Well, I went to a shop that I don’t really visit that often and they tend to sell some beers that are different from the ordinary commercial beers. I always “scan” the beer shelves carefully when I tend to go at that shop and from time to time buy some cheap beers that are different from the trend.
This can definitely caught my eye instantly. It’s not the brilliant design craft beer, but it surely was different from the mass produced beer. I was a bit surprised that the price of this beer was about 1,5$ and still, it was an imperial stout! After all the grain bill of the imperial stouts is almost double compared to an ordinary stout, so I was pretty conservative about this one. After all it was quite cheap, so why don’t give it a try?
The color is completely black, just as expected, and it developed quite thick and fine head. In the nose the beer was quite developed with some dark chocolate and cocoa aromas. After trying the beer it really showed a thick body but there was something missing here. Maybe I miss the vanilla character that can be achieved by adding some oak chips, or maturation process held in oak barrels, but after all the price didn’t suggest this type of processing. Buying and maintenance of the barrels is really pricey and of course changes the value of the final product.
The beer was not bad at all for it’s price point but really wasn’t something special. I may consider buying it again, because it’s near the price of ordinary “dark” beers from the commercial breweries. And of course the commercial dark beers are usually brewed only around wintertime so if I want to enjoy an overall good stout during the other time of the year I’ll probably go for this again.
The next day was a bit better in means of good quality beers because we had a special attendance in the town. Once a year there is a biking competition. It’s an off road/mountain terrain track and the whole length is about 40 kilometers which makes this the 4th longest bike competition in Bulgaria. Of course this is not a professional one, rather than every hobbyist can easily complete the whole track.
So what’s a biking competition without a beer at the finish line?
One of the best craft breweries granted 800l of beer. This is the Rhombus craft brewery that I have a special feelings towards. I know this brewery and the founders since the day they opened officially about 6 years ago.
They granted an IPA and a lager beers for the event and I enjoyed some ice cold beers with my wife. Her parents were in the town for the weekend so we took advantage over this situation and went out without the kids.
Of course their beers were pretty solid, as expected, so the delight was guaranteed. I only don’t know if these 800l would be enough for two competition days with more than 300 bikers attending. And that’s not counting all the people that went there just like me, only to enjoy a brilliant cold craft beer.
I hope that no one remained thirsty 😁
So, bye for now and see you again soon!