back on track

Although Boira was tasty, my feathers are a little ruffled to have been given a non-alcoholic beer in a super special beer calendar. Maybe Day 2 will make it up to me.  It's Guineu again, this time working with Espiga, so another trustworthy team.  I do think I like what I see, too.  Not named, apparently, but an English Brown Ale, at 6%, a respectable number to even out yesterday. 

It gives a weird little eruption but doesn't overflow - I might be keeping the cans too cold.  There's plenty of bubble to the beer, giving a very fluffy head, although it does melt away shortly.  It's a nice dark brown color, not quite at the level of a good stout, but almost.  There's a stout-reminiscent smoke in the aroma, tinged with nuttiness, so I think we are looking at a good winter beer even if that isn't its official title.  The taste is subtle, giving just a hint of toast at first, and slowly melting into a light malt.  The beer feels heavier when it's holding back its flavor, interestingly enough, and when the sweetness and campfire roastiness comes through it seems much lighter.

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!

beer deco

As summer inexorably slides in, most people would look forward to their light and tingly beers.  I still want my dark, heavy, slug-in-the-mouth beers, dammit.  Well, maybe a brown ale is a good compromise.  Some of them do have a certain weight to them.  Also, La Maldita's Originale has a label after my own heart.

While it's more cartoony than a Mucha, I'd say the influence is there.  Also, there is a recommended pouring angle, along with the temperature suggestion and admonishment against horizontal storage.

While bubbly, there's not a lot of head building up.  Must have gotten the angle wrong.  It has a mildly citrus scent, although sweeter than IPAs.  Maybe a little brown sugar?  The color is pretty good, orangey brown, a warm and inviting shade.  There's something Belgian in the flavor, slightly sweet but deep-bottomed.  I'm glad not to encounter the sour sting that so many Belgian beers have, though.  There's also some graininess, something akin to German light beers.  Despite the initial sweetness, I can also detect some earthiness in there too, not nearly as much as a black beer might have, but present.  It's a little bit sticky, hanging around at the back of the throat, but not a lot of strange aftertaste.  It's more of a touch than a taste sensation in that area.

Supplier: Cerevisia
Price: €2.70

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...

overwhelming!

Some fun having beer festivals during the week when you get up early every day!  Well, I managed to squeeze out a couple of visits to Lavapiés Artesana Week anyway.  If I had the time, I could probably visit all 31 venues over the course of the week, with a 28cl beer in each, but since I had to economize my time, there are only four to show.  First on Thursday, when I only had a couple of hours in the afternoon, I had to find a place that opened before 6pm.  There are a few, taverns and restaurants, and I thought I would try La Mancha (Miguel Servet 13). 

They were serving Bizarra, a beer from Salamanca, for the fair, although they might have it regularly?  I wandered in at about 2pm, and the place was gloriously empty to my eyes.  There was one couple at the tables on the street and one small group inside.  I got my Bizarra Tostada and my little tapa and sat down myself.  The beer has an apply, kind of cidery scent and a color that also recalls American apple cider.  The taste, on the other hand, would be described as bittersweet.  It's really quite a dry flavor, especially for a brown ale.  I keep expecting the sweetness to break through, but it really doesn't.  There is an interesting nutty background, but the taste is definitely bitter and a little smoky, like burned toast.  The acidity stays in the throat, building up, like with a strong lemonade.  There is a hint of caramel in the fore of the sip, but it is fleeting, and it takes a while for a smoothness to develop in the taste.  Only at the bottom of the glass does it seem like a little sugary teaser comes out, but the beer is never really sweet.  It's too strong to be a conversation or a meal beer, but quite nice to relax with accompanied by a mild snack and an interesting book.

Evening market

Friday night came and so did the desire to toss back a few.  We started at La Buena Pinta in Mercado San Fernando, which was surrounded by adults and children alike.  I'm not sure if this isn't the regular thing here, people coming with their kids to the market for a Friday night drink.  La Buena Pinta had La Virgen and Medina on tap, the latter being the represented brewery of the fair.  The promotion was a wheat IPA, suspect for me, but I'll try it.  It's light yellow, cloudy, looking quite a bit like a NEIPA.  The aroma also falls in line with that, being light and fruity.  The flavor is sweet, a little dusty, certainly not citrusy.  While it's a little sticky, the taste is very regular and balanced, not veering into bitter or cloying with a little time and temperature (it was damn hot in there!)

