to the fair

Although the last week and the next are Craft Beer Weeks in Madrid, the Craft Beer Fair was yesterday and today at L'Europe, a fine bar in the center of Madrid.  Last year there was a blended fair of food and beer at Casa de Campo, but there's some kind of snag in the negotiations this year, and the beer producers decided a smaller, but central, fair was better than waiting around.

The festivities began at 1pm, but yesterday I went in at about 4:30.  In a little more than an hour and a half, the crowd fluctuated several times, from almost impossible to squeeze through to somewhat sparse.  The attendees were always well-behaved, with no obnoxiously loud commentary or laughter.  Although a bit tight at times, the crowd was gracious and polite, allowing others to pass or get a better look at the taps.

I began with a wheat beer from Almogávar, a brewery in Valladolid.  It has a nice golden color and a typical wheat taste, although less sour than the industrial beers like Paulaner.  Very smooth and drinkable.

Next was a coffee stout from Yria.  The coffee taste was on the bitter side and stout had a smokey quality.  It was much like a coffee candy, to my taste.  The coffee flavor seems to settle in the glass, being more pronounced towards the bottom than at the top.

I continue with Milana Amber Ale.  Milana is based in Castilla y León.  I noticed that all the breweries represented in the fair were from Madrid or north, except for Domus and Sagra from Toledo.  Milana's Amber has a fantastic color, a jewel-like reddish brown.  The taste is refreshing, although sharp, herbal I would say.  There's supposed to be some mitigating caramel sweetness, but the hops were unescapable for me.  A lovely beer for those who enjoy ales.

Wandering into the back, I found Medina with several varieties of IPA.  Also, an APA, which I don't see often and was intrigued by.  It's called Gringaza 30, and was surprisingly bitter at first, but mellowed out pretty quickly.  After about 1/4 pint it was very smooth.  This was the beeriest looking of the bunch yesterday, if one focuses only on the color.

Finally, near the door La Real del Duero was waiting.  They had two ales, a blond and their Special Bitter.  The latter was described as being sweeter, with more fruit tones, so I thought that would be good to end the afternoon on.  It's another reddish beer, and the taste is definitely fruity, although I can't quite tell which kind.  Peach maybe, or apricot.  It's a summery flavor and served cold is very refreshing, just delicious.

Today I arrived just after 5pm, as it started to rain far more than necessary for Madrid in May.  There were remarkably few people in attendance, but I suppose a lot of people had to work on a Monday, in spite of the unemployment rate being what it is.  This time I remembered my camera, so there is some illustration.

I had it in mind that I wanted to start with a lighter beer, so I went looking for a lager, IPA or something of the sort.  Naparbier had brought a Pilsner and that fit the bill.

It's very light, effervescent and only mildly bitter.  I found myself hungrier as I was drinking, but maybe that's just because I didn't have much of a lunch today.

As I was sitting at the bar taking my beer notes, a gentleman came up to me with his own notebookand we compared notes on the beers.  Turns out he has a bar in Vallecas (a southern district of Madrid) with a number of imported beers.  I'll have to go visit this El Boliche at some point.

Sagra was sitting next to the bar, looking as respectable as possible, with their six-packs of bottles for sale.  L'Europe has Sagra on tap, but only one type at a time, and it's been the "normal" beer for a while now.  Now they had a red also.  It's appetizing from the start, with a fluffy beige head, although not too much foam.  The taste is slightly sweet and it goes down very easy; it's a smooth and creamy beer, with a mouth-filling taste that doesn't overwhelm you.

Yeah, I've had a few sips already

With the smaller crowd, the brewers were more able to answer kind of random or basic questions rather than focusing on the bar reps and colleagues from other breweries.  The man from La Cibeles gave me a pretty complete review of their beer catalogue, only about half of which was available at the fair, and most of that only in bottles.  I prefer to have draft beer when I'm out, so I decided on the Imperial IPA, a nice caramel colored brew.

It's like cake frosting on top

Going well with the head, the beer is also dense, bitter, and a mouthful of flavor, but something to wrestle more with than the Sagra Roja.

As he explained the varieties they had, the rep mentioned that La Cibeles is about to start importing to Texas and New York, although it will only be two of their fifteen products.  Interestingly, they are the strongest and the weakest in terms of alcohol content.  Then I got the lowdown on Naranja, David's Ale, Oktoberfest, and Barley Wine.  It's a shame they were only in bottles, since I was sticking with the draft, and they all sounded quite appealing.  I had already purchased a bottle of Naranja for tasting this week, so we'll see how that goes.

On my way to other tables, the man from El Boliche invited me to try a little Young's Double Chocolate Stout.  It's a heavy beer, with a baking chocolate kind of taste, something that would go best with a sweet dessert.

I was feeling the need for something lighter and went for Casasola La Prima Vera.  It's a lager, but with an interesting blend of herbs.  The brewer mentioned cilantro, and there is a shade of that, but I catch more citrus.  It's most definitely a beer for a warm summer evening, drunk cold on a porch or in a back yard, very snappy and refreshing.  The Corte Inglés has decided to carry it, but they want it all year 'round, whereas the brewery had been making it only in spring and summer.  Ah, the downsides of popularity.  A couple of English import store reps were tasting at the same time and I eavesdropped a little on their conversation.  One said that the best modern craft beers come from areas with a history of winemaking, since they have the tradition of creating drink through fermentation and playing with levels of sweetness and other additives.  I'm not sure if the statement could be universally applied, but there just might be something to it in Spain.

I almost forgot the picture...

To wrap up the beer fair, I wanted a nice dark beer.  El Oso y el Cuervo was providing an Imperial Stout, which seemed like just the thing.  It's powerful from the first sip, with a rich, filling chocolaty flavor, sweeter than Young's Double Chocolate.  Like any stout, it's black as Pat Robertson's shriveled little heart, and was served frosty, so even being such a flavorful beer it was refreshing and easy to drink.  Quite enjoyable, and well worth ending my visit to the beer fair with.

It's like a black hole, absorbing all the color from the bar