Learn your Latin

The Borefts Beer Festival celebrated its tenth outing in the grounds of the De Molen brewery in September. It was my seventh visit overall, and my second since it moved from casual entry to all-ticket. Maybe the inclement weather is to blame, but it felt more claustrophobic than usual, harder to find space to drink and with frequent queues for beers at certain stalls, even early in the day. I'll see how I feel come next summer, but maybe it's time to leave this event to those more prepared to put the work in for it.

The headline draw this year was three representatives of the brewing scene in São Paulo. The first Brazilian I tried was a double black IPA called Cafuza, from Dogma brewery, a beast of a thing at 9.2% ABV and purest, deepest black. There's a bit of a bathwater aroma: that mix of flowers, herbs and minerals that seems to be unique to the black IPA genre. The flavour leans heavily on roast, giving an intense burnt toast effect. While there's a touch of pine in there, the hops are disappointingly lacking, as for that matter is the alcohol power. That leaves it a decent but unexciting sipping stout, which is not what was promised by the description or the aroma.

Dogma scored better with their Mosaic Brux Brett IPA, shiny gold and tasting as clean as it looks. It begins with fresh and juicy mango and grapefruit, followed by a lavender and bergamot complexity. At 6% ABV it has plenty of body and is beautifully smooth without also being sticky, while a fine fizz scrubs the palate. I liked the balance here: the hops and posh yeast both contribute greatly, but not at each other's expense.

Though Cervejaria Urbana had their own stall they don't have their own brewery, and their black IPA was brewed by, and in collaboration with, Dogma. Chocolate Hopping is the name, 7% ABV and smelling weirdly of wood and bitter herbs. That's present in the flavour too, accompanied by cocoa nibs and bourbon vanilla. The bitterness is too intense, though, and the whole thing is a bit of a mess. Beware the black IPAs of São Paulo, it seems.

The third Brazilian was Trilha. It's a brewpub though does get some beer brewed elsewhere, which has me wondering if these were all in fact Dogma creations. Mémoa is a barrel-aged strawberry wild ale, which is an unusual combination. It pours a dark orange colour and has a lovely tartness from the get-go. The strawberry flavour is mild and comes through without any sweetness but is still unmistakably real strawb. A very slight rubbery note creeps in at the end and is the only off-note in an otherwise daring and well-executed concoction.

Last of the Brazilians was Trilha Gorilla, as much fun to say as it is to drink. It's an 11.2% ABV imperial stout brewed with coffee and (here comes the assonance) vanilla. Black in colour with a tan head, the aroma is a heady espresso, turning to soft and creamy latte on tasting. I'm guessing there's a significant quantity of lactose involved as there's a fabulous velvety texture. So it's not madly complex, and maybe the ABV is a smidge high for how it tastes, but I really enjoyed what it had to offer.

Latin Europe was represented at the festival solely by breweries in what I'm broadly going to call Spain. At least there's no argument about DouGall's, from Cantabria. Their gimmick beer was called Fishman: an imperial stout of 10% ABV, brewed with anchovy and served with an anchovy pintxo topper. It's decidedly ungimmicky and doesn't taste at all of fish, for which I should probably be thankful. There's some light smoke, a little sweet summer fruit, an edge of burnt caramel and some light Turkish coffee spicing, but all is quite muted with nothing really jumping out. This is another that's perhaps a little plain for its strength though is completely without flaws.

One region to the right brings us to the Basque Country, and Basquery was an entirely new brewery to me. I tried two of theirs. Black & Molen was yet another imperial stout, again at the 10% ABV mark. Obviously it was a collaboration with the hosts, and the not-so-secret ingredient is stollen, from which I expected some spice but none came. Instead it's a rich and bitter job, redolent of liquorice and aquavit with a wholesome brown bread crust. Bitterness almost always improves an imperial stout and this was a real notch above the many sugary ones available, some of which I'll get to in later posts.

The other Basquery beer to pass my way was Eskombro, that rarity a brown ale, though given some novelty treatment by the addition of rye bread to the grist. I found it heavy and starchy, the density dulling the flavours. One expects a rich and smooth chocolate caramel effect from this style -- especially one at 5.8% ABV -- but this one just didn't deliver. Shame.

Moving south to Catalonia, another new brewery for me: Poch's, just outside Girona. Another imperial stout, you say? Go on then. Carquinyoli is 10.2% ABV and the elevenses addition this time is biscotti. Once again, however, that's buried under the weight of the base beer which is delightfully bitter, throwing out plug tobacco and green spinach. The texture works well with this, all chewy and gut-coating, and it also exudes a warmth which makes it still enjoyable long after swallowing. Textbook stuff.

My last beer on day one of the festival was Liquid Fear, a double IPA by fellow-Catalonians Pirata. This was a mere 8.7% ABV and quite New Englandy: a pith bitterness overlaid with thick and creamy vanilla with hints of garlic and spring onion around the edges. An unsurprising yeast bite arrives in the finish. Still, this isn't a terrible example of the style by any means and had a lot going for it: the disparate elements don't clash with each other, all carried along in the smoothness. You've tasted it before, though: beers of this nature are ubiquitous at the moment.

That's it for today. We'll stick another pin in the map for tomorrow's post.