Subjective ramblings about beer, pubs and associated topics

Tested: HC Andersen

It is the 200th anniversary of the great Danish writer Hans Christian Andersen (yes, the guy with the ugly duckling).  In Denmark, this is of course celebrated by naming a beer after him. It is a beer from Odense, his home town. The Odense brewery Albani is an official sponsor.

Posted by: KnutAlbert at 20:44 | link | comments
beer, brewers, denmark

Truly an exotic brew

The Independent tells the story of one man's struggle to set up a brewery in the West Bank where he brews beer according to the Bavarian Purity Law. It is tough to get the supplies of malt and hops in, and tha Muslim majority in the area is not promoting beer drinking, either.

They certainly could use a good beer in their climate, and I would be happy to conduct a blind test between the Taybeh Beer and the Israeli Maccabee in the name of peace! Apparently the Taybeh is available in Britain as well, but it is brewed under licence in Holland.

Posted by: KnutAlbert at 18:22 | link | comments
beer, brewers, palestine

Discount beer, anyone?

The cross-border trade in beer between Denmark and Germany has mostly been limited to large discount stores just south of the border from Jutland, where you don't need a ferry ticket to get across. Now a new large discount store tries to lure customers from the Copenhagen area and sothern Sweden, according to the Danish daily Politiken. The store, which is located 15 minutes drive from the ferry terminal in Puttgarten, has distributed flyers in the Copenhagen area as well as in southern Sweden, promoting cheap Danish and Swedish beer. The Swedes will also be attracted by low prices on stonger alcohol. Ther border trade in the region has grown fast, and the Germans hope to make some Swedish beer drinkers drive past the shops in Denmark on theri way to even better bargains in Germany.

Posted by: KnutAlbert at 17:23 | link | comments
beer, german, sweden, denmark

Smoke gets in your eyes

When smoking was banned in pubs and restaurants in Norway a year ago, some pessimists predicted lots of pubs going bankrupt. This has not happened, writes the Oslo weekly avis1 (editorial content not on the web any more). There have been some changes in people's drinking habits, sure, but overall most places in Oslo seem to be doing just fine, some can report an increased turnover. The exceptions are establishments on the first floor, where people have to go downstairs to have a cigarette after a meal - they don't tend to come back again.

The big change is that people are drinking more outdoors. There has been a brisk trade in gas and electric heaters, so people can stay more or less comfortable on the sidewalk tables.

I used to be a smoker myself, but I find one major improvement. I did not mind a bit of smoke in big, airy establishments, the problem was with smaller clubs, which are often packed during concerts. Now I can enjoy the music, and a few beers, and still feel like a human being when the alarm clock goes off the next morning.

And rest assured, a smoking ban is coming to a pub near you within the next few years!

Posted by: KnutAlbert at 21:37 | link | comments (1)
beer, norway, smoking, pubs

Unhappy hour

According to thisislondon.co.uk, the Internet version of the London Evening standard, thousands of pubs in the UK are to stop offering "Happy Hour" and similar promotions. Landlords will stop promoting free drink offers including "two for the price of one".

All 32,000 members of the British Beer and Pub Association, who run more than half the UK's 59,000 bars and pubs, are being asked to back the move after their leaders held talks with the Government.

Pub groups joining the campaign include the Slug and Lettuce, Pitcher and Piano and All Bar One.

Posted by: KnutAlbert at 19:37 | link | comments
beer, england, pubs, scotland

Thirsty brewers

According to the Danish daily Politiken, the workers at Harboe brewery have gone on strike to keep their right to dring up to six beers a day while they work (!) Their collegues at Carlsberg and Tuborg may also drink during their working hours, but only in their canteen. A spokesman for Carlsberg says that their employees in Norway, Sweden, Finland and England may not drink while they work.

Harboe brews beer mainly for the discount market, and theri pils may also be found in Norway (and Sweden, I believe). Some of their stronger beers are quite all right.

