summer harvesting

Squeezing in another purchase before a short vacation, I grab a couple of things from Birra Y Paz (they're going on vacation, not me.)  I feel like I ought to be getting some things that I don't normally subject myself to, and actually the bars are full of various types of ale more than anything else.  A lager here and there, but there's a downright shortage of sours this year, plus the typical lower offer of stouts for the summer.  As interesting as lambics are as a style, I just can't get into them as much as a taste experience.  I do, however, deeply enjoy a black currant drink.  It's one of Lindemans lesser-seen lambics, at least in Madrid, but I think Cassis is worth a shot.

Slightly winey smell, fruity, but old fruit.  Like a lot of lambics, it has a deeply tinted appearance with the essence of its most promoted ingredient.  It looks a lot like black currant nectar, in fact, but with a rosy head on top.  It has that fruity lambic stickiness, and a good amount of sweetness with no bitter at all, very much like Mort Subité, for example.  It's maybe even heavier than currant nectar, with more body and staying power in the mouth.  It builds in sourness, but maintains a refreshing cleanness to the flavor that allows it to take a place among summer beers.

Supplier: Birra Y Paz

Price: €3.15

have a little punch

I'm conflicted about La Cervecista.  It's a decent enough place with shelves full of appealing beers, but it's really a retail space for Mahou.  Oh sure, there are a bunch of craft looking beers on shelves and in fridges, but they are part of Mahou's network, like Founders and Nómada, or they're the typical Belgian and German imports.  Still, I feel like I ought to at least check things out.  Also, they have some quick and easy ciders right now, and it's still not as cool as I would like outside.  No cider just yet, though, I bow to Belgian influence today with Lindemans Framboise.

The heavy smell of fruity lambic fills the air immediately, in a tantalizing way of course.  The dark red beer sits in the glass like a vampire's party drink and the cotton candy head makes it all the more celebratory.  The flavor is tangy, like ripe ripe raspberry, not a lot of sweetness underneath.  I remember Mort Subité being a little sticky, but much like with the peach, Lindemans shows it knows how to balance out its beer.  It's a lot like a barely diluted fruit syrup still, with a powerful amount of taste.  Aside from the head there isn't much to indicate you're actually drinking a beer.  It's not a very alcoholic beer either, at only 2.5%.  You could easily fashion a cocktail out of this and fool people into thinking there's no alcohol at all.  Not that you want to go around fooling people about those things.

Supplier: La Cervecista

Price: €2.30

and not even october

Although we had a very very nice day of storms and rain, it's still August and the temps are going to go back up.  It's just a fact.  I guess a lighter, fruitier beer would be nice after all.  And there aren't many fruitier than those Belgian lambics, despite my guarded appreciation for them.  This is Lindeman's though, and I have been rather pleased before.  I can see a nice apple beer being a calming beverage on a cooler night than many.

It's surprisingly standard looking, although quite aromatic.  At a distance the scent is like apple perfume or apple scent additives, but up close it's a stronger cider sour.  Pretty resistant, clean white head.  Plenty of happy little bubbles dance their way to the surface.  It's a very active looking beer.  The apple flavor is a little strong.  This is more like apple juice and something like champagne than an apple flavored beer, although it's true that most of the fruit lambics are rather heavily weighed down with taste.  And with substance.  It's not a light and bubbly session style or crisp cider, there's definitely some stickiness.

                              

Supplier: Más Que Cervezas

Price: €1.68

currant affair

Stick with red beers for now?  How about a black currant lambic?  I do love black currant juice, or "nectar", so it could very well be a delight.  Lindemans has surprised me in the past with a delicious peach lambic, so I'm not too apprehensive.  Black currants are something of a delicacy for Americans, because apparently we are not allowed to grow black currants.  They aren't native plants and as an imported species they have a tendency to disrupt the environment they grow in.  Either that or they're so tasty the mighty berry lobbies have been keeping them away out of terror of competition.

It looks very much like other popular red lambics, a much brighter color than currant juice to my recollection.  It has an almost astringent aroma, so that's different from the others.  The taste is subtle at first, and even when it comes out it's not exactly overwhelming.  It is a little heavy, sort of a sour candy more than fruit syrup.  I find it gets a little scratchy after a number of sips, almost like some citrus heavier NEIPAs.  Fortunately, it doesn't go the way of cherry or raspberry lambics with a heavier and stickier feel over time, staying fairly light despite the sweetness. 

Supplier: Birra y Paz
Price: €2.85