Here’s what I know about this beer: It’s made by Estrella Damm, therefore it’s Spanish. The bottle is lovely looking. That is all. While I don’t dislike Estrella Damm, the two beers of theirs I’ve consumed failed to wow me. I’m going to try to be objective.
INEDIT - Estrella Damm
From a good-looking 750ml wine-style bottle (capped, not corked though) with no freshness date I could find, the beer pours a pale yellowish colour, clear, with a good bit of head that dropped a bit, but lingered on and on. Aroma is a good bit of malt, with some fruity notes, maybe hints of a wheat beer. Interesting, and enticing. Taste is much more like a wheat beer, in fact I’m going to have to assume that it is a wheat beer, or at least a beer with some wheat in it. It would be filtered, though, and doesn’t have an over-whelming wheat feel. Nice spicy taste, maybe cloves and allspice. The linger is very much a lemon peel sourness witha bit of dry bitterness. Nearly like a candy. Very bright and light on the tongue, which holds some of the spicy notes in check, this is a crazy refreshing beer. I’m quite happy I’ve only poured about half of the 750ml. It’s going to be a lovely afternoon.
Time for some research: Okay, the neck label identifies this as a “Malt beverage brewed with spices”. So far so good. I know that in Spain, they actually list the ingredients on beer, so let’s take a looky at the back label (incidentally, if you’ve got poor vision or poor lighting or both, good luck. Catering to all the languages in the EU (okay, at least a bunch of them) makes the label nearly microfiche). Bingo! Water, Barley malt, Wheat, Hops, Sugar, Spices, Antioxidant: Asorbic acid. I hate to brag, but I’m pretty impressed with myself.
At $6.95/750ml, this isn’t cheap, but it is lovely. It’s available at the LCBO (#198325). A great bottle to take to a party, just don’t swig it from the bottle; you’re not that famous yet.
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