Subjective ramblings about beer, pubs and associated topics

A no-nonsense sort of bar

Stumbling through blogs linking to each other I found this:

See, people like that would have a coffee or perhaps a glass of shandy and sit all day writing their stupid poems. That sort of behaviour would be unacceptable in my café bar. Some of the rules we came up with were:

- You must drink booze of some kind. If you want coffee why not have a dash of rum or whiskey in it? Don't be a gay, Starbucks loving windbag. You can get coffee at home. Enjoy your time outside the house and have a proper drink.

- You must drink a regular amount of booze. One drink does not give you the right to sit at a table for hours and hours. You must drink at least two drinks an hour. The first time you fall below this standard you will be punched in the face as a reminder. The second time you will be escorted from the premises by two enormous black bouncers that I will import from New York.

- There will be no alcopops. It will be proper booze - beer, wine and spirits. Strawberry gins and anything in Liberace style coloured bottles is out. As is Red Bull, there's simply no call for that muck and anyone who drinks Vodka and Red Bull is a hopeless cunt. Asking for Red Bull will result in a punch in the face.

Go on, read it. There's more!

Posted by: KnutAlbert at 17:08 | link | comments
beer, ireland, pubs

A big ad

 

I usually prefer beer from brewers that are too small to affort to afford television commercials - but I could not resist this promotion for Carlton Draught. Enjoy! (I assume the beer is a lager usually served super chilled, but there is a time fore everything!)

Posted by: KnutAlbert at 10:54 | link | comments (1)
australia, beer, brewers

Border trade

The Norwegian Brewery Association is worried that the proposed cuts in Swedish alcohol taxes will lead to the ruin of the industry. There is already a huge border trade - and a lot of smuggling - in beer. The estimate for beer confiscated by the customs authorities is five times the 2001 catch - up from 50.000 litres to 250.000 litres. And the controls are few and far between.

This is like setting up dominoes, with the Germans (and Poles) having the lowest taxes and beer prices. The Danes then cut the taxes to avoid too much border trade, and the Swedes follow. Depending on the outcome of the general election in Norway next mont, we will hopefully see some action here as well.

Most of this market is obviously lager with a maximum alcohol content for your kroner, but you also get quality English ale, for excample, for half the price in Sweden compared to Norway.

Posted by: KnutAlbert at 18:01 | link | comments
beer, sweden, norway

Christmas comes twice this year!

From the September sales list of Vinmonopolet, which has a retail monopoly of alcohol stronger than 5 % (I'll get into that some time!): 

Fuller's London Pride Ale

Young's Special London Ale

Fuller's ESB Champion Ale

Of course these don't come cheap, but I am overjoyed that they are available in Norway at last!

Posted by: KnutAlbert at 12:59 | link | comments (7)
beer, youngs, norway, bitter, bottle conditioned, fullers

Beer porn

A new tome from Roger Protz is always worth checking out, and 300 beers to try before you die (published by CAMRA) arrived in my mailbox the other day. (Actually, it was a bit too large to fit in my mailbox, so I had to pick it up at the post office, but anyway.) The concept is good - present a number of beers from various countries, giving good and typical excamples of various types of beer. The Guardian calls it beer porn in their review. Maybe, and if so, this blog falls into the same category as well.

Full color throughout, of bottles, beer clips and so on. There are even tables where you can fill in your own tasting notes. I would suppose most of us would do that on a separate sheet instead of scribbling in the book.

I have not had time to go through the book in detail yet. A quick glance through it tells me I have tried something like a third of the beers inside, which is not too bad, considering some of these are mostly available on tap in remote corners of the United Kingdom. For those of you who live in countries civilized enough to sell beer via mail order, I suppose the book could be a basis of a subscription service for the bottled and canned beers featured.

One can always argue for the inclusion of other beers. There is possibly some kind of consensus of 100 of the 300 beers featured, with the rest being more of a matter of personal taste. I see that a number of Young's and Fuller's beers are covered, which tells me that my palate hs some similarities to Mr. Protz. On the other hand, he has included lots of stouts and milds, which I usually skip if I am given any choice. And, while there is good coverage of German, Belgian and British beer, I would have liked even more excamples from other countries.

But, by all means, buy the book!

