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

black bear

Oso Brewing is one of the many little breweries doing Spain's craft beer sector proud, with creative and surprising recipes popping out all the time.  I have been especially impressed with their pastry stouts in the past.  La Penúltima is no pastry stout, although it certainly looks like something you wouldn't have as an appetizer.  13% beers don't often leave a lot of room for the main course.

Extra thick and extra smooth, it looks like a melted milkshake but smells like an extra strong cocktail.  It's kind of a licorice-y aroma, a heavy perfume, with something recalling petroleum floating around.  There's a touch of licorice on the tongue, but the smooth soft-serve mouthfeel is much more noticeable.  It starts out mild with just a touch of sweet but develops some rough edges with a little time, and starts to get sticky, no surprise given how thick it is from the beginning.  It's a very satisfying beer, although not one that you can really have a marathon drinking session with.  Hell, it even slows me down a little, but that wouldn't stop me from having another the next day.

Supplier: Lambeer

Price: €6.10

just one more

Just what I was hoping for, another stout!  And it is an imperial, and a pretty good alcohol content too.  Oso Brewing has put on an almost sinister label, warning the weak off it I guess.  Called La Penúltima, it plays on Spanish drinking culture, where every drink the next to last.  At 15% I wonder if this one wouldn't send you home right after, though. 

It pours out like chocolate syrup, and even has a little bit of that smell around it.  It isn't an overly sugary kind of chocolate, a little bit sharp, something you wouldn't actually drink on its own, but use as a flavoring.  The beige head deflates a little but stays firm looking if a little thinner.  The chocolate carries over into the taste, giving the beer a rich chocolate shake feeling.  It's dark chocolate of course, so not cloyingly sweet, but there's hardly any bitter to be noticed.  It doesn't leave much aftertaste behind, but there is a kind of feeling of weight that does stay.  Oddly, the beer itself feels very smooth and light.  It is a lot like a gourmet milkshake, with the high quality dark chocolate and natural, fatty milk.  It's a treat for sure, maybe so much that it has to be...the ultimate.

beaufrutal

Ah, I remember this one!  It's still not a black beer, but it's something special - Oso Brewing's Frutal III, a Berliner Weisse with strawberry and blackcurrant.  You'd expect something on the sweet side, but the sour of the weisse really dominates.  I got my first taste this summer at Gaztambirra, impressing, although not quite inspiring, my drinking/debating buddies.

It's a little lighter than I remember, but I might be remembering a late-night beer a little unreliably.  It does have the bitter-fruity aroma and the slightly pink head.  The beer appears to be full of bubbles and somewhat cloudy.  It is a bit wine-y again, with a sharp and bitter tanginess, like cheap wine and grapefruit juice mixed together.  It also has a feeling of unsweetened cranberry juice.  I don't really detect any strawberry, but the blackcurrant might be there in the tang.  The color is right for the season, but it's a light and tickly beer, not what I look for an a dark near-winter night.  I find my weisses are better suited to a summer evening.  Well, looking forward I guess.

roads long untraveled

As we wake up again to life outside, both thanks to spring and to the idea that we don't have to worry about certain viruses anymore, celebrations that we remember fondly also reappear.  Beermad did shake off its sleep last fall (and will be up again shortly), but Artesana Week was nowhere to be found for a couple of years.  Happily, it has been awakened.  A few places I remember from other years aren't on the list, but some familiar names are, and there's no reason to shun new opportunities anyway.  As a grumpy introvert, I went down in the afternoon, hoping there would be relatively few people.  There might have been, but there were still more than enough for me.

Good to know we are well watched over

We begin at Casa Zoilo, one of the old standards.  They had four Península brews on tap, and I considered the sour at first, just for something different, but ended up with Sendero Hazy IPA.  For whatever reason I felt like starting off slow and the sour was a fairly strong 7%.  Sendero has a cloudy look, thick head, what I tend to like in a NEIPA.  It's bitter-juicy, a natural, fresh squeezed kind of tasting beer, not super citrusy, like a mild grapefruit.  The chorizo tapa is ok, a little grease to balance the bitter, almost tart, of the beer.  Despite appearances it's not a super thick hazy, feeling very light and easily drinkable.  Also not exceptionally strong, at just over 5%.  It's a good starter, just a little push-off for a beer march.  Crawl is not the word I want, especially early Saturday afternoon.

