prodigal beer...or me

Another of Labirratorium's last offerings, and another northern style.  Belgian style, in fact, or at least part of Belgium, being that Phi Rhubarb is a Flemish sour ale.  It has that cute little bottle that a lot of Belgian beers use, and a pretty modern label.  I remember being a little resigned to it, but with shelves being actively dismantled in my presence, I couldn't hem and haw too much.  My first and maybe only brush with Alvinne and their contribution to fruited sours.  (Actually I have had an Alvinne before, years ago.  But not Phi.)

Sour, Belgian-y smell, leaning towards apple cider.  Very dark gold, maybe a little bit rusty.  Not a lot of carbonation or head to be found.  It smells a little syrupy, like there's a powerful punch of alcohol lurking in it, and at 8% it is strong for a fruit sour.  It's actually a little bit sweet, like a rhubarb pie, so it has a nice blend of sweet and sour, like candy.  It's also pretty smooth drinking, which you might expect from the lack of bubbliness.  It isn't exactly syrupy, although it has some body to it.  The sourness does build up over time at the back of the tongue, but it's generally a pleasant beer, with just a little spark to brighten up the evening.

just peachy

On the last days of Labirratorium I thought I would help lighten the load of the shelves before they got sold off.  I was later than most, so it wasn't a surprise that there was already a lot of empty space.  There were still some venerable Belgian beers left, and one a peach Lambic, which I don't mind too much.  It's been quite a while since I've indulged in a traditional fruit beer, much less a Belgian.  I remember being pleased with Lindemann's, and Kasteel has received some rave reviews on certain Youtube channels.  High hopes for St. Louis Premium Peche.  This is in spite of it being in a refrigerator door for almost a year.

It's darker than I expected, but maybe that's the aging involved.  Still good head and it didn't explode with extra gases, so that's positive.  It has an almost nostalgic beery aroma, with a touch of peach in it, for some reason it brings the old Cervezorama to mind.  The flavor is very heavy on the fruit, and the beer even feels a little thick, full-bodied and not much of a summery whisper.  It isn't just sweet peach, it's almost natural with its sourness, and maybe that is a little aging going on.  It almost has a winey quality, more of a white than a red, but the foundations of the drink still let the grain shine through to remind you what you're really drinking.

Hey, it's spring, time to clean out the fridge?

beergrimage

Such a long time, and for what?  For a story of breweries and beers that deserve our attention?  Always worth a wait!

The truth is a lot of things have gone down in the past year.  Labirratorium closed, La Virgen was closed, La Buena Pinta closed for a moment and then changed ownership (I guess) and pricing, Roll closed "for renovations" but hasn't reopened after a couple of months and doesn't appear to be undergoing much work inside.

But, Península and Oso have managed to struggle on, maybe even without a lot of struggle.  Oso Brew opened a taproom with their new suburban brewery sometime last year, and Península have been in the outskirts since the beginning pretty much, I've just never made the time to go out there.  But now I have!  It was a beergrimage worth waiting for!

I planned on hitting up Oso Brew first, since their beers, while delicious, tend to be subtler and a little more delicate than what I've experienced from Península.  The place is unassuming and a little bit of a surprise when you walk in.  The general atmosphere is slightly industrial, befitting the surroundings, but it is still clearly a craft beer bar.  There's cornhole out front and everything.  This weekend happened to be a Meet The Brewer with Basqueland, which meant a small dilemma for me.  Basqueland is a well-known and well-loved brewery, but goddammit, I was in the house of Oso!  I started with Oso's Liquid Jazz, a fruit sour, of appropriate color.

On a quiet industrial alley...

It turns out The Hype was offering free burgers with pints this very day, so I got a burger with my pint without even having to look at a menu!  It was not a bad burger at all, excellent relish, although less warm than I would like.  Anyway...

It's cherry red, typical sour aroma, maybe a little powdery.  Not exceptionally strong flavor, only mild sour, but tart.  It's good enough to be refreshing on a spring afternoon.  It actually has a mildly prickly feel, which I appreciate, it's a beer that lets you know you're drinking it.  The sourness does build a bit in the mouth over time, but the flavor stays somewhat muted.  I got a free burger with my pint, and I think I made a pretty good choice; the sour didn't overwhelm or fight with the burger, but complemented the (sour!) relish and sticky bun well.

