Showing posts with label Spain. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Spain. Show all posts

22 May 2014

Two beer bars in Valencia

I can recommend a visit to Valencia, on the Spanish Mediterranean coast, that was founded by the Romans in 138 BC. We found that May, before the main tourist season, was a good month to visit with fine warm weather. The airport is well connected to the city by Metro Valencia. It is a cycling friendly city with plenty of cycle paths including one in the old river bed that has been converted to a linear park since the river was re-routed.
Valencia - Central market - inaugurated in 1928
The historic centre has many interesting buildings including some in modernist style like the central market. It is separated from the beach by a large residential / commercial area so it is worth getting to know the metro, bus and cycling options for travel around the city.
Horchata (Orxata in Valencian) is a sweet, creamy, drink made from chufas (tiger nuts) that is a nourishing and refreshing drink available from vendors at the beach and specialist cafes.
Ratebeer proved useful for identifying two beer bars to visit during our visit.

1. Birra & Blues (Sunday)

On a Sunday, Meg and I joined the throng of visitors walking along the beachside promenade separated from the sea by a long sandy beach.
We passed a shop called Ale-Hop but discovered that it sells colourful clothes, hats and espadrilles but no beer!
Horchata and chufas (tiger nuts)
A cool drink of horchata, from a mobile stall was a refreshing way to break the long walk to the Birra & Blues brewpub situated at 34 Avenue Mare Nostrum (Alboraya).
Birra & Blues
Spaghetti & Blues
Birra & Blues is immediately behind its sister establishment, Spaghetti & Blues, which overlooks the promenade and the beach beyond at Playa de la Patacona.

Although there was no brewing on a Sunday, the brewing vessels are visible behind the bar. The clips for the six fonts showed that three different draught beers were available - Tostada, Doble Malta and Rubia.

The server kindly poured taster glasses of each draught beer and I chose the Rubia (blonde) for a refreshing lunchtime beer in the shaded surroundings of the smart bar with views of the sky and attractive shrubs.
The view from a table in the courtyard
The beer list and a glass of Rubia on a table in the courtyard
The Rubia cost 5 euros for a 500ml glass. Bottles were also available (3 euros for 330 ml or 6 euros for 750ml). The beer came with quite a big head and was very effervescent in the glass.
Before leaving we ordered two 330 ml bottles, from the fridge, of beers that were not available on draught, to drink on another occasion.
John Lee Blues
The John Lee Blues (red ale) named after John Lee Hooker was drunk on a four hour train trip from Valencia (Sant Isidre) to Cuenca.
La Negra
The La Negra (pumpkin ale produced like a brown ale) was eventually drunk at Hostal Benamar in Madrid and proved spicy and full flavoured.
The terminus of the number 19 bus is nearby for a convenient journey back to the city.

2a. Ruzanuvol (closed on Sundays) + El Abrazo de la China

Later on Sunday we visited the Russafa / L'Eixample area which lies south of the city centre. 
 We discovered that Ruzanuvol is closed on Sunday and resolved to return the next day. 
A bottle of Alhambra Especial at nearby bar - El Abrazo de la China - eased the disappointment.


