somebody's memories

It isn't a beerliday yet, so just a random pick today...something a little more subdued, with less excitement about it.  Well, it's kind of exciting to see a historical beer on the shelf, although you always have to wonder just how close an industrial remake really is.  They have sanitation and health requirements to fill, you know.  At least it's my favorite industrial Spanish beer, Estrella Galicia.  This is their Primera Generación, supposedly a recipe developed by the first generation of beer-making Riveras, but right on the bottle they say the most important thing is the tradition of technique, not so much ingredients.  Of course technique is often a big part of recipes too.  Another reason I like this brewery is their campaign of making themselves look like the underdog beer, the one you need a special sense to really appreciate.  Like I said, it's my favorite industrial beer, but it seems just as silly to emphasize how smallness of your clientele as it is to sniff at drinkers of smaller beers that are just like products your own larger company produces.  No, scratch that, the latter is definitely sillier.  Estrella Galicia's Resistencia and Cerveza para la Inmensa Minoría seem more like gentle jokes in comparison.

It opens with a poof of barroom air, very typical industrial lager smell.  The beer is very light colored, translucent, good looking head.  It's like a super hoppy German lager, it's even a little peppery, which I don't think was particularly desirable at the beginning of the last century, but who knows?  It's flavorsome, malty, a little spicy in the taste too.  The flavor makes you think it's going to be a much heavier feeling beer than it actually is.  Like the color, it's light and fluttery.  The strong taste disappears quickly after the swallow, leaving no aftertaste or feel.  It's very drinkable once it's drunk, since you can easily forget that you just had a sip.  Pretty clever for getting people to keep consuming.  The strong flavor and aroma might give the drinker the impression of a product that was thoroughly worked over and developed, but it's the right kind of feel for the Spanish climate.  Even in Galicia, there's a little sun, sometimes.