laid back markets

Ah, another month comes to a close.  While a few interesting possibilities have popped up, I decided to play it safe and head on down to Mercado Vallehermoso, where there would be sure to be a couple of places to choose from, should something go wrong.  I've never actually gotten anything from La Virgen at Vallehermoso before, so maybe it's time I bite that bullet.

Could get some to go next time?

In the past, they had hot dogs to go with the beers, but I guess they've done away with that.  It's just beer and snacks in a bowl now.  The beers on tap were familiar, but the temperatures made the IPA look like the best bet.  It came out as the beeriest looking beer you could want, maybe slightly darker than an industrial ale or lager, and barely any aroma at all.  The flavor is bitter, no surprise citrus, and nothing to knock you down.  It's a bit energizing, not too heavy or sticky, not excessive with the bitter to make it unpleasant or a chore to drink.  Despite the lack of summery tropical flavors, I'd say it isn't a bad choice for a warmer day, not having the heavier notes of my more beloved black beers.  It's also not limited to summer with its lack of exotic fruitiness.  It does get a little scratchy at the end, a reminder of craftier days perhaps?  Nowhere near as throat-grabbing as some NEIPAs have been, though.

While the tap beers were fairly standard, there were some interesting things in the fridge, like a saison with blackberries and raspberries.  I do love me some berries, sometimes even with a beer.  The lettering on the can almost led me to believe it was Fábrica Maravillas, but I guess it just refers to the fruits with their Spanish names.  It's slightly reddish in color, awaking curiosity, with a mildly fruity smell.  The aroma carries some acidity, but the taste starts out as a very light touch, very fruity without a lot of weight behind it.  Soon, however, the saison sour makes an appearance.  Then it retreats back into a sweet aftertaste, deeper than the initial fruitiness.

I may have some misgivings about the selling out of certain breweries, but I don't think I'll refuse a beer just out of principle.  At least, not that principle.  A literal nazi beer, I might have to pass on.

hobby drinker in hamburg

Say what you will about rainy cities, they're great places to go drinking.  Gotta keep people interested, after all.  With only a weekend to get a taste, I had to do my best to maximize, so the very first beers were a flight of Ratsherrn brews.  They were arranged in flavor from lightest to strongest, which does make some sense. 

We started with Matrosenschleck Oat White IPA, with a sharp citrusy aroma but only slightly citrus taste.  A very light color and mild flavor, not what I expect from my IPAs, but maybe the oats smooth out the taste.

Next up was the Seasonal, reddish color, kind of tangy smell.  Rather sweet, seems to feature a touch of honey, but not very strong.  Later on it would clash with the goulash, so not a beer to go with strong foods.

The Pale Ale didn't have a lot of scent to it either, but the color was stronger and the taste was definitely beerier.  It starts off with a good stiff bitter and leaves a little graininess behind.  This one was great with the goulash!

Of a similar appearance to the Seasonal, the Rotbier had more complexity about it.  The color was slightly ruddier, and the aroma more oaty than the Seasonal.  The flavor was mostly sweet again, but with a helping of sour, and a bigger feel than the other beers.  The texture had a certain amount of robustness that goes well with a blustery evening, but the sweetness lends itself more to conversation beer than to mealtime beer.

At the end of the flight was Zwickel, with a similar scent to the Rotbier, but lighter.  A dark gold brew, it also tends to the sweet and eschews the bitter.  Less work to decipher than the Rotbier, but also good for a sit with a good book, perhaps.

There's something fitting about a beer called Amerikanischer Traum at a museum of emigration.  In some ways it's quite a standard IPA, golden, heady, strong citrus perfume but not spicy or tangy.  Much like American IPAs, it's heavy on the fruitiness, which starts pretty softly but soon explodes into a tropical citrus fest.  I can't put my finger on the exact fruit, but maybe grapefruit?  There is a bitterness lurking in the background, like a kind of grounding for the high flying fruit basket.

