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.
The people who brought us 'La Bella Lola'
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