Subjective ramblings about beer, pubs and associated topics

The beer can wars

Sweden is appearently overflowing with (unfortunately empty) German beer cans, as the beer prices are much lower in Germany. This is just in from Radio Sweden : On a visit to Berlin Monday, Swedish Environment Minister Lena Sommestad called on the German authorities to take responsibility for the mess in this country. German Environment Minister Sigmar Gabriel only promised to look at the problem.

What does Ms Sommestad expect her counterpart to do? Stop selling canned beer to Swedes? To sell it only in bottles? (That would really make a waste problem in Sweden, wouldn't it?) Maybe they want the German authorities to come to Sweden to pick up the cans once a month? All suggestions to the Swedish ministry of the Environment with a copy to me, please!

But there are elections in Sweden this autumn, so possibly the Swedish electorate will do something to clean up the mess? For once, my sympathy is with the Germans!

Posted by: KnutAlbert at 18:46 | link | comments
beer, german, sweden

Is it a bird? Is it a plane?

Sometimes there are beverages that are hard to classify. Is it a beer, or is it something else? Some varieties of mead may fall into either category.

Then you have the beer mixtures. I have written about the beer/cola drinks from Germany, where they also have ben observed mixing beer and orange juice. Well, now we have a newcomer on the Norwegian market which is a mixture of beer and cider.

It says on the lcan that it is made using weat malt and barley malt, but there are no details about other ingredients. Have they brewed this on apple juice, or have they made beer and cider separately and then mixed it and added some extra fizz? What are the porportions of beer and cider? Stay tuned, and I will try to find out!

And no, I have not had the courage to open the can and taste it yet.

Posted by: KnutAlbert at 17:14 | link | comments (2)
beer, norway

Italian tale

Over at the Good Beer Blog, where I am an infrequent contributor, you will find a report on my recent visit to the Panil brewery. I will not repeat it all here, so you will just ahve to click your way over there. I have tried two beers so far, the Blonde and the Brown, and this is seriously good stuff!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Posted by: KnutAlbert at 20:45 | link | comments
beer, italy

Thisted økologisk humle

There seem to be organic or ecological beers turning up in every country. I have written about a few German ones, but I also tried a few Danish ecological beers. The Thisted Økologisk Humle ( organic hops) has a full malty taste, with the 5,8% alcohol shing through. Some grassy hops in the finish, but I feel that if you use the term hops in the name of the beer, they should have a full hoppy aroma. Depending on the hops used this could be flowery or crisp and dry. It seems to me this small brewery is trying ahrd to find its proper niche, but that they usually end up with fairly boring versions of mainstream beers. Their Easter beer, available here in Norway too, was not much, either.

They have an excellent Limfjord Porter, and they have a range of more experimental beers, too, which I will look out for.

Posted by: KnutAlbert at 09:17 | link | comments
beer, denmark

Fischer Blonde

They had this beer on draft in a tiny Italian village where I was two days ago, so I had to try it, despite my plan of just having an espresso. This is a fairly strong pilsener from Alsace in France, close to the German border and an area with storng beer traditions.

I would have loved to report that this was an outstanding pilsener, but it wasn't . It was too far on the sweet side for me, with more hops this would have been much nicer. The bottled version may be better - the glass I had was rather flat, and some more bubbles might have lifted the beer a bit more.

But they get high scores for their label, which cannot be said to be politically correct in any way! I can imagine the uproar in Norway if they tried to market a beer by showing a small boy drinking it!

Posted by: KnutAlbert at 14:48 | link | comments
beer, france, pilsener

Italy again

I have a 06:15 flight tomorrow morning, which menas I have to get up at 04:30. But, if the good Lord is willing and the creeks don't rise, as Hank Williams used to say, I will try to fit in a visit to the Panil micro brewery outside Parma. Here are some of their beers.

Posted by: KnutAlbert at 14:20 | link | comments
italy, beer

A ghost from my youth

I managed to trace down the Dahls Jubileumsøl, the 150th anniversary beer from my home town Trondheim. While this enterporse has been swallowed - and to a large part digested - by Ringnes, and then by Carlsberg, they still brew beer, and they have a loyal regional fan base.

When I poured the beer into the glass and put my nose down, I could smell the aroma of the EC Dahls yeast. With a beer this strong, it brings echoes from the strong beer of my teens, their Export beer, which died arund the time strong beers were removed from grocery stores and had to be sold through the state wine and liquor monopoly. So, it smells like a Dahls beer, and it has a ful malt taste. A fine bitter finish, too, maybe a bit short if I force myself to be critical.It says on the label it is made to be drunk by itself or with rich food, and why not? But I feel that this is a bit of a wasted opportunity - they could make a more challenging beer every century or so!

