Your body waits like a new country
The reaches of its mountains and forests
All there to be explored
But defend your borders wisely
And let nobody intrude
Who does not tread with joy
For you are the keeper of yourself
And the duty of others is to be their own keepers
Not the conquerors or enslavers
Let your stars shine upon those who stand firm in their light
Let your currents flow over those who would be nourished by them
If my vines would choke your trunk
They are not to wind around it
Little leaves flutter in another wind
I would follow my plow over your prairies
My serpents would glide on your ground
Little bees and butterflies would kiss your flowers gently
But only if the gate were open
Your rivers are there to be fished
Your caves to be plumbed
Explorers will come to you
Ask your blessing like of a deity
You may grant and refuse
We little explorers can only request
We can only dream
Guard your borders well
Do not give sanctuary to plunderers
The bounty of yourself IS for joy
And only in joy can it be received
If our rivers could meet
And our grounds mingle
I could offer you my joy and hope to see yours in return
But you are another country
You are far away
And my ship would be lost
If I set sail
Thursday, June 30, 2016
Saturday, June 25, 2016
not quite out west
It's kind of cute how Europeans are so fascinated with Native Americans. They seem to have bought into our whole early 20th century mythology of the Noble Savage etc. If I was of native descent, I might not see it so innocently, although I might not be bothered at all either. It's a dangerous game, deciding how other people should feel for them. Anyway, a good IPA is always welcome in the summer, so I can't pass up the opportunity to try this Apache stuff. I have my doubts as to whether the Apaches built totem poles, but...well, ok.
It has a slightly sweet smell, bubbly white head and dusky orange color. There's a soft and subtle bitterness in the taste, just a touch dry, vaguely orangey. A good beginning for an evening ale. It smells a little fruitier as it warms, although the taste stays mild. It's a good conversation beer, not very demanding, but certainly refreshing. I expected something a little more powerful from the label, but it's just fine to relax with, waiting for evening temperatures to go to something more bearable.
Supplier: Cervecissimus
Price: €3.45
 |
| Wild soul you say? |
Supplier: Cervecissimus
Price: €3.45
Saturday, June 18, 2016
from old times to new
It seems like it's been a while since I've had a Domus beer. They're a good brand, I can't remember being disappointed. And what do I see on the shelves but a triple stout! Irresistible! It seems Boris Brew is involved as well, but they're certainly not shoddy when it comes to cooking up interesting beers. I'm not sure if the nymph on the label is meant to distract us from the darkness of the beer with her allusion to bright and sunny nature, or if she's supposed to connect the color of stout with the black shade of the primeval forest. Whichever, Ninfa is on the table.
It has a rich, chocolatey smell, and pours out thick. If the beer itself is dark chocolate, the head is probably milk chocolate, at least. At first taste, I latch onto the sweetness and expected flavor of dark chocolate, but it gets pulled into a tide of smoky bitterness soon enough. Interestingly, the aftertaste brings the chocolate back in a mild, subtle way. It's a birthday cake of a beer, a Valentine's box beer, one that deserves to be savored in individual contemplation. I guess you could drink with friends too. But only if you talk about the beer.
Supplier: Cervecissimus
Price: €3.20
 | ||
| At first I thought she had tats, but it's just vine accessories. I might need more tats, you know, to discourage the morons. |
Supplier: Cervecissimus
Price: €3.20
Sunday, June 12, 2016
and it ends
I had been disappointed by the film the day before, but I already had the ticket for the last one. It wouldn't be the first time the last film redeems the week. Coming Out was also part of the Berlin scene selection, special in that is it the only film from the old DDR. It was actually released the same day the wall came down, so probably didn't get the attention it deserved.
