wrapping up

With anticipation, the door opens on slot 24...and it's a strong dark Belgian.  Well, at least it's dark.  This collaboration between Guineu and Juguetes Perdidos might be fitting, in fact, for the holiday, since some Belgian beers do have a certain level of winter-appropriate spice.  I'm cautiously hopeful about Pajaro Viudo.  If it turns out to be a disappointment, I can say that I did have a chocolate stout earlier today (Thank you, Ossegg).

There's a strong whiff of banana, and the beer looks thick and almost oily coming out.  The head is tightly bubbled and deflates slowly.  The flavor starts with bitter and Belgian level of sour, but not quite in the aftertaste you get an odd almost fishy sort of taste.  Well, not fishy exactly, more like seaweed.  It's like a miso was added to the beer at some point.  Going with the look, there's a very full sensation that goes along with the liquid; it is smooth, but there's a good amount of weight in it.  The taste seems to contain itself, not expanding or deepening, leaving the drinker in a mood to sip and sip some more.  It's not that it's lacking in taste, but it doesn't have the extravagant explosion that I've come to expect from craft beers.  Still, it's probably good to back off from the excesses a little bit from time to time, and with Beermas starting tomorrow I don't need to dull my sense of taste just yet!

newbs beware

Second to last and not as dark as my desires, but expecting to guide the tastes of others can be a mistake.  It might even be a ... Rookie Mistake.  I'm not sure if Guineu is quietly admitting they meant to make something else, or warning off people who don't quite know what to make of a Special Bitter.

It has the dark caramel color of stronger, toastier beers.  There's a certain Christmas spice in the aroma, a little ginger maybe and something like clove.  But will it be spicy or bitter?  Turns out neither, really.  It's unsweet apple mostly, but not quite enough to be astonishingly bitter.  The potential spices are a bust in the taste.  Too bad, could have been sort of an apple pie beer.  It has some roughness, a little throat-grabby, and I get a mild aftertaste that is more bitter than the beer itself.  So, although surprisingly subdued, it does make you pay some attention when you drink.

wildly

There's no white Christmas around here, but maybe no wet one either.  Good temperatures for walking and window shopping and pretending we have enough room in our houses and lives for the shiny things they make us want.  And after a good tour of the neighborhood, a little beer seems to be called for.  The can is colorful, wild, vibrant, so not what you expect for a black beer, and indeed it is another IPA.  It's a new brewery for me, though, so that's exciting.  Valkiria IPA is also trying to be an exciting name.  Blot Craft Beer seems to be playing up a northern connection, and they are north of Madrid, but Vikings they aren't quite.  It appears they have a restaurant in Andorra, although the beer was brewed in Barcelona.  I guess it has to count as a Spanish beer, then.

Once again, a typical IPA color and aroma, golden and fruity.  This one does have a lot of tropical sensation to it, and very little pine or bitter.  The flavor is smooth and sweet, very much a modern IPA.  It's a bright and happy beer, very well-made, very pleasant to drink.  Not very heavy or sticky, barely any aftertaste, so it's one of the cleaner IPAs.  It stays very constant and light in taste and consistency, the kind of beer that you would hope to have with a meal.  Maybe Andorra should go on the list of places to see.

wake up

Oh yes, there had to be at least one more!  Guineu and Mala Gissona give us a porter now, Txoko.  I'm hoping that that's a hint of chocolate or cacao, but a regular, rich porter would hit the spot really well right now.  The November rain has been delayed until winter's door, so it feels like a good time to sit with good dark beer and unwind.

A little thin looking, coffee smelling.  Nice head at first, but it fizzles away quickly.  The taste is much bigger than expected based on the color and aroma:  it's an extra chocolate and vanilla syrup shot in the morning brew.  While slick, it does have a bit of a sticky feel.  It's a little strange for a mid-week beer for some reason, it feels like something you should be having on Friday night before going out for some real fun, or Saturday afternoon to wake up completely.

mysterious

Alright then, let's have another pale ale, or more precisely, RIPA.  I guess that isn't a real repeat for this calendar.  The label looks so familiar, I have the sensation that I have done Jack the RIPA before, but it doesn't come up.  Maybe I only thought about it in the store and then grabbed a stout instead.  Anyway, it is Guineu, so trustworthy brewers, and it's a dark idea even if the beer is on the lighter side.  I could have chosen it for a Hallowe'en special.

