10.3% ABV| Imperial Stout | 330ml | Edge Brewing Collab with Lervig Brewing | Barcelona, Spain
For every reach of the globe that revels in craft beer, there’s another stubborn little part of the world that, for whatever reason, doesn’t really get it.
These beer deserts can spring up for any number of reasons – whether it be the iron grip wine or some other local spirit has on the region, or the complacency of a people who are completely ok with drinking the same mass-produced lager that has been a part of their culture for decades. Sometimes the notion of craft beer just doesn’t stick. And that’s ok.
Of course, you don’t have to agree. Just ask Edge Brewing, whose founders “were so eager to bring the American craft beer revolution to Europe that they brought a brewery.”
Edge Brewing, founded in 2013, is the spirit of American craft brewing, only in Barcelona. Alan Sheppard, Edge Brewing’s Head Brewer, sought to burst Spain’s vaguely anti-craft beer barrier with an injection of the phenomenon that is so beloved elsewhere. Sourcing everything from the water treatment equipment to the yeast from San Diego, California (the birthplace of the American craft brew scene and sort of Beer Mecca for craft beer lovers everywhere), the team at Edge Brewing is the epitome of American craft, only in a European metropolis.
For this particular offering from Edge Brewing, a deviantly dark Imperial Stout they have aptly entitled Pure Decadence, they partnered with Lervig brewing of Norway. This beer came out of a friendship between the two brewers and quite a few flights to Norway, and it’s a winner.
Pure Decadence is a glorious testament to the almighty malt and all of the associated flavors that come with it. A supremely dark beer (“black as night,” alleges the brewers), this Stout features a bitter oomph of roasty chocolate and coffee flavors, with several sweet fruit notes, a hint of licorice, and a slight booze burn. Pour this pitch black brew into your favorite tulip glass and sip carefully and thoughtfully, enveloping yourself in the whole gallery of dark flavors the beer has to offer.
You don’t get much more worldly than beers like Pure Decadence – with an American father, a Norwegian mother, and a Spanish surrogate, it’s pretty much a UN meeting in a glass. So, cheers! Here’s to the birth of the craft beer scene in Barcelona and Spain beyond.