Estrella Damm Inedit

Estrella Damm, Barcelona, Spain

Inedit

Belgian Wheat

4.8% ABV

Bottle with attached tasting notes into tasting glass (not the recommended white wine glass…)

Estrella Damm is taking their high-end beer, Inedit, a little too seriously:

Our waiter at the Tap and Mallet in Rochester, NY gave us some similar hype, though admitted that he hadn’t had the chance to taste it yet. We were too curious to say no.

I can see why this beer would go well with food. The beer itself is extremely bland, so it won’t challenge the tastes of hard-to-pair foods: arugula, asparagus, blue cheese, fermented yak’s milk pudding with cayenne mango sauce. It wasn’t completely tasteless; there were some pleasing, albeit subtle, floral aromas. But we were drinking it as a beer, not a food-accompaniment, and the beer geek conversation quickly ran dry.

Alex: Do you like it?

Nina and Perry: *shrug*

Alex: I think it tastes like dishwater.

**long, long pause while everyone slowly sips a 3 oz portion from a $28 750mL bottle**

Neil: *shrug*

**everyone goes back to pounding tasty pints of American microbrew**

Granted, it is well-made, and has tiny bubbles that make for a great mouth feel.  Too bad it doesn’t have much personality. Maybe we weren’t managing its micro-degree temperature-controlled ice bath properly. If beer is going to be elevated to fine-dining, it should at least have the decency to bring some flavor of its own.

~ by nininja on May 3, 2010.