Posted by: KnutAlbert at 18:28 | link | comments
beer, england, brewers, sweden, carlsberg, norway, denmark

Tested: Nick's Ale

Much better then the previously tried pilsner from the micro Skands Brewery in Denmark. You can smell the hops, Northern Brewer according to the label. An English ale  type, both fruity and bitter. The fruityness is the strongest, but the hops are there in the aftertaste. Bottle conditioned with a yeast sediment. Moderate alcohol content at 5,1% As the pilsner, this also comes in a retro 0,7 l bottle.

Young's brewery in London used to have a barley wine called Old Nick's, but I cant't remember seeing it around for a while. It was never my favourite, anyway.

Posted by: KnutAlbert at 21:16 | link | comments (1)
beer, youngs, denmark, microbreweries

Young's brewery of Wandsworth, London, has rewamped their web site, and and you can sign up for vaious competitions and freebies, at least if you are residing in the UK. They have also started publishing their Ram magazine on the web in pdf format. The issue currently available on the web is from 2003, and reveals what I had suspected, that they have changed their flagship bitter Young's Special to make it more easily drinkable. I will stay loyal to Young's whenever I visit London (though I have to admit I more and more often find myself in a Fuller's pub!), but I will perhaps go for their bottle-conditioned Special London Ale instead - the greatest bottled ale I know of!

As for the web site, it is a wast improvement, though I still want more information on the pubs, like more detailed maps and directions.

Posted by: KnutAlbert at 19:06 | link | comments
beer, england, brewers, youngs, bitter

The dark beer challenge

The Norwegian wine-zine and website Aperitif has tested the dark beers available on the Norwegian market. They say is should be possible for anyone to pick a favourite, wether you want full body, sweetness, bitterness - or alcohol strenght.

The panel gives the highest score to Staropramen Dark and the Danish Limfjordsporter, but the Norwegian Aass Bayer  og Nøgne Ø India Pale Ale (reviewed here earlier) also get an enthusiastic reception.

The test is available online, but I wonder what happened to theri printed beer magazine - where I certainly paid my subscription. There is a ban on alcohol advertising here in Norway, which makes it extremely difficult to produce beer (or wine) publications.

Posted by: KnutAlbert at 06:51 | link | comments
beer, norway

My home town

We were back in my home town (well, I haven't lived there for about 20 years!) Trondheim over the weekend, attending various family gatherings. My brother in law Steinar thought it would be a splendid idea to help me out with the beer blog by doing a pub crawl with the other in-laws.

I was rather late in arriving, and Steinar had already finished off the only bottle of Ruddles County available in the Lille London pub, and that was the only bottle of anything related to real ale available in the place. Per had a draft San Miguel, while I went for a draft Dahl’s pils, the local beer. A pleasant pilsner, but not worth going out of your way for. I believe Terje had a Dahl's pils as well, while Bjørn drank Newcastle Brown Ale. As you can see, the others were already quite fuzzy around the edges at this stage.

We had planned to visit the Norwegian Aquavit Bar around the corner, but it was closed that evening, so the next stop was King's Cross Pub. I would probably choose a name connected with a more pleasant area of London myself, but the pub is certainly nice. We arrived just as the regulars were leaving after the quiz, if we had known about that we would probably have made a splendid team.

They have a broad selection of beers like Guinness, Kilkenny, Caffreys and Newcastle Brown. The most interesting was their own King's Ale. According to their beer list it is "dark, dry and nutty to the taste". Dark, yes, nutty, maybe, but I would not call it dry. It has a smoky flavour, and I would say it is more on the sweet than on the dry side. A pleasant ale, not unlike the keg version of Bass, if memory serves me right.

According to the landlord, the King's Ale is brewed especially for the pub by Mack's brewery in Tromsø. They have set up a micro brewery, primarily to sell at their own brew pub in Tromsø. We were lucky to have the last few pints available that evening, the ale has proved very popular.

Give it a try if you are in Trondheim . They serve food as well, they have outdoor tables if summer decides to visit Trondheim (or if you are a smoker), and they seem to show all the English and Norwegian football matches on several large screen if you are into that.

