big little beer comes to town

Summer is upon us and the beer fests are brewing.  Beer week will be this month, for one thing, not to mention German films.  Then there will be more localized neighborhood activities, like at Vallehermoso later on.  When will I have time for a quiet bottle at home?!

This weekend Founders decided to celebrate its presence.  While that was the name on the program, a good number of other craft breweries had stands at Conde Duque, from a variety of places.  It was most the US and, to a lesser extent, Spain that were represented.  Instead of just buying the glass at this fest, you bought a ticket which came with the commemorative glass and two tokens.  Most of the beers were two tokens, but a few more powerful ones were a little more, so you had to get more tokens at booths that a friend likened to needle exchanges.  It's a sunny afternoon, a little warmer than I like, time to get some refreshment!

I wandered around to get a feel for the offerings, but at one end a man jumped out at me and said, "Would you like to try some beer?"  That...is why I came, I think.  This man was pouring for Wylie Brewery, and the two taps were an IPA and a NEIPA.  I tasted a little of both, and while the IPA was very good, strongly flavored and robust, I had to go to the NEIPA.  I was hot, dammit.  Little Ego NEIPA is light, fruity, a jewel of its type.  There's just enough bitter to make it beery.  It's an opaque beer, a little cloudy, and thoroughly thirst quenching.  There is something of an odd aftertaste, a kind of hovering bitterness at the back of the throat, but it is a remnant of the real flavor, not some mutation of it.  Good start!

As always, I seek out the dark beers, although sometimes they are few and far between.  I came across a coffee vanilla stout, product of Proof Brewing and couldn't pass it by.  The aroma is pretty light, like old fashioned vanilla toffees.  The taste, however, is strong in vanilla, moderated with some stout smoke.  It's not too syrupy, a plus in this weather, sweet but not very heavy.  It is a little sharp, though, no cream stout this.  Coffee Vanilla Royal Bloodline hits the right notes of the black beers for me.

I felt like alternating dark and light as much as I could and went looking for something on the bright side.  People Like Us was there on the end of the line of stands with a blueberry Berliner Weisse.  How about that?  The color is an eye catching dark pink and it's a fizzy looking beer..  The aroma is not exceptionally strong, not does the taste punch you in the mouth.  It's slightly sweet, but a bit dry, kind of a champagne-like flavor.  It's a very nice summer beer, with those blueberries to take the edge off the weisse, although it is a bit demanding.  The name is Wall of Bureaucracy, which, I was told, relates to the beer namer's impressions of Berlin: there was a wall and Germany is full of bureaucrats.  This young man is one of the autistic employees that they make a point of hiring to give them opportunities to thrive.  Good for them, and good for him.  Although it sounds like he's a really bit angry, the names of the beers could be understood as tongue-in-cheek, and well accepted by professional malcontents such as myself.

I was distracted by the national beers, not going for a heavy dark as I had originally planned.  Río Azul of Seville was there with a saison and I just heard a voice telling me to try it.  Flora has a very normal sort of beer appearance, and something of a musky scent.  It is much lighter than expected, with the taste living up the name, on the sweet side, sort of a clovery taste.  There's some honey too, but also a bitter undertaste.  It's a snappy beer, leaves its mark on you.  The sweeter parts of the flavor stay on a little longer than the bitter, which is something of a welcome development.  It doesn't have that perfumy sort of sweet either.  Very natural and pleasant, a beer that you can enjoy, not one you just throw back and forget about.

Now it's really time for a dark beer.  Back on the other side of the patio was Triple Crossing and their Black Dolphin with Coconut.  Well, ok.  It's a stout.  Give it a chance.  It's surprisingly light in aroma, just slightly nutty.  The taste is very smooth, with no hint of that 14% (!) alcohol.  It's really a summery kind of stout, with those deep flavors dark beer drinkers like but in a fluffy feeling mist of brew.  It's certainly creamier than the coffee-vanilla, and the taste veers into cotton candy territory.  The light kind of sweetness makes it truly a dangerous beer, one of those that will sneak up on you even if you know the content beforehand.  It doesn't get heavier or more syrupy either, remaining delicate and delectable to the bottom of the glass.  Approach with caution, but definitely approach.

One last one for Friday, Avery's Lilikoi Kepolo.  I felt like something a little fruitier after that stout.  And it is fruity, a peachy scent, I'd say, and a very yellow, beery color.  The taste is a mild sweet and sour, with some peach cutting through.  It's a happy, bouncy taste - or maybe I'm being influenced by the band playing a cover of "I'm Just A Girl".  The beer maintains its flavor all the way through, not getting heavy, syrupy or sour.  It's much like a peach lambic, in fact.  There is an aftertaste that registers with me as caraway, which is a little bit weird.

