the return!

After two scuttled attempts, Beermad returns!  Generously, for a long weekend, going from Saturday to Tuesday, and with tickets available online for priority entrance.  There's no all-event pass this time, but maybe I only need one day to enjoy myself anyway.  It's been a long time, my tolerance isn't what it used to be.  I thought about the first day, Saturday, but when I went to purchase there were no tickets left for the early entrance time.  Even Sunday was sold out!  I could probably have gone later, but I thought there might be a chance that people would just kind of agglomerate inside, and that does not interest me at all.  Monday was a workday for me, but since Tuesday was a holiday, I had all day!  Tuesday it was.  I thought if I went early there wouldn't be huge lines of people waiting.  Well...

Going in, you see the outside tables and the food trucks in front of the building, while the beer stands were inside Pabellón de Cristal.  It didn't seem as extensive as at Caja Mágica, but memories can be treacherous.  It was probably about the same as at Delicias, maybe a little bit smaller.  I decided to start light.  Well, light-colored.

Damas Koh Tao, named for a location in Thailand, is a good-looking IPA with a super tropical aroma and a good thick head.  Within the dark gold thousands of bubbles dance around.  The flavor is flowery bitter, not very IPA-y at first, although some fruitiness does come out later.  It's not the typical tropical IPA, with less citrus than most, and more flower.  It does make you think of more Pacific destinations, though.  I'm slightly sad that we don't get the souvenir glass this year, not sure if it's a question of health safety or cost cutting.

Next, I absolutely need my black beer.  I wandered around a little seeking them out, and there are a couple out there.  Castiza's Suomi Bourbon-Negra looked promising, with that northern name.  Northern stouts have quite a positive record with me.  The woman at the stand also warned me that it was a pretty heavily flavored beer, which sounds like just what I'm looking for.  It certainly looks powerful, like a real glass full of oil.  There isn't a very sweet aroma, just a hint of strong stuff.  I get a bourbon-y flavor, but it's not very strong to my taste.  There's a good bitter grounding, but the beer is otherwise very laid-back.  I'm actually a little disappointed, since I was hoping for more of a sock in the mouth kind of barrel aged beast, but it's a nice enough beer for a good talk and snacks with friends.  I notice if you hit the metal tables you almost get concentric circles like in Jurassic Park.

The entertainment starts up and the country-surf music is interesting.  Somehow I think it goes better with the mead than with the beer.  Did I say mead?  Yes, that's next!  Crisada's Loki, a hibiscus and wild berry version.  Kool-Aid in appearance, clover or meadow flower smell, honey flowery flavor.  It's very light and very refreshing, sort of a sangria sensation without all the floating fruit.  Absolutely no sharpness either, a soft and pleasant drink, although perhaps too summery for the season to be truly fitting.  A good choice tastewise, though.

It's time to go back to the darkness, and one looked especially promising.  I could have sworn that I had picked up Murmar's Nahuatl at some point, but for the life of me I can't find any trace of it.  I must have just considered it and ended up with something else.  Nahuatl is a Coco Cacao Stout, and believably the keg was nearly empty.  I got a little taste that decided me on the bottle and I happily went away with it.  It's somewhat lighter than Suomi but with a much richer aroma.  The coconut is quite evident, although more in the bottle version than from the tap.  I think there's more cacao in the keg than in the bottle.  It's a little sweeter, a little fuller in feeling, the tap outperfroms the bottle in my opinion.  While it has some stout earthiness, it's not the most mouthfilling beer.  Perhaps even smoother than Suomi, I feel like it could have been more and therefore am a little sad about it.

I feel like I have time for one more, and I can't stay away from dark beers.  In the end, not a stout this time.  Cervezas Ibérica Quadrivium, a dark ruby red quadruple will play me out.  There's the predictable tangy Belgian aroma, a little sour in the nose, but tamed with vanilla.  The sour sticks around in the mouth, the vanilla not so much.  There's a mild hint of spice, not exactly "pumpkin" quality.  It's a nice, fairly quiet beer, alright for an evening out, a calm dinner, but by itself it doesn't demand attention.

Nothing got me up on the roof, but I wasn't on the floor either

 

It's not a bustling Beermad of years past, but I won't say no to the next time!  Everything has its ups and downs.