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Category: Review

Taproom: Stop Madrid, Madrid Spain

STOP MADRID, MADRID SPAIN This has been a neighborhood hangout for over 100 years and if the walls could talk? OY VEY!!!. Old wood framing the shelves of wine and tapas display and hand tiled flooring speaks to the age and established character. Incredible wines available by the glass with friendly staff to help you decide, even in English! We were hesitant at first due to the crowd of people inside, but luckily found a table (barrel top) to sit at in the back. The servers did provide us some tapas for free with our beers, nothing special. We did notice that a number of people around us had ordered a variety of food and it looked delicious. The wine selection is pretty amazing (as you can see from the pictures) and really cheap per glass. Their beers range from local, regional and a few international bottles and drafts. Yes, you can see that they have a Mexican beer listed, it’s an import you know. 🙂 Below is a list of the few beers that I was able to try while we sat. The bar did slowly get more and more crowded as we were there, so we bailed after …

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Taproom: Cerveseria La Resistència, Barcelona Spain

CERVESERIA LA RESISTÈNCIA, BARCELONA SPAIN The last of the beer bars in Barcelona we visited in January 2015. Located in central downtown, we walked around a bit and then had to hang out front until they opened in the evening. It seems that this is a pretty popular bar with both locals and visitors as there were a few other people, patiently awaiting their draft of beers with us. The location is a somewhat small ‘hole-in-the-wall’ that has a bar up front with limited seating along it and a few tapas dishes if you’re hungry. A chalkboard with the draft lineup behind the bar provides lots of useful information about each of the beers they are pouring. The bar itself is somewhat small, so you might want to look for a table in the back if there are more than three of you in a group. The walls are covered with interesting art and prints from the past and local, recent artists. Don’t be surprised if you hear a variety of languages being spoken in this joint. We ran into a group of Brits at BierCab and then again at La Resistència. They were happy to chat us up while …

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Taproom: BierCab, Barcelona Spain

BIER CAB, BARCELONA SPAIN One of the many beer bars in Barcelona, we visited the Bier Cab after lunchtime (afternoon). The location provides you with both a ‘tap-house’ with 30 taps of local, regional, and international drafts, as well as the attached ‘bottle-shop’ with a large variety of beers to purchase. The location is in the central part of Barcelona, not far from tons of shopping and nightlife. It is open earlier in the day as most bars are, and provides a full menu of food. We didn’t order anything while we were there off the menu, but what we did see people enjoying a variety of burgers and other dishes. The beer list is an electronic reader/keg board behind the bar with lots of information about each of their drafts. They also update their website in real time with their tap-list, so if you’re wondering what they have, check that out. The bar/restaurant space has large windows in the front that look out onto the street and a beautiful wooden bar with glasses overhead (as you can see in the picture). We sat across from it and people watched as we sipped our beers. We did enter the bottle …

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Review: Blacklab Brewhouse & Kitchen, Barcelona Spain

BLACK LAB BREWHOUSE & KITCHEN, BARCELONA SPAIN We discovered the BlackLab Brewhouse + Kitchen in Barcelona during our trip in January this year (2015) and were lucky enough to meet the brewer and owner Matt during our visit. Matt is an ex-pat from Duluth MN. that brought his love for beer with him when he moved to Barcelona. The location is on the NE side of the Meseu d’Historia de Catalunya building on the Barcelona waterfront and recently opened, so the inside is somewhat ‘modern’ in style, with minimal decorations and vibe. There is outdoor seating and plenty of indoor space at the bar and restaurant rooms. The menu is somewhat of a cross between Asian-fusion and pub food. We ordered some fries and they were hot, spicy, and delicious. They offer tastings of any of their beers (which they only had 2 of their own as they had just opened a few weeks prior and their brewing equipment was not there yet) and any of the guest taps they have. The super friendly servers/bar tenders speak English, Spanish and a variety of other languages and love chatting with the customers. This really does make this place friendly and easy …

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Review: Fàbrica Moritz Barcelona, Spain

FÀBRICA MORITZ, BARCELONA SPAIN Moritz is a large scale, international beer producer that has opened a ‘microbrewery’ in Barcelona. So imagine if Miller/Coors opened a ‘specialty’ beer bar with just their beers on draft. I know that Mortiz doesn’t make the best product in Europe, but it’s great to see them marketing their product in a cool way with a wonderful space and awesome food. When we visited the location in Barcelona, we didn’t realize that there are 4 different parts to this brewery taking up almost 1/2 of the block it’s located at (production in the basement as well). To include: Wine & Beer bar, Restaurant, bakery, and gift shop. Each has a different vibe and a separate entrance, but linked together with passages inside. The color scheme is vibrant florescent orange (like their logo) in the lighting overhead and it is really trippy. The location is purely modern in design with exposed brick, with a cross between cafe and upscale dining. The bakery has fresh sweets, breads and various eats to go, the gift shop is truly amazing. The marketing dept must have carte-blanche and an unlimited budget because they have tons of crazy stuff with their logo …

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Beer Tasting, 29 Dec. 2014, Dusseldorf Germany

BEER TASTING & PARTY 12/29/14, DÜSSELDORF GERMANY During our recent visit to Germany, we were invited to a party at our friend Franzi’s flat in Düsseldorf on Dec. 29th to celebrate the holidays with some of her friends. She also wanted to use this opportunity to do some beer tastings and took us to one of the local liquor stores earlier in the day. This was like walking into beer heaven in Germany for me. Trinkgut as shown in the picture actually had rows and rows of bottled local and regional German beers. We had a great time picking out the beers to try that night and below is the reviews of the one’s we were able to try. One thing that should be noted is that the beer prices in Germany are considerably lower than in the states, most of the 22oz. singles like the ones pictured were no more than $2-$3/each. I also noticed that there were only 3 or 4 beers available in cans (6 or 12 packs), and not refrigerated. I did ask one of the brewers that we spoke with on the trip about the lack of can’s and there was no real good explanation …

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