I went back for one more before moving on, and picked up Infinity NEIPA.  I had my eye on Basqueland's stout, but as I said, I was in Oso's house and was a little reticent to grab somebody else's brew, even if they were being hosted.  If I didn't have anywhere else to go this afternoon I would have ended up with a Santeria.  As it was, I got a recent offering from Oso, and very pleasing it was.

Very cloudy and juicy looking, the bartender gave it a strong recommendation.  It has a slightly bitter caraway aroma, not so strange for a modern NEIPA.  It's very subtly fruity, melony with a touch of grapefruit, sprinkled with grapefruit.  It's creamy in feel, quite smooth and not bitter really, although certainly not as tropical as other modern IPAs.  A good balance with the cracker tapa to be honest, since they're buttery little Ritz things, and the beer is crisp enough to wash them down easily.

Model one vice on another?  Why sure!

Then I trekked over to Península, where nobody was sitting at the outside tables when I arrived.  I was a little surprising, since at the time was quite sunny.  They had a stout to satisfy my cravings, Dark Truth.  It's beautiful stout in the glass, perfect coloring, not a lot of head, cold enough to frost up the glass.  It's grainy and true stout smelling, with a whiff of oatmeal, and  - dear lord! - that's a heavy stout!  Chocolate and caramel right away, maybe a touch of vanilla.  It's an impressive mix of flavors, although I will admit that the sweeter, nuttier bits were the ones I recognized.  Cacao and pistachio where obvious although the advertised pepper not so much.  The sparrows were full of song, to the point of competing with the sound system.  If they were right above me, I would have gone back inside.  But, I was lucky enough that they just flittered around and didn't leave any bits behind.  It's a satisfying if weighty stout, slightly sticky, never veering from my initial impressions.  A delicious finish to an afternoon out and the kind of beer I would pounce on in Taproom or Toast.

In fact, I'm pretty sure I had one at Taproom not too long ago

a real dessert

So the month of stouts finishes, and I have a very nice brewery with something that might be very nice.  Frau Gruber sounds like it should be kept until Women's History Month, but it was actually the work of two brewdudes (the Frau comes from the surname of one of them, so it's not actually any kind of appropriation).  This is a 5th Season Imperial Stout (without Schischi), which sounds like it ought to be something revelatory and the result of years of testing.

Weirdly no head whatsoever - kept it too cold maybe?  It still looks appetizing, very black and a little bit slick, with a slight perfume of banana bread.  The flavor is sort of a rum banana cake, a little bit sweet and filled with alcohol.  It has a very rounded feel, like a candy ball in the mouth almost.  There's some reminder of a Sahale rum barrel aged stout, which left very positive impressions, so there's the familiarity and nostalgia factor working for it too.  It's not a beer to simply swig down; although smooth, there's a weight behind it that makes itself known.  They call black beers petroleum in Spain, and this one definitely has that kind of essence to it.  It feels like fuel, giving off potency and power, the kind of drink that you imagine revving in the glass as you pour it.

Supplier: Labirratorium

Price: €9.50

the wolves

February is still a dark month, although little by little the days get longer.  It's especially noticeable in Madrid, it seems to me, more than in places I've  lived before.  The change is obvious even over a couple of days.  So, I guess I need some shade before it gets to bright for all my waking hours.  Laugar is one of the best breweries in Spain for black beers in my opinion, and it seems to me that I might have even come across Basatia in the wild.  No reason not to have a quiet evening at home with it anyway.

The head is very dark and foamy, but unstable, disappearing in a few seconds.  It leaves behind a good looking liquid behind, though, and a thick stout-appropriate aroma.  I get licorice, a little dirt, some heavy fruit.  It didn't look very thick pouring out, but the scent promises almost syrup.  It's pretty smooth in feel, but there is indeed some good heft to it, and less licorice than I feared.  There isn't much stone fruit or sweetness at all, but it's not quite bitter.  It's a smoky, earthy beer, leaving a little toastiness in its wake, treading softly.  Despite having some respectable mouthfeel, overall the impression is of a laid-back beer, one that you can easily have a conversation with, and it won't push you out of your chair.

