Homage to Catalonia

Last week I was briefly in Barcelona for work. I had only a few hours in the afternoon free so there was no time to bring Francisco red carnations, but starting in the Plaça de Catalunya I was able to give a quick nod to the site of the Spanish Kronstadt before commencing my wanderings.

Thanks to some tips from Mark Dredge I had some quality beer bars to track down but before I made it to any I was tempted into La Llibertària by a young newspaper seller.

It didn't seem much of a place for beer so I just asked for a caña, or small crappy lager as we say in English. Then it was time for a bit of culture at a bookshop, where I picked up a CD:

After that I finally to to a decent Barça beer bar: BierCab. There were 30 beers on here. I started with something local, having a Naparbier IPA, strong and tasting of American hops this was definitely craft beer, and it was a great step up from the crappy lager I'd had earlier. With the clock ticking and a work related meal to get to in the evening I couldn't settle down to working my way along the bar so as I sipped my drink  I carefully pondered my selection.

In the end I went for a small Bourbon barrel aged stout from De Molen, not exactly local but I hadn't had any of their stuff when I was in Amsterdam so I figured I was just making up for lost time. It was really good too, but at over 10% ABV I'd reached my limit for safely meeting with new colleagues and it was time I was on my way.