owls a-hooting!

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

Six owls nesting

Five malts of gold

Four avian hallucinations

Three French magicians

Two love ya dearlies

And the simplest answer there could be 

There's a little bit of a stretch here, since there are no geese or eggs evident in this beer.  It is a bird, though, and it has a nest.  It might be an owl, but you can't deny it's a bird.  Interestingly enough, it's a Japanese owl, Hitachino Nest, and this is a Japanese Classic Ale. 

A somewhat dark colored ale, ruddy gold I'd say, and not cloudy at all.  There's an abundant amount of head, white and bubbly.  It has an odd aroma, a little salty even.  I'm reminded of both champagne and gose.  The flavor is oddly seasonal; I was not expecting such a cinnamon like poof.  It's a little spicy and not sweet exactly, but makes overtures to dessert.  It's a pretty normal thickness for a beer, although the taste makes me feel like it should be heavier.  It really goes down quite easily.  Also, very clean.  I don't get any weird aftertaste or stickiness at all.  There might be a touch of apple hiding in there, another wink to the holidays and apple pies.   

openly smuggled

The latest discussion was the Great Beer Wars of the late 20th and early 21st centuries.  Founders represents the situation pretty well, a craft brewery that got swept up in hopes of greater market access.  I mean, it's not 100% owned by Mahou, but it's more than 25%, which is enough for the Brewers Association to say it doesn't count as craft anymore.  There's plenty of interesting stuff coming out of there, though, like Barrel Runner, a "Mosaic hopped ale aged in rum barrels".  Oughta be something different, at least!

There is a strong, sweet smell of rum right away, and the beer has a honey gold color that is certainly appetizing.  The head isn't over-abundant, but thick and stays put.  A little further sniffing pulls a fruitiness out of the aroma, something like a fig newton.  The flavor captures the burny feeling of strong alcohols, with a touch of rum sweetness, but there's a clash of flavors with the bright citrus of the mosaic hops.  It almost tastes like two drinks at once, like you're taking sips from separate glasses and mixing them in your mouth.  It's an experience, although I think it's not as smooth as other rum barrel beers I've had.

Supplier: La Cervecista

Price: €8.20

starting off a month of content

Although it's still the roasting hot summer, there are ways to get your mind off it.  Fans, dark places, cooled spaces, and even some mental tricks.  Like drinking a winter ale.  That should help, right?  It was a chance find on the shelves, over by the Belgian Christmas beers.  But, as soon as I saw that "winter" in the label I knew it had to make the trip to my refrigerator.  Pixkanaka from Boga Garagardoa was produced for (with?) a Basque magazine, Pikara.  The word pixkanaka seems to mean little by little, referring to the progress made in egalitarian circles I guess.  The label says "To drink little by little", which is surely better than being the winter ale of our discontent.

It's a nice, dark caramel color, just a light layer of off-white head.  The aroma is a little more sour than I expected, although mostly it's a full whiff of grain.  The taste follows the scent closely, malty, bready, a tiny bit of tang.  It does have a wintery sort of feeling to it, the toasty part and a light hint of orange.  There's some other bits of fruit too, but not the heavy tropical kind of IPAs, something lighter and frostier.  I can imagine snow-covered fruit baskets, apples, oranges and grapes.  There is some weight to it, so it would be a good choice on a colder evening, but it's not too heavy even in the dead of summer.

Supplier: La Buena Pinta
Price: €3

not even in costume

Yet another Saturday waiting to be let loose...I say as if I ever ran around kicking up a fuss when there were no restrictions on movement and gatherings.  The only thing that worries me much is getting my hands on good beer.  Fortunately, there are a couple of places stepping up as "essential services", and historically hasn't that been a role played by beer?  To brighten things up I have a Hazed New England Ale from Bad Co.  A repeat Boston Tea Party is an idea that would please quite a few knuckleheads right now, and probably more than a few viruses.

