summer special

Summer is a-comin', as they say, and although I could have stout all the time, I feel like I should try new things just to be able to recommend to the lightweights.  Be Hoppy regularly has unusual brews, although they tend to be pricier than the normal craft stuff.  They sure look appetizing, though, and at a time of realignment with the future you might as well treat yourself to something special.  It might come as a surprise that I didn't choose a black beer or other heavy, flavorful, complexly put together brew, but I did pick up a barrel aged Lervig.  The brewery alone should be a guarantee.  Specifically, it's a foeder aged sour, with apricots.  Called, simply, Foeder Apricots.

It looks a lot like orange soda, although the fizz doesn't back off as fast as soda fizz does.  There is a definite fruity tang to the aroma, with that gnarl of fermentation  hitting the back of the nose.  It feels like it should be a sweeter beer, but the choice of barrels for aging might give it a more sour and funkier bent.  Yep, definitely sour there, but there isn't the weird heavy woodiness that some of these foeder aged beers have had in my experience.  I have to search hard for any wood in the flavor at all actually, and maybe that aftertaste has a little self-delusion in it.  Although the scent with its rounded fruit coolness makes me think of wintery desserts, the beer is very summery in feel.  It's light, with just enough sour to be perky, no sticky afterfeel, quite a nice drink for an overly sunny afternoon.

Supplier: Be Hoppy

Price: €11.95

from the skies

It's still a strange week, cloudy and dusty outside.  The Mars dust is mostly gone, but you still work up a thirst just being on the street.  I'm not sure how much of the desert was deposited in Norway, if any was at all, but the can goes with the recent environmental decoration.  The name too: Apocalyptic Thunder Juice.  Granted, we haven't had thunderstorms, just rain and muddy rain, but it does feel like the gods of weather are trying to send us some kind of message.  Maybe Amundsen has some kind of divine connection.

It's one of the lighter colored NEIPAs, abundantly headed.  It also has a very delicate aroma, although citrus fruit is clearly present.  There's also a little peachiness, perhaps some pineapple sharpness too.  The flavor leans more towards the peach, not a lot of citrus tang, although it has some thickness and fresh-squeezed juice texture.  Like some other NEIPAs, the taste even reaches into melon territory, leaving a very clean and refreshing feeling behind.  It's actually more refreshing than some of the more citric types, which can end up squeezing your throat with their acidity, while this one soothes on the way down like a cool breeze.

Supplier: Labirratorium

Price: €4.55

nine sins a-happ'nin'

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

Nine sinfully good black beers 

Eight lizards leaking

Seven feathered friends a-fluttering

Six phoenixes rising

Five photographic plates

Four flying saucers

Three sunny toucans

Two dogs in costume

And a lone eagle flying free

Yes, I know, there are no ladies or direct allusions to dancing.  But, we can say that some sects have considered dancing sinful, perhaps even among the most basic of sins.  So, there we go.  Connection made.  Original Sin, an imperial double chocolate stout from Lervig, doesn't have a whole lot going on on the can, but maybe that's the idea.  So many sins are committed under cover of darkness, after all.

So far so good, very typical and promising color.  A little light on the head, but that's not normally a problem for me.  There's really a chocolate milk kind of smell off the beer, which is slightly strange, but not enough to put me off.  The chocolate is definitely present in the flavor as well, but it's not an exceptionally sweet beer.  While chocolatey it almost comes out with a mellow darker chocolate type of flavor profile.  It is almost entirely unbitter, however.  It's a very pleasant kind of stout, quite light in feel, something you imagine you could drink a few of.  It's on the heavier side of the alcohol scale at 13.5% though, so be careful with that.  Although it's cold I could imagine a hot chocolate with just a touch of whisky in it being right in the same area as this beer in terms of taste. 

from the north

Since we still have to be careful of distances, a lot of places encourage take-out and delivery still.  That includes bars.  While some bars back home are prepared to just can away and send off their product, there aren't that many bars or brew pubs in Madrid that picked that up.  The only one I know that cans is Fábrica Maravillas, and they don't can for you from their taps as far as I know.  Several bars started giving out growlers as soon as they were allowed to reopen their doors, keeping up contact with the clientele.  Welcome it was, and a little hampered by space restrictions, they've kept doing it.  Cervecería Drakkar is a small space to begin with, in a corner of Mercado Vallehermoso.  It's a place to keep in mind if you're looking for a good black beer, since they commonly have Scandinavian or Baltic stuff on their taps.  There was only one this time, a Norwegian porter, Dark Orbit.  One's enough for me though!

It might have been jostled a little on the way home, so the head was extra thick, but there was no spray or explosion.  No waste!  The aroma is a mix of nutty and smoky, with a touch of sweetness.  The taste has a lot of smoke, however, ranging into the barbecue buddy beer.  No nutty flavor, but there is a small hint of sugary aftertaste.  It's remarkably light for the strong flavor, no syrupy bogging down at all.  It's one of those porters that doesn't go so nicely with a sweeter snack, though, I would want something saltier.  Might bring out a little nuttiness then, more complexity.  While fine for sipping and movie watching, it's also workable for keeping conversation animated.  A beer much more to my taste than the last one.

any excuse

 It turns out it's International Beer Day!  How these little holidays slip up on us.  Rather than a date, it's the first Friday of August, so always ready for a weekend.  Naturally, its origins are in California, home of Anchor and Sierra Nevada, staples of modern brewing.  I did not pick up a beer from either one of those breweries, however.  They were around, but just didn't have the celebratory snap that I thought I should be looking for.  Instead, I have Amundsen's Dessert In A Can, raspberry, caramel, cheesecake version.  That sounds like a party beer to me!