Posted by: KnutAlbert at 10:45 | link | comments
beer, brewers, trappist, stout

Getting your priorities right

NBC news covers the floods in central Europe, but with another angle. They report on a Benedictine abbey in Weltenburg, Germany, that has lots of treasures thay try to save from the raging Danube river.

Father Thomas knew a massive flood could destroy its famous church, full of Baroque masterpieces, and even worse, the jewel that attracts many of the Abbey’s half million visitors a year: its beer.

Since 1050, Weltenburg monks have been making beer to make money. These days, Weltenburg beer has become one of Germany’s favorite brews, making the abbey a must-see stop on any Danube River tour.

There is even video coverage of the rescue operation.

Posted by: KnutAlbert at 11:25 | link | comments
beer, german, trappist

A remiss

My old friend David has kindly pointed out that I have not written about our visit to the pub Harbour in Portrush. In case you slept through your geography classes, I can inform you that this idyllic little resort is located on the northern coast of Northern Ireland.
This spring I finally had the opportunity to visit David, and he took me sightseeing on a beautiful day, covering Londonderry, Giant's Causeway (pictured right) and the beautiful scenery. We even tried to visit Bushmill's whiskey distillery, but it sadly closed on a Saturday afternoon.

This activity obviously made us thirsty, and in the harbour of Portrush there is a pub called - the Harbour. It was packed when we got there - I can only imagine how crowded it must be in the middle of the tourist season - but we managed to find a place to sit among the locals in the back room. We both had excellent pints of Bass (I had two, as I was not driving). Despite being on a touristy spot, this was not redecorated in a fake Tudor style, neither was it filled with cooler cabinets with glaring lights. I am sorry I don't have a photo of the frontage of the pub, but here, at least, is how it looks behind the bar!

We did not get to sample the Bushmills whiskey at the distillery, but I bought a bottle of the stuff at the airport to take home with me. What puzzles me about the bottle, and about their marketing in general, is that it is not mentioned at all that it is produced in Northern Ireland. They even give a postal adress in "Ireland". Their web site is presently being updated, so I can't give you more details right now. I don't know if this is a result of being a part of a multinational company, who don't give a damn about local heritage? I read just this morning that Bushmills has changed hand again, as Diageo (who also owns Guinness) has bought it from Pernod Richard.

Posted by: KnutAlbert at 11:20 | link | comments
beer, bitter, northern ireland

Changing times

I found an old magazine from the Swedish Systembolaget, showing the beers on offer in 1988. The number of beers available has increased vastly since then, but that is not my point today. The entry for Guinness quotes a recommendation from the brewery that the beer should be served at 15 degrees (Celsius)to properly enjoy the taste. Quite a contrast to today, where they are pushing Guinness Extra Cold at slightly above zero for those who want beer without the taste. I guess the marketing men have outsmarted the brewers over the years!

 

Posted by: KnutAlbert at 18:06 | link | comments
ireland, stout

Two assasinations

Edward Sullivan over at Thisislondon.co.uk, is not impressed by a new bar in town:

Harry Hackney was sitting at one of the tables comparing the shininess of his suit with his mate Barry Brockley. Meanwhile, Giertruda Gdansk was having a bit of a crisis and was screaming what might have been Polish obscenities down her mobile phone as she paced the room for all to hear.

It took me a second or two to work out that all the above were members of staff at the new Polo bar in the nearly-finished-being-refurbished Westbury Hotel. In fact, there were so many more staff hanging around I wondered if the sole purpose of their employment was to make the place look busy. People don't really get paid to loll around in bars all day, do they?

He goes on to describe the drinks and food, and ends up with the following conclusion:

For the first time ever I'm awarding zero stars to this lamentable operation on the basis that I can't think of a single person outside of a prison cell who would benefit by going there.

Lovely.

His collegue Kate Spice was not amused, either, about her pickings over at a so-called gastropub:

For me, the most extraordinary soup: smoked salmon, watercress and crème fraiche. A watery broth with globules of dissolved crème fraiche on its surface and cooked chewy salmon lurking in its depths, a big pile of watercress in the middle made it impossible to negotiate with a soup spoon and a large spoonful of salmon caviar added the final decibel of salty fish flavour.