(Spoilers!) We begin with a teenager in an emergency room after trying to commit suicide. The doctor asks him why he had done it and he says, crying, that he's gay. Then we cut to a teacher biking to class and later accidentally giving a colleague a bloody nose by walking into her in the hall. Like so many romantic movies, this means they end up together, and she tells him they even went to school together, although in different classes and he doesn't remember at all. They carry on a regular relationship with him moving in, and then one day she brings an old friend and neighbor to meet him. It turns out this old neighbor was a classmate of Philipp's (the male teacher), who had had some kind of romantic relationship with him when they were younger. Neither of them mention any of that to the girlfriend, but the old boyfriend does criticize Philipp for being ashamed of who he is. One night, Philipp is looking for a bar to buy cigarettes in and stumbles upon a gay bar where a tremendous costume party is going on. The place is full of cross-dressing and other costumes, and Philipp accepts a number of drinks bought by the DJ and maybe others. At the end of the night the boy who's throwing the party, the one from the emergency room, and an old man who was seated at the bar take Philipp home and he wakes up the next day having no idea what happened. They took him to his old apartment instead of where he lives with his girlfriend, and she is naturally upset that he didn't even bother to call her. This is just the beginning of their problems. Philipp runs into the boy when he's waiting in line to buy opera tickets, and the boy manages to get them probably hours before he would. At first he doesn't want to deepen any relationship to this boy, but he ends up going to his birthday party with his family, taking the boy back to his old apartment and having sex with him, and assuring him he doesn't have a boyfriend. Then, Philipp just goes back to his life with his girlfriend, leaving the boy to look for him wherever he thinks he might show up. They run into each other at a classical music concert, which Philipp is attending with his girlfriend, naturally. The boy runs up to him, hugging him, saying he has so much to tell him, and the girlfriend comes up with a face icy with fury and says she's brought champagne. Philipp introduces them to each other, but only says the boy's name and introduces his girlfriend as his wife. The boy runs away in anger, and humiliation probably, and the relationship between Philipp and his girlfriend comes to an end. He goes back to his old apartment, searches the gay bars for the boy, and gets drunker than he should. He ends up with the old man from his first encounter talking to him about how dangerous it was to be gay in the past, and how he had spent time in a concentration camp for his orientation. Even though the waiter tells Philipp they are all afraid, there isn't very much violence, although a couple of times trios of assholes harass people on the train or in the train station. In one instance, the victim certainly looks gay, but in another, he's just a darker skinned person. For all their sniffing about American racism, the East Germans were by no means innocent of it. Finally, Philipp receives a group of observing teachers into his classroom, because he must be a danger to the children because of his inclinations, and he spends a couple of minutes just looking out the window. Finally the director calls his name in frustration, and he answers, "Yes," which may be the beginning of his finally accepting himself.
It's a movie that shows the problems people cause when they aren't honest with themselves, much less with those around them. If Philipp had been able to be honest, he might not have had the relationships he did, but he could have had more honest ones. Or at least less damaging ones. He asks the boy if he wants a family and children, which the boy doesn't, but he's nineteen so it isn't surprising. It looks like Philipp does want a more traditional family, though, which is why he lets the relationship happen between him and his colleague. That is, he lets it happen, he doesn't make much effort himself. It's most likely true that neither one of his partners would have wanted a relationship with him if he had been honest about his situation, but at least there would have been less hurt and betrayal in the end. In a horrible coincidence, when I got home after seeing the film, and doing some socializing, the news was full of the massacre in Orlando, the worst in US history. I had just seen a film almost 30 years old about the difficulties of being homosexual and that same day the news reminds me how difficult and dangerous it still is today. What a bunch of bullshit.
Before heading home, I stopped at Roll to meet some friends for conversation and drinks. It's damn hot now, so I tended towards the sharper beers. First, Yakka APA, very refreshing, balanced flavor, nothing sticking out oddly about it. There isn't really anything especially particular to it either, but if you're looking for a summer evening ale, you can't go wrong with Yakka.
Then I had a Burning Bernidorm IPA, a summertime drink in Spain if I ever heard one. It's a little bit darker, and the flavors are stronger. More bitter, not too citrusy, and something a little bit like those beers that I was told had been made with sea water. Like a touch of salt for more taste. Maybe a little bit more my style, since I like a stronger character in my beer, but both of them were perfectly tasty and recommendable.
'Til next year, film fest. Another month, beer week!
