Discover Hops, now

England 1 v Netherlands 3 (aet)
UEFA Nations League Semi Final
Thursday 6 June 2019
Played at Estadio D. Afonso Henriques, Guimaraes

2018/19 Football Season Brewery Visits - 105

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Different Portuguese Beer Ticks = 38

I started on 19 Beers from previous Portuguese trips. Overall, I'm disappointed with the bit of the Portuguese Microbrewery scene I'm hitting. Here's the thing;

The Breweries I have visited are essentially BrewPubs, their beers feel very safe & identikit. Some are little more than HomeBrew.
Even beers from the larger, well established Portuguese Micros can be a bit hit or miss.

The Portuguese are a proud seafaring nation, with many "discoveries" behind them. But, can one of them please give me a Bell when they fucking discover HOPS. Virtually everything has been seriously underpowered.

I'm trying to give Malt Driven beers a go, it's an agricultural country after all. Wits. Stouts, Reds. I'll see how we get on.

Cervejaria Artesanal Levare in Porto was a case in all those points. The bright & shiny brewkit was fully visible, behind glass, behind the bar. It looked to me like seven of their own on keg.

Levare, American IPA on keg at 6.2%. That was thick n chewy, with a lot of malt. The hops were just tinglers, not grabbers. Market that as a hopped Red Ale. Lips will lick. But, American IPA it ain't.

Levare, WitBier on keg at 5%. That smells gorgeous. Banana all over it. But, sigh, virtually none of that comes through in the taste. It was just a tad too sour. There was some late herby action, maybe coriander, to remind you it's a Wit.

The best beer gaff in Porto award can go to - Armazem da Cerveja, Craft Beer Bar & Shop. And, as England got beat, we're not even going back to Porto. A welcoming single room affair. Off licence shelves. Cold room behind the counter. Simple seven keg tap wall. However, that wall is not all that good if you're after Portuguese beer. They have a house lager. And, then basically only one of the other taps is Portuguese. But, they have an extensive & well ordered & well presented bottle list. And, that is one reason I loved it so much. The best one I had in there was;

Sovina, Teste 1 NEIPA Com Laranjas Da Qunita Dos Murcas on keg at 4.5%. I was lead to believe that is from a Small Batch Kit. Nicely balanced. Those oranges came through. But, didn't overpower. If I'm honest I was left searching for the hops.

OK, England were put out in disappointing circumstances. But, no question. I'm EVANGELICAL for this Nations League format. OK, we're at The Acorn stage. But, let's Oak It. I'll repeat myself here. Before the Nations League started, and since I joined the England Away Horrendous Lemons in 1982, England had played Spain just ONCE in a competitive game in UEFA or FIFA Finals or Qualifiers. And that was at Wembley in EURO '96. In that same period, England have played San Marino SIX times, and Luxembourg, Macedonia, Andorra & Moldova FOUR times each. That has just got to be wrong. The Nations League puts that right.

And, no it's not the Mickey Mouse Cup. To get here, to Guimaraes, we've had to get through Spain Mickey & Croatia Mouse. In order to Duke it out with The Netherlands. Sure, it doesn't yet have the EUROs or World Cup profile. But. Well. It's just Right. It's an Acorn. And, here's an unpopular view. It's The Fan's Finals. I'll be proved wrong, but I don't expect to see any face painted Malaysian loon, pretending to be an England fan, because he liked Frank Lampard. Tickets are relatively easy to come by. Limited Corporate game stealing Sponsor Bollocks. Games Thursday & Sunday. No "Three Laps Around France With A Goal Difference Spreadsheet".

(Alright, I am aware of the mither in Porto & that the easy access & short timeframe makes it more likely to attract Weekend Offenders)

That game basically turned on defensive errors. But, the Dutch were the better team, weren't they?I had a really good view of their corners. They were really good at getting the target man free. And at putting the ball on his head. It's over critical, but it did seem to be John Stones man who was free. There was inevitably a bit of wrestling & blocking. But it was more the short, concentrated burst of speed that was making the difference. They could easily have scored two or three from those setpieces.

I suppose Southgate has decided how he wants to play. It's the modern way. Distribution from the back. Keeper & Centre Backs comfortable on the ball. The attackers with the one touch tricks n flicks. Don't ask me whether Pickford, Maguire & Stones really are comfortable on the ball, or whether they've been told they are. But, in the box, on the edge, make a mistake, you'll get punished, and it'll look horrendous. It did.

Also, we weren't good at keeping possession. At times in the first half, we were giving it away and the Dutch were just constantly coming back at us. Our control & dynamism were extremely patchy. Obvs, when Lingard banged that one in, none of that analysis bothered me. But, VAR is the new reality. If he's offside, he's offside. 

Incidentally, that's not the only new toy. Today's yet more football bollocks award goes to an on screen countdown clock showing the number of seconds before the pre match warm up finishes. No. Really. We have photos….

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