first shot

So I'm going to do my craft beer introduction and I need something to go along with it.  I can get American beers in Madrid, but I also think we should be supporting local industries in times like these, so I go looking for Spanish labels.  And there's one!  La Vicalvarada.  American Red Ale, so it still goes along with the topic.  The label extols the virtues and bravery of the inhabitants of the former Vicálvaro, now a neighborhood of Madrid, so I imagine it's one of those little beers from little breweries sprinkled around the city.  Oh wait, it's...Domus?  Not even in Madrid!  Well, it's good enough beer anyway, and as far as I know still craft.  At least the last time I looked at their website.

It has an earthy, slightly sweet aroma, and a dark brown, rusty color.  Definitely one of the better hues to be called a red ale.  The head is awfully thick and resistant, it reminds me of ice cream floats, after the ice cream starts to get mixed in with the root beer a little.  There's a somewhat woody, nutty sweetness, more sweet at first and then building to bitter in flavor.  Strangely the sweetness comes back to hang around after the swallow is gone.  It's a very smooth beer, easy going down.  There's no sharpness at the edges, no kickiness in the bitter.  Although the sweetness has a clearly larger share, there is a balancing bitterness and a range of subtle flavors, making the beer a good fit for casual conversation, academic presentation, or curled-up-reading relaxation.

Supplier: Cerevisia

Price: €2.80

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...

from old times to new

It seems like it's been a while since I've had a Domus beer.  They're a good brand, I can't remember being disappointed.  And what do I see on the shelves but a triple stout!  Irresistible!  It seems Boris Brew is involved as well, but they're certainly not shoddy when it comes to cooking up interesting beers.  I'm not sure if the nymph on the label is meant to distract us from the darkness of the beer with her allusion to bright and sunny nature, or if she's supposed to connect the color of stout with the black shade of the primeval forest.  Whichever, Ninfa is on the table.

It has a rich, chocolatey smell, and pours out thick.  If the beer itself is dark chocolate, the head is probably milk chocolate, at least.  At first taste, I latch onto the sweetness and expected flavor of dark chocolate, but it gets pulled into a tide of smoky bitterness soon enough.  Interestingly, the aftertaste brings the chocolate back in a mild, subtle way.  It's a birthday cake of a beer, a Valentine's box beer, one that deserves to be savored in individual contemplation.  I guess you could drink with friends too.  But only if you talk about the beer.

At first I thought she had tats, but it's just vine accessories.  I might need more tats, you know, to discourage the morons.

Supplier: Cervecissimus
Price: €3.20

landmark

The label is one of the more decorated from Domus, and a quick look at the ingredients shows they were planning on something representative: orange and saffron flower, sounds like Al-Andalus, at least to those of us with the barest knowledge of the topic.

The smell is on the sweet side, just a touch from the bottle, but once poured some citrus notes come out.  The beer itself has an orangey glow, and a pithy white head.  I got a good mouthful of the foam in the first sip, and it's quite tasty itself with a mild citrus flavor and a hint of something spicier underneath.  I wonder if it's the saffron flower; I actually have no idea what that would taste like by itself, and I'm only really familiar with saffron as a coloring agent.  Still, there's definitely something in this beer besides the orange and regular grain and hops.  It recalls Christmas cookies for me, ginger, cloves, that sort of taste.  It could actually come from the wheat portion of the recipe, I guess.  Many wheat beers do have that little sharpness to them.  It seems to me to be a good holiday beer, for Halloween or Christmas.  I have my doubts about Thanksgiving, just because orange and cranberry doesn't sound quite right to me.

It is orange, I swear

for a little break

Back to Toledo and Domus, but no mention of El Greco this time.  I just can't stay away from stouts!  Take Five insists it intends to provoke feelings of jazz in the drinker, although cocktails seem jazzier to me than black beer.  Maybe I just listen to too much Black 47, but a stout seems to go better with a good rock song to me.

Although the smell does evoke the light fruit touches mentioned on the label, the taste is again like a good bar band - loud, powerful, balancing sweet and bitter.  It seems sweeter at first, but the bitter hangs around longer.  It's also a bit too sour to really be chocolatey, although some figs and plums have a little of that sourness to them.  It's quite a pick-me-up, less relaxing than other stouts in my opinion, but well worth the time to savor.

summing up

Poorly lit, sadly

Domus is a fine craft brewery out of Toledo, previously featured here too.  This one I haven't tried yet, and there's something that tickles me about "the sum of all beers".

There it is...

We know it's dark going in, chocolatey brown, but not quite the consistency of a stout.  Beige, poofy head, maybe poofier than necessary.  It emits a scent of apple at first, with the honey trailing behind a bit.  The headliner for the taste is also the sweetness, although it's not as cloying as the smell might suggest.  The honey comes out first, with a little sour, maybe something like a tart apple, spreading over the tongue next.  Finally just a touch of bitter pings the back of the tongue.  With some time a more cider taste appears, although no fruit at all is listed in the ingredients.  I'm pleased it avoids the citrus, which is refreshing, but its prevalence in my beer choices of late make its absence more noteworthy.

a work of art

Pass the beer, he's saying

 Domus is a fine brewery, and this time they seem to be trying to appeal to national pride and history, with El Greco.  So, the historical figure wasn't Spanish, his work is centered in Spain, in particular Toledo, where Domus is located.  2014 is the 400th anniversary of his death, so the city is organizing a celebration and this is the brewery's contribution.  This beer has some wild stuff on the label: almond, cinnamon...saffron??

Yep.

It pours looking thick and full of flavor, with a dark honey color and light head.  It's another noticeably bubbly beer.  It's not very aromatic, in spite of the listed spices, but the flavors come out immediately when sipped.  Sweetness is the most powerful, kind of a generic sweet though.  It's not clearly nutty or cinnamony, although tasty.  There's a very subtle hint of bitter underneath.  It's a stable taste from the beginning to the end, so I find it good as a stand-alone beer, not needing anything to pull out the flavors.  I'd prefer not having any strong tasting snacks with El Greco if I were to have any.  Peanuts might be OK, or some mild cheese.  Something to compliment the sweet without being overwhelming.