I love rewievers like these!

Posted by: KnutAlbert at 17:12 | link | comments
london

Protz on Pale Ale

Roger Protz has a very interesting article on India Pale Ale, which covers both the history of this type of beer as well as giving some excamples of what is currently available. Most of these are not to be found here, but I will try to find some of them the next time I am in Britain. Until then I will have to make do with Goose Island IPA and the the excellent Norwegian version from Nøgne Ø brewery.

Posted by: KnutAlbert at 16:07 | link | comments
beer, england, pale ale, nøgne ø

Australia doesn't fancy a Shag

Australia wants to ban a British entrepreneur from naming a beer Shag, according to Ananova.

Brewed in Holland as Alpha beer, it's sold internationally by Terry Ball's Rebell Holdings company as Shag.

Advertisements feature a bottle of the beer on the backseat of a car and the catchphrase: "Fancy a Shag?"

Mr Ball insists the beer is named after the bird of the same name but New South Wales government minister Grant McBride is not convinced.

He said: "To name the product Shag links it directly with sexual intercourse - and that's not on.

 It seems clear to me that Mr. McBride should steer clear of British pubs, where they have brews with names like Sheepshagger. Which is certainly not named after a bird.

Posted by: KnutAlbert at 18:09 | link | comments
australia

Star Bock beats Star bucks

A Galveston bar owner can resume sales of his Star Bock beer but can't sell it regionally or nationally after a copyright battle with Starbucks coffee chain, a federal judge ruled Friday, according to KTRK TV (I certainly do get around, don't I?).

U.S. District Judge Sam Kent ruled that Rex Bell selling the special brew from his Galveston bar doesn't "infringe, unfairly compete with, dilute or otherwise impugn Starbucks' brands or trademarks." But the judge said if Bell, who owns the Old Quarter Acoustic Cafe, were to sell his brew elsewhere it could cause a problem. "It's a victory in the sense that Starbucks was trying to shut me out completely and they weren't able to do that," Bell told the Houston Chronicle Friday. "I imagine that Starbucks hates it that I can still sell my beer." Bell said he would reopen his bar this weekend and likely have more Star Bock beer to sell in a few weeks. In 2002, Bell said he came up with the name after he combined Lone Star beer and Shiner Bock beer into a glass for a customer, suggesting he try a "Starbock."

Posted by: KnutAlbert at 17:55 | link | comments
bock

Go fly a kite

Black Isle, Red Kite Ale. A Scottish beer, and a very pleasant experience. Starts with coffee taste, opens up to full hops flavour. Not only the proper bitter notes, but a very full aroma. It says on the bottle at this is brewed with full flower hops, and I can believe that. Copper color. Great stuff.

Posted by: KnutAlbert at 19:23 | link | comments
beer, scotland

Threee of my favourites

Today a few words about my favourite pils, my favourite canned bitter and my favourite bottled English ale.

To start: Jever pils: From the Friesland region in Northern Germany, and one of the staples I always bring home from Germany . It was briefly on sale here in Norway , but, alas, no more. The can I just opened was bought in Sweden .

An intense bitterness due to a generous use of hops. I have never tasted a pils as dry as this. Outstanding, and if it was on sale here, I would never buy other lagers. (Well, never is a long time...)

Fuller’s London Pride. I have sung the praises of the pub version of this before, and I would also like to state that this is the best canned bitter I have ever tasted. It has a complex flavour, hoppy bitterness and the hints of sourness that is appropriate in a bitter. Fruity finish, it says on the can, and I won’t argue with that. As long as this is not available on tap in Norway, I am perfectly happy to drink the canned version, but unfortunately I have to go to Sweden to get that, too! The canning process has possible killed off some nuances of flavour, but there is plenty left. One sip, and I am ready to book my next London flight!