And why to dey sell it in clear lemonade bottles? With the turnover in those monopoly stores, you can be assured that the beer will be off before it is drunk!

Posted by: KnutAlbert at 21:33 | link | comments
beer, norway

The Fuller's schedule

Fuller's of London has announced its list of seasonal ales for the rest of the year, which includes beers from their recent aquisition Gales. From 24 April, Gales Festival Mild will be on tap for some weeks. 18 September-6 OCtober Fuller's own Hook mild will be on. 9 OCtober-27 October is the time for Gales Trafalgar 200, and from 30 October it is Red Fox. Jack Frost is not appearing this year,  it is replaced with Gales Winter Brew in December. And the Fuller's Old winter brew is bak in January. Quite impressive, but sadly I have no London plans until November!

 

Posted by: KnutAlbert at 15:28 | link | comments
london, beer

St Feuillion Brune

One of the beers tasted in Legoland. Fine dark brown colour, smells like an English old ale, faintly sour. Rich flavour, very typical Belgian style. Complex combination - both malty sweet and a dry finish with that sweet & sour combination that the Belgians do so well. Not a beer to line up outside a monastary for, but a very respectable abbey ale!

Posted by: KnutAlbert at 08:21 | link | comments (1)
beer, belgium

Beer and green curry

The Publican magazine runs a series about matching beer with various types of food, a very interesting topic. In the current issue they look at Thai green curry, and their panel has a wide range of suggestions, from light lagers via wheat beers of different types and origins to the Banana Bread beer from Charles Wells. I will look for that one!

Next month they will look at beer and cheese.

Posted by: KnutAlbert at 15:52 | link | comments (2)
beer, england

Hannibal

Nice to see some comments on my postings, maybe I should aim to provoke you to make more remarks?

A few of you have pointed out that the beers from De 5 Gaarde is not made by a Danish micro, but by Harboe. This is a Danish brewery I associate with discount beers sold to day trippers from  and , but them might have a broader range for all I know.

I stand corrected. On the other hand, it is not unknown to ask a brewer to contract brew a beer or a range of beers made to your specifications. I do not know who is behind the concept of De 5 Gaarde, and I don’t have time to do any investigative journalism for this blog. From what I gather, it is a trade mark under which they sell produce from five (rather large) Danish farms, some of it being just washed and packaged,  like potatoes, some of it being processed further, like cheese and beer.  The idea behind their range of beers is to use barley from their own fields, which is a concept which suits the current trend that food products should tell a story. The Nils Oscar brewery in does something similar, and there are British single malt ales, too.

De 5 Gaarde currently offer two regular beers plus a seasonal. The one I tried was Hannibal , their Easter beer. It is quite similar to other Danish Easter brews, which means extra caramel malt for colour. It has a fine amber look, a rich malt taste, but very light on the hops. A bit watery, despite 6% alcohol, and no finish to speak of. Conclusion: I am all in favour of spinning a story around the beer, including the origins of the raw materials. (They even do that for potato chips/crisps nowadays!) That is, however, no substitute for aiming for the ultimate taste and balance between hops and malt, trying out new yeast types etc. This beer is more about packaging than taste – I hope to try other beers from them in the future that combine both!

 

 

 

 

 

Posted by: KnutAlbert at 09:35 | link | comments
denmark, beer

Three Norwegian bocks

Way before the lager wave swept over Norway - as most other countries - we used to drink darker beers. ("We" refers to the country, this was before my time!) Some of these were münchener types, which you still find a few of on the most dusty supermarket shelves. Ther stonger dark beers, bok in Norwegian, are now to be found in the state wine and liquor monopoly, and they are probably a dying breed.

I decided to try a few of them recently. As you can see, they have spelled the word "bokk" in various ways, probably reaching back to early 20th century label designs and spellings.

The Borg Bokk has a fine dark brown colour. It has a strong malty taste, and is on the sweet side. Quite all right, but no match for the other two. The Aass beer has more complex flaovurs, both sweet malt and aromatic hoppiness. A rich beer with a bitter finish. Almost toffee in the sweetness, the finish fine and citrus-like, grapefruit is the word that covers it best.

The Mack Bokøl smells of aromatic hops. It has more of a bitter finish, and is my favourite of the three. Fine flowery hops, this has a flavour that echoes a fine English bitter.

If we want to keep these beers available, we need to buy a few bottles now and then!

Posted by: KnutAlbert at 17:41 | link | comments (3)
beer, norway, bock

Something for Dad, too!

