Beer review: Estrella Damm Inedit (AM)

A few years ago Ferran Adria was in Melbourne for some Food and Wine Festival thing and I went to see him talk. He made me think and feel a lot of things including, but not limited to: he is adorable; I want to eat his food; I can't believe I'll probably never get to eat his food; shit, life can be unfair.

And then, last weekend I was at the bottle shop and I saw this:

Estrella Damm Inedit. The beer of Ferran Adria! Close enough is near enough I sometimes say!

So I bought it. Of course I did.

 

After a little internet research I learned that this beer has been created by Ferran Adria, Juli Soler and elBulli's sommelier's team to "fill a gap in drinking."   It was perceived by team elBulli that there is not a beer that is great to eat with, so they made one. Me, I've never percieved this lack, but who the hell am I?! Just a beer lover who'll take what I can get!
 

Team elBulli

After a little more research (reading the side of the box) I learned that this beer should compliment any dish, even "challenging foods such as asparagus or cheese". Um, ok.

Whoopsee

I also learned, after pouring it into beer glasses that I should drink it from a white wine glass. Um, ok.

Aaaahh, that's better

Then I learned that it is a "unique coupage of barley malt, wheat, hop, coriander, orange peel, yeast and water." And then I learned coupage means blend of wine.

Finally I drank it. According to the box the beer is:

• Slightly cloudy in appearance. Check!
• Fruity and floral to the nose. Check!
• Has a yeasty sensation and sweet spices reminiscences. Kinda.
• Creamy and fresh texture. Not really.
• Soft volume and delicate carbonic. Oh, come off it. 
• Long aftertaste. Absolutely not. That taste disappeared seconds after the beer was drunk.
• Pleasant memory. Sure, pleasant enough.

Basically that beer tasted like a lot of boutique beers. And does beer really need to come in a box? A box for a bottle that holds 2.8 standard drinks?! It seems a little unneccessary. 

But maybe I wasn't doing it right. Maybe I should have been drinking it with some challenging food.

It was nice. Don't get me wrong. But mind blowing? Really, it was just a beer. Still, I would do anything, ANYTHING to get to eat the food of Ferran Adria. So all I have learnt from this experience is that I probably won't spend $9 on a box of beer again. Maybe once more just to check. And then probably not again. Probably.

Haiku Thursday (PM)

Autumn 

I 

Of all the seasons 

Autumn is one of the best 

Makes top three, mos def

II 

Lasagne gets made 

The best season for dressing 

Red wine tastes delic 

III 

Colours of autumn 

Are spoken of most fondly 

Because they're lovely

The Pour Cloud (PM)

Well Mate, I love this Pour Cloud concept. I think it's very sweet, and I'm glad you invented it. I think we should try to make it happen. I, for one, intend to use it next time AB complains that the tide is out on her glass of wine when we go out to dinner. No AB, I will say, they are just making room for the Pour Cloud. Her mind will be blown.
Now if only I could stop picturing this whenever I read the words Pour Cloud:

While your brain's misinterpretations lead to invention, mine just make me feel empathy for clouds.   Geez, brain. Nut up, why don't you.

The Pour Cloud (AM)

The other day there was a cask of wine in my kitchen. And I was moving it or something when, on the side of the box, I noticed a picture of a glass of wine and some text in the empty bit of the wine glass that said 'Your pour cloud is bigger than you think'.

I'd never heard the expression 'pour cloud', but I liked it. I imagined that the pour cloud is the space left in a glass of wine when you have poured the correct amount, and that for all different glasses the pour cloud is, of course, different.

 

Of course a smaller glass means that for one standard drink your pour cloud would be smaller than in a larger balloony glass, even though you have the same amount of drink.

I loved this pour cloud. And what an interesting way to make people think about their alcohol consumption, a whole other way to think about pouring standard drinks. Negative space!

How could I find out more about the pour cloud?! Like, how much space, or cloud, should be left in a glass? How do you figure it out? And this phrase, 'pour cloud', had it been around a long time? Was it a phrase that wine people used? I mean, it makes perfect sense, but when, why, how did it come into being?!

God, I had so many questions!

Did I mention that the cask might have been upside down when I read that text? That I was distracted? Should I tell you that after pondering this lovely cloud I reread the text and saw that it said 'Your pour could be bigger than you think'.