, so I just had to choose a couple.

First was Falkon Metropolitan session IPA.  It has a good color, slightly rusty, low head.  There's a clearly orange tendency in the aroma, but it's really not overwhelming.  There's not much spice to speak, in comparison with, say, All Day.  It's mostly a mild citrus sweetness.  The flavor is also a solid orange citrus, with barely any bitter at all.  That mostly comes out in the aftertaste.  It has rather a thick texture in the mouth, kind of rolls slowly through and down the throat.  It's a subdued sort of beer, while enjoyable.  It has good flavor but without complexity, easy to drink without feeling like you need to keep an eye on how many ingredients you can count.

I was in the "garden" at first, although I went inside after finishing the Metropolitan.  Just too hot outside, even in a patio.  There was a decrepit wooden floor out there, with one hole already in it, and shortly before I left a guy came and sat down in a chair on that wood and punched another hole in it.  Nobody seemed to be surprised or upset though, even him.

The previously existing hole

I was intrigued by Herr Axolotl, the raspberry Berliner Weisse.  That's not what I got though.  I'm not sure what it was, but it was not the pinkish beer that I think it should have been.  It was instead lemony and cloudy in color, not very aromatic.  There was an identifiable banana taste, but no raspberry whatsoever, very smooth and almost creamy.  It was something of a fruit cocktail sort of beer, although I guess it could have been a take on a Belgian witbier (none of the listed breweries for the taps were actually Belgian).  There was a little kick at the back of the throat, which wasn't quite citrusy in feel, but with some sharpness.  It wasn't a bad beer, especially on a sweltering summer night, but I'll be damned if I can tell you quite what it was.

Mystery!