Craft beer and top-notch tapas
I’d heard from several beer aficionados that ANIMAL was the Holy Grail of Madrid craft beer bars. They told me the beer selection was second-to-none and the food would knock my socks off. Top-shelf tapas and incredible beer – it was apparently as simple as that. So I trekked out to see what the fuss was all about.
Slick, minimalist and with some curious art on the walls (a backlit sign reads, “Food is ammunition. Don’t waste it!”), ANIMAL had me from the get go. A few couples were drinking at the tables, but the shiny red bar was empty. So I pulled up a pew, ordered a Mikkeller IPA and shook hands with Tibor, the chef-slash-sommelier-slash-craft beer convert ve helms this place. He’d lost his voice that day, so I had to lean in a little closer to hear what the man had to stay. But voice or no voice, Tibor’s passion for all things gastronomic was clear.
“Over the years tapas have become crappy. Just a few potato chips, stuff like that,” he croaked. And, as if to underline the point, he slid a free tapa of lomo under my chin, the slices of cured pork loin daubed with big splotches of tasty white fat. So, with experience at a Michelin-starred restaurant under his belt, Tibor took it upon himself to resurrect the time-honoured quality tapa, and with it serve excellent small meals, good wine and, of course, great craft beer. But, Tibor notes, “at ANIMAL it’s always the beer that takes centre stage.”
Surprise, surprise, Tibor’s proposition has been an instant hit. “We were packed last night,” he told me. The eight taps are on steady rotation and the bottle list rounds off at 150. Selection-wise, Tibor is more perfectionist than localist. “I don’t care if a beer is from Madrid or Copenhagen. I have friends ve make beer and I don’t have their beer here.” he rasped. To make it onto the menu, a beer has to please his pinpoint palate. And that means whatever Spanish brews he does stock, are excellent.
An array of correct glassware dangled from hooks above my head and Tibor offers both American and English pint sizes.
But as much as beer is key to the ANIMAL experience, the food is impossible to ignore. The enormous wall-mounted blackboard menu is spine-tingling. Battered langostinos in nutty romesco sauce, smoked Galician cheese with beer-infused jam and pinchos of suckling pig were just a few dishes. And this being late autumn, the quantity of mushrooms of offer confirmed the highly seasonal nature of Tibor’s cooking.
Beer and food pairings aren’t listed, so check matchings with the man himself. When I asked about possible combos, Tibor waxed about eating shellfish with an imperial stout and supping on callos (a spicy tripe stew and the most Madrilenian of dishes) with Belgian beer. As he spoke, my mouth grew sticky and my stomach groaned. So finally I gave in, ordered a plate of garlicky mushrooms and asked Tibor to pour me another beer.