Supplier: Lambeer

Price: €3.90

not in a box

The only thing Valentine's day is good for is the discount chocolate the day after.  And actually, I have my doubts that there are going to be huge discounts, the way prices have been going.  Maybe people will have loaded up on chocolate beforehand, being the comfort food that it is.  Wary as I am of Belgian beers, when it comes to sweet ones that aren't pastry stouts, that's the first place you should look.  And Kasteel's Barista Chocolate Quad is right there to be seen.

Somewhat startlingly, the first impression is the smell of tootsie pop.  Then, the beer pouring out like tootsie pop infused water, but once in the glass it does have a comforting brown color and reasonable head.  A good close-up sniff brings out more depth of chocolate, which I hope is a good sign.  Chocolate is front and center in the flavor, better and butterier than tootsie pops thankfully, but with that little Belgian tang at the end.  It's not actually that strong and it balances the sweeter chocolate flavors well.  There's even a little puff of smoke that seems to waft up after the swallow, so it's no one dimensional beer.  At a fairly strong 11%, it's the kind of beer that makes you want to cuddle up next to somebody and fall asleep, if you don't have a whole queue of Youtube to watch for the week.

Supplier: Lambeer

Price: €3.25

for the pros

Continuing the route of darkness, another nationally made stout.  I get raves about Sanfrutos from various sources, although I have not been blown away by their stuff.  Don't get me wrong, I haven't been disappointed either, but their beers have been limited to proper, well-made, satisfiers, not miracles.  Actually, there was a stout on tap at Gaztambirra that did me good, now that I think of it.  I should really give Pro Negro a fair shot.

Very promising appearance, black, deep space black in color.  It's slightly plummy in the nose, a little bit scratchy.  The drinking part is smooth as silk, though, with a touch of fruit on top of a well-cooked dark chocolate cake.  It has a nice feel to it, very balanced and not overly heavy, but also no watery nothing in the mouth.  With such a carefully crafted start, it's no surprise that there isn't much change from the first sip to the bottom of the bottle; the feel, flavors and overall sensation of the beer remains the same from beginning to end.  And maybe this wasn't a miracle, but it was a damn fine drink.

Supplier: Lambeer

Price: €3.95

black bear

Oso Brewing is one of the many little breweries doing Spain's craft beer sector proud, with creative and surprising recipes popping out all the time.  I have been especially impressed with their pastry stouts in the past.  La Penúltima is no pastry stout, although it certainly looks like something you wouldn't have as an appetizer.  13% beers don't often leave a lot of room for the main course.

Extra thick and extra smooth, it looks like a melted milkshake but smells like an extra strong cocktail.  It's kind of a licorice-y aroma, a heavy perfume, with something recalling petroleum floating around.  There's a touch of licorice on the tongue, but the smooth soft-serve mouthfeel is much more noticeable.  It starts out mild with just a touch of sweet but develops some rough edges with a little time, and starts to get sticky, no surprise given how thick it is from the beginning.  It's a very satisfying beer, although not one that you can really have a marathon drinking session with.  Hell, it even slows me down a little, but that wouldn't stop me from having another the next day.

Supplier: Lambeer

Price: €6.10

flashy

In preparation for stout month, I get something to kind of dip my toe into.  Something that won't weigh me down when I go deep and dark.  Still ought to give me a little tasty treat, though.  Won't you, Licher 1854 Kellerbier?  A quick search shows that the kellerbier was not Licher's 1854 original, that was a steam beer, the name is just a reminder of the brewery's age.

It's a very light straw color, lighter than I expected for some reason.  The head is a good consistency with very fine bubbles.  It smells a lot like a German beer, slightly bready, slightly grainy, but there's an interesting peppery bit on top.  Does it carry over into the taste?  Well, no.  It's a clean lagery beer, although the feel is a little heavier than usual.  It almost feels like melted Jello, but without the stickiness.  The flavor remains subdued, subtly sweet but nothing overwhelming.  It's almost a pre-pilsner, but not as bitter as those would become.  It develops a little woodiness over the course of the bottle, but still little aftertaste or excess weight.  I was expecting something more robust from a kellerbier, but as a last drink of the night it's not bad at all.

