It is time for Zurich Beer Tour's first Top 3 beers of the year, for January 2022. Simona's pick is a fantastic #collaboration Barley wine of three well-known breweries. Sandro's going for a hop loaded triple IPA by quite a new brewery from #Barcelona. This month's staff pick is one of our beloved #barrel aged imperial stouts, this time coming from Ireland. Let's do this!
Simona's pick: Letra (POR) X Mean Sardine(POR) X Lervig (NOR) - Barley Wine
The Beer:
This fantastic collab of 2 Portuguese and a Norwegian brewery is an amazing Barley wine, that was aged in port wine barrels for 10 months. With it's 12.2% ABV there it has a really #boozy nose (in a good way) paired with notes of figs, raisins and port. On the palate the beer is really #complex and layered. The first thing you notice are the fig and dried fruit aromas, but the more sips you take the more aromas appear: sweet port, #wood and dark chocolate. A fantastic beer at the end of a night of beers, because this one will still impress your palate no matter what type of beer you had before.
The Breweries:
Letra and Mean Sardine are breweries from Portugal. Letra is based in the beautiful town of Vila-Verde in the north of #Portugal, near Braga, where they also run a brewpub. Mean Sardine is located in Ericeira which is near Lisbon. Lervig is a brewery that most craft beer fans have heard of. The guys from Stavanger, #Norway are well-known for their sometimes super weird but super tasty brews and also their dozens of International collab beers.
Our food pairing recommendation:
This beer is best enjoyed by itself.
Sandro's pick: Freddo Fox (CAT) X Wylie Brewery (CAT) - Partners In Crime TIPA
The Beer:
This Triple IPA is the result of a collaboration between Freddo Fox and Wylie Brewery, both from Barcelona, #Catalunya. Triple IPAs are mostly known to be on the maltier side, also "Triple" comes from the amount of #malt that is used to brew it. Even though this means that the amount of hops is adjusted accordingly, it is mostly the malt that is key in these beers. In this version though, the hops are definitely the star. The beer that is brewed with Bru-1, El Dorado and Sabro hops clocks in at 9.5% ABV. The beer carries aromas of sweet melon, grapefruit and peach. The finish is pretty dry for this beer style and also a nice #bitter backbone can be felt. An unusual but extremely tasty TIPA.
The Breweries:
Freddo Fox is a pretty new brewery, founded in 2021 in Barcelona. Freddo Fox is a kind of re-foundation of a legendary Brewery called "Edge Brewing". Two of the founders (Elliot Koning and Robin Barden) were part of Edge, but they wanted to be more #experimental than Edge used to be. They were joined by Marcus Tybell who used to work at Brewski from Sweden. Wiley are also from the area of Barcelona, and they run an extremely beautiful #pub in the town of Sitges. Wiley also love to brew experimental beers and are known all over Catalunya for their amazingly tasty IPAs.
Our food pairing recommendation:
Fruit Salad
Zurich Beer Tour's pick: Galway Bay Brewery (IRL) - We Still Got It BA Imperial Stout
The Beer:
This beer has a long history, and also has a small connection to #Switzerland. This amazing beer was brewed in the spring of 2018, by Chris Treanor who had left the brewery in 2016. And this is where the connection to Switzerland is, Chris became brewer at Whitefrontier, probably the most popular Swiss craft brewery. The beer was brewed with 10 different malts, and carries heavy notes of chocolate, caramel, cocoa and figs. Due to the long barrel maturation in #rum barrels, the beer gained another 3.8 % ABV, making the final ABV 13.8%. The barrel added nice notes of #booze and oak and made the beer extremely #decadent and complex. An absolute #masterpiece.
The Brewery:
Galway Bay was founded as a brewpub in 2009, when friends Jason and Niall got fed up of the beer scene in #Ireland and decided to do something about it. They brew a core range of seven beers with #classic styles like IPAs, a stout and a red ale. But when it gets even more interesting, is when they release their monthly specials which are everything from fruity #sours to big barrel aged stouts like this one.
Our food pairing recommendation:
Macadamia, rum and raisin brownie shortbread bars
These are our three beers. Which ones were your favorite brews in January? Tell us in the comments!
Are you looking for more personalized recommendations, that are made to fit your taste? Check our Pocket Beer Sommelier.
Stay tuned for our February recommendations!
Cheers,
Your Zurich Beer Tour Guides
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