It's about as bright and sunny as you can get, capped with a clean, white cloud of head.  It says "hazed" but the beer is surprisingly clear.  There's the twinkling citrus in the aroma, very light and chipper, just what you expect from the style.  It packs quite a punch of of fruit, keeping to the citrus, but more bitter orange and grapefruit than sweet varieties.  The scent might fool you into thinking it's a sweeter example, but there's a good floor of bitter in the taste, very traditionally beerish, a flavor that unassumingly delivers refreshment.  After a bit a tingle of sour develops in the aftertaste, but doesn't go overboard.  Now, my tiny tasting glass usually gets a refill or two, and this time the second fill was ... well

That's where all the haze went!  The flavor is the same, I think, no extra hops or other things sticking out.  It's also still a smooth drink, in spite of the cloudiness.  No roughage in the feel at all.  Maybe, just maybe, there is a slight dustiness, but it's hardly noticeable and I don't think I would even remark on it if the appearance of the beer hadn't changed so much.  Still tasty and well worth a drink, would be even nicer in a beer garden, but we'll just have to wait a little longer for that.

Supplier: Más Que Cervezas
Price: €2.99

reminiscing

Let's take a trip back a month or so, a time of beer promotion everywhere.  One thing that's been regular is Beermad, the craft beer fair in a tennis facility.  This time there were four-day passes for a reasonable price, so I determined to make the most of one.  The first day I only planned to be there an hour or so in the evening.

Being fall, I was hoping to find a good selection of stouts and porters, but alas.  We're in a trend of blond beers.  I did find a few, though, like Panda Doop Imperial Stout.  It's a dark, dark brown rather than true black, with a chocolatey aroma.  It has kind of a milk chocolate taste with a little twist of sour.  While substantial in texture it feels light down the throat, creamy and smooth.  The sour builds up a little bit over time but the chocolatey-ness remains.

As I hoped and dreamed, it's not crowded on a weekday night, so I have plenty of time for one more.  Another stout appears, Ziva 5.0 Russian Imperial Stout.  They had a regular and a bourbon barrel fermented version, and since I was going to leave after this I let myself be convinced that the barrel aged was worth it.  It looks awfully thick in the glass, with a thin head and a lot of poofiness underneath it.  It's also more dark brown than black, influence of the bourbon perhaps?  There is a strong, sweet bourbon smell, candy corn-like, but the taste is almost watery at first.  It does pick up on sweetness before bringing out the alcohol sting.  Despite the appearance, it's much thinner in body than Doop, with some grain or woodiness in the aftertaste.  After warming up a little it's salt-and-chocolate in flavor, which is an interesting shift.

Day Two begins with a lighter touch, 90 Varas Segovilla amber ale.  Cloudy orange, off-white and somewhat thin head, mildly beery smell.  It's bitter at first, then a hint of citrus.  Sweetness starts building little by little in this smooth and light textured beer, and it tickles the tongue from start to finish.

Then there was Enigma Tostada Roja.  It looks very similar to Segovilla, a little stronger in smell, maybe.  The taste is much sweeter, though, with really no bitter at all, but a good mouthful of grain.  That calms down over time and the beer loses a bit of power, but a happy and summery flavor remains.  It's a little cloudy, but ends up clearer than Segovilla, and might be a better beer for snacking than my first choice of the day.

Gotta get that flag up before Brexit!

Domus was in attendance with the cream drink that I've seen around for some time in the stores.  Might as well have a shot of it while I'm here.  It looks like milk, or medicine, but is very smooth and surprisingly sweet, leaving traces of licorice and vanilla behind it.

Peninsula Autumn Smash brought me back to regular beers, a lighter, happier drink after the sweetish shot.  Again, very similar to the previous beers in color, but the head is lighter and slightly more abundant.  It has a strong hoppy bitter, although not as citrusy as most IPAs.  Something keen and sharp develops in the background, not quite grassy, but along those lines.

I'm not quite sure why I didn't get a picture of the beer...

There was a whiskey stand among the beer this time and curiosity got the better of me.  They also have a pilsner, which I thought to try out.  It has a fairly typical appearance, very light straw color and fizzy white head.  It's a little cloudy, although that might actually be condensation on the glass.  It has barely any aroma and just a slightly beerish flavor, not as grainy as other pilsners.  Bitterness is barely perceptible, but present.  It's a good clean beer, ready to accompany food or talk, not being especially attention-grabbing by itself.  I took the opportunity to take a shot of the whiskey as well, first the Moonshine, which is only aged a couple of months (or was it weeks?).  Rather harsh to my palate.  There is also a whiskey distilled from stout that has a more expected color, and I find much smoother, woodier, and more flavorful.  If I was the kind of person that had whiskey at home, that would be my whiskey.

