T(welve)-12

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

Twelve skulls and bones

Eleven whales blowing

10 lords a-robbing?

Nine night owls hooting

Eight maids not for cleaning

Seven avian vampire teasers

Six plans a-hatching

Five collaborations

Four miles of nowhere

Three tropical tree eggs

Two staring wings

And an icy raven looking needy

It might be a little fanciful, but the last day seems like it ought to be warning us of our limited time.  Drumbeats and all that.  I might have liked a black beer, barrel aged maybe, for this last portentous day, but that label on the can just called out to me.  La Calavera's (of course) No Future.  It's a fruited gose, with cherry, raspberry, strawberry, blueberry and black currant added to it, so it sounds like a much brighter beer than the picture would suggest.  Just the kind of thing you take advantage of a challenge to try.

In spite of the heavy load of fruit, that sulfury old sour beer smell comes right out.  It's not very strong, but it does hang around the back of the nose.  Sniffing carefully, you get some of the other berries too, I'm thinking primarily cherry and raspberry, and it certainly has the look of a fruity drink.  Practically no head, and not very fizzy looking either.  Flavorwise it doesn't come on too strong.  There's a natural fruit sourness, leaning into the strawberry and currant, with a smoothing of light sweet on top.  It feels a little rough while drinking, but once swallowed it leaves little behind and seems like a smooth memory.

no futility here

Although I'm not the biggest fan of sour beers, there are times when they make sense, and besides, I do like to have something different once in a while.  Last week was an excess of ales, so now I feel like something that comes to me relatively rarely.  Tomorrow I'll be stopping by my mecca of stouts, so I don't feel like I'm taking a risk of missing out on any this week.  No, this is an apricot sour, from La Calavera.  Resistir Es Vencer.  I'm not sure what is being conquered looking at the gas mask, to be perfectly honest.

It's a thick and juicy looking beer, fizzy, but the head dies back with soda kind of crackling.  There's an odd rubbery smell to it, a little concerning actually.  With careful sniffing more of the apricot comes out, and maybe some more tropical hints too.  It's definitely a sour, but that sensation is not overwhelming.  In fact, I would say it's very delicate at first.  It does build up a little, something like sour hard candy, but the fruitiness is also quite mild and there's no beer bitter at all.  I thought there might be some grassiness in the flavor that would have linked to the odd aroma, but there really isn't any at all.  The flavor is snappy and generally clean.  It's a light feeling beer, too.  Despite the opacity, it doesn't have the toothy feel of some NEIPAs or the weight of some unfiltered beers.  There's definitely a hardness that comes from the apricot and the nature of a sour beer that gives this one a summery character and a promise of energy restoration at a sip.  It's not quite the cocktail you relax with on the beach or by the pool, it's more the drink you hide in a bag or questionable travel mug as you stride down the street.  To the local protest, perhaps.

Supplier: Birra Y Paz

Price: €5.20

more than a spoonful

In spite of the weight of the weather, I will insist on a stout or two (or more).  I was tickled to see the set of "medical" beers some time ago on somebody's shelf, but didn't pick any up at the time.  Now I see one stout standing all by its lonesome in La Buena Pinta, and now I just can't resist.  The set was by La Calavera of Cataluña, with the Russian Imperial stout, an Irish Republican Stout and a Svensk Vodka Stout.  The bottle is rather small, but I expect the beer inside will pack a punch.

There's an immediate rich and sugary aroma, with a strong base of alcohol.  With some careful sniffing, I detect a sort of wine essence.  There's not much head at all, leaving a very smooth looking brew in the glass.  The flavor is much more bitter and less sharp and fruity than the scent would suggest.  The beer is also fairly heavy and thick in the mouth, giving the impression of a mixed drink with a number of powerful ingredients.  It is smooth, although the texture reminds me of a banana smoothie, or something similar.  It's something of a chocolate stout, of the best kind, with enough dark chocolate to leave an impression but not overdoing the sugar.  It does get a little heavier over time, and there's some globby sediment at the bottom, but overall it's sweet, sweet medicine.

Supplier: La Buena Pinta

Price: €2.90

all they ever wanted to say

It's always a joy to find a beer with a good pun of a name, or an in-your-face shouty name.  La Calavera already has a great name for a brewery, in my opinion, and their cognac barrel stout has the latter sort: Blue Blood Fuck You!!  With two exclamation points, at that.  It's an interesting bottle too, all delicate looking and reminiscent of stronger alcohol than beer.  Although, we should take into account the strength of our modern craft beers, climbing into double digits.  Especially the barrel aged ones.  At 11.8%, this one isn't even that powerful, but it's a damn fine glass of beer.  I only wish the label was more, let's say, explicit.