Supplier: Roll
Price: ~€5/pint
(Spoilers!) We begin with a teenager in an emergency room after trying to commit suicide. The doctor asks him why he had done it and he says, crying, that he's gay. Then we cut to a teacher biking to class and later accidentally giving a colleague a bloody nose by walking into her in the hall. Like so many romantic movies, this means they end up together, and she tells him they even went to school together, although in different classes and he doesn't remember at all. They carry on a regular relationship with him moving in, and then one day she brings an old friend and neighbor to meet him. It turns out this old neighbor was a classmate of Philipp's (the male teacher), who had had some kind of romantic relationship with him when they were younger. Neither of them mention any of that to the girlfriend, but the old boyfriend does criticize Philipp for being ashamed of who he is. One night, Philipp is looking for a bar to buy cigarettes in and stumbles upon a gay bar where a tremendous costume party is going on. The place is full of cross-dressing and other costumes, and Philipp accepts a number of drinks bought by the DJ and maybe others. At the end of the night the boy who's throwing the party, the one from the emergency room, and an old man who was seated at the bar take Philipp home and he wakes up the next day having no idea what happened. They took him to his old apartment instead of where he lives with his girlfriend, and she is naturally upset that he didn't even bother to call her. This is just the beginning of their problems. Philipp runs into the boy when he's waiting in line to buy opera tickets, and the boy manages to get them probably hours before he would. At first he doesn't want to deepen any relationship to this boy, but he ends up going to his birthday party with his family, taking the boy back to his old apartment and having sex with him, and assuring him he doesn't have a boyfriend. Then, Philipp just goes back to his life with his girlfriend, leaving the boy to look for him wherever he thinks he might show up. They run into each other at a classical music concert, which Philipp is attending with his girlfriend, naturally. The boy runs up to him, hugging him, saying he has so much to tell him, and the girlfriend comes up with a face icy with fury and says she's brought champagne. Philipp introduces them to each other, but only says the boy's name and introduces his girlfriend as his wife. The boy runs away in anger, and humiliation probably, and the relationship between Philipp and his girlfriend comes to an end. He goes back to his old apartment, searches the gay bars for the boy, and gets drunker than he should. He ends up with the old man from his first encounter talking to him about how dangerous it was to be gay in the past, and how he had spent time in a concentration camp for his orientation. Even though the waiter tells Philipp they are all afraid, there isn't very much violence, although a couple of times trios of assholes harass people on the train or in the train station. In one instance, the victim certainly looks gay, but in another, he's just a darker skinned person. For all their sniffing about American racism, the East Germans were by no means innocent of it. Finally, Philipp receives a group of observing teachers into his classroom, because he must be a danger to the children because of his inclinations, and he spends a couple of minutes just looking out the window. Finally the director calls his name in frustration, and he answers, "Yes," which may be the beginning of his finally accepting himself.
It's a movie that shows the problems people cause when they aren't honest with themselves, much less with those around them. If Philipp had been able to be honest, he might not have had the relationships he did, but he could have had more honest ones. Or at least less damaging ones. He asks the boy if he wants a family and children, which the boy doesn't, but he's nineteen so it isn't surprising. It looks like Philipp does want a more traditional family, though, which is why he lets the relationship happen between him and his colleague. That is, he lets it happen, he doesn't make much effort himself. It's most likely true that neither one of his partners would have wanted a relationship with him if he had been honest about his situation, but at least there would have been less hurt and betrayal in the end. In a horrible coincidence, when I got home after seeing the film, and doing some socializing, the news was full of the massacre in Orlando, the worst in US history. I had just seen a film almost 30 years old about the difficulties of being homosexual and that same day the news reminds me how difficult and dangerous it still is today. What a bunch of bullshit.
'Til next year, film fest. Another month, beer week!
Supplier: Roll
Price: ~€5/pint
Saturday, June 11, 2016
drinking with wolves
I had high hopes for the second German movie, high hopes. I was sadly disappointed. Possibly I'll think better of it later, but for now, I'm left with a not so positive impression.
Spoilers - I thought, when reading the description, that the story was about a young woman who decides that the wilderness is the best place for her and follows her journey and adaptation into it. But no, Wild starts with a slightly unhappy introvert deciding what she needs is to keep a wolf in her apartment. She sees the wolf one day before she gets on the bus and becomes obsessed with capturing it. She is portrayed as a bit socially awkward, not wanting to party with her co-workers and not in a relationship like her sister, whose boyfriend comes off as kind of an immature dick. Annia, the main character, is attentive to her grandfather, dying in a hospital, but not very friendly with anyone else. She also seems to have a hobby of target shooting. She manages to trap the wolf with the help of some factory workers and strips of cloth and sticks him in a room in her apartment. Because of her grandfather's illness she is allowed to take time off from work and she spends the time trying to get to know her new soulmate through a hole she has smashed into the wall. Eventually neighbors start complaining and she has to decide once and for all not to go back to work at all, which leads to her having sex with her boss on his desk, and when he leaves she takes dump on it and accidently sets it on fire by dropping the cigarette he gave her. Meanwhile, the wolf has managed to escape the room, knocking out a suspiciously square hole in the wall, and she thinks they will run away and be wild lovers together in the wilderness. Her boss actually tracks her down and finds her with her wolf on the roof of her apartment building. He tries to convince her to return to work and normal life, but she lets the wolf loose, and her wild side kills her old conventional side. She runs off with the wolf after calling an ambulance and they run through a sandy waste that looks more like a construction site without machinery than a space near a German city, and when she collapses in the sand in exhaustion the wolf lies down next to her. As night falls, she drags herself into some weeds to sleep. In the morning she is deliriously happy to see the sun, even though the wolf isn't around, and it is implied that she has found true happiness in her newly wild state.