2b. Ruzanuvol (Monday) + Las Cervezas del Mercado

Number 40 bus from near our hotel took us past the impressive 'City of Arts and Sciences' site that includes the Science Museum Príncipe Felipe designed by Valencian architect Santiago Calatrava. 
Science Museum Principe Felipe (foreground) - viewed from the bus
We got off the bus before reaching the centre of the city at a stop on Avenue Regne de València in the Russafa neighbourhood, near Ruzanuvol Cerveceria Artesanal at Luís Santángel, 3.
We were the third customers to arrive, soon after 7pm opening time. Two fathers with young children were occupying the bar area so we found a table and sat on a bench with comfortable cushions made from recycled sacks of malt after consulting the blackboard and ordering our beers.
a caña from Birrificio Italiano
A great deal of care has gone into the furnishing and decoration of Ruzanuvol. The interior is light and pleasant with ingredients of beer illustrated on the walls and furniture made from pale wood. There are also tables on the pavement outside, where smoking is permitted.
This is a great bar for lovers of Italian beer as the draught beers were from Birrificio Italiano and Birrificio Lambrate. With a caña, a small glass of draught beer, costing 2 euros, this was a good opportunity to try several beers without spending too much. Tipopils, a blonde lager, from Birrificio Italiano was the obvious choice to start and deserves its reputation as a lager worth seeking out. (Tipopils is the house lager at the Finborough Arms, Earl's Court, London).
Free buffet with your beer from 7pm to 9pm
We had previously noticed the generous provision of a free buffet between the hours of 7pm and 9pm on the shutters when finding the pub closed on Sunday.
The bowls on the shelf under the blackboard listing the draught beers and their prices is where we were able to help ourselves to the 'Aperitivo Milanese' of crisps, olives, bread sticks and other snacks..
It was soon time to order another beer and a caña of Sant'Ambroeus from Birrificio Lambrate gave me a chance to taste a stronger Belgian style ale.
Giovanni with Ullage (West Berkshire CAMRA magazine)
When the first customers had left, I introduced myself to Giovanni and gave him a copy of Ullage, the West Berkshire CAMRA magazine. He kindly let me take a photo of him behind the bar to appear in a future edition of Ullage.
Birrificio Lambrate - Ligera
Giovanni explained that he used to live in Milan before opening Ruzanuvol in 2010. Birrificio Lambrate is based in Milan and Birrificio Italiano is based in Lurago Marinone, north of Milan. American Pale Ale is one of my favourite beer styles so it was time to spend 5 euros for a 'pint' (usually 500ml in Italy) of Ligera from Birrificio Lambrate. Giovanni let me take a look at his copy of the Birrificio Lambrate beer catalogue which included tasting notes and details of ingredients for their beers in English. Ligera is brewed with Pilsner, Munich, Caramunich and Carafa malts and Chinook, Cascade, Amarillo and Willamette hops.
Patatas bravas
We ordered some food from the 'Para Picar' blackboard including 'Bravas Bravissimas', roast potatoes served with tomato and creamy sauces on the side, costing 4.20 euros.
I had already sampled Meg's B.I. Weizen from Birrificio Italiano, a pale yellow wheat beer so ordered a caña of Bibock, the amber beer of Birrificio Italiano which has been produced since 1997. Between us we had now sampled all the draught beers so now it was time to find a bus to take us back to the hotel.
a last look at Ruzanuvol Cerveceria Artesanal - Hasta Luego!
Before leaving, Giovanni introduced me to Jordi, a new visitor from Cervezas Artesanas Sénia a microbrewery founded in 2010 in Alginet, about 20 km south of Valencia. It looks like a return visit to Valencia, incorporating an extra trip to visit Jordi at his brewing base, is going to be worthwhile. A blog post (in Spanish) from November 2010 by Lupuloadicto describes Cervesa Sènia and includes photos of the brewery and its founders - Cervesa La Sénia.

Las Cervezas del Mercado - inside Valencia central market
There were no bottles to take away from Ruzanuvol but an earlier visit to Las Cervezas del Mercado at Valencia's central market had realised a bottle of Au Yeah from Valencia brewery Tyris.
Tyris 'Au Yeah' occupies a seat on the train
This American pale ale style beer was also drunk the following day, on a four hour train trip from Valencia (Sant Isidre) to Cuenca and is recommended as my favourite bottled beer on this trip to Spain.

27 September 2013

Lórien Bar, Palma de Mallorca

Lórien Cerveseria / Llongueteria, founded in 1990, is a beer bar worth finding. It is situated at 5-A, Carrer de les Caputxines, near the centre of Palma, the capital of Majorca.
The name of the street is derived from the Caputxines Church and Convent founded by three Sisters in 1668.
If you approach Lórien bar from one of the narrow streets leading off La Rambla then you will pass the church and if the inset door is open an opportunity to see inside the church which should not be missed.
Lórien opened at 7pm on a Monday in September, the day of our arrival in Palma. We reached the entrance a few minutes early when the painted shutters were still down. We had time for a quick look inside another nearby chuch - San Nicolás - before returning to Lórien and finding it open.
We were almost the first customers to arrive and were able to chat to Pep and ask him about beers from Mallorca.
Pep kindly gave us a copy of the brochure for the Mostra de cervesa Artesana, recently held at Mancor de la Vall, near Inca, Majorca, on 14 September 2013.
He described some of the breweries and beers featured, several of which are stocked at Lórien. He allowed us to take his photo behind the bar, wearing a Barcelona beer festival t-shirt and with a copy of Ullage, the newsletter of West Berkshire CAMRA.
Pep fetched his selection of Mallorcan beers from the fridge and placed them on the bar. Now it was time to order a beer! I chose the Galilea brewed by Cas Cerveser and M chose the Blat brewed by Beer Lovers (Companyia Cervesera del Nord de Mallorca S.L. - Alcudia)
 We took our beers to a table by the beer blackboard in the front area of the bar. The decor includes 'wooden beer crate' style bar frontage, celtic style designs paintd on plain paintwork, high shelves of beer bottles, framed pictures and a large mirror.
A delivery, during our visit, turned out to be a case of Red Ale from Sa Bona Birra a microbrewery based in Ciutadella de Menorca, another Balearic island.
This was another of the beers that Pep had encountered at the beef festival in Mancor de la Vall and Pep would later add details to the blackboard which features new beers that are not included in the printed beer menu sheets.
The beer menu is in Spanish and Catalan. It starts with an illustrated colour scale used y the European Beer Convention ranging from EBC 6 (Moritz lager) to EBC 130 (Guinness stout). The beers are divided into beer styles and listed with details of country, colour, bitternes (IBU scale), alcoholic strength, bottle size and prize. Prices range from 2.70 euro for a 33cl bottle of Moritz (Catalonian lager) to 12.00 euro for a 75cl bottle of Chimay Grand Reserve (Belgium). The draft beers are Hoegaarden (33cl / 2.65 euro); Guinness (25cl / 2.60 euro); Murphy's (25cl / 2.60 euro) and a 'Cervesa Artesanal' which changes regularly.
On our visit, the guest draught beer was 'Catapulte' an IPA collaboration between Zulogaarden
(Catalonia) and Benelux, a brewpub in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
Note that beers and prices mentioned above are subject to change.
We left and promised Pep that we would be back to try different beers on another day.
Two days later we were back with a friend. Although the bar was busier on this occasion we were able to sit at 'our' table. On this occasion, M had draught Hoegaarden, C had Galilea and I chose a Moritz Epidor from the Lager Bock section of the menu. When in Barcelona I had enjoyed Moritz Lager Pilsner so this was a good opportunity to try their stronger (7.2% ABV) beer. There was even time for me to have a 25cl glass of Catapulte from the draught font before leaving. Two strong beers to start the evening might explain why my navigating meant that it took us longer than expected to find our way to nearby Plaça d'en Coll!