We escaped to the street looking for a snack and fell upon Como Vaca Sin Cencerro near Metro Lavapiés.  We were lucky to find one table free.  Their offering was La Loba IPA, but we got one IPA and one lager.  I took the darker colored beer, and it seems I got the lager.  A little disappointing, it had the same color as many Imperial IPAs.  The smell is a bit sweet, and the taste a bit flowery.  There seems to be a little dust in this beer as well.  It reminds me of Sagra Premium actually.  This is more of a company beer, not demanding too much attention, but it does develop a little more character in the presence of food.  Our small meal of potato/egg/mushroom/ham forced a little sharpness out of the brew.

Looking suspiciously like an Imperial IPA

Action tapas!

Wandering out into the rain, we darted down the likely streets looking for the posters in the windows.  For the last drink of the night we got into Aguardiente on calle de la Fe, more of a cocktail bar than regular bar.  Nice place, though, and the music wasn't too loud, with an enjoyable selection.  The beer here was from Alegría, a saison with a touch of lambic.  It was definitely fruity, but on the sour side.  While cleansing and refreshing, it goes a bit outside the comfort zone for typical beer drinking.  As I said, it really harkens back to lambics.  I found it to be a pleasant end-of-evening beer, which would have been better if I'd had something heavier before, stouts for example.  My drinking buddies were not so impressed, finding it more vinegary than they like their beers to be.

Don't forget those dates...

Once the glasses were drained, we tumbled out into the wet streets of the old city, fortunately not being rained on at the moment.

oktobeer!

So Madrid is now more Munich than Munich in terms of beer festivals, with two in the city sponsored by big beer.  I think there are even more little Oktoberfests around that individual restaurants and bars put on.  But, there's another fest, a craft fest in a nearby town, with local, national, and even some international beers.  It's not exactly Oktoberfest, since there are many styles of beer, 16 I'm told, not only the traditional Bavarian ones.  And those among 96 different beers.

We drove up, hoping the clouds wouldn't turn out to be rain clouds just today, and got a little turned around downtown.  Put right be a local, we managed to get to the fair in less than an hour in a nice, touristic walk, with a stop at the 18th century church.  We made it to the fair, although constant checking of phone maps slowed us down a little.

Like other fairs, we got our official glasses before going off for the tasting, and met a friend of a friend who is part of the organization.  He recommended we start right at the beginning, with Enigma.  I had the red ale, Enigma Complutum, which makes reference to the past of its home.  It's a mildly sweet, fruity beer, taste and texture expected in a red ale.  There's also the beery bitter hiding in the taste, but the smooth sweetness is what's most noticeable.  Our friend got the more German-y wheat beer Cervantes 400, a bit tart, typically sweet aftertaste for wheat beers, but smoother than many I've had.

There's also food, German food.  Sausages!  White and red sausages were available, but I felt like the red ones looked better in the bun.  Tasty!

Next, a brown ale from Tyris of Valencia.  Paquita Brown is smooth and sweet, with a touch of honey, not as dark as many browns.  I enjoyed it, but wished I had more food to go with it.  It's a beer I would prefer to have in company, either food or friends.

I was recommended Octavo Arte's Mañanas de Domingo, an IPA.  I felt like something a little stronger at this time.  It's a nice golden color, fizzy head, and tropical fruit scent.  It was served very cold, but the taste was clearly evident, laden with berry and mango.  It's a very refreshing beer, with the smallest bit of IPA citrus and a lot of other fruitiness hanging on.  Despite that, it's a very clean flavor, and smooth drinking.  It's one of those dangerous ones, too easy to let go down while the 7.5% alcohol might sneak up on you.  Really recommendable for summer drinking.

It's yellower in real life...

Finally, I had to find myself a stout.  El Cantero of Murcia was there with one waiting.  They've been in this fair before, and I suppose will be again.  That stout was damn fine, with a chocolate-y scent but a surprisingly bitter taste.  There's also some tartness, making it a little porter-y.  It's not actually a terribly heavy stout, going down easily and smoothly.  My friend wondered if it was like Guinness before we tried it, and was convinced after a couple of swallows that it was better than Guinness.  Success for the beer snob!

When we were leaving, we noticed a doll laid out weirdly on one of those sidewalk protection posts.  Creepy?

Who knows where else beer fairs might pop up?  Better keep an eye out!