no negative

Under cover of darkness, a stout to feed my cravings!  Marzipan is another thing I enjoy, at least when it's good marzipan, so even though it's not a pastry or dessert stout in name, I think Black Marzipan will give me an evening of pleasant drinking.  It's a Baltic beer, from the Latvian Hopalaa, so I have high expectations.  The only thing I wonder about is the thickness and syrupiness of it, being such a heavily malted beer AND with the addition of marzipan somehow.  Worth a shot, I say!

The aroma of plum fudge races out, although it doesn't stick around for long.  Not exceptionally bubbly, the beer has a thick and almost oily look to it.  There's an immediate chocolate taste, nice dark chocolate, not too sweet.  This is followed by notes of vanilla and fruit, prune or raisin perhaps.  To finish off, the drink goes down the throat in a puff of smoke.  It's a fairly desserty beer, although it's not too heavy on the sweetness.  It does have a pretty heavy feel to it, even if it goes down smoothly.  A fun stout, maybe one that most would find too much in a whole pint, but definitely enjoyable.

Suppler: Más Que Cervezas

Price: €6.35

the coldest of soups

We might be feeling the future, with temperatures of 100 even before it's officially summer.  All you can do is huddle inside and keep hydrated.  They say alcohol isn't especially hydrating, but damn is a beer nice on a roasting afternoon.  Especially an IPA from a place like Garage, stepping up their hops game to sharpen flavors and give you a slap in the face to keep you awake and alert.  At least, that's what Soup Strata seems be telling us.

It comes out straw colored with a pretty fluffy white head.  It has a fairly strong hoppy aroma, with a little bit of pickliness underneath.  There's a hint of pine in there too.  The flavor is surprisingly sweet, although not candy-like or syrupy.  Any bitter is right at the front and slips by without much time spent lingering on the tongue.  There's kind of a lemonade aftertaste, with that touch of sweet citrus, very refreshing for an extra hot weekend.  It's a light feeling beer, with a delicate flavor, but there is still a solid amount of taste and texture in it.  The whole drinking experience is very stable, no big changes in feel, flavor or aroma, and undeniably enjoyable, even for not being a stout.

Supplier: Más Que Cervezas

Price:€5.90

summer special

Summer is a-comin', as they say, and although I could have stout all the time, I feel like I should try new things just to be able to recommend to the lightweights.  Be Hoppy regularly has unusual brews, although they tend to be pricier than the normal craft stuff.  They sure look appetizing, though, and at a time of realignment with the future you might as well treat yourself to something special.  It might come as a surprise that I didn't choose a black beer or other heavy, flavorful, complexly put together brew, but I did pick up a barrel aged Lervig.  The brewery alone should be a guarantee.  Specifically, it's a foeder aged sour, with apricots.  Called, simply, Foeder Apricots.

It looks a lot like orange soda, although the fizz doesn't back off as fast as soda fizz does.  There is a definite fruity tang to the aroma, with that gnarl of fermentation  hitting the back of the nose.  It feels like it should be a sweeter beer, but the choice of barrels for aging might give it a more sour and funkier bent.  Yep, definitely sour there, but there isn't the weird heavy woodiness that some of these foeder aged beers have had in my experience.  I have to search hard for any wood in the flavor at all actually, and maybe that aftertaste has a little self-delusion in it.  Although the scent with its rounded fruit coolness makes me think of wintery desserts, the beer is very summery in feel.  It's light, with just enough sour to be perky, no sticky afterfeel, quite a nice drink for an overly sunny afternoon.

Supplier: Be Hoppy

Price: €11.95

my country

Yes, another beer fair snuck up on me, one that changed location before beginning.  I guess they realized the Metro would be of use after all, since the nearby line reopened their repaired section the very day the fair started!  And of course I went out to IFEMA on the Metro, and everything seemed perfectly normal in the tunnels and stations.  It's been a while since I've been out that way, though, so maybe it was rougher before the repair.  País de Cervezas has gone the Founders Fest route of tokens for beer instead of paying directly, but every beer costs the same token, with a value of €2.50.  You just get more beer from some pours than others.  Actually, a reasonable system, although the tokens themselves are a little bit of an unnecessary step.  Make you think twice before shelling out another €5?  Anyway.