There's still plenty of time, so I stopped for an Arriaca.  Lots of light beers, including Centeno.  A lighter and whiter head than the other beers of the day, and a much citrusier aroma.  It has an attention-grabbing taste, citrus and bitter with hardly any sweet at all.  It's a light IPA kind of flavor.  A really refreshing choice when spicy food (such as papas al mohón) is involved.

Second half begins!  I can't resist trying a märzen on offer, Brew and Roll Camille II.  It's much lighter than what I'm familiar with as märzen, very much like Imperial IPA, but the aroma is heavy and malty and the taste grassy/grainy with a hint of bitter underneath.  While malty it doesn't get syrupy or terribly sweet, stays rather light actually, as befitting the color.

Now, The One IPA.  I got the spiel from the guy at the taps, and I actually wondered about the wee heavy, but went for the IPA in the end.  It's similar to the märzen in color, but much hoppier in aroma and clearly an IPA in taste.  It's not too bitter in fact, but sharp and fruity with those tropical flavors they like to bring out.  Let it warm up for a bit of sour (although that could also be some wee heavy that didn't get washed out completely).

I guess I could go for that new craze of NEIPA while I'm here, in a beer market, and with such good prospects.  I passed by Jakobsland several times, admiring the selection, but now it's time to see what's up.  Pixel Dust DDH NEIPA is.  What is.  Up.  Right.  It's a cloudy lemon yellow, not much head to it, and a lemony smell.  Not too strong to the nose.  The flavor starts with a bitter hops kick and quickly moves off into a smoother, creamier sensation.  The bitter remains at the edges, but the central feeling is one of sweetness, almost vanilla.  At first I thought I could detect some licorice in there too, but further sipping didn't bring it out again.

More pale ale?  Lupo Lord at your service!  I was "recruited" off the track by the rep, and as I was paying the head died down a little so he topped it up generously.  It's a good golden color, pretty fruity aroma, although not as tropical as IPAs.  Something more appley.  There is also apple in the taste, which is something like a dry cider.  There's no bitterness to speak of, and it loses some of the apple flavor over time.  It stays on the light side of sweet, not syrupy, but refreshing and summery.  Might fit right in at a Hallowe'en party instead of a darker and heavier apple cider.

To finish the next to last day I found something I thought wouldn't weigh me down on the metro: Basqueland Brewing The Captain Kölsch.  It looks darker than I expect in a kölsch, although in the sun it is close to straw colored.  Nothing of particular note in the aroma, smooth and only slightly bitter flavor.  It's a little heavy for a kölsch, clean flavored but with a hint of sweet trailing behind it, the slight grassiness of German lagers, no ginger spice although the description promised ginger.  It does have a very German flavor, but more lager than kölsch to me.

Pinocchio's a big boy now, apparently

Finally, the last day had to come.  I was on a mission to find the most interesting beers.  I started with La Verbena Heavy Kilt Scottish Heavy.  Not too strong to start out at 3.8%, but a nice tasty beer for a Scottish kind of day.  Good dark cider color and off-white head, smells bready.  The flavor isn't too strong, a little grainy with just a touch of caramel.  Not nearly as sweet as other "Scottish" labeled beers out there, rather a sipping beer for light conversation or for sitting down to some heavy reading.

Since it is around Hallowe'en, it seems right to partake of a pumpkin ale.  Sagra had its offer, but if I can find something new I prefer to go for that.  Tyris Pimpan Pumpkin fit the bill.  It's a good dark orange color with a nice fluffy head, and a tiny hint of pumpkin spice aroma.  The flavor has a sweet tingle in the beginning but burrows down into cinnamon pretty quickly.  It's not exactly sweet, more of a pumpkin pie taste, not even as sweet as a Starbuck's latte.  It's also not a heavy textured beer, very light in feel in spite of the strength of the spice.  A little more interesting than Sagra, which is a nice, safe sort of pumpkin ale bet.

Another odd one, at least on the signage, was Yakka's Lunatica grape ale.  It has a slightly pinkish brown color, a sort of dark champagne.  The scent is winey/grapey, just a little bit sour, but then the taste is very  sour, hits you right in the palate.  The aftertaste is a little salty, something like a red wine in fact.  Served cold, the sourness fades over time, but the similarity to sparking wine remains, sharp and pretty clean tasting.  Really, it might be more like sparkling grape juice, although that 8% does start to make itself felt after a short time.

