new sights

Usually I see posts about beer fairs that are in places I would need to drive to or spend a long time on a bus for, and I am just not that dedicated.  But then, every once in a while I'm surprised by one sneaking up on me in an accessible spot, like just down south on a nice metro ride.  I don't have many reasons to go that far down anymore, no classes to speak of, so why not put a little variety into my city experience?  Bulevar de Vallecas, here I come!

Being who I am, I go down early, on a weekday, to avoid the crowds.  It works out pretty well, there aren't many people wandering around, although there are a few.  A small collection of stands with a good variety of beers and easy to get to without a crush of people?  Off to a good start.

I get started with Go!, called over check out the wares.  They have a stout, but I get convinced to start with Madroñera, a brown ale.  It's a nice fuzzy brown, not a lot of head or aroma.  There's a slightly toasty, clean beery flavor at first, later a pop of caramel.  It's clean drinking, only a low level of sweetness, a nice stand-alone beer.  A good start indeed.

I must have a real black beer for my second round, and I stop over at Cosa Nostra where two black beers are on the board.  I wonder if the porter or stout would be better, but the chocolate in the porter is what clinches it in the end.  Porter Choco it is.  It's a very good color, again little head - this one is from a bottle, not the tap - and a good amount of chocolate in the aroma.  The taste surprises with the chocolate sneaking up on you; it starts out as kind of a flat porter bitter, but suddenly a ball of chocolate breaks through.  And it is very good chocolate, no cheap-o milk-chocolate-Hershey crap, it's dark smooth flavored of the earth, not of sugar and factory.

Yeah, not sitting in the carrier, dad

A little nostalgia with your beer?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now time for The One to wash down the last of the Käsekrainer.  It's pretty much all ales and lagers over there, so I ask for a recommendation and come away with another brown beer, Celta.  It's supposed to be an old style beer, with some barrel aging to give it more character, and it's definitely interesting visually.  It's exceptionally thick looking, really opaque, with a huge amount of tiny bubbles, much like Guinness boasts of itself.  Not very aromatic and only a vaguely sour taste at first, but light and swiftly disappearing down the gullet leaving no distraction behind.  Given a minute, more flavors emerge - woodiness, herbalness, a little bit of mint.  It doesn't quite get to sweet, but it hints at it a little.  It does start to develop an alarming amount of licorice, which I hope my last few fries will soak up.  As I near the end it gets fruitier and figgier, probably what you might have found in traditional beers without a modern load of hops.

I think I have the head for one more, and I see a couple of breweries that I do not yet know.  Both are local, but finally it's the logo that gets me to Bacterio.  And their English porter Black-terio.  It sounds like a pretty standard brew and it does start out with a standardly malty and grainy aroma, and a standard little cap of foam on a handsome black beer.  There's lots of grain and bread in the flavor, not sweet but substantial.  It has a very smooth body, not sticky or prickly at all.  Although it's easy to drink, it has a certain weight behind it that leaves the feeling of having a good frenemy sitting across from you.

So, only a short visit, but well worth the trip.  Well done Vallecas!  See you again some time!