The last port of call was Trondhjems Mikrobryggeri, a micro that has been running for some years now, and which seems to do quite all right.  Their Trondhjemspils had a good balance between fruit and hops. Good for the mouth, good thirst quencher, according to Steinar. Their Pale ale had a nice hoppy aroma, easy drinking ale. The bitter was not quite right. Funny taste on the tongue - gluten? The same applies to their stout. The verdict: You cannot use the same malt for all the ales.

The winner was their IPA. Lots of flowers and fruit in this. A great beer, but it was actually slightly too warm - probably because we had taken our time sampling the other beers.

Posted by: KnutAlbert at 18:08 | link | comments
beer, norway, microbreweries, mack, trondheim

Next edition of Trivial Pursuit: First airline named after a beer?

Kingfisher airlines, with the same ownership as the beer available at Indian restaurants around the globe, has just launched and is aiming for the domestic discount market in India. Their web site does not tell if you get free beer on board. It does not say who the guy waving the flag is, either, but he seems to be having a good time.

Posted by: KnutAlbert at 12:23 | link | comments
beer, india

Mack's beer and seagull eggs

I have been travelling a bit the last week, so there have been rather few updates. Meanwhile, you can read my ode to Mack's beer and seagull eggs over at the Good Beer Blog. There will be more frequent postings over the next few days, including a pub crawl of my old home town Trondheim and a blind tasting where the panel did not impress much. (We recognized the Guiness, though!)

Posted by: KnutAlbert at 11:18 | link | comments
norway, mack

Forbidden Fruit

Tasting notes: Hoegaarden Forbidden Fruit.

The Belgians know how to do it, and you do not necessarily have to take a wow of chastity to brew, either. Hoegaarden brews this nice bottled ale, available in many countries. A red ale with a fruity flavour, and a good balance between the sweet and bitter elements in it. Bottle conditioned, which means yeasty particles. The yeast is hardly noticeable in the taste, except as a nice aftertaste on the tongue. If you want to introduce a friend to the wonderful beer experiences beyond lager, this could be a good candidate. (But your friend may lose his legs, as the flavour camouflages the alcohol content of  8, 5 %!)

Posted by: KnutAlbert at 20:57 | link | comments (1)
beer, belgium

Beer crawls in Glasgow

 

 

 

 

 

A lot of Norwegians as well as participants for all over the globe will be congregating in Glasgow in early August for the World Science Fiction Convention. I will not be going myself, but here is a link to four pub crawls in the city, cortesy of Glasgow CAMRA. (Thanks to realbeerblog.com for pointing to this.)

 

Posted by: KnutAlbert at 13:27 | link | comments
pubs, scotland

Italy's Water War

A decree issued in April by the Italy's Ministry of Production has stirred up a hornet's nest of controversy between the government and retailers, writes EU Food Law: Will Italian restaurants and bars still be allowed to sell bottled water by the glass when the decree goes into effect in July or will they be compelled to sell water only in sealed bottles? The Marzano Decree explicitly states that mineral water can only be served in restaurants and bars in individual sealed containers which have to be opened in front of customers. The prescribed sizes are 125, 250, 330 and 500 cc; customers who request other-than-standard sizes must pay for the entire bottle. Massimo Got, the spokesperson for the Ministry of Production, explained that the new regulations are designed to act as combined safety and fraud prevention measures in compliance with EU directives. He added that the ministry is currently studying the type and extent of punishment to be meted out to offenders.

Italy's major consumer associations, including Codacons, Adoc, Adusbef, and Federconsumatori, expressed mixed feelings about the decree. The upside according to their spokesperson is that the new regulation will ensure a safe product and prevent unfortunate accidents such as serving look-alike toxic liquids in place of water. The downside, on the other hand, are the combined ecological and economic effects of the huge increase in the number of small bottles which, according to the associations, should top four billion bottles.

Italy is the world's largest consumer of mineral water. Each Italian drinks an average of 118 litres per year.

Now, this is of minor concern to most of us, but then the thought struck me: If they do this to water, maybe beer is next?

