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Review: Fat Head’s Brewing, Portland Oregon

FAT HEAD’S BREWING, PORTLAND OREGON I visited this brewery and restaurant on Wednesday January 15th with a good friend Stan. He’s got a LOT of experience with beer judging and tasting and was happy to visit with me. I would like to thank him for his willingness to help me become a better reviewer of beers as my skills at it are still somewhat lacking the vocabulary it really needs. This restaurant and brewery is really big and open. Some would call it corporate in nature as they have locations in more than one city across the US. The left the rafters exposed, hung industrial lighting, put the brewing tanks on the west side of the inside behind large windows. The food menu is really expansive and caters to the larger portion sizes common to the mid-west restaurant scene. They have just about any sort of food you can imagine. We have not been disappointed with the quick service and knowledgeable bar tenders. When we ordered a taster of all of their beers, they normally do paddles of 5 at a time, but the bartender just brought them to us 3 at a time until we had all 15 of …

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Review: Fábrica Maravillas, Madrid Spain

FÁBRICA MARAVILLAS, MADRID SPAIN On an early January afternoon we ventured out in Madrid seeking one of the only local breweries in town. This brewery is on a small old city street called Calle Valverde, not far from where our hotel was located. This brewery has a few tables outside to sit at when it’s warm and just a few tables inside and a bar to sit at if you can find a seat. They do have menus available in English and Spanish which give the descriptions of the beer and light tapas food they offer. Inside you will find modern decor, exposed wood and brick make the vibe really hip compared to many shops and eateries in the neighborhood that are not so. The staff is super friendly and willing to help you with the beers, which the offer in a couple of different sizes. I’ve read the owner and brewer is from Chicago, which explains the Americdan style microbrewery vibe to the joint. We definitely recommend this spot to anyone seeking good craft beer in Madrid! You will see in the pictures that they do have their brewing equipment just behind the bar and you can ask the …

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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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