Supplier: La Mundial

Price: €3

yes, beer can

Another holiday upon us, and I'm cheating again!  It's Beer Can Appreciation Day, but I don't have a beer.  It is hard cider, another drink that you don't expect to find a huge amount of quality in if it's in a can.  But, if cans can be better for beer, they can be for cider too.  It seems the first canned beer in the US came from New Jersey-based Krueger in 1935, but they didn't become popular packaging until after the Second World War.  Steel cans were produced in Germany in the early years of the 20th century, but again, did not catch on.  Cans appeared in the UK around the same time as they did in the US, and apparently did not suffer much from lack of material once the war was over.  Spain saw its first cans in the '50s at the hand of Mahou.  The benefits of cans are simple - cans are cheaper to produce, easier to recycle, cool faster, protect the beer from light better.  It's true that you don't feel as fancy chugging from a can as sipping from a bottle, but pour a glass and take care of that problem.

I was looking for beer, of course, but just seeing a can labeled "meadery" was enough to catch my eye.  Superstition Meadery has put together a delightful sounding blend of flavors for their Super Station hard cider.  Let's see if they play nicely together.  The cherry has had quite an impact on the color, but it's not as powerful in the aroma.  There's a little ginger, a little lime, and something I can only identify as out-of-doors.  It's pretty heavy feeling, not as light and refreshing as some more well-known cider names, but it doesn't have that oversweet sensation that is also common.  It is sweet, a little bit of cherry candy, but it's held tight and doesn't overwhelm you.  It's an interesting balance of the more summery fruits and that ginger I associate more with winter treats.  It's tasty and energizing, a good choice for those who don't feel up to a good stout or a fruity but heavy modern IPA.

Supplier: La Mundial

Price: €10

porter day

Baltic Porter Day was announced as January 18, so it wasn't that big a surprise when I went to pick up something for the occasion and there was just a space on the shelves.  As you can see, I missed the 18th, but I have also seen the holiday listed as the third Saturday in January, so I'll take this loophole.  Unfortunately, I also need to find a loophole for the Baltic part; plenty of stouts around (for next month), but not a lot of porters.  I did have a regular but spiced porter presented: BBNO 03's 10th anniversary collaboration with Amundsen.  It looks quite complex, flavored with chocolate, orange and cinnamon.  The Holidays might be over, but this holiday looks like it has a tasty drink to go with it.

Not especially thick pouring out, but the beige head is pretty fluffy.  Spicy and slightly citrusy aroma, only the barest hint of chocolate lurking.  It's very toasty, still not strong chocolate, but with just a little bit of sweetness.  It's not actually very bitter, more smoky and earthy, so a smoother beer than expected at first.  Even the sweetness is subdued, so the taste is quite clean.  There's no aftertaste to speak of and the beer itself has a light and smooth feel.  After settling for a few minutes a more obvious flavor of chocolate starts to come through, but the beer remains drinkable and gentle, not as thick and warming as some I would choose for the season, but still delightful.

Supplier: La Mundial

Price: €7.60

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.

one last one

The season is officially over, but there's still beer to be had.  I thought I would seek out a nice stout just because, but Cierzo's Oogie Boogie Christmas Ale seemed like too much of a coincidence to ignore.  Right by the door!  They must want to clear some space for the spring stock.

Very toasty looking, and well-developed head.  It has a powerful aroma, sort of fumey, like a higher alcohol drink.  It's heavy feeling too, with a touch of sweetness like Belgian Christmas beers, also an earthy, grainy floor to rest on.  With the texture of eggnog and banana scent starting to be noticeable, it's very much a seasonal beer.  It's an oddly damp day and the warmth of the beer is welcome, even if it's a nostalgic taste by this time.  The sweetness wears off and leaves you with a bready, toasted beverage, begging for a fire to be drunk in front of.

Supplier: Labirratorium

Price: €4.95

T(welve)-12

On the twelfth day of Beermas I went and got for me

Twelve skulls and bones

Eleven whales blowing

10 lords a-robbing?