It's darker orange than plenty of normal IPAs, a little more along the lines of an imperial.  There's a very bouncy citrus aroma from this one.  As for taste, it's extra bitter rather than extra orangey, but it's that pleasant IPA style.  It's a deep, rounded bottom kind of flavor, making me think of grapefruit without the actual taste of it.  After it settles down a little there is more citrus on the tongue, but the overall effect is still very bitter-hoppy.  

in the light of evening

Oh dear, more pale beers!  This Hoppy Pilsner is from a new discovery, thanks to the calendar, Hoppit.  Their last contribution was quite pleasing, although no stout.  Now that the rain has stopped it's starting to head towards more wintery temperatures around here, so a darker beer would be appreciated, but the extra light of La Llum might just be the thing to brighten my evening.

Pale, yellowy gold, pure white foam on top, it's definitely a pilsner.  It's a little bit sharper and citrusier in smell than what I expect from regular pilsners.  It is also very sharp in taste.  It reminds me of a lemon candy, sour and puckery and first, but smoothed over with a sweet tail-end.  It has a modern touch, not nearly the level of bitterness that more traditional pilsners have, a sting that pushes it towards IPA territory.  

the mascot

Still with Guineu and its fox, now an amber ale.  Again, it looks like a very solid offering, although nothing special or extra creative.  Simple Birita, casual, unfussy.

It seems extra heady, and it has a rich dark orange color.  Interesting aroma, a little honeyed and not very fruity.  There's a little bit of orange in the taste, but it's more watered down than I expected.  The first seconds of the sip give a bubbly heads-up but then it does down and practically disappears.  It's a good beer for sitting and relaxing but not thinking too much about.  A little snack to go with it would mix well.  Something kind of woody starts to come out after a few minutes, giving the beer more body and a little more interest, although it's not the kind of taste that I particularly favor.

howl

I look askance at Rauxa at first; I just had a stunning imperial stout and now I just get a regular IPA?  OK, it's Guineu and it's been specially picked, but not even imperial, DDH, some other sparkly attraction?  The label, while subdued, gives a hint of wildness and some secret that it will be worth your while to find out.

Slightly cloudy, but sunny color, and a stunning puffy head.  Another whipped cream topping, almost like a float.  It's not very aromatic, but the taste comes out like a jack-in-the-box, surprising in its sharp bitterness and power of lasting flavor.  There's a tingle of mandarin, but it's almost a doubly bitter IPA compared to a lot of modern American style examples.  A little something starts to develop over time that seems like window cleaner to me.  It might be a nod to the pine essence of certain hops.  The beer has an oddly smooth feel, but with a scratchy coating, kind of like a crumbly hard candy filled with liquidy gel.  And all of it a big bad IPA wolf.  No, wait, it's a fox.  Big bad IPA fox.

just one more

Just what I was hoping for, another stout!  And it is an imperial, and a pretty good alcohol content too.  Oso Brewing has put on an almost sinister label, warning the weak off it I guess.  Called La Penúltima, it plays on Spanish drinking culture, where every drink the next to last.  At 15% I wonder if this one wouldn't send you home right after, though. 

It pours out like chocolate syrup, and even has a little bit of that smell around it.  It isn't an overly sugary kind of chocolate, a little bit sharp, something you wouldn't actually drink on its own, but use as a flavoring.  The beige head deflates a little but stays firm looking if a little thinner.  The chocolate carries over into the taste, giving the beer a rich chocolate shake feeling.  It's dark chocolate of course, so not cloyingly sweet, but there's hardly any bitter to be noticed.  It doesn't leave much aftertaste behind, but there is a kind of feeling of weight that does stay.  Oddly, the beer itself feels very smooth and light.  It is a lot like a gourmet milkshake, with the high quality dark chocolate and natural, fatty milk.  It's a treat for sure, maybe so much that it has to be...the ultimate.

a call-back

There are plenty of breweries on the box and I think they all make plenty of beers.  But, it isn't too surprising to find a couple that I already know in there, if they were quality products.  La Quince does pretty reliable when it comes to that, and I have in fact had their Llipa! IPA before.  It was even in last year's beer calendar!  Worse performances have had encores, I would guess.

Looking just like I remember, bright and shiny golden color and perfect head, at least for a little while.  The sharp pine aroma is immediate and summery.  A whole medley of flavors rolls out on the tongue, from melon to peach to minty pine.  The hops are quite strong and forestal, not so much on the tropical side.  The beer is not overly bitter, however, balancing its components well.  Although it has a very noticeable presence in the mouth it is more of a summer beer, in my opinion.  It goes with warm sidewalks and strolling people, not so much scarves and jackets.  There is a lightness to it that just shouts sunlight.  I guess a lot of people do look for an extra point of brightness while they grump about winter evenings, though, even if they enjoy the Christmas season.

wandering now

Kind of a '60s reminiscent style on the label, but it sounds like a more traditional leaning beer - kellerpils.  I guess it's a reminder of the goal of any brewer, to make a product that people long to have in their glasses, but there are lots of ways to get there.  Normally similar, only a few have significant differences of make-up or difficulty.  Everyone heading the same way to the same place of happiness, not with Santiago, but with Sanfrutos.  Time to mark out some Caminos Paralelos.

