no snakes, but sand

For some reason I'm not very good at getting beer for specific holidays in advance.  It always comes down to the day before or so when I have to hurry down to some store to frantically search for something fitting.  So, for St. Patrick's Day I naturally had to make a trip, and I was pretty sure La Cervecista, with its industrial background, would have a selection of beers to choose from.  It actually wasn't hard to choose -  I found Around The Clock in the fridge, among the stouts, and with its production including Irish whiskey barrels, it looks like the perfect thing to enjoy on this holiday.  I'm certainly not going out with all the dust around.  It's another great reason to keep the mask on, but it's so much more comfortable to just stay home with a good drink.  It seems to me Porterhouse has made an appearance in my fridge before, or at least in some bar's fridge where I had a chance to pick it out.  A whiskey and bourbon accented beer is something new, though.

The tingly strong alcohol smell comes out immediately, with an enticing warmth.  There is also a little bit of sourness, like a fruit liquor.  It's a little less black than the expected stout, but still a good color.  Not a whole lot of head, but there is a nice covering of frosty looking foam.  The flavor is very smooth, no throat grabby kind of alcohol feel.  It's a little bit smoky, a little bit woody.  There's even a sort of milkiness.  The whiskey part is barely detectable, but it is present, adding a strong foundation for the stout to push off of.  Despite the smoothness, I start picking up a little bit of dustiness too, like there's a little finely blended fruit pulp in there.  I wouldn't expect it to be Sahara dust, with that wax cap, and being bottled before the big event.  It has a feeling of calm and steadiness that goes well with a weekday evening, or with a quiet kind of night out.  I don't think I'd enjoy sucking it down at a parade, or in crowded conditions, although it might be comfort when it gets stressful to deal with a bunch of other dipshits on the street.  Or whatever the Irish for dipshit is; I'm positive they have one, if not more.  Some languages are more creative with insult than others!

Supplier: La Cervecista

Price: €6.95

days counted!

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

Twelve days and more

Eleven pipes a-smoking

Ten horses leaping

Nine feet a-floating

Eight icicles dripping

Seven sea monsters swimming

Six owls nesting

Five malts of gold

Four avian hallucinations

Three French magicians

Two love ya dearlies

And the simplest answer there could be 

Winding down, we are, and I've been waiting for this beer a long time.  It's an aged beer too, so it's been waiting by itself even before it joined my little self-challenge.  At first I thought it would be a Saturday beer, but that name...Counting The Days.  It seemed like it should fit into the song, and in the end I stuck it in.  It's the end of the count, we count in rhythm like a drum, it works in its way. 

It has a thick-looking consistency, although not a lot of head.  It looks like there's a little mixing of something in the brew, leaving the color only dark brown and not black.  Other examples of this have been quite pleasant, so good start.  It's heavily aromatic, with a sweet alcohol scent.  The taste is muddled, changeable, a patchwork of shifting flavors: first comes the bitter stout, then a wash of bourbon; coffee and licorice prance in behind and lead the way for the barrel-aged woodiness.  I expected a much heavier beer after a while; these types do tend to get syrupy.  But really, although the alcohol makes it seem like it should be a mouthfiller, this is an exceptionally light feeling stout.  The strong flavor doesn't hang around too much, even if there's a tiny bit of burn in its wake.  This is definitely a celebratory beer, one to end a countdown with, or to toast a new beginning.

exotic

The US Brewers Association recently recognized New Zealand Pale Ale as a new beer style, but I had never come across anything labeled as such in Madrid.  Sure, it doesn't have to be made in New Zealand, like NEIPA it's just the name of the style, not a denomination of origin.  Still, it was with surprise and delight I found one, the last one in stock it seems, standing proudly on the shelf at La Buena Pinta.  It's an Irish beer it turns out, from O Brother Brewing, so at least we know it's a product of people who have reverence for their beer.  Let's give hOptical a whirl.

Very foamy, maybe excessively so, but with a pleasing piny scent.  It's pretty cloudy, sort of a rusty gold.  Sticking your nose closer gives you a whiff of mandarins and touch of sourness, but a pickly kind of sour more than a fruity kind.  The first impression is definitely tropical.  The flavor is juicy, with hints of citrus, mango, and perhaps cucumber, so an undeniable summer drink.  There's some underlying vinegar there too, which gives the beer a bite, but doesn't really seem out of place with such light and fresh flavors.  Another point in its favor as a refreshing beverage on a scorching day is its lack of aftertaste or heavy feel.  It is extremely light in the mouth and when you swallow it's just gone.  Like a summer breeze, which you might wish would stick around just a little while longer.