I was hoping for something more in the wild, not just somebody trying to force the wild to fit itself into their lives. Annia seems to want to keep living her normal life at first, but with the influence of the wolf to make her bolder and better. She kidnaps the poor animal rather than go into the wild herself at first. Her progression from wallflower to woman of the wilds is shown by her increasing sexual appetite, since only animals with no control actually want sex apparently. In the beginning she seems embarrassed and bored by her co-workers' antics at the party, and disgusted by her accidental spying on her sister with her boyfriend, but by the end of the film, when she is "wild", she's ready to have sex with cleaners in her boss' office before she has demanding sex with him. Her awakening of sorts comes when the wolf licks her face and she runs out of her apartment to slide down the banister and get off. Then she comes back to make scrambled eggs for breakfast like after any hook-up. I guess the movie is a message against the civilizing forces of our lives as unnatural, and a call to feel our true natures more keenly, although it also shows that we have to give up the comforts that we enjoy to be truly wild and free.
I passed by Cervecería l'Europe before the film, just to get a look at what they had for Founder's Week. There was an old ale I hadn't tried before, that I recall, which seemed like just the thing. It's something new, and a chance to take. Just like going wild, right? So, I got my Curmudgeon, and it was a nice nutty brown, with a healthy head, not very aromatic but maybe just a little sweet. Oh my god, it tastes like Christmas. Really. It is sweet, but there's also a bit of spice lurking around, cinnamon or nutmeg perhaps. Besides that, there's the sweetness, which makes me think of a rum mixed drink. Eggnog, maybe. It's a little bit heavy, with a feeling of something aged and concentrated in flavor. Still, very tasty, and definitely something to try...before running off into the woods.
Supplier: Cervecería l'Europe
Price: €6.30/pint
Spoilers - I thought, when reading the description, that the story was about a young woman who decides that the wilderness is the best place for her and follows her journey and adaptation into it. But no, Wild starts with a slightly unhappy introvert deciding what she needs is to keep a wolf in her apartment. She sees the wolf one day before she gets on the bus and becomes obsessed with capturing it. She is portrayed as a bit socially awkward, not wanting to party with her co-workers and not in a relationship like her sister, whose boyfriend comes off as kind of an immature dick. Annia, the main character, is attentive to her grandfather, dying in a hospital, but not very friendly with anyone else. She also seems to have a hobby of target shooting. She manages to trap the wolf with the help of some factory workers and strips of cloth and sticks him in a room in her apartment. Because of her grandfather's illness she is allowed to take time off from work and she spends the time trying to get to know her new soulmate through a hole she has smashed into the wall. Eventually neighbors start complaining and she has to decide once and for all not to go back to work at all, which leads to her having sex with her boss on his desk, and when he leaves she takes dump on it and accidently sets it on fire by dropping the cigarette he gave her. Meanwhile, the wolf has managed to escape the room, knocking out a suspiciously square hole in the wall, and she thinks they will run away and be wild lovers together in the wilderness. Her boss actually tracks her down and finds her with her wolf on the roof of her apartment building. He tries to convince her to return to work and normal life, but she lets the wolf loose, and her wild side kills her old conventional side. She runs off with the wolf after calling an ambulance and they run through a sandy waste that looks more like a construction site without machinery than a space near a German city, and when she collapses in the sand in exhaustion the wolf lies down next to her. As night falls, she drags herself into some weeds to sleep. In the morning she is deliriously happy to see the sun, even though the wolf isn't around, and it is implied that she has found true happiness in her newly wild state.
I was hoping for something more in the wild, not just somebody trying to force the wild to fit itself into their lives. Annia seems to want to keep living her normal life at first, but with the influence of the wolf to make her bolder and better. She kidnaps the poor animal rather than go into the wild herself at first. Her progression from wallflower to woman of the wilds is shown by her increasing sexual appetite, since only animals with no control actually want sex apparently. In the beginning she seems embarrassed and bored by her co-workers' antics at the party, and disgusted by her accidental spying on her sister with her boyfriend, but by the end of the film, when she is "wild", she's ready to have sex with cleaners in her boss' office before she has demanding sex with him. Her awakening of sorts comes when the wolf licks her face and she runs out of her apartment to slide down the banister and get off. Then she comes back to make scrambled eggs for breakfast like after any hook-up. I guess the movie is a message against the civilizing forces of our lives as unnatural, and a call to feel our true natures more keenly, although it also shows that we have to give up the comforts that we enjoy to be truly wild and free.
