A Nostalgic Return

I thought it would be fun to take a look at some of the initial blogs I had written about a place, and this seemed like a good one to check out. I vaguely remembered not really knowing the name of the place until after I had been there. And, I was right.

235) La Gloria ye Infierno

I headed back across the river and not far from the Gigante supermarket is this small, cinder-block building on the corner of Constitucion and Francisco L. Mader. I looked all over but could not see a name and it didn't look like the kind of place I should be asking people. In fact, it didn't look like the kind of place I should be in. No overt hostility, but I certainly felt that I was somehow intruding.

An update. Although there is still no name visible the bartender at Machis Bar B. Q. (number 304) told me I should try a place called La Gloria ye Infierno on Constitucion. It turned out this was the place. I went in and showed the bartender the name the bartender had written down for me and he acknowledged that I was in the place. Mystery solved.

Ah, so many years ago and so much has changed. Except not in here. It looks exactly the same, both inside and outside, as it always has. Oh, except now there is some new furniture piled up in the place.

Paul And Bar Man At La Gloria ye Infierno



Even the crowd at the bar seemed to look the same as the last time I was here.

The Bar Crowd


We were escorted to the best table in the house. Plenty of sunlight.

Sharon, Paul And Dan At The House's Best Table


As you can see, we had a few beers and a couple shots of tequila. I really do like this place and, although it never looks like it's open, it almost always is.

Palate or Pretense

Okay, now when I write about a beer I might describe it as smoky with a hint of caramel. Not likely, but I might. I might refer to chocolate and coffee, maybe toffee. Usually not all in the same beer though. But this has got to be the most laughably outrageous description of a beer I have ever read. Can you even imagine discerning all of those flavors in a beer let alone remembering them and the sequence in which they appeared.

This was written by David Gilbert in a column titled Beer Predator. It can be found in February/March edition of Ale Street News.

The review is for Mikkeller Black Hole, a beer I certainly do what to try. Without further ado, his review:

Mikkeller Black Hole (13.95%) is a massive and multifaceted coffee stout that is smooth, creamy, hoppy, fruity and warming. Coffee from Sumatra (the largest island in Indonesia) and vanilla are added at the end of the fermentation process. Flavors of concentrated coffee, sweet cream, chocolate syrup, grapes, burnt marshmellows, lemon peel and caramelized sugar appear.

Mid-palate a roasted bitterness enters followed by underlying dry malt, spruce, molasses, green apple, prunes, vanilla, pine, and Amoretto di sorrono.

The finish is malty, chewy, dry and vinous with flavors of tea biscuits, licorice, nutmeg and bitter dark chocolate followed by menthol infused hops with a suggestion of Sambucca.

Man, that has to be some beer. And someone who can discern licorice (with nutmeg and bitter dark chocolate) from Sambucca (with menthol infused hops) is, indeed, a force to be reckoned with.

Of course he also says in the review of Haand Bryggeriet Dark Force Double Extreme Imperial Wheat Stout (and yes, these are all real beers) that he can detect the flavor of Mexican mole. I was almost expecting him to name the village in which it was made and, perhaps, the family who made it.

And, now that I think of it, I grew up in Minnesota and I couldn't begin to tell you what the difference between the taste of a spruce and a pine might be. In fact, I am pretty sure a spruce is a type of pine. Maybe he was trying to differentiate between two different types of pines. That man's palate is, indeed, remarkable.