Supplier: La Buena Pinta

Price: €5.50

Door #6

It would have been nice to have a chocolate stout or something for the day, but I don't care much about religious celebrations anyway so I guess I have no room to complain.  I do have an Irish beer, so there's that cultural connection to saints' days.  I don't think O'Hara's Irish Red has anything directly to do with St. Nicolas, though.

It's one of those nice ruddy Irish reds, not like some recent "red" ales I've seen.  Slightly dirty head, mostly disappears, but leaves a light foam on top.  At first I got a very strong caramel aroma, but it quickly vanished too, leaving hardly anything behind, not even a low bitter or graininess.  There is a strong amount of grain in the flavor, sort of wrapped around the bitter foundation.  It's not much of a lone drink for me, being a little harsh by itself and without a lot of layers of flavor to sift through.  It's a fairly standard beery beer though.  The best thing about it is its appropriately festive color.

Things are getting into shape, let's just hope they can be displayed like they deserve to be.

possible pirate

So, there's nothing like an Irish stout, is there?  Galway Bay Buried At Sea might be a good example.  It is a milk stout, so a little softer than others might be, but it's still summer.  Even I can weighed down a little with those heavy beers.  There's supposed to be some chocolate in there somewhere, which has been fantastic in Black Velvet and The Mayan, but I know there are some that disappointed me.  I was so disappointed I don't even remember the names right off.  I guess they weren't too bad, if I don't have the urge to warn others off.

Quite strong in aroma, very sweet and sugary.  Makes me think of a maple stout or something like that.  Abundant beige head, not quite black color to the beer itself.  It's a good chocolate brown, though, practically opaque.  Not nearly as sweet as I expected it to be; at first it teases you with some hints of lactose, but a whale's back of beery bitter rises up, with a tail of licorice.  Notes of coffee start to develop, giving some nuance to the bitterness, but a strong sweetness never makes an appearance.  While there's lactose lurking around in there, I would not say there's any milk chocolate.  Perhaps dark chocolate, something more bitter and closer to the coffee that my tongue says is there.  It's not very heavy for a stout, probably not a summer drink for most though.  But fine for me!

Supplier: Cerevisia
Price: €3.30

*pop* top

Still looking for my porter/stouts, although with summer coming I might have to let my strategy evolve a little bit.  In any case, Porterhouse's Plain Porter is there for me today.  I have to admit it was the little pull-tab cap that was the final decision maker, but at the same time you can't say no to an Irish porter.

The cap pops off super smooth, with a satisfying little *tok*.  While dark, the beer is not quite black or opaque, letting a little milk chocolate light be seen at the bottom.  Portery, slightly sweet aroma, mildly lactose.  The taste is a bit startling, not sweet at all despite the smell.  It's on the sour side at first, in fact, and eventually winds down into bitter.  No chocolate here, no way.  It's not one of those smoky black beers either, it's earthy if anything.  It's not an especially smooth drink, a tad on the rough side, but enjoyable.  A nice choice for a colder evening, but light enough for year-round savoring, at least as far as I'm concerned.

Supplier: Espuma
Price: €3.20

hobby drinker in hamburg

Say what you will about rainy cities, they're great places to go drinking.  Gotta keep people interested, after all.  With only a weekend to get a taste, I had to do my best to maximize, so the very first beers were a flight of Ratsherrn brews.  They were arranged in flavor from lightest to strongest, which does make some sense. 

We started with Matrosenschleck Oat White IPA, with a sharp citrusy aroma but only slightly citrus taste.  A very light color and mild flavor, not what I expect from my IPAs, but maybe the oats smooth out the taste.

Next up was the Seasonal, reddish color, kind of tangy smell.  Rather sweet, seems to feature a touch of honey, but not very strong.  Later on it would clash with the goulash, so not a beer to go with strong foods.

The Pale Ale didn't have a lot of scent to it either, but the color was stronger and the taste was definitely beerier.  It starts off with a good stiff bitter and leaves a little graininess behind.  This one was great with the goulash!

Of a similar appearance to the Seasonal, the Rotbier had more complexity about it.  The color was slightly ruddier, and the aroma more oaty than the Seasonal.  The flavor was mostly sweet again, but with a helping of sour, and a bigger feel than the other beers.  The texture had a certain amount of robustness that goes well with a blustery evening, but the sweetness lends itself more to conversation beer than to mealtime beer.

At the end of the flight was Zwickel, with a similar scent to the Rotbier, but lighter.  A dark gold brew, it also tends to the sweet and eschews the bitter.  Less work to decipher than the Rotbier, but also good for a sit with a good book, perhaps.