Very light in color and not a hint of cloudiness, also very classic head.  The aroma is pure German lager, lots of grain, a little grass, practically honey sweetness.  Flavor is surprisingly light as well.  I was expecting either a striking bitter or a rounded breadiness, but the beer is almost difficult to even feel in the mouth and the taste is really subdued.  It is more bitter than anything else, but there's a tad bit of corn and cucumber sneaking around too.

vroom, vroom

It's not a black beer, but it is pretty dark, and strong besides.  Attik Brewing offers Hot Rod American Strong Ale for another rainy December day, with a label that ought to warm the table.  It looks exciting, and vaguely dark and dangerous.

It has the dark color of a strong beer, with a light beige and resistant head.  There's a little bit of apple floating around in the air, again hitting the notes of strong beers in memory.  For some reason I expected a thicker and sweeter entrance, something like a barleywine, but it is not like that at all.  It's strongly bitter, playing up the ale part of its build, with a bit appley sweetness wandering in only when most of the sip is already down your throat.  The bitter never goes away either.  Although it's not a heavy or sticky beer, echoes of sharp bitterness remain much longer than you expect.  Good to keep you from chugging it down too fast, I would imagine.

answering somebody's prayers

In this holy season it only makes sense to have some kind of blessed beverage.  Of course, if I were demanding something of a deity I would have other things in mind.  For most people, though, I suppose La Quince's God Save The Session IPA would be a gift from heaven.

It looks somewhat watered down, very light, clear straw color, but abundant and snowy head.  The aroma is also quite pleasant and nicely noticeable.  Typical IPA, very bright and citrusy, with only the barest hint of dark fuzz underneath.  The flavor is a little flat at first, kind of metallic.  But, then notes of bitter hops start to poke out and a little chaser of orange follows.  Like other session IPAs, it feels very light and leaves little trace once it's gone down.  It isn't a surprising beer or an exceptionally creative one, but it is solid and does the job beautifully.

beaufrutal

Ah, I remember this one!  It's still not a black beer, but it's something special - Oso Brewing's Frutal III, a Berliner Weisse with strawberry and blackcurrant.  You'd expect something on the sweet side, but the sour of the weisse really dominates.  I got my first taste this summer at Gaztambirra, impressing, although not quite inspiring, my drinking/debating buddies.

It's a little lighter than I remember, but I might be remembering a late-night beer a little unreliably.  It does have the bitter-fruity aroma and the slightly pink head.  The beer appears to be full of bubbles and somewhat cloudy.  It is a bit wine-y again, with a sharp and bitter tanginess, like cheap wine and grapefruit juice mixed together.  It also has a feeling of unsweetened cranberry juice.  I don't really detect any strawberry, but the blackcurrant might be there in the tang.  The color is right for the season, but it's a light and tickly beer, not what I look for an a dark near-winter night.  I find my weisses are better suited to a summer evening.  Well, looking forward I guess.

the shining

Oh well, back to pale ales I guess.  It's not a familiar beer, Hoppit, but given the quality so far I don't think I have anything to worry about.  I feel like Ben Plantada American Pale Ale has some double meanings it might or might not want to share.

It is the very picture of it's style - clear golden color, almost whipped cream head, maybe slightly more citrus than necessary in the aroma, but it's fitting for an APA.  The flavor is surprisingly heavy, with a big load of mandarin.  It's not sugary sweet, but there is a good amount of fruit.  It's a pretty big feeling beer, a lot of sun and a lot of brightness emanating from it.  Despite the weight it isn't heavy-handed, just firm, a real pick-me-up kind of beer.  It's not demanding but good back-up.  On a rainy December night, it really lights up a room or conversation.  Well done, or should I say well planted?

lit up

Well, back to lagers, but this is a smoked lager, so at least that's something different.  This is Althaia's Mediterranean Lager Ahumada.  I guess after Spain got smoked out of the World Cup it's a fitting choice for the collection.  I also like how the label shows the grill but the smoke is coming out of the bottles nearby.

