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 131: May 11, 2015
Diary entry:
Today we begin the journey back towards home. We need to be in San Sebastian, Spain for lunch tomorrow, so the goal for the day is to make the entire drive from Porto to San Sebastian. For sure the longest distance drive of the trip.
A very foggy morning, so we delayed our departure until it burned off a little, and rush hour died down as well. But as a result, we had very little time to see the city of Porto itself. Definitely something we need to come back and do again in the future!
We did take some time to detour down to the Douro wine region, which I must say, is perhaps the most beautiful wine country I have ever seen!
After that, a very long and boring drive across the northern inland highway of Spain. Really not too much to see on this part of the journey.
Once we reached Basque country, things got beautiful again, though. Vibrant green valleys, unfortunately shrouded in fog. And fairly foggy at our Mercure hotel on Monte Igueldo overlooking San Sebastian, so the nighttime views were not too impressive.
We decided to eat dinner at the hotel, as they featured a Basque tasting menu, but unfortunately, that had to be ordered in advance, so we just picked a few specialties off the menu and headed off to bed.
The Beer:
Name: Sagres Branca
Style: Pilsner
Producer: Sociedade Central de Cervejas e Bebidas SA
Alcohol content: 5.0%
Bottle size: 0.15l draft
Purchased from: Mercure Hotel Porto Gaia, Porto
A normal Pilsner from Portugal. Just a taste because I had to drive, but I definitely wanted to try the local beer. Decent pilsner. But nothing special.
Commercial Description:
Sagres is the leading and most preferred Portuguese beer. Launched in 1940, it has been since then produced with 100% natural products and according to traditional brewing methods using water, malt, non-malted cereals and a careful selection of hops. No additives or preservatives are used.
Sagres beer can be described as a mildly bodied pilsner, with a dry clean palate and a mildly bitter character, complemented by subtle estery notes.