Saturday starts much the same, bright and sunny, probably a bit more crowded.  On Friday I could usually squeeze onto the end of a bench, but there's hardly a space now.  I decide to start off strong with Leftöver Cracker.  It's a pumpkin milk stout, from Russian brewery Zagovor.  It's rich black and bubbly, takes a while to settle.  There is evident pumpkin spice in the aroma, a rather autumnal beer, but I love my stouts anytime, anywhere.  It's much less sweet than expected, very smooth, eggnog like in texture.  There's a bite that reminds me of rum infused eggnog, although it might just be psychology working; the additional spices are what you get in eggnog, and pumpkin pie, so that should explain that.  It's not too strong anyway, at 7.6%.  The aftertaste is surprisingly dry, doesn't linger or leave any stickiness behind, but cleans up after itself.

In the interest of alternating, I go for an IPA next.  Califa's Imparable Pomelo is just asking for a taste.  It's a clear straw yellow, with kind of a spicy, cilantro-y smell.  The taste is sharp and herbal, not even bitter for a few seconds.  The grapefruit takes a while to kick in too.  It is decidedly less "clean" than the stout, with the late-coming bitter taking its time clearing out, but it would be considered a much more summery choice by many, I expect.  Quite nice.

I didn't go all the way back in extremes for the next one, stopping for an amber ale from 3 Floyds.  Something about the name, Smashed Face Amber, is a challenge.  It's orangey but clear colored, the aroma mostly...beery.  It's sweet tasting and citrusy, not the bitter citrus of IPAs, but sweet dessert oranges.  Not much aftertaste with this one either, although I keep expecting some bitterness to kick in.  Things remain calm, however.  Not as much of an impression as the others, quite honestly, but a tasty beer, nice for sipping, to go with a snack, a good book, or a good conversation.

I am sometimes compelled to try something new at fairs and festivals, with the thought that I probably wouldn't buy these beers at other times.  But, I know I do get odd things just to try.  Maybe I should do some adding up of styles.  Anyway, what really caught my eye was the sign assuring passers-by that the raspberries for Mikkeller's Spontandoubleraspberry sour were collected by Danish virgins in white dresses like fairies.  Some way to get attention.  Very pagan.  Goes with the territory, I suppose.  So now that my attention has been captured, I can't just walk away from that without a glass of sour.  It's the right color to be fake blood, but really too thin in consistency.  The scent is sour, lambic-y, hints of sweet fruit though.  The taste is quite fruity and tangy, a lot like Mort Subite, but for me more palatable since the flavor is more natural and less sharp and syrupy.  Like real raspberries, instead of enhanced raspberry flavoring. 

Uh oh

It was about this time that it started raining.  We were in the open patio, although there were some umbrellas over the tables, and herds of attendees flocked to doorways for a little bit of protection.  While we were squeezed into the doorway to the library a security guard told us we had to keep the exits clear for safety reasons.  And nobody moved.  A couple of people argued that they had paid for their tickets to a beer fest, not a shower, and if there wasn't adequate protection in the patio they weren't moving from the doorway.  The guard said she was obligated to tell us the rules, and eventually just walked off, leaving us to shelter where we were.  The rain let up after a few minutes and we scattered among the stalls again.

I've only had one stout today?  Unacceptable!  So there's Finback's Nave Nave Mahana to make things right.  It looks right, smells right, tastes...sweet.  It's not overly sweet, however, and now that it's kind of damp out, a little extra sugar picks you right up.  I don't identify the source of the sweetness, it just seems like a lot of milk stouts, but apparently pineapple is involved.  I think I might have hesitated if I'd seen that first, but as I said, the fruit doesn't make itself plainly known.  Despite being a black beer, it's a chipper, bright drink, balancing out a rainy early evening.  It keeps well as it warms up too, maintaining a pleasant sweetness without getting too heavy or sour.

I thought I would end the day with that stout, but by this time other people had come to poke around and there were extra beer tokens to be had.  I feel bad about not using them, I mean, really.  So I had a mystery IPA.  It was fetched for me, that's why it's a mystery, and I did not ask the provenance.  It is a fairly standard ale, good color and head.  Not exceptionally bitter, and no "special" flavorings that I can detect.  Of course, it was raining again by that time, so I was a little distracted with drippings from the edges of patio umbrellas.

OK, seriously, the last tokens!  I only have two left, so no more stouts.  It's coming down pretty good, so I think something sunny might be the right send-off.  Revolution Brewing had two tempting treats, but Deth's Tar was a four token stout, so out of my range now.  I don't feel like waiting around in the rain for two more tokens.  But, there is also Freedom of Speach, a session sour.  With peach, as you might guess.  That's sunny enough for me.  It's a very pale color, clear, slightly fizzy.  Not nearly as tangy as Spontan or Imparable, but just sour enough to balance the identifiable peach.  It's a little bit silly to be drinking such a happy, bubbly beer under an umbrella in a downpour, but that's just one of life's weirdnesses.  Here's to rain and unfrozen peaches!

Another day for you...