I'm used to my smoked beers looking, well, smokey, but this one pours out almost like water.  It does take on color in the glass and builds up a nice fluffy head, as well as having that distinct rauchbier aroma.  It definitely tastes like a rauchbier, perhaps a little sweeter than some of the classics.  It's more of a maple syrup sausage than a bacon or schnitzel flavor.  There's some hint of breading, or maybe pancake crumbs.  It also has an oddly slick feel to it, like the outside of a fatty sausage, sliding over your plate instead of politely sitting for your fork.  It's perfectly pleasant, though, not icky-slippery like you might expect.  While other rauchbiers seem to have their place at the barbecue, this lager feels like it just wants to sit down to breakfast.

around the block

Finally!  I've been hoping to have a black beer pop up, you just can't have a selection of wintery beers without stouts and porters!  Now, most people like to bring out their ales and pilsners and sours for a little brightness, but good Bacchus, alcohol should be fitting with the season.  I have had this particular beer before, La Pirata's Vanilla Black Block, and I know I won't be disappointed.

Very fluffy dark beige head, and the color, while dark, doesn't quite seem perfectly black.  A little more like dark roasted vanilla.  The aroma also hits on the toasty side, with hints of leafy vegetation.  The vanilla does come out in the flavor, along with warm smoke and fresh bread, giving a feeling of a powerful stout.  It starts out a bit light, but develops more heft over time, adding both sweet and bitter notes.  There's even a kind of fiery smoke trail in the aftertaste, and some kind of sour fruit preserve that bites as it goes down.  It's a fine and fitting part of an Advent calendar, not excessively spiced and pastried, but in tune with the atmosphere of ever darker days and with just enough of a surprise to be gift-worthy.

central span

It isn't a real holiday today, but it is the middle of the week and bookended by holidays.  It's almost a holiday by default, but some people take Monday and/or Friday to have long weekends and kind of begrudgingly go to work a single day of the week.  Not everybody has the luxury of an "aqueduct", as the Spanish refer to this extra-long weekend (a normal long weekend being a "bridge").  For a working day, we seem to have a normal working beer, Guineu's Latitud 41 lager.

Activity begins as soon as the cap is unsealed, but there's no foam overflow.  The beer pours out with a sour-grain scent and a very fluffy head, settling into the glass with a very clear, slightly ruddy light lager color.  The glass gives off a little metallic aroma too, making me wonder if the beer has gone off in the bottle.  The flavor is at first strongly bitter and tinged with bread, a stronger flavor than I expect from a lager, but the aftertaste also has that metal and green bean bite.  The beer tries to override that bit of weirdness, and it seems like it really is a fine lager, but the aftertaste is a little distracting.

shrugging drinker

I'm excited for something from La Quince, although it isn't a famous Black Velvet.  Maybe a later date?  Anyway, this is something that might tickle anime fans with the picture on the label, and maybe the name Angry Boy would make more sense to them too.  It's a DDH Cream IPA, which doesn't sound like an aggressive or punchy style, but I have been fooled by light-sounding modifiers to IPA before.  It's a respectable level of alcohol at over 6%, so it shouldn't be watered down in any way.

Very light - creamy- color, and almost whipped cream resting on top.  Just popping the top of the can releases a slightly spicy fragrance.  There's a flowery perfume too, a sophisticated blend of hops.  The taste is very subtle at first, but soon a little clovery sweetness makes an appearance, washed down by a light IPA bitter.  Some spikes of bread also pop up.  It's a soft tasting beer, despite being double dry hopped, so maybe things got better kept in the aroma.  There's some sensation in the aftertaste, warming the throat and tickling the back of the tongue.  It settles down into a pretty stable but layered flavor, a bed of bitter and a topping of sweetness.  Much sweeter than you expect an angry boy to be.

cross the line

Here's something fall-like and appropriate, a wheat IPA!  We're back to Guineu and a very simply labeled WIPA, although I wonder if the color scheme is meant to be evocative.  I kind of appreciate the inviting message on the yellow tape, though.  Despite a certain sense of exclusivity, there's always been at least the desire to have the door to the craft beer world open to all.

Mildly cloudy and a short but resistant head, the wheat comes through clearly in the aroma.  Very bready and meadow-sharp.  There's some fruit lurking in there too, the ghost of the IPA I imagine.  First the wheat beer glowiness slides in over the tongue, then a bitter boulder rumbles down.  There's kind of a fight between relaxed wheat and feisty IPA, a dance of different sides that kind of corkscrews its way down the throat.  It settles down into a modest easy-drinking beer, although it might be a little too demanding for those who just want to have snacks, sit back and watch the tube or something.  On a holiday eve, it could be a great choice for evening media consumption.  Old Christmas movies anyone?