Despite the best efforts of Eyjafjallajokul Jadyn and I managed to fly from Philly to Madrid on April 18th. We arrived in Madrid early on the 19th, and spent the day seeing the city, and fighting off sleep to try to lessen the effects of jetlag. Our first day we quickly discovered that, as anticipated, Spain is not a beer country.
1175. Estrella Damm
We had dinner at La Gloria de Montera, which was pretty good, although my Fideua (paella with noodles rather than rice) was only so-so. The only beer that they had was Estrella Damm, which would be the first of many mediocre lagers that I had over the course of the trip. Unfortunately we forgot to bring the camera out after dropping off our bags at the hotel.
Beer Stats:
Brewery: Damm S.A.
Alcohol: 5.20%
Serving: Bottle, 12 oz.
Style: Euro Pale Lager
Appearance: 3.5 | Smell: 2.5 | Taste: 3.0 | Mouthfeel: 3.5 | Drinkability: 3.5
Overall: 3.1
Estrella Damm pours a straw golden color, and is topped by a decent, fluffy, bright white head that fades slowly. The aroma is clean and mild though there are notes of adjunct "maltiness", and faint, grassy hop notes.
There's a clean, neutral maltiness upfront that moves into a slight sweetness in the center. Thankfully there's a bit of hop presence in the finish which really do wonders to make this palatable. The hops are slightly spicy with mild bitterness. This beer is light-bodied, with prickly carbonation, and a crispness that keep it from being watery.
This beer was crisp and had some hop presence, and it was probably the best Spanish beer that we had on the trip, though Jadyn liked Mahou best.
1176. Legado de Yuste
After dinner we decided to walk around the area of Madrid where we were staying for a bit. We ended up walking past a bar called Beer Station, which advertised a large beer selection, and seemed to be geared towards tourists to me. We dropped in hoping to get to try some less common Spanish beer. The selection here was pretty bad, while being much better than any other bar we went to in Spain. Most of the beer available was mass-market European beer that was also available in the US. We each ended up getting a Legado de Yuste (Legacy of Yuste), which was an alleged Belgian-style abbey ale.
Beer Stats:
Brewery: Grupo Cruzcampo SA
Alcohol: 6.50%
Serving: Bottle, 11.2 oz.
Style: Belgian Pale Ale, BJCP Style Guide
Appearance: 2.5 | Smell: 1.5 | Taste: 2.5 | Mouthfeel: 3.5 | Drinkability: 3.0
Overall: 2.45
Legado de Yuste pours a clear, golden copper in color, and is topped by an off-white head that fades to a sudsy film. The aroma is very, very mild. I had to really try to pick anything out. There was only a very mild fruitiness present in the aroma, which was joined by a hint of sweet maltiness when the beer was swirled. I really don't know how a beer can have such a mild aroma.
The taste was clean overall with nothing objectionable, but the lack of flavor. A neutral graininess upfront moved into a mild banana fruitiness in the center. The finish had a bit of chalky yeast, pepper, and dry hops. This beer was medium-bodied, and highly carbonated.
Overall this beer was pretty bland, but fortunately that was really its most objectionable quality.
1175. Estrella Damm
We had dinner at La Gloria de Montera, which was pretty good, although my Fideua (paella with noodles rather than rice) was only so-so. The only beer that they had was Estrella Damm, which would be the first of many mediocre lagers that I had over the course of the trip. Unfortunately we forgot to bring the camera out after dropping off our bags at the hotel.
Beer Stats:
Brewery: Damm S.A.
Alcohol: 5.20%
Serving: Bottle, 12 oz.
Style: Euro Pale Lager
Appearance: 3.5 | Smell: 2.5 | Taste: 3.0 | Mouthfeel: 3.5 | Drinkability: 3.5
Overall: 3.1
Estrella Damm pours a straw golden color, and is topped by a decent, fluffy, bright white head that fades slowly. The aroma is clean and mild though there are notes of adjunct "maltiness", and faint, grassy hop notes.
There's a clean, neutral maltiness upfront that moves into a slight sweetness in the center. Thankfully there's a bit of hop presence in the finish which really do wonders to make this palatable. The hops are slightly spicy with mild bitterness. This beer is light-bodied, with prickly carbonation, and a crispness that keep it from being watery.
This beer was crisp and had some hop presence, and it was probably the best Spanish beer that we had on the trip, though Jadyn liked Mahou best.
1176. Legado de Yuste
After dinner we decided to walk around the area of Madrid where we were staying for a bit. We ended up walking past a bar called Beer Station, which advertised a large beer selection, and seemed to be geared towards tourists to me. We dropped in hoping to get to try some less common Spanish beer. The selection here was pretty bad, while being much better than any other bar we went to in Spain. Most of the beer available was mass-market European beer that was also available in the US. We each ended up getting a Legado de Yuste (Legacy of Yuste), which was an alleged Belgian-style abbey ale.
Beer Stats:
Brewery: Grupo Cruzcampo SA
Alcohol: 6.50%
Serving: Bottle, 11.2 oz.
Style: Belgian Pale Ale, BJCP Style Guide
Appearance: 2.5 | Smell: 1.5 | Taste: 2.5 | Mouthfeel: 3.5 | Drinkability: 3.0
Overall: 2.45
Legado de Yuste pours a clear, golden copper in color, and is topped by an off-white head that fades to a sudsy film. The aroma is very, very mild. I had to really try to pick anything out. There was only a very mild fruitiness present in the aroma, which was joined by a hint of sweet maltiness when the beer was swirled. I really don't know how a beer can have such a mild aroma.
The taste was clean overall with nothing objectionable, but the lack of flavor. A neutral graininess upfront moved into a mild banana fruitiness in the center. The finish had a bit of chalky yeast, pepper, and dry hops. This beer was medium-bodied, and highly carbonated.
Overall this beer was pretty bland, but fortunately that was really its most objectionable quality.
Labels: Belgian Pale Ale, Euro Pale Lager
