seventhly

On the first day of Beermas I went and bought for me
A bird dropping beads on the street
Two turtledoves
Three Belgian roosters
Four birds calling for blood
Five rolling blings
Six geese parading
Seven mermaids bird flipping

Not only is this beer have a connection to water, but there's a roundabout bird in there as well!  Hah!  The mermaid might not be so impressed, though.  There's probably a reason they call her Sour Suzy.  While you might not necessarily take a Berliner weisse as a first choice at this time of year, we can make arguments for the associations: Berlin is a Christmas city, for one; snow (that might fall) is white, for another.  And Lervig is in Norway, which must have a point close to where Santa's workshop is.

It looks a little like a very clear lemon soda, although with more head than those usually have.  There's a definite beer aroma though, something of a lager to it.  Although it is a touch sour, it's not as strong as some weisses, with a little more of a bittersweet blend.  Like some "natural" lemon sodas after all.  A more lagery taste comes through towards the end, something rounder and mellower, like a raw squash might be if we ate raw squash normally.  That goes away after about half the can, leaving the sharp and stingy lemon, which would really be quite refreshing on a more summery evening.  It's not so bad even now, with a champagne sort of essence that makes it appropriate.

Supplier: La Buena Pinta
Price: €2.50

sixthly

On the first day of Beermas I went and bought for me
A bird dropping beads on the street
Two turtledoves
Three Belgian roosters
Four birds calling for blood
Five rolling blings
Six geese parading

You might have noticed that the beer birds are not always the ones in the song, but geese are a popular mascot for beer for some reason.  La Granja de Goose gives us Gloria IPA, complete with a little history of the style on the label.  I'm amused that the introduction of the beer to the British Isles was due to a shipwreck.  Much like today, there's a greater identification with the black beers, but the ales turn out to be the more popular in the end.

It's a nice orangey color, promising a strong IPA flavor, although a little bit candy-ish in scent.  There's a touch of apple to the flavor, not much citrus, only a mild bitter aftertaste.  The beer is pretty light, not very sticky like some IPAs, kind of summery.  There's even a little perfume on the top, something like Valverde.  It's a fine IPA, perhaps a little subdued for my taste if I was going to focus on the beer alone.  But, with company, it's a good choice.

Supplier: La Cervecista
Price: €3

fifthly

On the first day of Beermas I went and bought for me
A bird dropping beads on the street
Two turtledoves
Three Belgian roosters
Four birds calling for blood
Five rolling blings

Yeah, it's a pearl not gold.  I'm cheating a little to make the song connection obvious.  Marston's Pearl Jet stout isn't quite the golden color the song might call for either, but a shiny pearl might be more attractive to some than a plain old ring.  The delivery crow also goes with the featheriness of the lyrics.

Dark brown, light beige head, mildly sweet but stouty aroma.  The flavor isn't very strong, but it has that bitter touch that makes a stout special.  The aftertaste has a little bit of licorice, perhaps, but also very mild.  It starts out on the thin side, but somehow it gains some stickiness and weight over time.  For the most part, though, it's a light and easy beer, only 4.5%.  One could easily take in several pints of this on a chilly English December night, waiting for crows to shower us with riches.

Supplier: Cervecissimus
Price: €3.70

fourthly

On the first day of Beermas I went and bought for me
A bird dropping beads on the street
Two turtledoves
Three Belgian roosters
Four birds calling for blood

It says Bird of Prey on it, even though it looks like a superhero, so there must be blood involved.  It's from our old friends Uiltje, who have created some wild things in the past.  I am looking forward to this IPA.   Ah, there's another reference to superheroes on the can - if not stored properly it will turn to kryptonite.  Not to mention it starts out supernatural!

Says right there

The way the bubbles come up, it looks like a very weighty kind of beer.  It's one of those golden IPAs, and transparent to boot.  Good head, nice and white, sticks around for a while too.  There's an almost spicy aroma over the standard citrus, promising a good blend of bitter and sweet.  Indeed, it's a blend of mandarin tanginess and grapefruit bitter, very fruity and citrusy, but in noticeably different ways.  It is, perhaps, just a little thinner than I expected, but it's still substantial and no wispy, watery thing.  I have the feeling that this is a beer that could stand up for itself, outweighing snacks and dominating a conversation.  Saving you from a boring one is something a superhero ought to do!

Supplier: Más Que Cervezas
Price: €3.27

thirdly

On the first day of Beermas I went and bought for me
A bird dropping beads on the street
Two turtledoves
Three Belgian roosters

Yes, not French and not hens, but something along those lines.  Next door, as it were.  There might be only one bird on the branch, but at 8% we might imagine the other two on the ground.  This is Arabier, a Belgian Strong Pale Ale, elsewhere called a Golden Ale.  And, not just a Belgian style, but a genuine product of Belgium, De Dolle Brouwers to be precise.

It's a very unassuming beer, with no oddness or eye catching anything about the color or aroma.  It's a little bit sour, as one might expect from Belgian beers.  I let the head go down a bit, since it's like whipped cream on there, and I take a first sip.  WOW.  It's a sour beer.  It's not abrasive, though, which is something some NEIPAs have had trouble with.  It's also not clingy or covered in graininess, which I have experienced with other sour beers.  Although not my favorite style, it's a sharp, clean flavor and something that would really pick you up on a summer evening.  Even in the winter, some overheated pubs might serve a good number of Arabiers, especially if they rely on saltier snacks.  It has the kind of flavor that would cut right through anything else, and with that tiny hint of sweetness be a welcome interruption.  Although, it does develop a bitter side the more it rests, so if that's more your preference you can probably just let it sit for a couple of minutes.

