Ölbeat 280: Guineu / La Quince Vanilla Black Velvet 2016

Brewery: Cervesa Guineu / La Quince
Country: Spain
Style: Imperial Stout 
Abv: 9,5 %
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What about the beer?

Colour is black with a two-finger thick beige head. Aroma has roast, espresso, chocolate and vanilla. Taste starts with bitter roasted cocoa. Spicy roasted malts and bitter-boozy espresso take over with dark chocolate. Towards the end bitter dark chocolate and strong vanilla push the other flavours back. Aftertaste has piny-boozy bitterness and roast-cocoa dryness, and it lasts long.

Delicious spicy Imperial Stout. Chocolate malts and Madagascar vanilla really show up in the taste that has roast, espresso and bitterness of a quality impy. Though this is a collab with Cervesa Guineu, the brewers of La Quince impressed me with their brews and got me seriously interested in Spanish breweries.

Ölbeat

No, Alannah Myles will never make an appearance on this blog. Since no beer can actually be velvet, they can only imitate it. Like in the world of fabrics velveteen does.

Lenny Kravitz: Black Velveteen (YouTube)

From the 1999 album 5, the song was written by Lenny Kravitz.

Ölbeat 275: La Quince LLIPA!

Brewery: La Quince (in Spanish)
Country: Spain
Style: India Pale Ale
Abv: 6,4 %
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What about the beer?

Colour is hazy golden orange with a finger-thick natural white head. Aroma has grapefruit, lemon and kiwifruit. Taste starts with sharply biting grapefruit. Bitter grapefruit takes over with sour lemon and herbal spice. Towards the end herbal pine rises in the line with grapefruit, some sweeter citrus lingering to the background. Aftertaste has strong grapefruit bitterness and lasting piny dryness.

Pretty tasty and rich India Pale Ale. Bitter grapefruit dominates, lemon, pine and herbs play important side roles. Texture has a malty backbone, but the beer goes down nicely. A Spanish version of CCCCC, perhaps? This works absolutely beautifully.

Ölbeat

Actually it the comparison to CCCCC that got me to select the band, the album and finally the song. Both the band and the brewery have been in Finland within a week: Guns N' Roses had their pension money fu... err, Not in This Lifetime tour gig in Hämeenlinna last weekend, and La Quince brewery is in Helsinki in Craft Beer Helsinki and a pre-CBH happening this week. Pure coincidence? 

Guns N' Roses: Welcome to the Jungle (YouTube)

From the 1987 album Appetite for Destruction, the song was written by Guns N' Roses.

Ölbeat 274: La Quince Hop Fiction

Brewery: La Quince (in Spanish)
Country: Spain
Style: American Pale Ale
Abv: 5,5 %
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What about the beer?

Colour is golden orange with a medium-size white head. Aroma has fresh grapefruit, orange and malts. Taste begins with strong kick of citrus. Fresh bitter grapefruit takes over with gentle pine and a twist of lemon. Near the finish sour-bitter citrus fruits come dominant. Aftertaste has bitter grapefruit, sour lemon and herbal dryness.

Fresh and great American Pale Ale. Lemon and grapefruit beat the mouth gently, but the flavour couldn't work based only to hops - the base has to be solid. Looking forward to get my hands to some other La Quince brews. Great stuff!

Ölbeat

Brewed as a tribute to the brewery's favourite film Pulp Fiction and director Quentin Tarantino, this one leaves no options than to pick some surf rock from the film. The final sequence and the credits, here you go! 

The Lively Ones: Surf Rider (YouTube)

From the 1963 album Surf Rider, the song was written by Nokie Edwards.

Ölbeat 256: Bidassoa Larrun

Brewery: Bidassoa Basque Brewery (in Spanish)
Country: Spain
Style: Imperial IPA
Abv: 8,5 % 
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What about the beer?

Colour is cloudy copper brown with a large natural white head. Aroma has pineapple, mango, orange and caramel. Taste begins with biting bitter fruits and malty caramel. Piny and malty bitterness takes over with caramel malts and a slice of grapefruit. Towards the end bitter pine seems to rise above all. Aftertaste has oaky-piny-fruity bitterness, malty-nutty dryness and alcohol bite.

Powerfully piny and malty Imperial IPA. Pine clearly dominates but there are fruits clearly present. Alcohol bites in the aftertaste. Not exactly my cup of tea in the style but tasty anyway. Memories from last summer's Craft Beer Helsinki were better. Nevertheless, the first beer from Spain in the blog.

Ölbeat

Larrun is a 907 meter high mountain top situated at western Pyrenees on the border of France and Spain. It is a sacred place in Basque mythology, said to be the home of the first serpent, Lehensugea and later a gathering place of witches. I grabbed onto the myth of the serpent but chose the band from the other end of Europe.

Sirenia: Serpent (YouTube)

From the 2015 album The Seventh Life Path, the song was written by Morten Veland.