This post is a part of the 2015 New Beer Every Day Beer Diary Challenge, #ottbeerdiary. Over the course of 2015, I will be trying a new beer every day. Please read the background in the link above, and enjoy reading about the most recently tasted beers below. If you’d like to join the challenge as well, let me know in the comments below, and be sure to check out Grown-up Travel Guide and his #grownupbeerdiary, where Andy Higgs came up with the diary format in use below. You can catch up on all of our posts as part of the challenge under the tag ottbeerdiary.
Day 120: April 30, 2015
Diary entry:
The conference is getting started tonight, and everyone is arriving in Lloret de Mar today it seems.
We tried to sleep in a little this morning, as we didn’t get back from our outstanding dinner at El Celler de Can Roca until well after 2AM this morning, and found that the number of people for our conference at breakfast had grown immensely! And so had the size of the breakfast spread. A pity we weren’t anywhere near hungry enough to enjoy it to the fullest.
Meant to get a lot of work done after breakfast, but the internet in the rooms was a little overloaded, so we went down to the lobby, where we would up catching up with friends we haven’t seen since last year a bit too much. This culminated in the decision to head off for lunch, for which I decided to take the opportunity to make the suggestion that we head over to the tapas bar in Lloret de Mar that is also known for their craft beer selection, Bodega Sa Xarxa.
After lunch and the walk back to the hotel, we only had an hour left to shower and get ready for the TBEX Opening Night party at the Platja Santa Cristina in Lloret de Mar, where the Costa Brava Tourism Board and Lloret de Mar put on a great event to kick off the conference. Craft Beer was represented by Cerveses Popaire and Marina, who is also the host of the Birrasana beer festival taking place this weekend in Blanes. There was also a lot of great regional food and wines from DO Emoporda as well.
The Beer:
Name: Medical Stout
Style: Imperial / Double Stout
Producer: La Calavera
Alcohol content: 8.5%
Bottle size: 0.20l
Purchased from: Bodega Sa Xarxa in Lloret de Mar, Spain
Bodega Sa Xarxa has a great selection of local craft (and macro) beers, as well as international imports as well. They also had a large selection of local wine, liquors, and tapas / meats / cheeses as well. And a great looking patio!
I had two beers and Erin had one, and we sampled six others from the rest of our group as well.
By far, my favorite of the nine was the Medical Stout by La Calavera of Girona, Spain. Served in what looks like a cough syrup bottle, this Imperial Stout pours a thick black, with very little / no head. But it has great dark aromas and dark chocolate / coffee flavors with a nice hoppy bitterness as well. A very well done Imperial Stout. Ad at only 8.5%, it also doesn’t knock you for a loop.
