A Spanish beer at my local Beer Store. That’s Exceptional.
Lots of signs up in the beer store about this new brew, Madrí, A beer from Madrid at my local Beer Store, that’s exceptional! I picture Don Quixote tilting at windmills while I’m titling a frosty brewski.* I make a Spanish inquisition to the friendly and helpful Beer Store employee about this new brew. He says “it reminds me of Stella”. I wasn’t sure if he was talking about the beer or a female acquaintance. He also didn’t indicate whether the beer, or the female acquaintance, was good or bad. I always found Stella to be less than Stellar. I think RA uses Stella to cleanse the palate before tasting a real beer.
My Spanish is limited to “cerveza por favor” so a call to the COMDB translation department was in order. It appeared they were still upset with me for texting them during the hockey game so I got a frosty reception. They did tell me that “Madrí Excepcional, El Alma de Madrid” in English means “Madrid Exceptional, the soul of Madrid”.
An exotic international beer, maybe made with the rain from Spain which stays mainly on the plain? Of course, in Hertford, Hereford, and Hampshire, hurricanes hardly ever happen.** But my research says it is brewed in Tadcaster, which is in the UK but not close to Hertford, Hereford, or Hampshire. However on the can it says it is brewed in Chilliwack, Toronto, Longueil, Moncton and St.John’s. That’s right, it’s a Molson Coors big brewer marketing maven wool over our eyes not at all Spanish beer. Not the heart or soul of Madrid or any other body part for that matter.
It pours as golden as the fields of La Mancha, slightly hazy with a thin white head. An aroma of bread malt, with a bit of floral in there too. The first taste is malt bread mild with a lager sweet and a dry finish, an interesting mix, but no soul of Madrid. Unfortunately, the crisp evolves into a floral flourish of a finish, not for better but for worse. The dry finish was endearing, the floral, not so much. What this brew ends up being is a floral faux pas. A basic European Lager, not exceptional or excepcional.
This quaff is a one off.
It’s being advertised on the bus stops in Vancouver and during hockey games too. I think Ron Maclean mentioned it during hockey night in Canada. Cross Canada major marketing for a mediocre Madri.