Some lunch breaks back in the Oxford meant a cheeky beer, but when my Tenerife office base was Alcala while working for The Western Sun newspaper, lunch break meant a refreshing dip from the quay side and a few sarnies as I dried out in the sun. No wonder wild horses were not needed to get me back up the west coast for the Alcala Craft Beer Festival.
How different from my mid week swims was the scorching Saturday crowd of local families that filled nearly every speck of space on the quay and in the sparkling sea water. The festival stands were squeezed together by the harbour wall with a few marquees and a food truck when I arrived early afternoon. I started with a familiar brewery, Tacoa, I had visited their pub restaurant in El Sauzal years ago to write a review and was mightily impressed by the five hand pump ales on offer. Surf Beer at 4.5% seemed an appropriate first tipple. The festival beers were mainly in 33 cl bottles with a few on draught in half pint (caña) plastic glasses ranging from 2.50 to 4 euros. The Surf Beer rode my tonsils smoothly as I mentally booked a few later drinks from the Tacoa menu card that proudly proclaimed 0% Bullshit, 100% Craft Beer.
Next call was the Aguita Brewery from Santa Cruz for a 5.1% Dead Bully, American Pale Ale that went down nicely as their brewer explained that they brew 500 litres a week for 1,500 bottles, he also told me there are at least 20 micro breweries spread across the seven Canary Islands. The Jeito Brewery from Los Realejos grabbed my attention next, a 6% Oatmeal Stout became a firm friend as I took it walkies to enjoy some of the fine views of the bay.
At this early stage there was at least some joined up planning to my beer choice. La Armada Brewery from La Laguna ticked several boxes, Armada Sur being my CD Tenerife football family, and my choice of a 5% Nelson Sauvin golden ale seemed very appropriate just a few days after the 121st anniversary of Admiral Nelson´s failed attempt to take Santa Cruz and Tenerife. At this point I discovered one of the less well planned features of the festival, no toilets, there were some portaloos on the far side of the quay but picking my way through the dripping wet swimmers and sun bathers was already proving to be a challenge.
Back to the stalls and ready to refill my bladder, I picked on a 5.4% Irish Red from the Vagamundo Brewery in Las Palmas, Gran Canaria. Ignoring its unfortunate football origins, I was pleasantly surprised that the claims of aromas of malt, caramel, and light buttered toast were at least close to the mark, and it had no qualms about pleasing a CD Tenerife fans taste buds. A couple of my football friends, Gordon and Kirsty arrived and pushed the pace a little. A 5.9% Honey Palm Ale from La Palma was a smooth treat before I peaked with a Tacoa 6.2% Tajinaste Ale, technically the highest brewed in Spain as it contains floral honey from Mount Teide, at 3,718 metres, very nice indeed.
Things, and my notes, were getting a bit hazy by now. A 5.5 La Ginga from the Nomad Craft Brewery came and went rather quickly before I made a repeat visit to the Tacoa stand, firstly for the 6.5% Bock Beer, red for danger and for strength, and then another instalment of the Tajinaste Ale. That was basically my lot before wobbling back to the south. Thank you Alcala, and thanks for those micro brewery tour invites which are safely filed away and will be followed up.