Should I put a pirate flag in the hallway or something?  Looks boring from here

That barrel aged beer always has a special aroma about it, whatever is in the barrel.  The Blue Blood is no exception: sweet, candy, a tiny bit of woodiness, it's all present.  The color is great, opaque and black as an elitist heart.  Didn't get it to foam too much, but that's probably my pouring mistake.  It's less sweet than the whiskey barrel aged beers, there's more smoke and wood.  It's toasty.  There isn't a very strong alcohol sensation at first, although there is a hint of it that might develop more.  It clings to the sides of the glass when you put it down after a sip, which is interesting since it doesn't have that stickiness in the mouth.  It's thick, but not syrupy.  Some stouts that aren't heavily sweet at first get a little scratchy as they warm up, and there is a touch of that in the Blue Blood.  It develops more of a woody taste than an alcohol fuzz, which brings wine more to my mind than hard liquor.  The beer does get a little bit heavier, as one might expect, but for a barrel aged beer I find it remarkably light and easy to drink.  Quite the danger!

Supplier: Espuma
Price: €5.85

almost missed it!

Even though it's fantastic to have a constant stream of new beer and stores and celebrations, it also means some of them can sneak up on you.  Or even past you.  I knew about Beermad already in September, but for some reason thought it was going to be the last weekend of October.  Fortunately, I thought to check the flyer - and realized it was the last day!  So, had to hustle down there.  Unlike the beer fairs of old, this one took place in sports facility, the Caja Mágica tennis arena.

Barely open gate, for some reason

First Monasterio caught my eye.  There was a bar nearby that had the beer, but I almost never saw it open, and finally it appears to be closed for good.  This looks like a chance to see what I've been missing.  I wanted to start light, so I got a Rubia to start with.  It isn't very aromatic, but the taste is quite strong, very bitter in fact.  It's also very "natural", harkening back to German helles.  There is an interesting sweet aftertaste.  There were some mostly dried hops at the stand for smell sampling - very pungent.  I was told these were a variety developed by the brewery itself.  As I hadn't had breakfast that day, I thought it would be wise to not drink on a completely empty stomach, and got myself a bratwurst.  As expected, the German style similarities made it a good pairing.

Obviously sipping while waiting on the brat

Next, touching on the Halloween theme, La Calatrava.  Again, backing off from the heavier beers for the time being, I picked up Rossa, an American Wheat.  In spite of the description, it's not a strongly wheaty beer, having a sweet smell, and with that touch of citrus so common in IPAs.  The taste is very standard lager, only mildly bitter, lacking the wheat tang.  It's a little sweet going down, and very easy to get down.  Very refreshing and clean flavor, possibly on the delicate side to go with more sausages.

Finally, I visited an old friend, Sagra.  Again, for the season, I chose their Calabaza y Canela, expecting a smooth and mildly sweet ale type.  It's a lovely orange color, with a bit of a cinnamon aroma.  I was surprised to find it more of a pumpkin pie in a glass than a mere pumpkin smoothed ale or märzen.  The cinnamon really has a kick to it.  While I enjoyed it, I heard another day that it's not at all a favorite for many.  But that day was another day.

A street band entertained us for a couple of hours

Then a DJ set up

I think there was a concert in the evening

go ask alice

As soon as I walked out of the store with this bottle I thought I should have gotten a Mexican lager.  They had a couple.  And Mexican Independence is coming right up.  Sorry, Mexico, next week.  There's a skull on this one anyway, and we know you like skulls.  We are alike in that, you and I.  This, however, is a Spanish beer, or Catalan if you want to be technical.  La Calavera Brewing Coop labels themselves as "craft beer traders", or "traficants de cerveses artesanes".  I'm not sure if that's just a false friend or if they're having a little fun.  I'm also not sure if the name is a little fun, or if they're telling us something about their pet's diet: Alice The Dog Eats The Melanoidin.

It even has a beret.  That'll do for now.

Strongly scented, typical IPA citrus.  On the darker side of orange and slightly cloudy, rather resistant head.  It's very flavorful, bitter being the most noticeable flavor, but hardly the only one.  There's a taste of sweet orange and some hint of spice.  The first sip made me think of cinnamon, but I couldn't find it in later tastes.  In spite of being an IPA it's marvelously creamy, making me think of some sort of orange marshmallow candy, although not as sweet. 

Supplier: La Zurbanita
Price: €3.20