a quiet celebration

These are dark days we're living in, days of uncertainty and suspicion.  Black beers go with absolutely everything, so there's no way I can put them aside now.  Somehow, they popped out on the shelves now at the end of winter rather than at the beginning, but what the hell, I won't look a gift beer in the mouth.  I should have looked harder for an Irish beer, but a pastry stout and the weather at the moment will have to do.  Small Pleasures is a Spanish beer, from Speranto and Medina, surely a worthy match to any Irish stout I would have found.

It has a heavy alcohol sweetness, like brandied cakes or cherries in liquor.  There's just a tinge of brown at the bottom of the glass while the rest of it looks pretty good and black.  Dark beige head, not too much of it though.  The taste has a bit of an edge, although it's overwhelmingly fruity; banana, apple, maybe peach make an appearance.  It's a fruit pastry without any doubt.  It's supposed to have some marzipan stuffed in there somewhere, which might be part of fruitiness.  It has a snap and a sharpness that keeps you from just swallowing it all down, which you might be tempted to do.  Doesn't stop the beer from being a tasty treat all the same.

Supplier: Labirratorium
Price: €3.70