I passed by Cervecería l'Europe before the film, just to get a look at what they had for Founder's Week. There was an old ale I hadn't tried before, that I recall, which seemed like just the thing. It's something new, and a chance to take. Just like going wild, right? So, I got my Curmudgeon, and it was a nice nutty brown, with a healthy head, not very aromatic but maybe just a little sweet. Oh my god, it tastes like Christmas. Really. It is sweet, but there's also a bit of spice lurking around, cinnamon or nutmeg perhaps. Besides that, there's the sweetness, which makes me think of a rum mixed drink. Eggnog, maybe. It's a little bit heavy, with a feeling of something aged and concentrated in flavor. Still, very tasty, and definitely something to try...before running off into the woods.
Supplier: Cervecería l'Europe
Price: €6.30/pint
Friday, June 10, 2016
first film, eighth beer
My first German film of the year! I'm a little restricted by my schedule, so I chose movies on the weekend to avoid as much conflict as possible. No silent film this year, since the one they're showing I've seen recently. Even with a live soundtrack I doubt it's going to impress me more than it did the first time (not a whole lot, but Der Müde Tod is a decent film).
Spoilers - Tod den Hippies! Es Lebe den Punk! is a sort of almost bio-pic, based on Oskar Roehler's biography of his time in the Berlin punk scene in the 1980s. The main character leaves Munich for West Berlin when his roommate at boarding school gets kicked out for drugging a teacher and (presumably) trashing a classroom. In the city, he finds a friend working at a strip club and gets a job there. His father also lives in West Berlin, mourning the loss of his girlfriend, who was a member of the Baader-Meinhof gang and seems to have left a large amount of the money they stole in the father's apartment. He refuses to do anything with it, saying she's still alive in his memories. The main character and his friend cook up a scheme to get rich running drugs from the East, and that money will buy them a supplier. They steal the cash while the father is drunkenly sleeping, although he wakes up when they clumsily fall into some furniture trying to leave, and he chases after them firing a pistol as they speed away on a motorcycle. At the same time, the main character is beginning a relationship with one of the strippers, an American whose lawyer father is "an asshole" (lots of English swearing in this movie. Not actually that surprising in Berlin, but a lot of these characters are from other cities). The main character's mother is also an asshole: before he leaves town she asks him to kill her brother for the inheritance; she visits him in Berlin to have him ship her drugs; in an interview she flatly states she did everything she could to provoke an abortion while she was pregnant. The infatuated lovers promise to kill each other's asshole parent, before they can put any plan into action, the drug trade goes sour. The main character's friend is arrested and fingers the main character's father as the source of the money. Then, the main character is arrested too. He refuses to give any information and is released, but then immediately re-arrested. His crime of possession is not severe enough for jail time, but he gets a year of community service in a retirement home, which he gets out of by pretending to attempt suicide. Then he just pisses off to Egypt, thinking to find a way to New York from there and reunite with his girlfriend, who he hasn't been able to contact since getting away from his community service, and maybe before. He's riding on top of a truck through the desert, when who should appear on the side of the road to hitch a ride? The friend who went to pick up the drugs. He now plans to start a line of sausage stands in Egypt, not aware that Egyptians don't eat pork. As the truck trundles on, the reunited friends discuss optimism and the beauty of life, while just over a sand dune several workers dump a bunch of metal drums with radioactive symbols painted on them. They are not careful.
It's an interesting film in that it lasts almost two hours, but when it ends you feel like it's incomplete. It jumps around between scenes and times, and some things feel unexplained. For one, how does the main character even get to Egypt? He's just there all of a sudden. There's also kind of a strange scene where he breaks up with his girlfriend in the beginning. It looks like they've been together for a while, and she's planning their future as a power teaching couple. He goes to the bathroom as she's planning and gives himself a mohawk, which causes her to break into hysterical, angry tears, and oddly gets praise from her mother, who can't stand long hair on boys apparently. His roommate at the boarding school is also something. Specifically, he's a gay neo-nazi. He even has a German Shepherd named Blondi. When he gets thrown out he also goes to Berlin, ending up hooking around the gay bars and working for Rainer Werner Fassbinder - sort of. The American stripper is actually played by a Russian actress, but she does a damn good job with the accent. It's only when she has a bunch of lines in a short time that you can tell there's something not quite native. It's mostly in the vowels. It's also interesting to see how uptight fascist minded people give in so desperately to the lack of control in punk music, either listening to it or playing it. I guess extremes can only be balanced with other extremes.
