Alhambra Especial

Aroma: 7 | Appearance: 8 | Mouthfeel: 7 | Flavor: 8 | Overall: 7

CARAMEL...with a touch of hops? I think that's an apt description of this Oct. 2013 sixer I drank. If you like caramel you'd like this one. If not, don't bother! Maybe I'd buy it again, but I would find it cloying for anything more than once-in-a-great-while consumption.

Aroma: 6 | Appearance: 6 | Mouthfeel: 6 | Flavor: 6 | Overall: 6

Clear little darker yellow with decent white foam head. Aroma is that of a pale lager, little sweet. Taste is propor bittersweet, with short lager like aftertaste. (Velp 201212

Aroma: 7 | Appearance: 4 | Mouthfeel: 4 | Flavor: 4 | Overall: 4

On tap in Tenerife, served ice cold. ABV unknown (there are at least two different ABV-versions of Alhambra Especial). Pale golden colour, creamy white head. Very moderate aroma, a little malts, citrus and a hint of vomit. "Neutral" pale lager flavour, nothing offensive but not much to make you happy either, some weak hops in the finish.

Aroma: 5 | Appearance: 4 | Mouthfeel: 4 | Flavor: 3 | Overall: 4

Bottled@Sangria Tapas Bar, Stockholm. Pale yellow colour with small, but fluffy head. Aroma is grains, some grass, hay and mild notes of bready malts. Flavour is quite much the same along with some slight cardboardy notes.

Aroma: 8 | Appearance: 4 | Mouthfeel: 5 | Flavor: 4 | Overall: 5

el spain ish version, thanks ma -- Smell is of usual euro lager .. Big head on the pour, and the lacing is of medium strength .. Dark Yellow Gold .. Refreshing at its best, but does have a sour like back taste. Pass on this beer...

Aroma: 7 | Appearance: 7 | Mouthfeel: 8 | Flavor: 8 | Overall: 9

Well, had my first run-in with Spanish tapas this evening, while hanging out with my wife, as she attended a birthday dinner for her friend. And while I confess to being a bit underwhelmed with the service and the cuisine -- ever try to split a single tapas dish amongst eight people? -- I do have to admit that this beer made things a bit more pleasant.

A world-class Lager? Nah. Rather tame and "safe", really. You won't find anything here that you won't find in many other (read: better) beers, from {fill-in-the-blank} country.

So why am I not disappointed with this? Only in that for what it is, it's not bad. That is to say, for a non-intrusive beer, that lets the food do the talking, this was easy enough to work with. An easy drinker it seems to me, with just enough girth in the malt bill to matter.

Room for improvement? Sure. Would like to see what would happen if the hops in this beer took of their "Cloak Of Invisibility", to see what sort of "role" they could "play" in this "game". (Ok, enough cornball AD&D references!).

But seriously? I have few complaints about this beer. "It is what it is," as the saying goes. And there are much worse Spanish beers out there you could order at a Tapas bar: Estrella? We're still not on speaking terms!

But this one? Not a bad quaffer. Not at all.

Music: Tool's "Opiate"

Aroma: 6 | Appearance: 5 | Mouthfeel: 4 | Flavor: 5 | Overall: 5

Bottle. Golden colour with a very slim white head. Sweet malts, corn and a touch of fruit in the aroma. Sweet, metallic, touch of hops maybe, and watery, quite highly carbonated. Typical Spanish fare.