There's something fitting about a beer called Amerikanischer Traum at a museum of emigration.  In some ways it's quite a standard IPA, golden, heady, strong citrus perfume but not spicy or tangy.  Much like American IPAs, it's heavy on the fruitiness, which starts pretty softly but soon explodes into a tropical citrus fest.  I can't put my finger on the exact fruit, but maybe grapefruit?  There is a bitterness lurking in the background, like a kind of grounding for the high flying fruit basket.

Blockbräu

In a convenient brew house near the U-Bahn we had some more seasonal beer.  This one was a pale ale, but cloudy and dark gold.  Unfiltered, I would imagine.  The head bubbles off pretty quickly.  It's sweeter than expected, with sort of a dusty feeling to it, but with a smooth and even-tempered flavor.  Not a lot of bitter to be found, it leans to the sweet as well, more honey than hops.  But, from start to finish it maintains the same easy drinking feel.

Those beer stores are everywhere!  No complaints from me on that account.  This one had taps too, four of them, and the most promising was the dry stout.  It was an Irish beer, but to fill my need for black beers I will make a sacrifice or two.  The Black Pig came out almost entirely foam, but like magic, a beer appeared in the glass within moments.  The aroma is a little sour.  The beer is extremely smooth, what you would expect from a nitro.  The taste is only slightly bitter with a hint of gassiness that reminds me of balloons.

Finally, my bought bottle, Simean Hanseatic Porter.  Had to drink it before coming back, since I only had a carry-on.  No good beers at the duty-free store that I could see in Hamburg airport!  Anyway, the porter is a good rich dark brown, rather light head, and a noticeably hard-hitting alcohol smell.  It's like cherry liquor chocolates.  The first impression is quite bitter, but it lightens right up.  I feared a turn for the sour but instead the flavor went firmly into chocolate.  For me, it's just sweet enough to recall a nice dark chocolate, with some grit to make it feel like you've got a drink to tame on your hands.  Ausgezeichnet!

Maybe this should be my personal item

They'll let this go in a personal item, right?

sláinte!

I wasn't sure if I could find an Irish craft beer for this drinking day of days, and was willing to settle for a green label.  And a stout.  I will have my stout, dammit.  Well, at La Birratorium I was greeted by the label I was looking for - on an Irish made beer!  Huzzah!  And stout, at that, so all boxes checked!  Eight Degrees Brewing was actually founded by a Kiwi and an Aussie, according to their lore, but they are now settled in the Emerald Isle and the beer is made there.  The name refers to both Ireland's geographic location (8ºW) and the optimal temperature to serve the Knock Mealdown at.  I fear I may have over-chilled mine.

It's a nice dark color, a bit light on the head, and malty in aroma.  The taste starts mellow and smoky, moving into a crunchy earthiness and finishing with a sort of licorice flutter.  As usual, I'm not sure if I like that ending.  Still, it's worth it for the dark chocolate/espresso main attraction.  It's a robust flavor even though the beer doesn't feel particularly heavy.  The chocolate flavor comes on stronger as the temperature rises, which is fine my me.  It also seems to wipe out the licorice.  It's on the less alcoholic side for a stout, which makes it a good party beer, easy to drink a few of while celebrating without ill effects.  It doesn't seem to need any snacks to enhance it, although it wouldn't hurt to have something either lightly salted, or chocolatey, like those mousses from a few weeks ago.  St. Patrick's chocolate cake and beer should be a thing?  Is it a thing somewhere?  Next year let's make it a thing.

Supplier: La Birratorium
Price: €3.65

at the end of the rainbow

As a good American, I can't let this holiday pass.  What, it's for some Irish saint?  Who wasn't even Irish?  C'mon...

Anyway, I found a good Irish stout this year, with the evocative name of Celebration Stout.  The label tells me to expect a range of flavors, and promises to please the experienced stout drinker, a title which I feel fairly confident in claiming.

Easy-off cap, for when it's not your first of the night

A puff of chocolatey stout scented air pops out immediately.  Good chocolate liquid comes out too, with a creamy looking head settled on top.  The taste surprises me a little, with a quick shot of dirt up front, but the bitterness is tempered by a calmly rising tide of chocolate.  As soon as the sweetness disappears down the throat, however, the foundation of bitter earth hangs on for a bit.  After letting the beer sit for a while, a definite curl of smoke can be felt in the smell and taste.  Ok, I'll say I'm pleased.

To the stouts and stout-hearted!

irish red

Going down the color scale, I chose a red ale.  Irish, probably typically.  The label has that nice Celtic lettering on it, the kind you associate with pubs.

It comes out bubbly although the foam dies down quickly.  There's a nice sweetish smell, which isn't quite what I expect with an ale.  It actually has a much earthier taste than one would think based on the smell, but warmed up it has a little bacon flavor.  Good to have salty snacks to start with - pretzels and such - but something sweeter when the bacon kicks in.