sauep.com (Lorien website with links to twitter and facebook etc)
C/ de Les Caputxines, 5-a
07003 Ciutat (Palma) - Mallorca
Tel. 971 723 202
Opening Hours: Monday - Saturday from 7pm  +  11am - 3pm on Tuesdays & Saturdays.
N.B. Payment by cash.

22 March 2012

Beer in Madrid

Jarra of Mahou Clasica from Cerveceria 100 Montaditos
The weather was unseasonably cold for my first visit to Madrid in March 2012 so we did not get the anticipated opportunity to sit outside a bar in the sunshine with a refreshing cool beer. However, we did go inside several bars, drink some cañas (small glasses) and jarras (glass tankards) of draught beer and take the occasional photo for this blog. The most popular beer in Madrid seems to be Mahou (pronounced like (Chairman) Mao) but we also spotted domestic beers originally hailing from Barcelona (Estrella Damm) and Seville (Cruzcampo). International brewers are also represented e.g. Amstel and Heineken.

Shelf behind the bar at Cerveceria Santa Barbara, Plaza de Santa Barbara, 8
Bars seemed to vary between the very small local bars, cervecerias - bigger and often brightly lit and atmospheric neighbourhood bars with subdued lighting that may specialise in cocktails and tasteful music.

The price of a beer would also vary accordingly from one euro at the 100 Montaditos cerveceria chain for a jarra (when purchased with food) to three euros for a caña at Cafe Belen, Chueca (served with complimentary nuts).
Cafe Belen - Calle Belen 5
Cerveceria Santa Barbara prides itself on the quality of the beer and the method of serving at its bars where the bar staff wear smart white uniforms. Cerveceria Santa Barbara - Beer webpage (English version)
However, in several bars the beer would be served with a big foamy head despite (mainly ineffective) efforts by some bar staff to get more liquid beer into the glass. Based on this experience, perhaps the best advice would be to choose an interesting bottled beer, when a choice is available.

Naturbier - Plaza Santa Ana
Some research before the trip revealed that Naturbier in Plaza Santa Ana brew their own beers and these are served unfiltered. Their website claims their beer is 'the only natural beer brewed in Madrid.' Naturbier home page (English) This square, which is quite near the central Puerta del Sol Metro station, contains several bars and cervecerias including Cerveceria Alemana and Cerveceria Santa Ana which are on the same side of the plaza as Naturbier. This makes Plaza Santa Ana a good place to aim for if you want to sample a variety of beers inside or outside in the plaza.
Helles & Dunkles beer with complimentary olives at Naturbier
Another area with several good cervecerias having space for outdoor seating that we visited was Plaza Santa Barbara, by Alonso Martinez Metro station. The original branch of Cerveceria Santa Barbara and one of the Cerveceria 100 Montaditos branches are on the east side of the Plaza. Just beyond the southern end of the plaza, Cerveceria Cruz Blanca, serving Cruzcampo beers, has a branch at Calle Horteleza 118. Large tiled brewery scenes decorate the walls of the bar (photo below). Cerveceria Cruz Blanca webpage (Spanish)
Their trademark is a penguin with a barrel marked with a cross and this is reflected in the beer font on the right hand side of the bar (photo below)
and the novelty figure just outside (photo below). 

A number of small craft breweries are establishing themselves in Spain and some of these concentrate on producing bottled beers. In Madrid you may come across draught beer or bottles from these new small breweries: 
Cervezas Las Cibeles (Madrid) Cervezas Las Cibeles webpage (Spanish)
Cerveza Sagra (Toledo) Cerveza Sagra webpage (Spanish) 
Calvin's Beer (Madrid)  Calvin's Beer webpage (English)
Fabrica Maravillas (Madrid) Fabrica Maravillas webpage (English)
Cervezas Lest (Colmenar Viejo) Cervezas Lest webpage (Spanish)