Posted by: KnutAlbert at 21:52 | link | comments
italy

Copenhagen Beer Festival

Posted by: KnutAlbert at 13:23 | link | comments
beer, denmark

Tried: Humlefryd

Posted by: KnutAlbert at 17:27 | link | comments
beer, denmark, microbreweries

Bitter and Twisted

Lloyds No 1 Bar, Belfast. A brand belonging to Wetherspoon’s  which means large, lots of people and cheap beer. Loud music in parts of the premises, more quiet in other places.

I first tried a pint of St Austell Tribute “Premium Cornish Ale” it says on the bump clip. A pleasant bitter, but I can’t work up any special enthusiasm for this. They has Sheepshagger’s Gold on tap as well, but I could not make myself ask the young lady behind the counter for something like that. Makes sense around these parts, perhaps, with all the sheep.

Bitter and Twisted claims to be the Champion beer of Britain 2003, and a splendid ale it is. Soft peach flavor on the palate, with a proper aftertaste of hops. It balances finely between malt and hops, and I can understand that this beer has won prices. Brewed by the Harviestoun Brewery

 

Posted by: KnutAlbert at 13:29 | link | comments
beer, pubs, belfast, bitter

Tourists not welcome

Tourists in the pub are a nuisance. They expect something from the pub that we don't give and they don't seem to fit in. I'm not fortright in giving coffee or tea and we don't do sweets. We are really an Englishman's pub and I like to keep it that way. I can make a living without serving tourists, and I'm not interested in changing unless I suddenly become poverty stricken. I'm always rude to them. For years we had a waitress called Mary Mc Hugh who used to rush over to serve the tourists and sit them down by the laid tables when all they ever wanted was a sandwich. So I used to throw them out and tell them they wouldn't get served. A more confused batch of people I've never seen in my life. The pub enjoyed it.

You're Barred, You Bastards, memoirs of a Soho Publican - Norman Balon

(It's the Coach and Horses in Greek Street, if you want so seek out or avoid it!)

Posted by: KnutAlbert at 14:14 | link | comments
england, pubs

Beyond the Pale Ale

Having spent a few days in Ireland and Northern Ireland, I am by no means an expert on the pubs and beers on the island. I have, however, a few general observations to make.

First of all, there are lots and lots of nice pubs. Some of them are justly famous for their interior and exterior, like the Stag’s Head in Dublin, but the beer they have on offer is usually rather boring. Generally there is Guinness, Guinness, and Guinness. And Guinness Extra Cold. And you have Harp lager, also from Guinness, which is just like any lager from a major brewer, i.e. not worth travelling for. And you have Kilkenny, which is really a Guinness light.

On occasion there is Smithwicks bitter, a fizzy beer which is a long way from real ale.

There are exceptions – the Crown Liquor Saloon in Belfast, a fantastic old pub with lots of snugs and a rather crowded drinking area. They have a Belfast Bitter, which in other places could be called Belfast Mild, perhaps. It is an easy-drinking real ale, but also served quite cold, which does not promote the flavour much either, does it? It has the proper slight hoppy and bitter aftertaste in the back of the mouth. The verdict: Not an outstanding bitter, but a nice change from the black stuff.

I had a nice meal in the Morning Star, with old staples on the menu at reasonable prices. Not much of a beer choice here either. McHugs is listed in the Good Beer Guide as having real ales, but these were “off” when I came by.

Lots of nice watering holes in the smaller towns as well, with wooden shelves for the bottles not yet replaced by flashy cooling cabinets. Sometimes there is even a pint of keg  Bass on sale, which is a welcome change. One question: I can understand that the demand is mainly for Guinness and lager. But is it so much trouble to have some bottles of real ale available? The distribution system is there, as you can find them in well stocked supermarkets, at least in Northern Ireland. An one should think that in a city like Belfast, with a dozen splendid old pubs in the central area, one of them could find a market niche in real ale?

Why should they leave the good beers to Wetherspoon’s? (More of which later?)

