Ferran Adriá’s El Bulli may have closed its doors as a restaurant, but there’s no escaping its continuing influence in the gastronomic world.
I perched on a stool outside a chic new vinoteca. Although I knew I should be ordering a glass of wine it was hot and I was thirsty, so at the risk of seeming like an uncouth peasant I asked the waitress if they served beer. Instead of gasping and asking her burly male counterpart to throw me off the premises, her eyes lit up and she said.
“Of course, we have Estrella Damm’s INEDIT, it’s approved by Ferran Adriá.”
Having recently visited El Bulli, I was quite excited by the prospect of trying a beer that had the El Bulli seal of approval. But of course with Ferran Adriá involved it wasn’t simply a matter of bringing me out a bottle and a glass – no sir, nothing as simple as that.
The sexy dark bottle arrived in a wine bucket filled with ice. The waitress placed a wine glass on the table and poured a small amount of beer. At first I thought that there might have been a bit of mickey taking because I’d ordered beer in a vinoteca, but the little leaflet accompanying the bottle soon put me right.
Inedit is a beer designed to compliment the best of Spanish cuisine. And if you want a cerveza that can hold its own in the flavour stakes with the best food, you get a top chef to contribute to its creation…hence the Ferran Adriá and his team at El Bulli’s involvement.
Inedit should be kept chilled (that explains the wine bucket) and served in white wine glasses to let its flavours blossom. And under no circumstances do you fill up your glass. Only a small amount should be poured at any one time in order to allow its range of flavours and slightly citrus aroma to roam free. This isn’t a beer to be knocked back to quench a thirst.
Follow these guidelines and you’re rewarded with a unique beer that has strayed well into the world of wine. The taste is creamy and fresh as well as being fruity and floral – so the leaflet tells me anyway and who am I to disagree. All I know is that it was Damm good and at €3.50 for a large bottle, pretty good value. I ordered another and toasted El Bulli for still being able to tantalise my tastebuds even at a distance.
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