Will It Ever Open!

Across the road, if you could even call it a road, more like a large path with cars, bikes and pedestrians all fighting for its use. Well, across from our apartment, literally, a couple of metres from the front door was a craft beer bar. Fantastic for us but with one very annoying problem, it never seemed to be open.

Morning, noon, early afternoon (siesta time) evening and even at night, it was never open. The 'graffed' up shutters remained permanently shut throughout the Earths daily orbit of the sun and seemingly the moons orbit of the Earth.

Beginning to lose faith that it would never open, we almost gave up on it. In actual fact I don't even know if the others really cared about it, perhaps it was only my little heart that was aching.

After nearly a whole day walking around Barcelonetta searching for some decent tapas, it was like we'd been walked all day long in the blistering sun, through narrow streets, past the sweetest smelling doorways and windows. Finally our search for food was over, our hunger being teased by a few morsels of food, lots of little plates with bits and bobs on. Looking barely enough to fill even a child let alone a group of fully grown adults ravaged with starvation.

Every single bite however small was received with delight by all, such simple things like Padron peppers fired until almost charred and bursting and then sprinkled with sea salt before serving. Deep fried baby squid in a deliciously seasoned batter, crispy, salty and with incredible strong flavours of the ocean. There were these plain looking olives in a jar of dense cloudy liquid with a slightly red tint, I can tell you they were certainly not plain olives, they packed so much flavour it was unbelievable. An explosion of flavour in the mouth, the odd one had a subtle and creeping kick of chili, like a ninja hiding in the shadows, it snuck up and slapped you on the tongue with a burning blow. If it were a cold and damp day one could possibly see steam jetting out of ones ears, like in the cartoons.
Everywhere does this differently, but the bread. The bread, simple bread, none of that fancy 'sourdough' or 'rye' stuff. Lightly toasted, rubbed with fresh sun drenched tomatoes and olive oil, seasoned with a little salt and pepper. It was beyond amazing. Unfortunately the bread in this place we ate was a slight disappointment. The rest of the food was probably the best that we'd had but the bread was burned and had barely any flavour, flavour strong enough to mask the carbon taste.
Apart from the bread all the other little bits were amazing, so bloody good.

On the way back to our apartment, I suddenly got a craving for beer. Which isn't than unusual but with only Estrella Damm in the fridge, I wanted to venture to new pastures and try one of the many craft beer establishments that Barcelona has to offer.

Trying to organise three other not particularly like minded men was a challenge to say the least. In actual fact it was an epic failure. My dreams of drinking even the smallest sip of a fancy little Spanish craft beer had been crushed.

A couple of hours passed, we'd all showered, one of the group had left to check out a band that were on earlier than we could all be bothered to get to the festival site. It was about an hour train ride from where we were. The fridge was now empty of beer, I'd eaten my fill of jamon, queso and papas fritas. It was time to leave.

In need of a refreshing palate cleanser, something sharp, with tang and bite, something with acid to cut through all the fat in my gut. I went for a little treat 'Calypso' a Berliner Weisse from Siren, England. I know, English beer in Spain at s Spanish craft beer bar. I made that worse when I ordered 'My Antonia' an Italian Imperial Pils. Seeing it on tap I just could not let that opportunity go. Not knowing if I'd ever see it again, ordering the best Imperial Pils in the World most definitely had to be done. After drinking so much crap piss poor beer, these were a real delight.

After they'd finished with 'Antonia' and I on my tart little princess, we all had a half of some very sepcial beer with a name that didn't quite make sense. 'As Bastard Joker', an Imperial/Double IPA of incredible bitterness and a stratospherically high abv of 11.1%. Not the strongest beer I've ever tried but still damn strong and damn fine. My first 10%+ IPA and it was a right old treat.

Sipping on some fine beer is a wonderful way to get pumped up for a long night of banging tunes, dancing and having to deal with crap beer.

Can't seem to find a website but these guys have Twitter and the bar is number 22 here...
bestbarseurope

The place to find joking bastards
ascervesa

sirencraftbrew

birradelborgo

Click here on on 'Antonia' to read a post about some great Italian craft beers including My Antonia

Tasting in Spain #1

Not knowing much about the Barcelona/Catalan/Spanish craft beer scene, I thought the best way to get to try some was to go out and buy some beers and so I did. Having no overblown or any kind of false expectations of grandeur about what the beers and the beer scene might be like set me up for an unbiased holiday combined with beer tasting sessions. It wasn't to be anything like reading a boom and loving it, hearing a film adaptation is being and a huge excitement and hype building about it. Then you watch said film and it's an awful waste of money, one big disappointment. There was to be none of that here, I had no idea what I was in for.

Even in the local 'supermarkets', what we would normally call corner shops or convenience stores, you could find a fairly large selection of beer and quite a few of them being craft beer from local or domestic breweries. I picked four off the shelf to take back to our cool and shabby Barcelona apartment that we were renting for our week stay. Most of them were Pales but one was a rather special thing, a beer made using sea water. I'd seen and heard of that one in the UK but never tried a beer actually using water from the ocean, would it be like a German style 'Goze'?

We started with a cheeky monkey of a Pale. A light, crisp and refreshing Pale Ale, the perfect place to start. The pink and blue faced monkey dancing around in my mouth, exciting the lumpy little taste buds on my tongue. The Mandrill didn't last long and quickly disappeared down my neck and into the uninhabitable acidic dungeon that is my stomach.

