The Dark Spaniard: Mahou Negra

Today, another beer from my awesome (beer-wise and otherwise) Spanish holidays.

• Name: Mahou Negra
• Brewery: Mahou S.A. (Grupo Mahou – San Miguel)
• City: Madrid
• City: Spain

As the name already points out, this beer pour out of the bottle with a dark brown, almost black color. The head topping the glass has a tan color and is quickly settling. The moderate aroma of roasted barley is complemented by coffee and caramel. The taste is nothing out of the ordinary for dark beers. Sweetnes upfront, followed by roasted malts and bitterness. There is also a faint taste of coffee, and all together finishes with a decent, although not too strong bitterness.

A pretty strainghtforward dark beer. Smooth and tasty, but otherwise ordinary. Still worth a try.

• Style: Dunkel
• ABV: 5,5%
• Ingredients: water, barley malt, corn, hops

RATINGS

• Appearance: 4 / 5
• Smell: 4 / 5
• Taste: 3 / 5
• Overall: 3 / 5

Uno Más: San Miguel Especial

San Miguel was my first experience with Spanish beers and it proved to be a decent one. Although not my favourite Spanish beer, it still has a special place on the shelf.

• Name: San Miguel Especial
• Brewery: San Miguel (Grupo Mahou – San Miguel)
• City: Barcelona
• Country: Spain

San Miguel is another typical Euro lager, which means it comes in a pure golden color, topped with a thin and non-lasting white head. It has a prominent malty smell with the addition of a slighty grainy aroma. The taste is as expected at first. Sweet and grainy, but sadly, without the needed and expected bitterness (at least a little of it) in the aftertaste. So, there’s no real taste to talk about here.

The result is a relatively water beer which doesn’t offer too much taste, but is nonetheless very refreshing and easy to drink, especiall when chilled appropriately. Not the best one, but it will do its job in the hot days. Still, Spain has some much better beers to offer.

• Style: Pale Lager
• ABV: 5,4%
• Ingredients: water, barley malt, corn, hops

RATINGS

• Appearance: 3,5 / 5
• Smell: 3,5 / 5
• Taste: 2,5 / 5
• Overall: 3 / 5

Una Cerveza de Andalucia: Cruzcampo Pilsen

This beer brings back a lot of memories of my last year’s holiday in the Spanish south, in Andalusia. I always try to drink local beer, so when I was in Seville, I naturally tried Cruzcampo. I remember it was an extremelly hot day, and Cruzcampo was just the best thing at that moment.

• Name: Cruzcampo Pilsen
• Brewery: Grupo Cruzcampo (Heineken España)
• City: Sevilla
• Country: Spain

Cruzcampo pours out with a pure golden color, and the glass is topped with a very decent, although not long lasting white head. The smell is very weak, and the only things that can be pointed out, are the aromas of grains and some hops. The taste is very nice – it starts with the malty sweetness, which is immediately replaced by the hoppy bitterness. The aftertaste is bitter as well, but still in reasonable boundaries.

Cruzcampo is just slightly watery, making it very easy to drink, and also, most important during the Spanish summer, extremelly refreshing. You definitely won’t regret getting this one. It may not be the best beer in the world, but it’s still pretty good.

• Style: Pilsener
• ABV: 4,8%
• Ingredients: water, barley malt, maize, hops

• Slogan: “No pierdas el sur!” (Don’t miss the south!)

RATINGS

• Appearance: 4 / 5
• Smell: 3,5 / 5
• Taste: 4 / 5
• Overall: 4 / 5

A Star from Barcelona: Estrella Damm

Today I bring you one of the summer beers, these are beers that are most enjoyed in the hot summer sun. Estrella Damm is definitely one of them. But if my words don’t convince, the TV spot for it will almost certainly do the job.

• Name: Estrella Damm
• Brewery: Damm
• City: Barcelona
• Country: Spain

Estrella pours out of the bottle with a typical golden color, often described as straw color, and is covered nicely with a very decent white and foamy head, which settles down quite quickly. It has a weak smell, where I could only point out the aroma of some grains. Estrella is light and very smooth, which makes it a very refreshing drink, especially when it is complemented by a quite decent carbonation. The taste is exactly what you would expect from a lager – a sweet, somewhat watery taste, followed by a slightly bitter aftertaste. I must say, it is a very likeable beer, and one of Spain’s best for that matter.

• Style: Pale Lager
• ABV: 5,4%
• Ingredients: water, barley malt, maize, hops, yeast, rice

• Slogan: “A veces lo normal puede ser extraordinario!” (Normal Can Sometimes Be Extraordinary!)

RATINGS

• Appearance: 4,5 / 5
• Smell: 3,5 / 5
• Taste: 4 / 5
• Overall: 4 / 5