Nothing like a magician to get people drinking

There's not a lot of extra special stuff at the moment, but the normal stuff can still be damn good.  There's Gabarrera Brown Ale/Tostada.  It's not too dark in color, but identifiably brown ale.  Nothing special in the aroma, the taste starts on the sweet side, then moves into a sort of mellow non-bitter.  There's a good texture, neither syrupy nor watery, and a flavor that enhances rather than distracts lacking all bitterness.  It seems like a brown sugar ale, a good wintery sort of beer with the power of the sweet to fuel warmth and the weight to be a good companion for a breezy evening, even on a day of a hurricane.

What else?  Got to have one last stout.  La Pirata Black Block Stout for example.  It smells of licorice, has a slightly sweet flavor, but ends up more bitter overall.  Licorice lurks in the flavor throughout, gets a little sticky after a time, but generally it feels like a good beer to relax with, curled up on a couch.  Although heavy, the texture of the Black Block is also very pleasant and fulfilling in consumption.

I guess I'm just looking for excuses not to leave now.  Sevebrau is no slouch with the beer, though, and I haven't tried anything from them for a while.  There's a nice IPA to finish, XIPA.  It's a very dark color, but light aroma, bright and happy.  The taste is nicely bitter, slightly citrus and only a touch of sweet.  While somewhat hoppy it's not overwhelming, just about the quintessential craft beer for the masses.

Sackman also did whiskey cocktails, for the more refined taste.  Or you know, for everybody.

And now what, with no more fairs on the horizon?  Maybe a song will give me some ideas...

not so flowery

I was searching for suggestions for craft beer online and there are just lists and lists and lists.  Now, most of them center on places in the center, which may be good, or may be touristy.  At least U tři růží boasts of their own product.  There are even some tanks near the bar.  Hard to tell if they're in use, though.

It's still excessively summery, so I don't feel too bad about doing without my beloved black beer.  In fact, a light ale might really be a pick-me-up.  They have a Summer Ale right on the menu, like it's meant to be.  There's a soft citrus scent, but the taste is really quite bitter.  A little bit of sweet pokes up but mostly stays hidden.  It is an energizing beer, with a very lively feel on the tongue.  A bit of sour develops in the aftertaste after a few minutes and a few sips, but overall it's a clean-tasting beer, well-suited to a bright and unpleasantly sunny day.  Savored from indoors, of course.

I got a salad, since it was going to be a while before supper, and the two complemented each other pretty well.  The sourness of the beets and their crisp texture were calmed by the bitterness of the ale, a little surprisingly, and the beer itself lost some sharpness to the salad.  I think the Summer Ale might be a little too perky by itself, it really seems to benefit from a pairing with food or a snack.  As a conversation beer it could be a little distracting at first.  Not bad for a broiling afternoon!

(I forgot to get a picture of the outside.  Will remedy this week)

it's be crazy not to try

I had my drink at the store last week, but I took some souvenirs home with me too.  You know how it is, just can't stop yourself from picking up something good.  3 Mono's American PsychoPie has the look of a twisted experiment, one that might never be repeated, so you better try it while you can.  It's a hoppy fruit sour ale, so there's more heat-fighting drinks to be had here.  Actually, evenings aren't so bad now, but they might be getting worse again soon.  Makes me miss February.

Face of a winner, that's for sure

Well, look who else is here

There's that old IPA smell, bitterly citrus-like.  The color is very light, however, just shade of yellow more than clear practically.  The fruity sweetness also bubbles up easily in the aroma, although it's alarmingly similar to some cleaning products.  The taste is quite the contrast with the smell, being much more sour and ending with a bitter rumble down the throat.  I can't put my finger on what fruit is involved in this beer, and it's not specified on the label.  Based on the name, sour cherry?  Maybe sour apple?  It might be apple, since even sour cherries might have a bigger sweet kick to them.  It has a pretty nice clean taste, not leaving much behind to fiddle with the palate. 

Supplier: La Tienda De La Cerveza
Price: €3.15

next reincarnation

The Beer Garden used to have a bunch of Scandinavian and some Polish beers, that I don't often see in other places.  Well, the Scandinavians have spread out some by now.  Cerevisia seems to have inherited the old stock, since among the shelves, standing proudly, was Polish Doctor Brew's Strawberry Ale.  Gotta balance out those stouts with something perhaps more desserty.  But healthy dessert.  Light and nutritious.

