Taberna de la Muralla Munich (Oscura)

Ordered as "cura". That confused the hell out of me. Murky chesnut colour with thin layer of foam. Slight rotten fruit accent to the otherwise straightforward brown sugar aroma. As with the Claro, it’s quite fizzy, obscuring some of the brown sugar maltiness. The rotten off-notes are actually quite minimal in the flavour, leaving a simple brown sugar and dark caramel taste. It’s fairly unassertive stuff, though bold as hell compared with the rest of Cuba’s beer pantheon.

I had a tour of the pub. The beer is brewed in the bar and the tanks are all in the back. The equipment is new from Austria. However there is something wrong in their brewing process. They are very proud of what they are doing. I was shown the hop pellets and the 5 grains used for 3 beers. However all 3 of the beers were raw and dirty tasting. Not being a brewer I can only guess that the brewing is at too low a temperature or not long enough or that the beer is not settling and clearing long enough. The beers themselves were not actually cloudy or yeasty. Although the manager said this was 5.2% the waiter said all the beers are around 4%. Maybe the grain bill is to thin. The Munich is dark brown. This beer had the best head of the three. Head retention was not a problem. It was hard to get a sense of the aroma since they were working on the kettle and there was a strong yeast scent. I think the beers need more finishing hops. The beer has a hint of chocolate or cocoa and tastes like watered down chocolate. If they get a brewer to help them with the nice equipment they may have something nice here.