After the movie I went next door to Casa de la Cerveza, where I was hoping to find a nice German beer to treat myself with. Years ago, the beers offered on tap were much more conventional and there was a large menu of bottled beers. Now, craft beers take up most of the taps and I haven't seen the beer menu for a while. The only German beer I could see was Spaten, but that's fine with me.
Served in an icy mug, it's a summery drink even without the tang of ales and saisons. Spaten is a little darker than you might expect light German beers to be, and it doesn't have the often grassy aftertaste that the wheat beers sometimes have. It's a reddish gold color and just a little sweet. It goes very well with the standard accompaniment of potato chips. It's also from Munich, like the main character of the film, so I can tell myself that it was fate or something.
Spoilers - Tod den Hippies! Es Lebe den Punk! is a sort of almost bio-pic, based on Oskar Roehler's biography of his time in the Berlin punk scene in the 1980s. The main character leaves Munich for West Berlin when his roommate at boarding school gets kicked out for drugging a teacher and (presumably) trashing a classroom. In the city, he finds a friend working at a strip club and gets a job there. His father also lives in West Berlin, mourning the loss of his girlfriend, who was a member of the Baader-Meinhof gang and seems to have left a large amount of the money they stole in the father's apartment. He refuses to do anything with it, saying she's still alive in his memories. The main character and his friend cook up a scheme to get rich running drugs from the East, and that money will buy them a supplier. They steal the cash while the father is drunkenly sleeping, although he wakes up when they clumsily fall into some furniture trying to leave, and he chases after them firing a pistol as they speed away on a motorcycle. At the same time, the main character is beginning a relationship with one of the strippers, an American whose lawyer father is "an asshole" (lots of English swearing in this movie. Not actually that surprising in Berlin, but a lot of these characters are from other cities). The main character's mother is also an asshole: before he leaves town she asks him to kill her brother for the inheritance; she visits him in Berlin to have him ship her drugs; in an interview she flatly states she did everything she could to provoke an abortion while she was pregnant. The infatuated lovers promise to kill each other's asshole parent, before they can put any plan into action, the drug trade goes sour. The main character's friend is arrested and fingers the main character's father as the source of the money. Then, the main character is arrested too. He refuses to give any information and is released, but then immediately re-arrested. His crime of possession is not severe enough for jail time, but he gets a year of community service in a retirement home, which he gets out of by pretending to attempt suicide. Then he just pisses off to Egypt, thinking to find a way to New York from there and reunite with his girlfriend, who he hasn't been able to contact since getting away from his community service, and maybe before. He's riding on top of a truck through the desert, when who should appear on the side of the road to hitch a ride? The friend who went to pick up the drugs. He now plans to start a line of sausage stands in Egypt, not aware that Egyptians don't eat pork. As the truck trundles on, the reunited friends discuss optimism and the beauty of life, while just over a sand dune several workers dump a bunch of metal drums with radioactive symbols painted on them. They are not careful.
It's an interesting film in that it lasts almost two hours, but when it ends you feel like it's incomplete. It jumps around between scenes and times, and some things feel unexplained. For one, how does the main character even get to Egypt? He's just there all of a sudden. There's also kind of a strange scene where he breaks up with his girlfriend in the beginning. It looks like they've been together for a while, and she's planning their future as a power teaching couple. He goes to the bathroom as she's planning and gives himself a mohawk, which causes her to break into hysterical, angry tears, and oddly gets praise from her mother, who can't stand long hair on boys apparently. His roommate at the boarding school is also something. Specifically, he's a gay neo-nazi. He even has a German Shepherd named Blondi. When he gets thrown out he also goes to Berlin, ending up hooking around the gay bars and working for Rainer Werner Fassbinder - sort of. The American stripper is actually played by a Russian actress, but she does a damn good job with the accent. It's only when she has a bunch of lines in a short time that you can tell there's something not quite native. It's mostly in the vowels. It's also interesting to see how uptight fascist minded people give in so desperately to the lack of control in punk music, either listening to it or playing it. I guess extremes can only be balanced with other extremes.
