Letra B

Letra B is Cerveja Letra’s spin on the bohemian pilsner. A 5%, 26 IBU pale lager, the beer poured with a slightly cloudy orange-gold colour and a thin layer of white head.

A bright aroma greeted my nose, with notes of toast, sweet grains, and a subtext of fresh oranges. The mouthfeel is fairly crisp, even if the flavour is a bit too sweet. There are notes of cereal and a faint whisper of fruit, before turning toward noble hop bitterness; however the beer lacked the crisp crackle that I was hoping for.

Rating: 7.0 out of 10.

Letra C

 The core beers at Cerveja Letra are assigned alphabetical names—A through F. I decided to kick my experience off in the middle of their offerings with their 5.5% alcohol oatmeal stout—Letra C.

In typical stout fashion, my beer arrived dark—approaching black—with a thin tan head. To my nose, Letra C had the expected molasses and roasted malt notes, but also something a bit spicy—a faint touch of chili pepper. This tinge of spice didn’t materialize in the flavour, which was driven by roasted malts at the outset and transitioned into a relatively bitter (20 IBU, but tastes more robust) coffee and cocoa stained finish.

This was one of the most flavourful dark beers that I sampled on my Portugal journey. An oatmeal stout isn’t typically my idea of heaven when sitting outside on a 31C afternoon, but this one really hit the spot. Besides, I was on vacation in Portugal and it was shady in my corner of the beer garden. Bliss.

Rating: 9.0 out of 10.

Letraria Craft Beer Garden Porto

The beer garden at Letraria Craft Beer Garden Porto has got to be one of the most peaceful places in all of Portugal to sample and enjoy craft beer. A nondescript façade on a quiet, side street leads into a narrow bar that hides a peaceful oasis in the middle of a fairly busy part of Porto. Full, the garden could likely seat 60 folks and accommodate many more standing, but shortly after opening at 4pm on a Thursday, when I was lucky enough to come calling, the whole place had only a sparse collection of other patrons. The beer garden had a handful of small bistro tables, some larger picnic tables, and still more small tables with benches built into little enclaves.

Letraria is affiliated with Cerveja Letra, a brewery located in Vila Verde in Northern Portugal. It features a wide selection of beers, primarily from Letra and their collaborations with other breweries; however, there is also an assortment of other craft brews from around Portugal.

 

 

Other than comfort and peace, another nice feature of Letraria was the use of proprietary debit cards to order and keep track of purchases—customers order beer and food on their cards and settle up at the end.

Sadly, during my visit, they were having a hard time with the refrigeration for their tap lines. To their credit, though, the gent working the bar acknowledged the issue, explained which beers were unaffected, and showed me to the extensive bottle fridge. Not as dire as I feared, friends!

 

With the Bitter Wife recuperating from a travel-induced migraine, I was free to spend a lovely afternoon at the beer garden tasting beers and getting mad buzzy. Stay tuned for a handful of reviews from my time there.

 

Creature IPA

My final installment during my trip to Lisbon’s Dois Corvos was their Creature IPA, which was recommended to me by the gent behind the bar as the most bitter of the five IPAs on offer that day. At 60 IBUs, the brew isn’t paint-strippingly bitter, but it has some heft, aided by the 6.8% alcohol. My 40cL glass was filled with a largely clear, handsome gold liquid and topped off with a layer of white suds.

Creature had an aroma that toed the line between pine and citrus. That balance was likewise reflected in the flavour, which also tied in some biscuit elements. Primarily, though, evergreen and grapefruit were the movers and shakers driving this I.P.A. 

To date, the most bitter and “American-style” ale I’ve tried in Portugal, Creature had a decidedly West Coast vibe that would been cozily at home in Portland or San Diego. I found the beer well-made and flavourful. Not necessarily memorable on its own, but as a memento of our trip, I suspect it’ll be one of the liquid touchstones I’ll carry home with me.

Rating: 8.5 out of 10.

Finisterra Imperial Porter

Finisterra Imperial Porter is named for the Ancient Roman name for Portugal, signifying the end of the known world. The beer, an onyx black ale with a short tan head, clocks in at a muscular 8.5% and 50 IBUs. It comes from Lisbon's Dois Corvos.

Finisterra has a rich and boozy scent, with notes of mocha and raisin lounging beneath luxurious roasted malt aromatics. The flavour is sweet, initially, and then wanders down a bitter back road. Again, roasted malt is the driving force, but there are also leather, tobacco, dark chocolate, and coffee elements. 

The result is a tasty imperial porter that is strong, but not obscene. It has loads of flavour, but it isn’t too rich to sip on a sweltering afternoon (indoors, mind you).

Rating: 8.0 out of 10.

Vines of Passion

After a fun trip to Lisbon’s Oceanarium, the Bitter Wife and I hopped on a bus and rolled over to Dois Corvos Cervejeira, a cool and comfortably appointed space in a mixed use part of town—a bit off the beaten path, but one with Lou Reed on the stereo.

 

For my first brew, I went with a 125mL pour of Vines of Passion. It was a 7.4% barrel-aged ale made using muscat grape must. At just 14 IBUs, bitterness was low, and Nelson Sauvin hops combined with the grape must gave the beer a distinctly white wine profile. The aroma is fiercely winey, with acidic and sweet notes mingling freely. For flavour, the beer is tangy and fruity, with only a hint of bitterness.

The high alcohol content was nearly imperceptible and the beer was extremely easy-sipping, creating a devilishly dangerous combo. One gets the sense that three or four glasses of this stuff could vanish in a blink, leaving an unwitting drinker a bit wobblier than they might expect. Tasty and cleverly made, this ale—aged two years—is a yummy treat for wine lovers slumming it in the beer world.