Supplier: Be Hoppy
Price: €3.50

secondly

On the first day of Beermas I went and bought for me
A bird dropping beads on the street
Two turtledoves

That's a nickname for lovers, right?  And one of them is an owl, so a real bird.  They certainly do look cozy, La Quince's owl and Guineu's fox.  It is also a blend of the black velvet stout and milk stout, so a little duality there too, even though the beers are quite similar to begin with.  Black Velvet Vanilla blew me away the first time I had it, the Chocolate was also pretty good, Hazelnut not so much...I don't remember now if I have actually tried the Milk Stout from the bottle.  From the tap it's quite alright.  (Oh, dammit.)

It has a slight hint of licorice in the aroma, and the head has a good cocoa appearance.  The taste is surprisingly tangy and tart, but with a lactose sweetness.  While not excessively sweet, the beer has a solid body and a commanding presence.  After the initial sweetness I start to pick out some toast and smoke among the flavors, giving it more stouty weight.  It seems to get bubblier, more soda-like if I let it sit for a while, although it doesn't change much in flavor.  It is a nice flavor, I'll give it that.  And appropriately tingly and snappy for the season.

Supplier: Heneket
Price: €4.95

firstly

On the first day of Beermas I went and bought for me
A bird dropping beads on the street

You know, you would think those Belgian lambics would include a pear version, but if they do it doesn't make it to Spain.  That leaves me with pear cider (which I've already done and haven't found more examples of that either) and playing with the birds.  La Pirata's Viakrucis features a crow on the label, not a partridge, and not in a tree, but it is a bird dammit!  Also, you can imagine the prayer beads are tiny pears.  And prayer rhymes with pear!  So there!

It's a tempting ale looking thing in the glass, with a slightly orangish golden color and a fluffy resistant head.  If you stick your nose right in, the craft ale aroma bubbles up to you, but it's not one of those that really spreads its scent around when opened.  It attacks with bitter at first, then falling back to a more rough and rustic graininess.  The citrus of the aroma is really nowhere in the flavor, it's much more of an old style ale than a modern craft with the US influence.  It's demanding and undismissable.  This is no beer to just suck down in the middle of a night out, this is something to really chew on.  It might be nice to chew on something else as well, say a mild cheese, a little toast with a thin spread of braunchschweiger maybe.  I don't think I'd want anything very salty enhancing the taste a lot, or something sweet that would clash.

Supplier: Birra y Paz
Price: €3.40

not quite pushing boundaries

I have a small soft spot for Alhambra in a bottle, better than draft in my opinion.  Although, like so many, the brewery has been absorbed into a much bigger one, there are some interesting things to be found.  A barrel aged lager, for one, kept in rum barrels for a sweet, sweet finish: Barrica de Ron Granadino.

Well, it is a nice ruddy color, almost extra bubbly, keeps only a thin head.  There's a definite whiff of alcoholic barrel.  It also smells a little fruity, but more of a banana or melon than an ale-y citrus.  The rum sweetness comes through, although I find it subdued.  There's a touch of banana in the flavor as well.  It may be the lightness of the lager versus a heavier stout, but the taste is more rum candy flavoring than actual rum.  The beer is not especially heavy by itself - again, lager.  It's a smooth taste, though, no rough edges on it at all.  Nice drinking beer, something a little daring, but not a big surprise.  While pleasant, it's a beer that plays it safe.

Supplier: La Cervecista
Price: €1.90

a present

As much as I love dark beers, I also love raspberry flavored things.  True, there are raspberry beers, but so many of them are...weird.  Too syrupy, too sour, that sort of thing.  Sagra did make a nice one a few years ago.  But, those who are really known for fruit beers are the Belgians, and I could not resist snapping up Bacchus Raspberry Beer from Brouwerij Van Honsebrouck.  It was the last one on the shelf too, so there's the added attraction of something about to disappear.  It comes nicely wrapped in paper and the naked bottle has a wine-ish look to it, or at least something a little less common than a simple beer.

All wrapped up

It's a weirdly dark reddish brown, with a sort of cream head.  There is raspberry in the scent, light and tickly, nothing too strong.  While the fruit is the first thing you notice when sipping, there's a kind of bitter-sour floor to it, giving balance to a beer that sometimes is a little too strong on the fruity syrup.  The flavor remains constant, not gaining in sourness or sweetness, and it's quite a light feeling beer to boot.  While it might be cozy for some wintry valentine, it has the fluttery easy feel that thirst quenching summer beers benefit from.

Strangely naked

Supplier: Heneket
Price: €4.20

no open fire

It's a time for fires and smoke and dark things, like a nice porter!  Since some porters have that fruity bite to them anyway, a cherry wood variety sounds like a solid bet.  Blazin Sandals, made at Brew York Brewery with the help of Anspach & Hobday, does not have a name that I would associate with porter of any kind, even a smoked one, but it's always good to challenge your assumptions I guess.

The color isn't very dark, like it's been watered down a little bit.  It has sort of a puckery tangy aroma, like many porters with that touch of fructose in them.  The head packs a good amount of bitterness, but the beer is quite smooth with only a hint of smokiness.  It's not very sweet, actually, the fruitiness being mainly in the scent.  It even has a background of chocolatey-ness, a kind of dark chocolate blend.  It's on the thin side, again like a somewhat watered down drink, although the flavor remains at a pleasing level.  It is far from sticky and the balance of tastes remains stable, not veering into syrupy sweet or crinkly bitter.  It's not a beer that needs any help from snacks, and strongly flavored ones would take away from it.

Supplier: La Buena Pinta
Price: €5.80