San Antonio, The Beers

We made our way to two breweries while down in San Antonio. The first was the Blue Star Brewing Company, which is in the Blue Star Arts Complex. We walked there from our hotel on Friday night and tried three beers while trying to work up an appetite for dinner. I had the Belgian Country Ale and the Stout, while Martha tried the Frankincense. The Country Ale was a saison that was easy to drink but a little thin and unremarkable. Not much in the way of funk or spiciness happening, but I could imagine it seeming a lot better on a hot day. The stout was a straightforward dry stout that I thought was served much too cold to be properly appreciated. The Frankincense was a spiced brown ale with some clove and cinnamon character. Our entertainment for the evening was watching some of the staff hanging Christmas decorations (strings of artificial evergreen branches and ornaments) along the top of the bright tanks behind the bar.

Saturday afternoon we drove up to Freetail Brewing, which was about 30 minutes from downtown. Looking over the list of beers on the website, it was clear it was a more adventurous brewery, as the selections ranged from the ubiquitous wit beers and pale ales to imperial stouts to barrel-aged sour ales. We arrived and ordered two samplers, which meant a total of ten 4-ounce pours, and the green chili, artichoke, and goat cheese dip, which served as a damn tasty foundation for all the beer.

The samplers were served on plates with parchment paper beneath the glasses and the beer names written in Sharpie next to the glass. Here are some highlights from my tasting notes:

• The Mighty
  • Atê – A sour blonde ale that was super dry and tart with a tiny bit of residual malt sweetness and vaguely Chardonnay-esque character.
  • Self-Regarde – lovely sour brown ale with lots of fruit flavors like sour cherry and apple, almost like a young red wine.
  • Hopothesis E – They called this an experimental ale. Fruity characteristics suggesting an English yeast strain, prominent malt profile, and a notable but not aggressive hop presence that was more piney and resinous than citrusy.
  • Round Earth IPA – Dubbed a “West Indies Pale Ale,” it had a faint caramel presence in the aroma and bracing hop bitterness with not a lot of hop flavor.
• The Middling
  • 4 Shadow – A ‘smoked Belgian stout’ that smelled like chocolate covered bacon tobacco and tastes like smoking the same. Improved a lot when paired with the goat cheese dip.
  • Tadarida Oscura – They call it a CDA, feel free to call it a Black IPA if that works for you. Hoppy, slightly watery, and thankfully not too roasty with an interesting vegetal undercurrent.
  • Otoño Bienvenido – A saison brewed with pumpkin. Bit of funk, some spices, mostly an easily drinkable Belgian amber.
• The Meh
  • La Muerta – an imperial stout brewed annually for the Day of the Dead, this was much too smoky, even for the style. Perhaps time will help it out.
  • Prickly Realtail and Prickly Fairy Peril – an amber and a wild ale brewed with prickly pears. Both were very vegetal and reminded me a bit of a bitter melon dish at a Sichuan restaurant. I wrote “something approaching good” about the latter. Perhaps prickly pear is just not my thing.