Blockbräu

In a convenient brew house near the U-Bahn we had some more seasonal beer.  This one was a pale ale, but cloudy and dark gold.  Unfiltered, I would imagine.  The head bubbles off pretty quickly.  It's sweeter than expected, with sort of a dusty feeling to it, but with a smooth and even-tempered flavor.  Not a lot of bitter to be found, it leans to the sweet as well, more honey than hops.  But, from start to finish it maintains the same easy drinking feel.

Those beer stores are everywhere!  No complaints from me on that account.  This one had taps too, four of them, and the most promising was the dry stout.  It was an Irish beer, but to fill my need for black beers I will make a sacrifice or two.  The Black Pig came out almost entirely foam, but like magic, a beer appeared in the glass within moments.  The aroma is a little sour.  The beer is extremely smooth, what you would expect from a nitro.  The taste is only slightly bitter with a hint of gassiness that reminds me of balloons.

Finally, my bought bottle, Simean Hanseatic Porter.  Had to drink it before coming back, since I only had a carry-on.  No good beers at the duty-free store that I could see in Hamburg airport!  Anyway, the porter is a good rich dark brown, rather light head, and a noticeably hard-hitting alcohol smell.  It's like cherry liquor chocolates.  The first impression is quite bitter, but it lightens right up.  I feared a turn for the sour but instead the flavor went firmly into chocolate.  For me, it's just sweet enough to recall a nice dark chocolate, with some grit to make it feel like you've got a drink to tame on your hands.  Ausgezeichnet!

Maybe this should be my personal item

They'll let this go in a personal item, right?

missing a rock?

Every day there's a new recipe, a new brewery, and I can find black beers to take me all the way to June!  I mean, there are still plenty of appetizing brews that aren't so nightish in appearance.  But, there just isn't anything like a fine stout or porter.  Be Hoppy has always had a selection of artsier and more daring beers, and this time there was an enticing imperial Baltic porter, showing off its curly dragons.  Trzech Kumpli's Ragnar looks like a good bet.

Rich looking, robust black beer with milk chocolate colored head.  Not especially aromatic, although there is a nice earthiness.  Sort of a coffee flavor, bittersweet, but it slides into a syrupier and more chocolate like experience.  Also kind of a smoky earth aftertaste develops after a few minutes.  It's a good, strong black beer, bringing up memories of crisp winter evenings, and northern climes.  There's even a little tickle of herb somewhere in the back, giving it a hint of witch's brew.  Definitely something different!

Supplier: Be Hoppy
Price: €4.50

try to focus

Lookin' successful

It's been a while since I've had real quality time in the bar zones.  Life gets in the way of things, mine and others'.  With a little spare time between obligations, I thought I could pop down to Malasaña and visit La Pirata, which I haven't been in since it was Irreale.  I was a bit put off by the crowd in the street so early in the evening.  They have a TV but there wasn't a game on or anything.  It was pretty well packed inside too, so I had to cozy up in a corner near the bar itself.  I mean, I'm glad places do well, but sheesh.

Not every single one of the beers is La Pirata, but naturally the majority are.  Some of them are familiar to me, but I don't think I have picked up Resilience NEIPA yet.  It's what I'm looking for right now, though, something a little sharp and kicky, what with the ridiculous temperatures we're having in the streets these days.  It has a very juicy, cloudy look and a citrusy bitter smell typical of NEIPAs.  The taste is much the same, only slightly sweet with a lasting bitter that hovers on the tongue for quite a while.  It's a bracing flavor, unquiet, good EuroNEIPA, much like I would imagine that bitter Peninsula IPA mixed with natural orange juice.  The beer kind of smooths off over time, although the bitterness is consistently present.  Also, there is kind of a sting in the aftertaste and it does tend to build up in the back of the throat.  In the end I think it's more lemonade-y than orange juicy.

And plenty more to choose from