The next beer took ages to find what it was, I'd forgotten to write down it's name or anything. All I had to tell me what it was, was the memory of the tasting and a photo that cut off half the label so I couldn't even read what it was. Was it Corlaco, Borlaco, no, it was 'Morlaco'. Thank goodness for Twitter and its follow recommendations.

Having a big angry bull on the label was a nice touch on a beer coming from Pamplona, Spain. If you're unfamiliar with Pamplona, it is the town where idiots run through the narrow and windy streets. Running for their dear lives and respect and sanity, away from a raging bull that would happily tear them limb from limb with his razor sharp horns and neck strong enough to flip a small car. Years and years of this treatment has caused the bulls to evolve with a particular hatred and blood-lust towards humans. They no longer need a red tablecloth to anger them and use as a target. Unlike the Great White shark which commonly mistake surfers for seals, these bulls know perfectly well what and what isn't a human.

I'm not enough of a thrill seeking retard to attempt to outrun an angry blood thirsty bull. Especially as I have a slight fear of cows.

'Navarreria' is an American Pale Ale. Again, like a lot of the other Pales in Spain in the American style, it is darker than other New World Pales or the Pales that have sprung up all over England. It was toasty, floral and surprisingly light.

A beautiful, elegant, voluptuous bottle awaits. Given the right lighting conditions and a little bit of misdirection. The bottle could quite easily be mistaken for an actress like Sofia Lauren in her heyday. She's even been named 'La Bella Lola'. 

An elegant bottle filled with golden liquid so beautifully seductive it does more than just arouse your tongue. A light Golden Ale managed to hold its own after a couple of Pales. Labelled as a 'Mediterranean Blonde Ale' maybe somebody like Rita Heyworth of Jayne Mansfield would have been more suitable.

Perhaps leaving he salt water beer until the end was a bad idea but what would it be like. Was it full of flavour and aroma, a big bold beer. Only one way to find out so we opened it up and tried it. 'Er Boqueron', a beer brewed using water from the sea in Valencia.

It is a light blond beer but the salty water works some magic giving it a much fuller and smoother mouth feel. It is a very sessionable beer. I can and the website assures that it is 100% safe. Any nasty stuff would have been burned to death during the boil in the brewing process.

A good afternoon session of semi structured beer drinking, time to go and check out some great live music.

erboqueron

morlacobeer

mandrilbeer

The people who brought us 'La Bella Lola'

barcelonabeercompany

Pre Barcelona, Barcelona Warm Up

With a trip to Barcelona only a few days away, the perfectly timed arrival of a couple of Spanish craft beers hailing from Barcelona, what better thing to do to prepare then drink some decent Spanish beer.

I'd heard of Edge Brewing in passing conversations with brewers and beer geeks but hadn't come across any, let alone tried some. Until now.
We'd recently added a couple to the shops assortment. The two were; 'Hoptimista' an American IPA and 'Flor de la Vida', an American Pale Ale. I picked a bottle of each to try after work.

I was going to a BBQ at a friends so thought it'd be wise to pick up a few more beers.

Being a cyclist, there's nothing I hate more than wind. Especially when it is a head wind that never lets up and always seems to be blowing against you. A wind so fierce and powerful it makes the simplest and shortest ride a leg destroying marathon of a cycle. That night happened to be a windy one. Riding over 11 miles from the shop to the party destination, I was shattered and thirsty.

The more regularly drunk beer went first, Beavertown's 'Gamma Ray'. Once I was finished with that, I was handed a bottle of Stella. Not wanting to offend I bit my tongue and took the beer. I don't like Stella and given any other options I might have gone for something else. What could I have done though, the bloke who handed it to me was the hosts brother-in-law. I couldn't refuse, it was have been very rude of me. Instead I imagined a happy place, a fictional land filled attractive people, good music and even better beer pouring out of fountains and springs, the sun shining and the cold beer flowing, ah... heaven. A small part of me died as I sank every last drop in a quick as time as possible.

I went to my bag and opened it up, there they were, the two Spanish gems. Eni Meni Mini Mo wasn't necessary for me to make a decision of which one to choose. I went for the lighter, less boozy 'Flor de la Vida' American Pale. Then onto the IPA.

Flor de la Vida is a lighter and lower abv American style Pale Ale. Slightly darker than some other new world style pales. I don't know if the name confused me but it wasn't as floral as I was expecting. For some reason I was imagining being slapped in the face by a bouquet of citrussy and floral hops. A similar kind of sensation one might get walking past a Jasmine bush in full bloom. It was a decent Pale but in comparison to its big brother (or sister) 'Hoptimista', it was a wee baby.

Hoptimista is a gorgeous IPA and very easy to drink. Not too high in alcohol and with intense hop aromas that keep giving. If these are the kind of beers that Spain and Barcelona has to offer then that just makes me even more excited.

When I saw that the beers had been put in the USA Beers section at the shop, I wondered what ever possessed my colleague to do that. It makes perfect sense now. Not only was there any space in the German/Italian/Other European section but... but the brewery was founded by two Americans and both beers are of the American style.

edgebrewing

look out for the Edge Brewing beers in the USA Beers section
realale