 

Now on to a new name, Beer Joint.  They offer Oso's Dignity IPA for the Week.  It's similar to Sendero, down to the cloudy color, but much lighter head.  It has a somewhat flatter taste, a little bit planty, less overt hops, tingles a bit more.  In fact it's weirdly tickly for such a mild flavor.  Again, nice afternoon starter drink, good to talk with since it doesn't demand the limelight.

I think Taberna Filomena used to operate under a different name; I might have to dig through some old posts to see if I can track it down.  Their sponsorship goes to Groovie, with a session IPA and an amber ale.  I've already had two IPAs, so Gabba Gabba Hey it is.  Nice caramel color, low aroma, kind of salty sweet to the taste at first.  Maybe like a candy you forgot in your pocket.  Still, it has a certain charisma, an allure with a touch of bitter that maybe, just maybe, hints at something more.  Eventually it mellows out into a malty sort of refresher, a little bit heavier after the IPAs, feels like a good step on the path.

 

Chinaski has shown some good times in the past, and they've done a little redecorating.  Gone is the board on the wall with the scribbled names of brews, up is the shiny new screen behind the bar with names, prices, percentages etc.  The menu is long and varied, but I'm dedicated to Artesana Week, and what they have for that is La Quince Roots Red Ale.  La Quince is good and red ale is normally good.  I dive in.  Also good color, much like Groovie's, but there's something in the aroma a little like when you first open a freezer.  The flavor is a ball of surprises - grainy, sour, bitter - all strangely pleasant.  There's a slight cucumber/melon with a touch of salt in the aftertaste.  I'd say this is a more grown up beer than the previous ones, a beer that isn't afraid to stand alone.  That little bit of saltiness even makes it seem like its own snack.

Wandering down Argumosa, I remember how much I didn't like going out before the pandemic.  It's good to see people patronizing their local watering holes, but the crowd is a little too much.  I sit down in La Buga del Lobo anyway, after asking for Speranto's Blanka Trigo at the bar.  I wait quite a while before a waitress takes pity on me and brings out my beer within a minute.  We're back to a cloudy beer, with that sweet, light wheat aroma.  It's just a little sour in flavor, but mostly sweet and summery.  It's a nice wheat beer in that it doesn't have that weird aftertaste a lot of the German ones have.  It's a step back from Roots, into lighter territory, but it's a solid step in a series of afternoon beers.

Old El Pedal was taken over by the more traditional cafe next door, I guess.  Maybe to have a space to appeal to hipsters, and take advantage of all kinds of promotions.  Of course, the offer isn't what it once was; La Virgen is on tap.  I risk a Jamonera for old time's sake.  It's what it has been for years - vaguely beer tasting with a nice color.  The more bitter note is nice after the sweet wheat beer, and is in fact more impressive than Jamonera has been in the last 5 years or so.  It's an ok mid-romp beer, a little thick and sticky, something that doesn't flow past you perfectly unnoticed.  I still might keep badmouthing the beer, at least in comparison to what else La Virgen puts out these days.

I've been traipsing around for a few hours now.  One more to call it a day, and another new place: La Caníbal.  I'm hoping for something dark and substantial, but it's just a pilsner.  With a little raspberry though, so that's something.  Dessert?  The brewery is San Frutos, so I can trust that it's at least pleasant.  It looks very normal, nice little head, really no aroma at all.  The taste is certainly different from what I've been having today, a lot of woodiness, a very bitter and stimulating kind of pilsner.  The aftertaste does have some fruit in it, but unprompted I don't think I would identify it as raspberry.  It's sharp and driving, the kind of beer you don't fall asleep to, not the most obviously pleasing however.  After a bit of time a sweeter, softer, more desserty flavor comes out, but also only in the aftertaste and it vanishes quickly.  It's an interesting beer, I'll give it that, stout and built up in sensation, delicate and easily crumbled in flavor.