There's a very slight reddish tinge, I expected more, but there's something there regardless.  There's also a sharp fruity smell, although I don't think I would be able to identify it as strawberry right off the bat.  The taste is quite bitter, very ale-y.  Going by that, I would have guessed grapefruit as the fruit additive, rather than a berry.  It's nice in that it isn't going to get syrupy on a hot evening.  As it starts to warm up, the beer takes on a tartness that is refreshing, much like the original bitterness.

Supplier: Cerevisia
Price: €4.20

yakka it up

It's the first day of Beer Week and I feel like I should be drinking local.  Or at least national.  The only really national beer left, it seems, is Yakka Mare Nostrum Ale.  Good enough to start with!

The label invokes the calm of the seaside, with the design as much as the color scheme - until you take a closer look and see what ugly fish those are.

Yikes

It's definitely beery beer: right color, right suds, although maybe a little light on those actually.  A little aley in smell, but not too much.  I think I detect a hint of the sea in the flavor, just a hint of salinity, but otherwise it is, as I said, a very beery beer.  In spite of being an ale, it's only mildly bitter and slightly sour in the aftertaste.  I'm told to be on the lookout for citrus notes, but All Day might have burnt those taste buds out.  There is some mild fruitiness that develops as the glass empties, but I don't identify it as citrus.  Although seafood is the recommended accompaniment, the flavor is mild enough to go with anything, really.  Not a walloping start to Beer Week, but you don't want to run out of steam too early, do you?

poking into something different

Fábrica Maravillas has branched out into retail!  Sort of!  One of the cool stores of Malasaña is vending some of their bottles for them, and I thought I'd check it out just to see something new.  It's a home decoration store, so not much that I would pick up for myself, lazy decorator that I am, but the bottles of Malasaña Ale were on the shelf, and for the same price as in the brew pub.  Well, who can resist that?

Hey, that bottle looks familiar...

It smells just like memories of the Fábrica, a little appley and barely citrusy.  It also has the most perfect of beer looks, with the dark yellow color and the bright fluffy head.  The flavor is very mild, like I remember, although maybe a little more bitter than what I thought I should expect.  It's not at all unpleasant; I remembered a bit more fruitiness, but maybe that was just the batch I had.  This bottle is pure ale bitter, but nicely balanced with an unidentifiable sweet that makes for an extremely smooth drink.  If there was a beer to define modern beers, Malasaña would probably be it.  Nothing about the taste or smell is pushy, and everything is gently pleasing.  In spite of my fascination with black beers, I have to admit, it's a damn fine beer, and not one to be missed.

Supplier: El Moderno
Price: €4.50

Beermas Day 3

One the third day of Beermas I poured out for me
Three speckled hens
Two flightless non-doves
And a pear cider fresh from the tree

This one isn't quite cheating, since the name has the right bird in it!  It also has a festive color for a beer, being a darkish one.  A strong ale, it looks like.  Old Speckled Hen is English rather than French, but quite honestly I don't see that many French beers here anyway.  Morland looks awfully classic, although the bottle is clear, unusual for beers.  The name is explained as a homage to a car that was used in the MG factory, "the owld speckled un", when the ale was first brewed for the company's 50th anniversary.  I wonder if it's still there, producing cars.  I could google it.

That's not a hen!

A tempting orangey brown, not-quite-white head, and little odor greet me.  Taking a big sniff, I detect a little bitterness, but just barely.  The taste is interesting, a little bit floral at first, then taking on a woodiness with just a hint of bitter.  I'm reminded of some barrel aged beers, although they had a heavier sweetness about them.  I probably have it chilled too much, being an English ale, and as it warms up I expect to get more flavor out of it.  It feels like a nice chatting beer, one that quietly slips by with the conversation and surreptitiously helps it get more animated.

Supplier: Más que Cervezas
Price: €2.65

gold in the glass

Aora Mil Cien was on the board outside as Palma Brew's recommended beer of the week, so how can you not pay attention when it's on the shelf?  The double fermented ale is in a happy little bottle, and as we roll into summer, there's certainly nothing like a good ale on a Saturday night.

Huh, it already looks tipsy

The beer is exuberant in its bubbliness, but the color is on the pale side.  It's a washed-out kind of yellow, not quite what I was expecting from a double fermentation brew.  The smell is subtle and lager-y, no spice or distractions.  There is, however, a spicy sweetness in the taste, bubbly and sharp, with only a little bitterness following it down.  It is refreshing, but not overpowering.  I could see it accompanying a good many meals, although it's equally good for a drink on its own.

Supplier: Palma Brew
Price: €3.80