modern specialties

Although there's quite a bit of standard German beer floating around, there isn't very much Czech beer.  Sure, you can find Pilsner Urquell, sometimes even unfiltered, and occasionally Staropramen or Kozel.  I've been told it's because Czech beer just doesn't travel very well.  I guess that's the mark of its delicate quality and natural ingredients, but every once in a while you do come upon something less usual.  I think the first time I had Primátor was with a "Prague Meal" during some beer/gastrofest years ago, although I might have picked one up from Cervezorama even before that.  Well, I got Exklusiv, a "light, strong beer", a while ago, but hung on to it without really knowing why.  I guess my future self knew it would be fitting to go with a talk about 19th century beer and brewing industry development, since that's when Bohemia's pilsner style took off.  Now, Exklusiv isn't a pilsner, in fact on their website they call it a Maibock, but it's an example of good beer and good Czech beer, so that's good enough for me.

It's surprisingly strongly colored, something like an Imperial IPA might come out, with an orangey beige head.  The aroma is slightly appley, but pleasingly tart.  The flavor is bitter, but it has an odd medley of bitters, with a range of notes and depth.  It certainly doesn't taste like chocolate, but that dark bitterness is there, all the way up to citrus pithy pokey bitter.  It's a light feeling beer, dancing over the tongue, and going down easy in spite of the strong flavors.  After a bit some sweetness starts to come out, sugary rather than syrupy as sometimes happens.  It seems like an interesting blend of a craft IPA and a lager, the kind of thing you might expect from a small craft brewery, but not from 19th century industrialists.  Not that they would tell anybody about anyway.

Suppler: La Buena Cerveza

Price: €3.29

Bite the Bullet

I'm supposed to talk about beer in the Thirteen Colonies this weekend, and I'm pretty sure they didn't drink pastry stouts at that time.  People did drink dark beers, Washington was especially partial to a porter that he had made at Mount Vernon, but pastry stout is kind of cheating.  Still, I really can't resist.  At 10%, this brew from Siesta Brewing is from the right place.  The name?  Sweet Bullet.  Again, not exactly the right technology for colonial times, but there were plenty of things of the same nature. 

Strangely enough, there's a slightly sour aroma, although still recognizably stout.  Good color, lightly headed.  A deeper sniff reminds me of fruit pastry, maybe koláč?  The taste is dark and plummy, with a feeling of baking chocolate, not as fruity as the aroma hinted at.  It's not especially sweet, so not syrupy or sticky, but I wouldn't say bitter either.  There's a fine earthiness that grounds the flavor without making it too heavy.  Unlike many pastry stouts, or even stouts in general, it's a thin and easily drinkable beer.  That's not to say it's watery, there is a pleasant fullness of flavor.  A sharpness develops after a while, kind of like a hard candy that dissolves unevenly.  It also gets a little bit fruitier, a little more red fruit than plum or apple, although the texture stays fine and easily handled.

Supplier: Cerevisia

Price: €3.70

first shot

So I'm going to do my craft beer introduction and I need something to go along with it.  I can get American beers in Madrid, but I also think we should be supporting local industries in times like these, so I go looking for Spanish labels.  And there's one!  La Vicalvarada.  American Red Ale, so it still goes along with the topic.  The label extols the virtues and bravery of the inhabitants of the former Vicálvaro, now a neighborhood of Madrid, so I imagine it's one of those little beers from little breweries sprinkled around the city.  Oh wait, it's...Domus?  Not even in Madrid!  Well, it's good enough beer anyway, and as far as I know still craft.  At least the last time I looked at their website.

It has an earthy, slightly sweet aroma, and a dark brown, rusty color.  Definitely one of the better hues to be called a red ale.  The head is awfully thick and resistant, it reminds me of ice cream floats, after the ice cream starts to get mixed in with the root beer a little.  There's a somewhat woody, nutty sweetness, more sweet at first and then building to bitter in flavor.  Strangely the sweetness comes back to hang around after the swallow is gone.  It's a very smooth beer, easy going down.  There's no sharpness at the edges, no kickiness in the bitter.  Although the sweetness has a clearly larger share, there is a balancing bitterness and a range of subtle flavors, making the beer a good fit for casual conversation, academic presentation, or curled-up-reading relaxation.

Supplier: Cerevisia

Price: €2.80

no stones to throw

Little by little, we're on the road to the good old days, at least that's what we want to believe.  The truth, probably, is that things have always changed and never really gone back to anything they were.  Our problem today is really more that lots of change has happened quickly.  One thing that hasn't changed is the desire to wander around the streets on a warm afternoon and hunker down with a cold beer.  Now, it's not so easy to find my lovely black beers in this town, at least at bars, but the beer stores are still there to help.  La Buena Cerveza was rather well populated for a Saturday afternoon, but I got around the shelves enough to find Stone Xocoveza.  It's an imperial stout with a few spices added in, "inspired by Mexican hot chocolate" it says.  When I went up to pay the guy told me, "Ooh!  That one tastes like Christmas!"  As it gets warmer I'll think fondly of Christmas temperatures, even the ones we had last year.  And yes, even the snow that came later. 

A heady, medium-thick looking beer, with a pleasant gingerbread scent.  There are also hints of chocolate or vanilla, but nothing spicy yet.  The flavor is surprisingly bitter, much like some chillis, but it does have some dark chocolate depth.  There is a bitter aftertaste that builds up little by little, but the beer is not one of those syrupy pastry-style ones.  I keep expecting there to be a sharper pepper kick, but it's very subtle and more tiny embers than bright sparks.  The sweetness comes and goes too, sometimes popping up in the middle of the sip as a bright, almost milk chocolate ting.  In spite of the ginger, I don't think it's quite a Christmas beer necessarily.  It's a fine drink though, with a good balance of dark and light flavors that give you a sensation of completeness and satisfaction.

Supplier: La Buena Cerveza

Price: €5.20