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

T(welve)-5

On the fifth day of Beermas I went and bought for me
Five collaborations

Four miles of nowhere

Three tropical tree eggs

Two staring wings

And an icy raven looking needy

What do I get for number five this year, another golden ale?  Can I get away with any blond beer on color alone?  Actually, Península comes to the rescue with Entre Amigos and its friendly circles on the can.  Not only is it an invitation to potential drinkers, it's a collaboration beer, with Sparkle, only deepening the ties.  It's a hazy IPA, so a style that several friends of mine would be happy to share a can of.  Later I found out there were more than one iterations of Entre Amigos, with different partners.  Makes sense, and now I'm wondering if I can track more down...

For an IPA, it has a surprisingly ruddy color, even being a hazy.  Quite opaque too.  The aroma is perky and sharp, with a very modern feel to it.  The taste is no surprise based on that: a little spice, caraway, snappy, not very citrusy but there's some light summery fruit in there.  In the mouth it makes itself unignorable, but once swallowed it disappears cleanly, so really a very nice drink.  I might prefer it on a warmer day, on a sunny street, but then again I drink inside whenever I can.

T(welve)-3

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

Three tropical tree eggs

Two staring wings

And an icy raven looking needy

Getting creative again!  Is it because I ran out of time and had to make do with what I grabbed off the shelves?  Is it a true challenge propelled from within?  Is it just the cussedness of refusing to not have a stout?  All three?  Let's say all three.  It's true, I really really wanted to fit Gran Cacao in somehow, just by virtue of it being an imperial stout with cacao nibs.  So instead of French hens imagine French Polynesia or the French Caribbean.  It's not quite the temperature up here right now, but there's an almost tropical humidity the past couple of days.  Weird, but could be worse.  I guess the people at centrally Spanish Península and Caleya also wanted to enjoy a warm weather fantasy.

It pours smooth and creamy, with almost a nitro like consistency in building the head, although with much bigger bubbles.  It looks delicious and doesn't smell like sunblock at all.  There is just a tantalizing whiff of cacao, but it's mostly a sturdy, earthy stout.  The cacao is present in the taste, but very...natural.  Meaning, it's not overly sweet or sticky, there's kind of an earthy sensation to it, like dusty nibs grabbed off the ground for the brew.  Also, it's impressive how smooth and slick the beer is for it's mouthfeel; it's a weighty one, and at almost 10% to boot.  It's a really pleasant stout, with a delightfully easy balance.  It might even be acceptable for the squeamish in the summer, with it's tropical hints, especially going along with a cold dessert.  And for me and those of my tastes, it's a beer for every day of the year.

summer buds

I double checked some timetables and Cervecissimus is going on vacation for the month, but I managed to sneak in before they closed their doors for a couple of weeks.  I could not resist grabbing a stout, especially one connected to the home zone: Peninsula is one part of the producing and Rio Azul is the other, giving us the result of Entre Amigos, an Oat Imperial Stout.

Along with a pleasant, cakey aroma, the beer sports a dark tan and heavy looking head.  Even liquid, it looks like it wants to be solid.  Along with the cake comes a tinge of fruit scent, raisins or plums, and a crispy undertone of smoke and toast.  Despite its powerful entrance, the head dies back quickly, leaving the demon's-heart-black brew behind.  There is a strong note of dried fruit in the flavor, not terribly sweet, but with a presence on the tongue.  It doesn't have much of an aftertaste, although there is a sensation of stickiness after the beer leaves the mouth.  It has the smoothness of an oat stout, but it's pretty weighty.  Eventually there's even a touch of wood sneaking in.  Finally, just the barest hint of chocolate also makes it's appearance.  It's a beer that has surprises if you're willing to look for them.  Like a lot of potential friends, I guess.

Supplier: Cervecissimus

Price: €4.30