continentally

Last Saturday!  Easter Saturday, as if I care.  No chocolate laden rabbits where I am.  As a holiday weekend, it's a little harder to get a beer fix if you haven't stocked up, too.  However, somebody is always willing to do a little extra work and today isn't technically a holiday here.  Circumstances have made it less likely for me to go to l'Europe for some time, so I figured I might as well revisit a past haunt.  Still on beer street/calle cervezera Cerdenal Cisneros 19, they offer a mix of craft and bigger import beers, as well as German-style wurst platters.  Every third Sunday of the month there's local artisan cheese and vinyl records, for the hipsters.  And important for the penny-pinchers, every day between 6 and 8pm is happy hour.  Half price drafts!

Order at the bar

I see a lot of familiar names on the draft board, but Arriaca Centeno has probably not crossed my palate yet.  At least it doesn't sound like one I've tried.  It's a rye imperial pale lager, so I'm confident that it will be tasty.  I find I prefer their light colored beers to their dark ones.  It's a good orangey color, just a little bit opaque, with a light, bright, white head.  The aroma is sharp and sweet, recalling typical IPAs, but the flavor leans toward plain bitter, harkening back to the lager.  It doesn't take long for a sweetness to develop, though, and the beer does have a tendency to hang around in the mouth.  It's not an unpleasant aftertaste, but perhaps not as clean as you might expect from the citrusy smell.  Centeno is a good representative for Arriaca, and a beer that leaves a pleasant mark.

Not German tapas

It got a bit crowded, even for an early Saturday evening, which might be because of the cheap draft beer, or might be just because.  The tables are still a little too close together for my comfort, which some accidental butt-bumping, and the place does tend to get noisy pretty easily.  Still, it's certainly not the worst place I've ever been, and if somebody suggests going I'll be happy to go along.

from the mountain top

I just can't stop with the black beers now!  We've had some Irish style weather recently, so it makes sense to seek out those Irish style beers.  Cerveza Bailandera has a nice porter, or at least it looked nice on the shelf.  It was the last one, so that seems like an endorsement.

It's just dark brown, letting light through on the bottom, but the aroma is strong and sweet.  It promises a good malty flavor.  While there is some malt in it, the taste is smokier than the scent would suggest, and still very smooth.  At some point in the middle there are some sweet notes that just barely poke the palate, but they are surrounded with a bitter earthiness on all sides.  It's so smooth I have no trouble labeling it an oatmeal stout, and it even has the softness a cream stout can boast about.  The sweetness is really held in check, though.  Eventually a kind of sour aftertaste builds up, but the drink remains light.  Although a porter, it's a very light and unassuming beer unless you're paying close attention to it.  A good sipper, or with dessert, and certainly a nice accompaniment to conversation.

Supplier: Cerevisia
Price: €2.90

sláinte!

I wasn't sure if I could find an Irish craft beer for this drinking day of days, and was willing to settle for a green label.  And a stout.  I will have my stout, dammit.  Well, at La Birratorium I was greeted by the label I was looking for - on an Irish made beer!  Huzzah!  And stout, at that, so all boxes checked!  Eight Degrees Brewing was actually founded by a Kiwi and an Aussie, according to their lore, but they are now settled in the Emerald Isle and the beer is made there.  The name refers to both Ireland's geographic location (8ºW) and the optimal temperature to serve the Knock Mealdown at.  I fear I may have over-chilled mine.

It's a nice dark color, a bit light on the head, and malty in aroma.  The taste starts mellow and smoky, moving into a crunchy earthiness and finishing with a sort of licorice flutter.  As usual, I'm not sure if I like that ending.  Still, it's worth it for the dark chocolate/espresso main attraction.  It's a robust flavor even though the beer doesn't feel particularly heavy.  The chocolate flavor comes on stronger as the temperature rises, which is fine my me.  It also seems to wipe out the licorice.  It's on the less alcoholic side for a stout, which makes it a good party beer, easy to drink a few of while celebrating without ill effects.  It doesn't seem to need any snacks to enhance it, although it wouldn't hurt to have something either lightly salted, or chocolatey, like those mousses from a few weeks ago.  St. Patrick's chocolate cake and beer should be a thing?  Is it a thing somewhere?  Next year let's make it a thing.

Supplier: La Birratorium
Price: €3.65

ha-HAH!

On a drippy morning you don't always think about shopping fondly, even beer shopping.  It's a good excuse to get out of the house, though.  And I don't have to go very far to Cerevisia, anyway.  The rain let up on my jaunt down, although I did have to protect my bag on the way back.  Inside, it seemed like a good idea to find something bright and shiny to contrast with the weather.  Clown Shoes Beer Mangö looks like the thing.  It also seems like I see more and more cans of beer in the beer stores, at least from the US.  Save those shipping costs!

Phew, doesn't look at all like Pennywise!

It's bright and promising in the pour, bubbly and heady, and with a little tingle of fruit aroma.  It's not as sharp as IPAs can be, less citrusy and stronger on the mango, naturally.  It looks a lot like a typical kölsch, with a light yellow color.  The taste is heavily fruit punchy for me.  The mango is strong even in the beginning and puts a lot of weight on the tropical flavor side of things.  There isn't even a hint of bitterness or sourness, and I would go so far as to say that this beer reminds me of fruit juice with a splash of beer in it.  It's not terribly strong, 5.5%, but the normal beeriness is absent to my tastebuds.  It's a fun experiment, and would be splendid on a summer afternoon or evening, preferably under the shade of some umbrella or tree.  Even those of us who aren't beer drinkers would enjoy it, as long as they don't mind a little buzz afterwards.

Supplier: Cerevisia
Price: €3.60

green like spring grass

It was time to run for pickles, a chore these days.  The German store is the only one that has any worth buying, so I took the opportunity to snap up a German beer too.  The selection is more limited than in specialized beer stores, of course, but there are still some things I haven't seen before.  While it's a rainy week, it's not especially cold right now, so a light beer seemed like a good bet.  Jever's perky green bottle and "friesisch Herb" caught my attention in the end, since I might need something stimulating at the end of the day.  A nice German pilsner, with a healthy dose of bitter, should pick me right up.

It has a definitely musky aroma, straw like color, and bubbly but short-lived head.  The typical German flavor of country greenery wells up in the aftertaste once the sharp bitterness has died down.  It's not as clean and crisp as some pilsners, being on the heavy side with a rounded and mouth-filling taste.  After swallowing, it takes a few minutes to clear out, although it's not as syrupy as other styles can get.  It's a lightening drink for dark and drippy days, although probably better with something to go with it.

Supplier: Fass
Price: €1.30