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.