Sagra Bohío

Origin: Spain

Type: Barleywine

Color: Dark brown

Alcohol content: 10.4%

Recommended serving temperature: 8ºC/46ºF

Brewery: Cervezas Sagra

Webpage: http://www.cervezasagra.es/cervezas/sagra-bohio.html

Bent as I am on rectifying this blog's deficiencies little by little and step by step, I have decided that today was the time for a Barleywine post. As such I have decided to write about the Sagra Bohío.

I have chosen this particular Barleywine because it is not necessarily very well known, at least outside of Spain, even if it in my opinion deserves to be on account of its originality and taste.

It was apparently born from the collaboration of Cervezas Sagra's master brewer, Bob Maltman, and Pepe Rodríguez head chef of the Michelin star restaurant El Bohío, in Illescas, Toledo. Their idea was to brew a Spanish craft beer which could pair well with any kind of food, especially desserts.

The final product, the Sagra Bohío is of a very dark brown color, I dare say closer to black, and barely translucent at all. It boasts a pretty decent amount of cream colored foam, which keeps for a short amount of time but does not really ever completely disappear.

Its aroma is that of licorice and honey, or even raisins, mixing the more toasted touches of the licorice like aroma in this case and an overall sweetness, something which is a constant pattern in this beer.

This sweetness is then blended in in the taste with other nutty flavors, to give it an overall feel of a drink you would have in front of the fire to warm yourself up, and warm you it will with its 10.4%ABV, even if it is served nice and chilled. This feeling is somehow helped on by its full body and oily texture, kind of like nice thick coffee or a creamy chocolate.

Among the nutty flavors I would say some form of hazelnut sticks out, possibly because of the way it fits perfectly into the beer's character.

Other dried fruits come to mind among the sweet flavors that appear in the taste of this beer, which again are counterbalanced by the roasted flavors coming from the nuts. With these flavors, it is hard not to feel like you are being pretty healthy when you drink this beer.

This mix of sweet dried fruits and nuts is perfectly achieved, rounding off the beer pretty well and making it very balanced. The alcohol present in it is not noticeable in its taste, but even the sweetness is polished and loses its edge when confronted with the nuts. This gives it a drier and flavorful finish, without nevertheless making it bitter at all.

The result is a nutritious beer that leaves you with a feeling of sweet and nutty warmth and satisfaction. The idea of making a beer which would go well with any kind of food was probably trying to bite off more than you can chew, as it would require many different characteristics and flavors in a beer, but there is no question that Bob Maltman and Pepe Rodríguez have had it spot on when it comes to making a great dessert beer, which is perfect for a sweet moment.