Nine night owls hooting

Eight maids not for cleaning

Seven avian vampire teasers

Six plans a-hatching

Five collaborations

Four miles of nowhere

Three tropical tree eggs

Two staring wings

And an icy raven looking needy

It might be a little fanciful, but the last day seems like it ought to be warning us of our limited time.  Drumbeats and all that.  I might have liked a black beer, barrel aged maybe, for this last portentous day, but that label on the can just called out to me.  La Calavera's (of course) No Future.  It's a fruited gose, with cherry, raspberry, strawberry, blueberry and black currant added to it, so it sounds like a much brighter beer than the picture would suggest.  Just the kind of thing you take advantage of a challenge to try.

In spite of the heavy load of fruit, that sulfury old sour beer smell comes right out.  It's not very strong, but it does hang around the back of the nose.  Sniffing carefully, you get some of the other berries too, I'm thinking primarily cherry and raspberry, and it certainly has the look of a fruity drink.  Practically no head, and not very fizzy looking either.  Flavorwise it doesn't come on too strong.  There's a natural fruit sourness, leaning into the strawberry and currant, with a smoothing of light sweet on top.  It feels a little rough while drinking, but once swallowed it leaves little behind and seems like a smooth memory.

T(welve)-11

On the eleventh day of Beermas I went and bought for me

Eleven whales blowing

10 lords a-robbing?

Nine night owls hooting

Eight maids not for cleaning

Seven avian vampire teasers

Six plans a-hatching

Five collaborations

Four miles of nowhere

Three tropical tree eggs

Two staring wings

And an icy raven looking needy

I almost pushed this one into number seven, for the swimming animal on the label, but those neck-like tubes could not be denied.  So, what to do with Mala Gissona's Shackeltown IPA?  There's definitely a connection to the sea; they brew their beers with the fortitude and solemnity of the old Basque whalers, or something like that.  Well, at least some sailors like to have a little music, a little wind instrument accompaniment.  Also, whales do a bit of blowing themselves.  There we go, our representation of pipes!  Less literal than some other years, but that's the fun.

It's a stunningly dark IPA, maybe more in line with older varieties.  Very typical IPA aroma, though, bright, herbal, grabs the nose hard.  The taste is juicy and modern, a very fruity kind of ale, like a fruit cocktail.  There's that citrus of course, but also a little pineapple and mango.  Although the fruit feels like it should be sharp, the beer is very smooth and slides right down the throat.  It's actually very festive feeling, like a nice holiday punch.  The bright and shiny IPAness of it would also make it palatable to those summer people who prefer their beer sunny and cheerful instead of dark and blankety like my best stout buddies.

T(welve)-10

On the tenth day of Beermas I went and bought for me

10 lords a-robbing?

Nine night owls hooting

Eight maids not for cleaning

Seven avian vampire teasers

Six plans a-hatching

Five collaborations

Four miles of nowhere

Three tropical tree eggs

Two staring wings

And an icy raven looking needy

Oh, the things I'm willing to do for the season!  Drink a Belgian beer?  Well, alright, it does have somebody lordly on the label, so it goes with the song.  I'm also tickled that it says "Robijnrood" on one side, which I misread repeatedly as "Robinhood".  Shows where my sympathies lie, I guess.  What it really is is a red ale, ruby red is the promise, from Brouwerij Haacht.  Charles Quint is no stranger to Belgian beers, but he also has his place in the Spanish beer world.

It does have some ruddiness to it in the glass, sort of a rusty brown color overall.  Very light beige head sits firmly on top.  It certainly smells Belgian, although not as sour or tangy as some.  For the most part the aroma is sweet, although there's just a touch of sour apple.  In the mouth it is plainly a Belgian beer, malty, slightly sour, a real mouthful.  It doesn't have an unpleasant aftertaste, and the flavor is balanced and well under control before the swallow.  It's not a bad sipping, talking beer, with enough body to make snacks welcome but unnecessary.

T(welve)-9

On the ninth day of Beermas I went and bought for me

Nine night owls hooting

Eight maids not for cleaning

Seven avian vampire teasers

Six plans a-hatching

Five collaborations

Four miles of nowhere

Three tropical tree eggs

Two staring wings

And an icy raven looking needy

Am I wasting a bird on dancing ladies?  Perhaps.  But damn if Night Owlers NEIPA didn't call out to me for that night out.  It's La Quince and Salama Brewing, another collab from the wise owl.  Can't think of one that hasn't turned out delicious.