                                    

It's thick looking, although not a lot of head.  Dark brown rather than black, and a definite syrup aroma.  It's a good mouthful, although there isn't a lot of stickiness at first.  Goes right down clean.  The raspberry manages to stay noticeable, riding high on the layers of flavor, over a cool wave of chocolate.  It has a chocolate ice cream sensation to it, refreshing and soothing despite the body and high alcohol content (10.5%).  It would be a fine thing to have on a nocturnal picnic, or an evening backyard barbecue, although with dessert for sure.  A little apple pie, some vanilla ice cream, even just some nice fresh fruit would go right along with this liquid pastry.

                                    

Supplier: Más Que Cervezas

Price: €6.30

seventhly

On the first day of Beermas I went and bought for me
A bird dropping beads on the street
Two turtledoves
Three Belgian roosters
Four birds calling for blood
Five rolling blings
Six geese parading
Seven mermaids bird flipping

Not only is this beer have a connection to water, but there's a roundabout bird in there as well!  Hah!  The mermaid might not be so impressed, though.  There's probably a reason they call her Sour Suzy.  While you might not necessarily take a Berliner weisse as a first choice at this time of year, we can make arguments for the associations: Berlin is a Christmas city, for one; snow (that might fall) is white, for another.  And Lervig is in Norway, which must have a point close to where Santa's workshop is.

It looks a little like a very clear lemon soda, although with more head than those usually have.  There's a definite beer aroma though, something of a lager to it.  Although it is a touch sour, it's not as strong as some weisses, with a little more of a bittersweet blend.  Like some "natural" lemon sodas after all.  A more lagery taste comes through towards the end, something rounder and mellower, like a raw squash might be if we ate raw squash normally.  That goes away after about half the can, leaving the sharp and stingy lemon, which would really be quite refreshing on a more summery evening.  It's not so bad even now, with a champagne sort of essence that makes it appropriate.

Supplier: La Buena Pinta
Price: €2.50

keep your grip

Be Hoppy has a great variety of super looking beers, unfortunately a bit more expensive than many other craft beers.  I have to watch my pocket in the summer.  In times of plenty, I really ought to come down more.  I found a sort of middle point in Haand Bryggeriet's Raspberry Export Stout, as it's a different sort of beer than I often find but not too expensive for me these days.  Several other stouts were tempting, but in the end the raspberries convinced me.  Love my stouts and love me some raspberries too.  I'll be drinking raspberry Fanta soon enough, but I digress.

Ghost fingers?

There's a mild tangy raspberry smell that wafts off the glass, out of a light beige and fairly thick head.  The beer is dark chocolate in color more than black.  Still good and opaque, though.  The taste is a bit bitter, but light and goes down easy.  I was expecting a stronger sweetness, but there really isn't much, it's mostly bitter and earthy with a ping of sour in the aftertaste.  It feels oddly dusty in the mouth, but still refreshing.  Eventually a bit of chocolate incorporates itself into the middle of the flavor, adding that touch of sweetness to balance out the sour.  It comes out in an after-aftertaste too.  A good quarter of the glass down I start to get a little woodiness as well, not drowning out anything else, but adding a different note to the overall taste.  The song goes from low bitter to middle chocolate and high sour, ending with a descending chocolate fade.  The bitterness actually diminishes with time, leaving a fruitier beer, although still kind of fluffy.  It feels almost weightless, especially for a stout.  A fine choice for summer, offering the grounding of the dark beer with that airiness that fruity beers might aspire to.

Supplier: Be Hoppy
Price: €5.25

full of beans

Another exotic pick from Be Hoppy, Lervig's 3 Bean Stout contains vanilla, cocoa, and tonka beans, whatever those are.  According to Wikipedia, they are a South American crop that has been used as a vanilla substitute and in perfume, before being banned by some countries.  Apparently, in high concentrations it can cause liver damage.  And here it is in an alcoholic drink, another culprit for failing livers.  Lervig is a Norwegian brewery, so this follows along in the pattern of Scandinavian stouts.  Hopefully, it's up to snuff with the excellent others.

Not very foamy, but there are plenty of bubbles clinging to the glass.  It's a good dark color, but not very aromatic.  Leaning in, there is a whiff of vanilla.  It's a spicy and sweet flavor, very much like liquid gingerbread.  If I try, I can pick apart some vanilla and some cocoa, but it's mostly a roasted mouthful of flavor.  It's on the strong side at 13%, and there's a little warning at the back of the throat from the beginning.  I feel some tingling and a spicy afterburn, like a strong cocktail.  It takes a while for some stout bitter to kick in, but it does eventually show up and try to balance out the sweetness.

Supplier: Be Hoppy
Price: €3.70

currant events

The Belgians are known for using fruit to flavor their beers, but one day I came upon a Norwegian variety.  Norwegian beer isn't around every corner here, and red currants?  All the more interesting to me.  It seems to be unfiltered, as there are chunks of ... stuff floating around in there.  Not alarming chunks, just what one tends to see in unfiltered ales.  The beer has a pretty rosy tint and is a little cloudy in general.  The smell isn't strong at all.  The taste is interesting; it's a bitter ale but with a sharp bite from the currants.  Many fruit beers get away with a lot of sweet, but not Rips.  A nice glass of this beer, chilly, would be a fine thirst quencher for me on a Madrid summer evening, though.  The astringency is quite a pick-me-up.