Canned bitter can only reach a certain level, and to top this, you have to go for a bottle fermented ale. My choice is Young’s Special London Ale, which, just as Fuller’s is brewed by one of the two remaining independent London brewers. This is also a variation on a bitter, but her it is allowed to develop even more, with strength, both in alcohol and in flavour far beyond the tap beer. It tastes of ripe fruit, of malt, and it has a sweetness that meets a liberal use of hops to give a real punch. It is not dissimilar to some of the great bottled IPAs that pop up all over the place, but it still retains the Young’s character, probably due both to the malts and the hops being used. So, while I usually buy bottled English beer to take home or enjoy in a hotel room, this is actually one I ask for in Young’s pubs. Given its strength, it is not for quenching a thirst or for a session of many pints. But if you only have time for one beer before leaving for Heathrow, ask for one of these. My only complaint is that they recently changed the label - I think the old one was much more classy! If someone wants to threat themselves – or to initiate a friend to the wonderful world of beer, I would recommend an evening with these three brews. All three are available in Sweden, I would assume in Denmark, in Britain , and hopefully in well-stocked beer shops in other parts of the globe. These beers can also be used as benchmarks in beer tastings.

Posted by: KnutAlbert at 07:40 | link | comments
london, beer, german, youngs, bitter, bottle conditioned, fullers, jever

Liquid history

This is the beer we used to drink in this neck of the woods – in Norway, and I believe in the rest of Scandinavia as well. What in Norwegian is called a bayer is a Münchener, which was the major beer consumed from when brewing started on an industrial scale. Little by little, during the last century, pils took over the market, and now you are lucky to find a few bottles of bayer tucked away on a shelf.

Both have much fuller flavour than the pils types that have squeezed them out. The Frydenlund bayer has a red/amber colour, while the Aass bayer is darker. Both taste of malt, are well balanced   and honest beers. Aass has a more complex taste, with hints of toast and chocolate, which makes it the better of the two IMHO.

These are not great beers, but old fashioned working men’s beer. Alcohol content as a pilsner, so more of a thirst-quencher than a bock, to which it is obviously related (particularly the Aass one.) It says on the Aass label that this is the “red wine of beers”, and it goes well with the same types of food as red wine, and that is true. With its full aroma it is fine to use in cooking, too.

Posted by: KnutAlbert at 21:10 | link | comments
beer, brewers, norway, bayer

For the driver

Buckler – French beer without alcohol. An OK midday refreshment, which has a proper beer taste. I have had lagers with less taste than this – a certain king of beers springs to mind. Rather malty, as these brews tend to be, but it has hops, too. 

Posted by: KnutAlbert at 20:19 | link | comments (1)
beer, france, alcohol free

Bergadler Premium Pils

A very decent German Pils, widely available throughout Europe, as it is brewed for the Lidl supermarket chain. Refreshing, dry and hoppy, just as I like them. This would be good with food – some herring, perhaps. Maybe a schnapps, too? It is worth having a look in the discount supermarkets. The Aldi shops in Denmark, for example, have a very good ale at a very low price.

Posted by: KnutAlbert at 19:39 | link | comments (2)
beer, german, pilsener

The King of beers?

The Wall Street Journal, no less, has conducted a blind test of lagers on the American market. Not surprisingly the thre major brands Budweiser, Coors and Miller ended up at the bottom of the list. The panel preferred imported beers and beer from smaller American brewers. At last, some justice in the world!

Posted by: KnutAlbert at 20:47 | link | comments (2)
beer, usa , bud

A new micro and a nice bar

From the web pages of Venner av Nøgne Ø, the ”fan club” of the brewery of the same name, which I have praised earlier, I was directed to the web pages of a new Norwegian micro, located in Drammen. HaandBryggeriet (“the Hand Brewery”) has five beers in its portfolio,  and I was tempted to try them out. The web pages include a list of bars in Oslo where the beers are available. As I was meeting a mate last night I used the opportunity to visit Bar & Cigar, where two of the beers from HaandBryggeriet were available – according to the proprietor the best of the lot.

 

First their Bavarian Weizen. Bottle matured (as all their beers). Spicy and refreshing, a great beer for a summer afternoon. Not refreshing in the ice beer/no taste sense, rather the opposite. A delicious aftertaste lingers in the mouth. The proper weissbier lemony flavour is present. I would say there is a hint more fruit in the taste, too – resembling  peach or raspberry, perhaps – and it is very well balanced so the sweetness complements the citrus edge. 50 cl bottle and a alcohol content of 5,5%.