Rather opaque, sort of lemonade cocktail look, very fleeting head.  It's not terribly fruity or spicy in aroma, with just a whiff of bitter hops and a tail end of bread.  The flavor is also subdued, but with a more typical NEIPA bent, that layer of sweet orange juice.  It doesn't quite get to bitter, although there is a less sugary part, more mealy or pithy.  Something in the aftertaste comes across as sharp, acidic, but it is also very temporary, like the head.

T(welve)-8

On the eighth day of Beermas I went and bought for me

Eight maids not for cleaning

Seven avian vampire teasers

Six plans a-hatching

Five collaborations

Four miles of nowhere

Three tropical tree eggs

Two staring wings

And an icy raven looking needy

I complain about all those birds, but the other gifts aren't all that easy to match up either.  This year the maids a-milking was one of the harder ones, for some reason nothing stood out that was maidenly or milky.  Finally, there's a good stout that has a good picture on it.  It's a little more like a sexy maid than a milkmaid, although I don't think she's quite that either.  More like somebody who's going to be doing some milking of a slightly different kind.  Hopefully, in a nice warm room.  It's from Estonia, a brewery called Pühaste, so I think this Dekadents ought to be formulated for warm indoor spaces, no matter what's going on outside.

Pouring out, it's lighter than expected, although the dark brown color is pretty strong once the glass is full.  The aroma is a lot fuller than the coloring, sticky, syrupy, heavy chocolate and toast.  The first impression of the taste is similar, but quickly followed by a blast of licorice, wrapped up in a return of toasty, burny sensation.  It's a heavy, melted milkshake of a beer, extra thick.  It doesn't have excessive sweetness, with just that pop of mediciny licorice.  It's not hard to get down at all, although the full texture does not encourage chugging.

T(welve)-7

On the seventh day of Beermas I went and bought for me

Seven avian vampire teasers

Six plans a-hatching

Five collaborations

Four miles of nowhere

Three tropical tree eggs

Two staring wings

And an icy raven looking needy

Half the days over and we are almost done with the birds.  This is the last one, those elegant white bastards.  There's no bird on the can really, but there is the impression of a swan neck winding its way across the front, reflecting the colors of a volcanic sunset.  Caravelle's Peachy Keen Wit also sounds artistic and sophisticated, ready for a flowing chat about things that matter in life.

This is a summery straw colored beer, very clear, especially in comparison with those hazies.  The very subtle aroma has more to do with sours and that gassiness than wheat beers and their grain and spice.  It also smells a little soapy.  The taste is light and clean, not sour or astringent.  It's a little fizzy and there's a hint of peach floating around, so it's a little more like flavored mineral water than straight beer.  Actually not too bad to finish off the night with, it's refreshing and thirst quenching, without weighing you down for the trip home.

T(welve)-6

On the sixth day of Beermas I went and bought for me

Six plans a-hatching

Five collaborations

Four miles of nowhere

Three tropical tree eggs

Two staring wings

And an icy raven looking needy

This was one of the bird suggestions, grabbing at straws a little bit.  It is a bird, for sure, not one that's in the song I think, but maybe I can make do...in fact, I'm sure I can make do.  Look at that face!  That bird has a plan.  We might even say he's hatching something.  A plan like an egg, right?  Right?  It's not that much of a stretch!  This might be the first can of Cosa Nostra I've picked up, although I remember them from the Vallecas beer fair.  Then it was a porter, and now it's a Double Hazy IPA, a little backwards some might think.  But, Brufol might have some tricks up its feathery sleeve.

Extra juicy looking, with very fine bubbled head, very much like a fresh-squeezed orange juice.  Similar aroma, maybe a little bit lighter.  The feel is also very juicy, thick and mouth-filling.  It feels like it wants to get to sweet, but can't quite make it out of bitter, although it isn't fair to call it a bitter beer either.  It's weighty and pleasant to drink, without disappearing into the ether, but there's no over-reliance on acidity or citrus, so it's really well balanced.  I'm hoping the plan was to make a perfectly drinkable hazy because that's what was achieved.