Artesana Week comes to an end in Lavapiés, but Beermad is just around the corner!

for when life is crazy

On this, a sad anniversary for some, I have a beer sufficiently solemn in appearance, I assume, but with an attitude of fun and thinking towards the future.  Another stout from La Mundial, and a little closer to home, Oso Brew's Livin' La Vida Coco is the drink of the night.  One might argue that a morning 20 years ago was the beginning of an age of normalized craziness in life, at least in life related to the US.  A little additive of a tropical bent, lending some calm and encouragement to sit back and quietly let yourself experience existence, might be just the thing we need.  Hell, you don't even need a terrorist attack for that, but it's a very convincing excuse.  At least it was for ol' W.

Dark beige head and dark brown beer, and a scratchy, not quite sweet aroma.  The head descends, but only slowly, maybe allowing more tropical hints to escape as it fizzes away.  The flavor captures the feeling of coconut, a very natural seeming one at that, with the flavor that is mildly sweet but without extra sugar or syrup.  The beer also has a very thick feel to it, although it isn't sticky at all.  It's a very easy drink, sliding right down, leaving a tiny bit of smoky bitterness in its wake.  It's similar to the birra colada, actually, although it's a little bit darker and heavier in taste.  It's the midnight version, while Bee Beer has an afternoon delight.

Supplier: La Mundial

Price: €7.50

do some science to this

It's time for the third of the Oso trio, Science!  Another IPA, with a calming design on the can, promising the tropical experience that the normal modern IPAs deliver.  It's getting marginally better outside this week, although it's still unpleasantly hot.  Good weather for modern ales, I suppose, but I'd rather have more tolerable temperatures and a fridge full of stouts.  Well, half-full, IPAs have their charm and desirability for sure.  And that can be shown with, what else, Science! 

It's another cloudy beer, with a ruddier tinge and fine head.  It's not strongly aromatic, but there's a typical IPA hoppiness.  The taste is heavy on the fruit, tropical but with an emphasis on citrus.  It starts off sweet and rolls down into a sour tang to finish with a slight bitter.  There's also some peachiness overlaid on it.  I would go so far as to say there's a peach yogurt essence, with a beer this smooth.  The fruitiness concentrates a little bit, making the beer a tad sticky as it sits around.  It's still delicious, but maybe not quite as refreshing as those that have less flavor but stay clean, or sharper bitter that keeps you on your toes.

Supplier: Birra Y Paz

Price: €6.35

no fields to wander in

I thought all the pack was IPAs, but there is a regular pale ale stuck in there.  It's Oso brewing again, so hopes are high, with Nature.  At first I took the yellow parts of the design on the can for orange slices, but they're all hops, so I kind of expect something more on the cold and bitter side than citrusy.  While fruity beers are nice and appetizing, a hot day that crushes your energy down might be better met by a sharp taste that really kicks you in the pants. 

It's another cloudy one, a little surprising to me for a pale ale, but it does seem to be the fashion of the times.  There's a little more sweetness and citrus in the aroma but nothing else very obviously identifiable.  The flavor is a little disappointing actually.  There's a very mild bitter, then a twist of orange, but it's otherwise kind of watery.  Of course, I am used to much stronger flavors these days, so a less jaded palate might find the beer pleasantly bright and refreshing.  It is clean feeling and light, so certainly good for oppressively warm evenings.

Supplier: Birra Y Paz

Price: €5.65

it's right in the name

The second of the IPA bomb comes from Oso Brewing: Verano.  What a name, just right for the season!  It's supposed to be a refreshing blend of those more tropical hops.  The IPAs are certainly claiming the highest part of the podium this year, although they have been popular since the beginning of the craft explosion.  I thought sours might give them a run for their money, what with the recent prevalence of them, but it seems people can't help going back to an old favorite, even if it has something new blended in.

It seems like an oddly creamy beer, but the head looks right and the aroma has a spice that isn't unusual.  It's another one that leans more into caraway or toasty salad spices than tropical fruits.  I can't seem to find any citrus in the scent but there is a pinch of orange in the taste.  That's quickly rolled over by a balloon of melon flavor, though.  It's not especially bitter, although I wouldn't say it's a sweet beer either; there's a mellow mouthiness that you might enjoy from a summer fruit salad, one that doesn't have a whole lot of sticky sugar but is refreshing and full of hydration.  Eventually a tartness starts to come out, but the beer remains easily drinkable.  I find it to be on the lighter side of IPAs, but one that's worthy of its name.