After the movie I went next door to Casa de la Cerveza, where I was hoping to find a nice German beer to treat myself with. Years ago, the beers offered on tap were much more conventional and there was a large menu of bottled beers. Now, craft beers take up most of the taps and I haven't seen the beer menu for a while. The only German beer I could see was Spaten, but that's fine with me.
 |
| Spaten doesn't make big enough glasses? |
Thursday, June 9, 2016
northerly wishful thinking
Ah, finally a dark beer for me! One that looked more interesting than all the ales around it, I mean. While the label is reminiscent of a sleek Danish or Norwegian brew, the beer is actually a collaboration between two Spanish companies, Ebora and Madriz Hop Republic. Suomi Baltic Porter sounds like something that should be chilled and refreshing even on such hot evenings, but I have the sneaking suspicion that the "Baltic" part only refers to the Polish vodka they soak the added vanilla in. Is Poland even considered Baltic? Is it a wannabe like Estonia is with the Nordics? I don't think this is the time to get into national identities, not before drinking that beer.
It's beautiful and chocolatey looking, with a fairly resistant tan head. I guess I could be imagining it, but it does smell a little more alcoholy than usual with porters. It tends toward stout flavor for me, being smokey and earthy, and very, very smooth. There are just a few little dings of vanilla kind of high in the mouth, but the taste is very subtle and I probably wouldn't have ever noticed it if the label hadn't told me it was there. It's a very pleasant sipping beer, even tempered and calm. And finally I'm getting a little breeze through the window, so it's a good night after all.
Supplier: La Zurbanita
Price: €3.40
Supplier: La Zurbanita
Price: €3.40
Wednesday, June 8, 2016
all holed up
The problem with small places is that sometimes they're full. The good thing about summer is that everybody wants to be in the street and not in small places. I had the place to myself at Vergüenza Ajena tonight, I could even have lounged around the window seat. But I behaved myself and just had my beer.
I'm surprised I haven't picked this one up before; the label looks like something that would get my attention. This bar only has one tap, but a good number of craft beers in bottles are for the taking. It seems like you can't go wrong with ales this time of year, so here's another one! I was warned that it was bitter, but that's not really a concern of mine anymore.
Devil's IPA is pleasantly bitter, and not citrusy in taste like many IPAs are, although there is just a bit of orange in the scent. It's mostly hops, though. The beer is a nice dark tan and pours very foamy. It also hits you with the hops in the taste, nothing too extravagant, just a simple bitter, biting beer. It goes very well with the chips, balancing out the salty taste with a smooth bitter one. It's also a very clean tasting beer, cleaning out the mouth and leaving little behind when swallowed.
Supplier: Vergüenza Ajena
Price: €4
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| Eh, you can read that |
Supplier: Vergüenza Ajena
Price: €4
Tuesday, June 7, 2016
jus' some little fishies
So the place I wanted to go to on Monday was open on Tuesday. Better late than never, so they say. I was surprised by the indoor seating at La Piraña, expecting it to be much smaller than it is. It is a little bit noisy, though, with a lot of hard, flat surfaces. The six taps tend towards northern exotic, although Nómada is there, and I ended up with Mikkeller Crooked Moon Tattoo, an IPA. With that name I almost wish it wasn't on tap.
It's cloudy orange with a strong citrus smell and creamy head. The taste is sour/bitter and orangey right away, a good pick-me-up flavor at the end of an excessively sunny pre-summer day. It reminds me of a thin Orange Julius, but more to my liking. It's lighter than other beers I've recently had, with less stickiness after swallowing, it just washes down cleanly. I do find that it gets sweeter after some time, with the bitterness fading to a slight aftertaste.
Supplier: La Piraña
Price: €6.50/pint
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| For some reason I was expecting more blue. |
Supplier: La Piraña
Price: €6.50/pint
Monday, June 6, 2016
whoops
As Beer Week continues and I don't have time to browse my beer stores, I find myself stopping off for a drink on my way home. I was planning to stop somewhere new today, but when I walked up there at 9pm it was closed! That's just a bad sign. For that place, I mean, plenty of other places were bustling with patrons. One of them, the Taproom, had every outdoor table filled, even right next to the street, but inside it was pretty empty. Not all that surprising in this town actually.
The Taproom has up to 20 beers on tap at a time, so the offer is pretty varied. I'm trying to stay local, or at least national, which did knock off several, including The Mayan (another day, my darling). I ended up with Vikingathor, an Indian Dunkel from Arriaca. It turns out I've bought it in the bottle before, but we'll see how it compares from the tap.