Rating: 8.0 out of 10.

Aurea Vienna Lager

On our way back to our hotel in Lisbon, the Bitter Wife and I stumbled past Cervejaria Trindade, billed as Portugal’s “oldest and most beautiful brewery.” The brewery, housed in a converted monastery, was genuinely aesthetically pleasing—a big, airy, and venerable space with a lovely courtyard (the cloister) and pretty tile work on the walls—sadly, I don't seen to have snapped any good pics. We opted to sit in the old rectory, where the BW indulged in cheesecake and a glass of house red while yours truly enjoyed a pint of the Aurea Vienna Lager.

My beer arrived in a (it should be mentioned, very dirty) glass. It was a hazy dull gold lager topped with a thick off-white foam. It had an assertive toasted malt and copper aroma. To my tongue, the beer was toasty, yet crisp, and quite full-bodied, with lots of grain notes and a slightly metallic, yeasty tang.

The beer was pretty good—a bit too metallic, perhaps—but enjoyable. However, the setting, from the old world monk vibes to the remarkably gruff service to the completely unexpected revelation that there was a brewery at all, made our visit to Trindade a memorable experience.

Rating: 7.0 out of 10.

Vhamina Z Red IPA

My second foray into the offerings of Duque Brewpub in Lisbon was their Vhamina Z Red IPA. A slightly hazy amber ale turned up at my table, under a cloud of tan head.

A 5.6% red IPA, the beer had a bright, floral hops aroma, accented with coppery notes. The flavour veered rapidly from a sweet, malty overture to a robust, piney crescendo.

I’ve had better red IPAs, but on a hot late afternoon after a day of pounding the pavement of a hilly city, this stuff hit the spot in a very real way. It was quite flavourful and didn’t skimp on either the red ale or IPA potions of the equation. Very much an American-style red IPA, this stuff had flavour to spare.

Rating: 8.5 out of 10.

Duque Americano

After a lengthy climb up a seemingly never ending series of flights of stairs, the Bitter Wife and I arrived, sweaty and thirsty, at the Cervejaria Artesanal Duque. A small brewpub and craft beer bar, the Duque only had five of their own beers on tap, as well as a curated selection of other Portuguese taps and bottles. Shout out to the music selection—we arrived to a punk Johnny Cash cover and heard Frank Zappa, Radiohead, and Tom Waits during our stay.

For my first pint, I opted for a pour of Duque Americano, their take on an American Brown Ale. My 5% (according to the Untappd listing) brew arrived stout-dark and crowned with a thin but persistent cream head. The beer had a velvety molasses and malt aroma. The flavour was pretty robust, with roasted malt lording over the front and and a sizable bitter presence brings up the rear. Flavour notes were primarily sticky molasses, backed with espresso and a touch of sappy bitterness.

A fine offering from a small and charming beer joint, Duque Americano got the brown ale job done admirably. Totally worth climbing all those steps (Bitter Wife likely doesn’t agree).

Rating: 8.0 out of 10.

Metropolitan Pale Ale

At a quirky and gaudy little oceanside restaurant called the Museu da Cerveja in Lisbon, I ordered a 330mL bottle of Metropolitan Pale Ale from Dois Corvos Cervejeira in Lisbon. Billed as an American-style pale ale, the beer contains 5.6%. It’s a bronze-gold ale; clear, with very little head.

Extremely fresh (the bottle says it was brewed on August 20 and I drank it on September 1), Metropolitan had a subtle bitter grapefruit nose. The flavour had candied grapefruit up front and an understated citrus hop at the rear.

The first Portuguese craft beer that I really enjoyed, Metropolitan Pale Ale was a treat to cool off on a hot afternoon. When in Lisbon, I’d recommend this as a reliable go-to brew.

Rating: 8.5 out of 10.

Sagres Preta

Upon landing in Lisbon, the Bitter Wife and I checked into our hotel, showered, and she opted to nap while I went in the hunt for beer. My first bottle was a 330mL of Sagres Preta, a schwarzbier from Vialonga, Portugal’s Sagres. The 4.1% dark lager poured dark brown with amber highlights and a thinnish layer of tan head. It had a malty nose complemented with brown sugar, mocha, and copper notes. The flavour is mild, but agreeable, with roasted malt leading the charge and a metallic subtext hiding out.

The beer was not, as I’d hoped, crisp and refreshing; however, it did pair pretty well with my first custard tart of the vacation. The beer was a bit too thin to be more than merely enjoyable, with too little alcohol to warrant much revisit value. Not bad stuff, but not remarkable at all.

Rating: 6.0 out of 10.

Portuguese Vacation!

Fans of the Bitter World:

You might have noticed a pause in my regular posting over the last little while. I've been in Portugal for the last eight days. Usually, I try to queue up a handful of posts to account for a vacation, but this time around, there was too much other stuff going on in my life and I decided not to worry about the blog.

Portugal, as it turns out, is a spectacular destination. Known for fortified wines and other vinos, I wasn't sure what to expect from its beer scene. What I found was a widely available beer scene that was pretty generic, but pockets of excellent craft beer that, when sought out, left me quite impressed. During my eight-day stay, I found IPAs, pilsners, dark lagers, barrel-aged funksters, and porters aplenty. And the beer-drinking culture should be mentioned, too: draft macro beer was available nearly everywhere food was sold, and it was consumed with gusto. Beer drinking seemed to be a mealtime necessity, but in my experience it was seldom pursued to inebriation.

Stay tuned to the Bitter World for the next couple of weeks for a cross-section of some of the more interesting beers that I sampled during my trip to Portugal.

Felicidades!