The idea was to showcase the cooperation between industrial and craft beers, and many were side by side or sharing stands.  There were a couple of names that I do not recall seeing before, such as Almogáver of Barcelona.  They also had a stout, so that caught my attention right off the bat.  An interesting looking stout too, with several fruits being added in.  The name, Black Pear, makes it almost sound dangerous, like some illegal gardening project.  It looks good, smells like choco-vanilla, maybe there's a little pear in there too.  I might be fooling myself, though, searching too hard for it.  It has a fruit-in-chocolate kind of flavor, not quite sweet at first, but then it comes out with a soft touch of delicate fructose.  The beer is very light for the amount of flavors packed in, although it also leaves an interesting, burny aftertaste.  It's one of those somewhat rare stouts you (not me) could probably stand as a summertime drink.

I couldn't resist upon seeing something was "experimental", but then I saw it was Moritz, oldest of Barcelona's beers still being produced.  They are part of a larger group now, but they do play up their historical association with the city, I'm told.  This is Alkimia, the experimental lager, which is not actually being sold on its on, but used in restaurants for tastings and the like.  The recipe is still being tweaked a little.  It has a very clear color, and good white head, an appetizing appearance overall.  However, I get a whiff of sulfur and maybe seawater, which makes me wonder if I really want to drink it.  I better at least give it a try...and am impressed.  The flavor is quite subtle, blended and refreshing, just a tad bitter at first, then citrus leaps out, very low and grapefruity.  Floral notes also rush by, dragging some other spices behind them.  The aftertaste brings back the sea with a touch of salt, and some cucumber notes also make their appearance.  The aroma doesn't really improve, but in the right conditions it would be a damn fine sitting-back-and-relaxing beer, although it might not go so well with the beach.

I swing back to black beers, unsurprisingly, and picked up a Black Block Imperial Stout from La Pirata.  I wonder if I have tried it before, it seems to have a familiar name.  (Oh, there it is)  I have not had a professional serving of it before at least.  Kind of loose bubbles in a somewhat scanty head, but color's alright and there's a nice stout aroma, toasty and earthy.  There's a much bigger punch than with Black Pear, thicker, rounder feel, even a little oily.  There is a chocolate aspect too, but a hot chocolate powder kind, not rich bar chocolate.  It's a strong beer at over 11%, although it doesn't feel quite that heavy, but it maintains a good balance of flavors and while thick doesn't detour into syrupville.

The pendulum swings back and also a memorable name doesn't hurt.  Antiga of Valencia is offering a hazy IPA called Do You Marry Me?, which...well, do you have to ask?  It's definitely hazy, going so far as to look puddingish, nice white head on it too.  It has the predictable citrus aroma, very orangey.  The flavor is restrained, subtle, not a lot of punch but a gentle caress.  Along with the expected citrus contents is a distinct lack of bitter, making the beer feel soft and friendly-like, although it doesn't quite get to sweet.  It is a fresh, very clean and healthy flavor, something reminiscent of authentic horchata.

I got one beer with my entrance, and I got four tokens because it's an even number and easy to buy, so one more!  I notice that people are really not gathering around the big beer stalls, although a few do go up, which makes me laugh on one and and feel sorry for the people behind the bar on the other.  I don't go to give solace, however, I'm on a craft journey.  For the most part.

So, the last one was Basqueland.  A safe choice in terms of name, I don't think I've been disappointed by anything I've had from them.  No black beers, sadly, but there is What A Life, DDH East Coast Hazy IPA.  A complicated name for an actually not too complicated beer.  I don't mean it has no complexity - first there's the color, which is hazy but not as opaque as Antiga's, and a very bright shade.  In comparison, it's a little heavier in aroma, a little hoppier, the flavor is more upfront, stronger on the citrus hops, sharper in the throat.  It does that little catch thing that some hazys and NEIPAs do.  Overall, a bright and uplifting hazy, not as juicy as some, but it certainly has the basics covered.  It's more snappy and provocative than Antiga, with more prominent hops, a lot of mouthfeel and a demanding aftereverything, to be honest.  It leaves a little bit of sticky and a little bit of bitter/sour so you don't forget what you're drinking.

Surprise encore beer!  I was pestering the speaker at the beer history talk and he took me over to get a freebee from Moritz.  Since I had already had Moritz, I got Ambar's non-Pasteurized IPA, just to have something new.  It's slightly darker than the normal IPAs, with a good strong aroma.  Very standard, light citrus.  The flavor is heavy on the hops, not very bitter, but not your typical midday brew.  Not a bad way to go out, really.  Although it doesn't have many markers of differentiation, it's a perfectly fine beer and one I would not be unhappy to drink in a bar with a little conversational distraction.  It does seem like there's a little hair-care product that starts to come out in the aroma after a while though.  Maybe being a Spanish beer it's not made to be savored.