It has a rich dark color, a bright clean head, and a subdued but suggestive smell. There's a sweetness, maybe trying to invoke that typical viking mead. In the dimness of the interior light, I'd call it a dark ruby red. It doesn't seem to gain any superpowers from the tap when compared to what I got from the bottle, but that doesn't mean disappointment. It's a good beer, slightly sweet, a little citrusy, maybe just a little sticky. In spite of its dark color, it's a fine warm weather drink, being light and fruity, but at the same time it could hold its own in the dark days of winter. The salty chips are a nice counterpoint to the sweetness of the beer. But then, you get salty chips pretty much all over in this town.
Supplier: The Taproom
Price: €4.40/pint
The Taproom has up to 20 beers on tap at a time, so the offer is pretty varied. I'm trying to stay local, or at least national, which did knock off several, including The Mayan (another day, my darling). I ended up with Vikingathor, an Indian Dunkel from Arriaca. It turns out I've bought it in the bottle before, but we'll see how it compares from the tap.
It has a rich dark color, a bright clean head, and a subdued but suggestive smell. There's a sweetness, maybe trying to invoke that typical viking mead. In the dimness of the interior light, I'd call it a dark ruby red. It doesn't seem to gain any superpowers from the tap when compared to what I got from the bottle, but that doesn't mean disappointment. It's a good beer, slightly sweet, a little citrusy, maybe just a little sticky. In spite of its dark color, it's a fine warm weather drink, being light and fruity, but at the same time it could hold its own in the dark days of winter. The salty chips are a nice counterpoint to the sweetness of the beer. But then, you get salty chips pretty much all over in this town.
Supplier: The Taproom
Price: €4.40/pint
Sunday, June 5, 2016
color of a setting sun
Tune in tomorrow! Beer Week rolls on!
Supplier: Toast Tavern
Price: €5.50/pint
Saturday, June 4, 2016
another one for me!
Sometimes the label just matches up perfectly. I've been an arrogant bastard, sure, but now I can embrace my snob too. Also, it's a porter, falling right in line with my beer preferences. La Gata Negra capitalizes on the nickname for inhabitants of the city, maybe trying to provoke a little local pride. It's not actually brewed in the city though, just nearby. Well, it's a globalized world. What are you gonna do? I guess we should be glad we get products made in the same country anymore. As I was saying, the snob in Snob Porter is the "touch of gin-soaked vanilla", winking at another recent fad in drinking establishments.
It has a similar smell to the stout from last night, with that sweetness on top of a bitter chocolate. The promising dark color is about the same, but the head is lighter and fluffier. The taste isn't quite as tart as some porters, but there is some fruit lurking about. I detect apple, although the special additives are said to be vanilla and gin. For a dark beer, it's very light drinking, something that goes well with warm nights and stimulating conversation. You know, for snobs.
Supplier: La Buena Pinta
Price: ~€2.70
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| Like a still from a Halloween cartoon |
Supplier: La Buena Pinta
Price: ~€2.70
Friday, June 3, 2016
it begins
This city used to have beer fairs. A couple of days with a dozen or so breweries in a bar, and that was that for half a year. Now, we have Craft Beer Week, with almost a hundred stores hosting tastings and special treats. And that week begins today. It's Beer Week! Beeeeeeeeer Weeeeeeeeeeeeek!!
Although there are many international features, I like to keep things local. I had planned on stopping by a neighborhood establishment tonight, but man, the week is long. And I have a local beer in my fridge, so I don't feel bad about staying home. It's a good one too, from La Virgen, one of the area originals. And it's a stout...how can I resist? It's an interesting one, Carajillo Stout, with brandy. Not brandy barrel aged or anything apparently, but brandy included.
It looks fairly typical of stouts, with the color and the beige head, and the smell isn't all that different either. There's just the slightest hint of something sweeter than usual. The flavor isn't strong at first, kind of like a light coffee candy. It's not too hard on stouty earthy taste, but it does lay down a nice bitterness. Like may stouts, there's some dark chocolate lurking back there, but a splash of brandy lightens the whole mood. The balance of tastes remains constant, delicious, and refreshing to the bottom of the glass. Some liquored up beers end up on the strong side, but Carajillo Stout feels like something for anytime and anywhere.
Supplier: La Buena Pinta
Price: ~€2.70
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| You don't want to know what's in the beer, do you? |
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| Or maybe you already know |
Supplier: La Buena Pinta
Price: ~€2.70
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