Next their India Pale Ale. Round, hoppy, a nice bite on the tongue as the beer slips down the throat. Other IPAs may have more punch, while this is more subtle. As with the weisse, this is a very well balanced beer where the hops, the yeast (not much, but enough) and the malt all are present and do their job. Note: be careful with the sediment in the bottle. Some enjoy it, I would say it overpowers the taste of this beer.

This is what I call premium beers - not another tasteless pils. I think the brewmaster of E C Dahls should visit a few micros to find out what it is all about!

There are other beers on offer, too, both Belgian brews and bottles for Nøgne Ø, as well as a broad selection of single malts, cognac and cigars. And, not the least, a man behind the bar that knows his trade – friendly and knowledgeable. I’ll be back soon!

 

I didn’t bring my camera along yesterday, so I have nicked a label from the brewery’s web site. I need to get a new mobile with a decent built in camera!

 

 

 

Posted by: KnutAlbert at 10:12 | link | comments
beer, norway, microbreweries, bottle conditioned, ipa , oslo, haandbryggeriet

A lot of beer

Carlsberg has increased its turnover by 5 per cent, according to Swedish and Danish newspapers. They have growth in the Swedish and German markets as well as in Eastern Europe. The growth in Germany is mainly connected to Carlsberg buying up German brewers, notably Holsten in Schleswig-Holstein.

The volume of beer sold under the brand name Carlsberg has decreased by five per cent since last year, mainly due to the European soccer championship in 2004 which led to an increased demand. Tuborg beer is, however, up 15 per cent.

Posted by: KnutAlbert at 12:33 | link | comments (3)
beer, german, sweden, carlsberg, denmark

Drink-fuelled violence in offences of rape, grievous bodily harm and worse

 

 

 

Nine out of ten pubs in England and Wales have applied for a licence to keep open longer than the present closing time at 11, according to http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/ (the web version of the Evening Standard, recommended for their pub reviews!). This is now perceived as the worst thing to hit Britain since the Blitz. The Council of her Majesty's Circuit Judges warned of an "escalation" of "drink-fuelled violence in offences of rape, grievous bodily harm and worse". I do not know if the judges have visited other countries where the pubs and bars tend to keep open until well after midnight and what they have seen there, but I certainly aim to keep out of their courtrooms if this is their view of the world.

This reminds me of a Norwegian newspaper story about ten years ago. There was some kind of unrest in an African county, and a regional newpaper called the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to ask if they were advising Norwegians to avoid the country in question. The swithcboard had problems finding someone to answer to this, but eventually they were put through to a secretary deep inside the system. She told them that it was probably unwise to go there. Personally, she never even went outside her front door in Oslo later than six o' clock!

I see to my amazement that even the Tory leader - what's his name again? - has called for freezing the present opening hours. What has happened to the party of individual liberty? Come back, Mrs T, everything is forgiven!

Posted by: KnutAlbert at 08:32 | link | comments
beer, england, pubs

That's what they call Premium around here

Posted by: KnutAlbert at 13:39 | link | comments (3)
beer, carlsberg, norway, ringnes, trondheim

Report from the North

 

It is way past ten at night, but it is still light enough to sit outside reading on this island not far from the Artic Circle in mid July. A good book, a Springsteen song on the radio. Some cured lamb with thin crisp bread and sour cream. Still above 20 degrees Celsius.

And a few bottles of Old Specled Hen. It says on the back label that it owes its dry taste to the unique yeast. I would add that there is plenty of hops, too. A splenid bottled English bitter with a full flowery aroma in addition to the bitterness. Amazingly refreshing after a day in the sun. And nice of the Norwegian alcohol monopoly to ship this to me free of charge since it is far away from their nearest outlet.

The weatherman says it's gonna rain tomorrow. I don't believe him! Now they are even playing Hank Williams on the radio. No tear in my beer, that's for sure!

Posted by: KnutAlbert at 14:51 | link | comments
beer, england, norway, bitter

Beer flavoured ice cream

Phil Mellows writes in the Publican (not online) about Morelli’s Gelato, which produce ice cream for Harrod’s. Among the flavours on offer are port, cognac and whisky, as well as Guinness and lager flavour. “As an ale drinker I find it unfortunate that lager should be lager flavoured”, says Mr. Mellows.

Posted by: KnutAlbert at 17:02 | link | comments
beer, england