Supplier: Birra Y Paz

Price:€6.20

Door #19

So, I had a ginger beer, like a ginger "ale", but this is a more mature choice: You Can't Catch Me, a - get this - gingerbread latte imperial stout from Oso Brew.  They had been advertising it through their Instagram, drumming up expectations and desires to get down to the beer stores.  While Oso does have a bar downtown, they have also been selling cans through other outlets, so I still haven't actually made an appearance at the place.  If this one is worth catching I might have to make plans.  Look out, gingerbread man!

Now this is a nice black beer, so dark it has a reddish tint.  Not a whole lot of head, though.  There's a tiny whiff of ginger in the aroma, backed by cinnamon and vanilla, so very Christmas cookie-like.  The taste is almost exactly what the scent promises, although there's a bit more beery malt in it, so it's kind of on the bitter side for gingerbread.  It's a mouthful, too, one of the thicker beers that I've had for a while.  Despite the abundance of flavors and meaty texture, it's not very hard to swallow at all.  I find that the maltiness tends to increase over time, giving it something of a sharper edge, although the tastes of ginger and cinnamon are never too far away.

No results yet.  Wait til Christmas, dammit!

right side of the tracks

There is nothing like outdoor beerfests.  Last time people had to pay to get in, and it was covered, but the most recent Beermad was free to enter and open to all elements.  Fortunately, the elements were favorable.

It's a little difficult to decide sometimes, with so many beers from so many places, so I thought I'd rely a little on fate.  The first beer I came across was Vulturis, and there was a Saison con Lavandra, which is something different.  First time I've seen that, it's a good start for me!  At 6% it's heavy for a saison.  Cloudy orange, fizzy head, not very perfumey, which I would have expected from a lavender beer.  There is a touch of perfume in the flavor, a sort of clover honey, but it's really more bitter than anything.  Kind of tough on the throat after a while, but I guess the roughness could be pointed out as "natural" or "herbal".

Doing a little beer roulette, my glass was empty near Peninsula.  It's a good brewery, so no regrets there.  I ended up with Hop On Pale Ale, a little darker orange and with more citrus aroma than the last beer.  Not so much citrus in the flavor, though.  It's a definite ale but with a deeper bitter, and cardamon or something.  A little sticky, but summery and refreshing flavor without being too light for a rainy day.

There's a definite lack of dark beers, although that's not a new thing.  There are a few though, like La Morena Stout.  It's a little light in color, more of a dark brown, slightly sour smell, bitter-sour taste.  It's earthy without any chocolate or heavy malt, a tickly and summery sort of stout.  It's like some German darks in feel, but with the bitter flavor of a good black beer.

Walking roulette left me in front of Ebora, where they had Suomi Baltic Porter.  I hesitated at first, since it is barrel aged, but it is really quite a subtle sort.  Light in color again, weirdly toasty for a bourbon beer in aroma, and just a touch of bourbon in background flavor.  If you didn't know it was there you might never guess.  This beer does have some whispers of chocolate or vanilla, and is less bitter by far than the last one.

Ziva 5.0# is in the same line as a barrel aged stout from the last edition, but this is a "normal" beer.  It's Russian Imperial Stout, again not quite black, but with a beigier head than the others.  There's a more typical stout aroma, dark, a little smokey and a little sour, the taste is definitely sweet though.  I would guess this is a bourbon porter before Suomi, but there's a weird grassy grainy aftertaste that i could actually do without.

I was thinking of heading out, so I though a lighter beer might be good to end on.  I found Oso Brewing Cerveza de Mesa and hoped that it would fit the bill.  It's very light, like a kölsch or radler, with kind of a weird sweety citrus smell.  It's vaguely bitter and vaguely citrus, a real palate cleanser, but not a real mark of ending.  So...

The real last drink was La Verbena 2nd Hand Ale, an amber.  The appearance is typical of amber and red ales, but this is one of the more balanced ones.  It's a little touch of light, but with a fairly substantial body, slightly citrus but more ale.  It's a smooth drink, easy down the throat, with a good level of bitter.  Not a sweet beer in fact, a strong ale sort, just enough sour to give it something interesting.  Now this is a good one to end on.