For a good overview of Belfast pubs, see http://www.marksalehouse.com/

During the summer season, there is a guided tour of the historic pubs of Belfast, which is probably a good idea if it fits with your itinerary. (It didn’t with mine!)

Posted by: KnutAlbert at 12:15 | link | comments
beer, brewers, ireland, pubs, belfast

Gastropubs

The BBC food magazine olive (only the recipes available online) has a feature on the top 30 gastropubs in the UK in their May issue. It is available here in Norway, so it probably has a European-wide distribution.

Posted by: KnutAlbert at 19:40 | link | comments
england, pubs

Northwest drought treatens hop crops

Could beer guzzlers and wine aficionados suffer a drought of their own if the Pacific Northwest doesn't see rain soon, asks the Washington Post. The region is the US largest producer of hops, a key ingredient in beer, and Washington state and Oregon are among the top five states producing wine. But the Pacific Northwest is enduring what water managers say is its worst drought since 1977.

Posted by: KnutAlbert at 15:10 | link | comments (2)
beer, hops, usa

Cheap beer tastes ... cheap

The Swedish daily Dagens Nyheter has tested six of the cheapest lagers available at the state monopoly stores Systembolaget.  Cheap? What passes for cheap is less than 10 SEK for a 500 ml can. That would be dirt cheap in Norway, but terribly expensive in, say, Germany.

One conclusion is clear - you get what you pay for. This is not an occation for noble tasting. These are rather what might be called lawnmover beers - beers that quenches the thirst without doing too much fuss.

The Crocodile Lager gets the best grades - given the competition, while Kopparbergs Original is hardly drinkable, according to the DN panel.

Posted by: KnutAlbert at 21:41 | link | comments
beer, sweden

Of Disney, Danes and cockroaches

A quote attributed to Frank Zappa says that you can't be a Real Country unless you have a beer and an airline - it helps if you have some kind of a football team or some nuclear weapons, but at the very least you need a beer. Not being a zappologist, I cannot vouch for the validity of the quote, but in the letter column in yesterday’s Aftenposten (the largest morning paper in Norway) there is a letter (not online) showing that this is deadly serious for some.

Norway has, for one reason or another, a pavilion in Epcot, Walt Disney World (between Mexico and China, in case you are interested). For a smallish country, this is a matter of national pride, but since this has been in place for some 20 years, it does not get much press coverage except in local papers when someone’s son or daughter is selected to go to Florida for a year and swelter in woollen national costumes while trying to be nice to everyone. But I digress. The alarm is raised today is because of the beer being served in the restaurants in the Norwegian pavilion is no longer Norwegian. The Ringnes beer on tap is replaced by Carlsberg, and that is of course an insult to our national pride.

Ringnes is currently owned by Carlsberg, and they probably thought one Scandinavian beer is as good as any other in this context. Well, they’ll have to think again:
Some quotes from the letter from Knut Gellein, freely translated by me:

…In 2005, when we celebrate 100 years of independence and liberation from the yoke, be it Danish or Swedish, we choose to serve Carlsberg beer both in the restaurant and in the café, instead of what was special and profiling: Ringnes Pils. We were proud of this small piece of Norway. Norwegian-Americans could proudly serve a full bodied beer from Norway.

When we contact Ringnes we are told that there are several reasons for Ringnes disappearance from Epcot. It is a costly production where one needs special casks which keep longer, there are problems with cockroaches in the casks returned, and one has decided to focus less on exports. My questions are: Is it cheaper to produce Carlsberg in casks? And do the cockroaches refuse to drink Carlsberg, but prefer Ringnes? (The new slogan should be: Not even cockroaches like Carlsberg).

 The background for this patriotic rant is that the Norwegian food industry giant (well, giant in Norwegian terms) Orkla decided to merge their beverage division Ringnes with Carlsberg a few years ago with joint ownership of the merged company (which also includes the major Swedish brewer Pripps.). The two ownership groups in the new company clashed on strategy after a year or two, and the result was that Carlsberg bought out Orkla – and the biggest Norwegian brewer is on Danish hands.

 I think it is naïve to believe that Scandinavia could be a sheltered haven avoiding international mergers and streamlining of the brewery industry. And people do not put their money where their mouth is and switch over to nationally owned brands. Oh well.

Posted by: KnutAlbert at 07:27 | link | comments (1)
beer, brewers, carlsberg, norway, ringnes

Fresh air with your beer

From June 1 Sweden will follow Ireland and Norway in banning smoking in pubs and restaurants. The impact will not come at once, but rather when the chilly winds of autumn force the customers indoors again.

I enjoy my beer without cigarette smoke, and the pessimistic predictions about pubs going bankrupt following the ban do not seem to have come true neither in Ireland or Norway. The trade in gas and electric heating for al fresco drinking through the winter seem to be brisk, though!

<a href="http://www.technorati.com/claim/jqhiw4wak2" rel="me">Technorati Profile</a>

Posted by: KnutAlbert at 15:34 | link | comments (1)
sweden, norway, ireland, smoking

Dublin beyond Guinness

The Porterhouse Brewing Company 

Most countries that can boast of beer tourism will have a large range of beers widely available, be it a long beer list in a Belgian cafe or a range of London pubs serving different beer within staggering distance from each other. In Dublin, however, the scene is totally dominated by Guinness, but there is an exception to this rule, which is worth seeking out - The Porterhouse Brewing Company, a micro with a good range of beers on tap and in bottles.

At lunchtime, only the ground floor bar was open, and it was not too crowded. At the outskirts of the Temple Bar area, this place is easy to find. They brew ten beers themselves, though probably not on the premises. They have other bars/pubs as well, including two in London, which may be more accessible to some of the readers.
I started with their Oyster Stout, "brewed with oysters", it says in the beer list. I ordered half a dozen oysters to go with it, which came with a few slices of brown soda bread. Large juicy oysters - if you eat this sort of food you should not miss it in Dublin. The stout is smooth, first you taste the flaked barley, then the more compelex flavor as it warms up a little.
A true beer temple this, with a booklet describing the beers on offer. In addition to the beers they brew themselves, there is also a large range of bottled imported beers to please any palate.I could happily spend several evening in this place.

I asked for a sampler of some of their beers, and here are some short notes:
Porterhouse Red: A more hoppy version of Irish red ale. Halfway between an Irish red and a British bitter, perhaps?
TSB: A good bitter. Very well hopped, a slight ......yeasty aftertaste on the tongue, which was not at all unpleasant.
Plain Porter: Nice! Roasted barley, coffeeish taste. The best stout I have ever tasted, I believe (but then I must admit I'm a newcomer to the Church of Stout!).
Wrasslers XXXX: Richer than the plain stout, with more complex flavours. Lovely toasty aftertaste of roasted malt.

This is a spendid place. Details like the lovely lace foam on the glasses show proper beer in properly washed glasses. Enthusiastic staff who show pride in the concept. I bought their t-shirt, and if I am ever in Dublin again, I will be back! I have one small complaint: The beers are served slightly too cold for my taste. It may be proper for stout, but not for bitter.

......

Posted by: KnutAlbert at 07:18 | link | comments
beer, brewers, ireland, microbreweries, stout

The Porterhouse Rant

From the Porterhouse Breving Company in Dublin: Tips for avoiding bland beer:

• Avoid “Lite”
• Avoid “Dry”
• Avoid “Cold-filtered”
• Avoid “Ice”
• Avoid “Smooth”
• Avoid “Cream/Creamy”
• Avoid “Clean”
• Avoid beer advertised with words ending in ”flow”
• Avoid beer advertised on TV
• Avoid beer with sports tournaments named after them
• Avoid beer with “rice” in the ingredients.
• Avoid beer “Brewed under license”. It’s ususally a different strength, a different taste and no resemblance to the original. Often brewed down the road but they hint that it’s an excotic import.

Posted by: KnutAlbert at 17:46 | link | comments
ireland, microbreweries