Legoland Denmark is located in the middle of Jutland, quite convenient for lots of families from all over Scandinavia as well as Northern Germany. I went there with my family three years ago, and while we had a good time, it was not much of an experience when it came to Danish beers. Sure, they had the pilseners from Unibrew, but apart from that the most interesting was that they had Cain's ale from Liverpool on tap.

When we returned during Easter, I saw the fairly boring Royal pilsener being on tap, as well as a Murphy's Red. But when I looked closer, I saw a treasure chest of beers at the bar. Danish speciality beers as well as a number of hand picked imports well worth investigating. Beers from the US, Germany, Belgium, the Czech Republic and the Netherlands. Finally someone had discovered that life is more than lego bricks.

I went for a walk around the village of Billund one evening, hoping that the same awakening had spread to the local pub. They had some interesting bottles of German and Polish beers on display, but it turned out they were for decoration only! They had Tuborg and Carlsberg on tap as well as bottled Tuborg and Carlsberg! The local pizza restaurant was better, offering the beers from the micro De 5 Gaarde, including thir Easter brew, Hannibal.

The local supermarket SuperBrugsen was closed for most of our stay, the Danes being rather strict on opening hours during the holidays. I was on their doorstep when they opened on the morning our departure, and managed to stock up on a number of interesting micros. Where a few years ago you would find long rows of beers from the major brewers and a tiny few imports, the beer shelves now outshine the wine section.

And, if that was enough, there is a wine shop in the town, too, which offers a wide range of beer. There was no time to visit it this year, but if we ever go back, I will make sure we will be there at least one they with the shops open.

I will come back to tasting notes over the next few weeks.

Posted by: KnutAlbert at 11:02 | link | comments (2)
beer, denmark

Is there beer in Legoland?

The original one in Denmark, I mean. Sure, this being Denmark, there will always be a bottle of Tuborg available. But is there anything more? Interesting Danish micros, seasonal brews, iteresting imports?

Tune in tomorrow to find out!

Posted by: KnutAlbert at 23:01 | link | comments
beer, denmark

A beautiful can is not enough

Macks brewery in Tromso, Norway claims to be the northernmost brewery in the world. Their range of beers is fairly middle of the road, with the more experimental beers only being offered at a few local pubs, including the brewery tap.

They market a sesonal spring beer, which I tried the other day. Despite a pleasing design on the can, really appropriate for the sason, this is boring stuff. A pale, watery pilsner with neither malt or hops giving aroma. They can certainly do better than this!

Posted by: KnutAlbert at 11:18 | link | comments (2)
beer, norway

Ha ha ha

There won't be much coverage of the world cup on this blog, but I could not resist this from the Daily Mirror:

Official  World Cup beer Budweiser has been banned from using its name at the tournament.

Maker Anheuser-Busch is thought to have paid £23million to be one of the major sponsors in Germany.

But the US giant is in a trademark dispute with Czech brewer Budvar over the name Budweiser.

Anheuser-Busch then wanted to switch to Bud in ads but German brewer Bitburger said it was too similar to its Bit brand.

Lovely. Bitte ein bit!

Posted by: KnutAlbert at 10:08 | link | comments
beer, german, usa

News from Atna

I e-mailed the new Norwegian Atna brewery, which was launched with much ado about a month ago, but so far their beers have not been spottet outside the brewery tap somewhere in the deep forests.

They replied today that the first two beers are just around the corner, a wheat and an ecological export (a traditional Norwegian beer which died out when stong beers were removed from supermarkets and only sold thoriug the state monopoly stores.) These two will be available at the Vinmonopolet stores in May. Other beers will be available in restaurants and shops when their capacity gets better, probably during the summer.

 

Posted by: KnutAlbert at 09:55 | link | comments
norway, microbreweries, atna

A wide choice for Easter

The Danish Coop supermarket chains are heavily promoting Easter beers this year, with a number of beers from Danish micros being available only through their stores. This is a result of  the good sales of Christmas beers in their shops and a further growth of the micro and imported beer market - up 55 per cent in the first two months of this year compared to 2005.

The 11 new beers include SpringBock from Bryghuset Braunstein, Svaneke Påskebryg, Willemoes Påskeale, Thisted Forsøg nr. 23A and Hannibal from De 5 Gaarde. In addition they offer St. Feullien Easter,  Paulaner Salvator and the more standard beers from Tuborg, Carlsberg and probably some regionals. Well, this was the situation some weeks ago - some of them may be long gone. They are even running a 25% discount this week.

I will be in Denmark during Easter, and I hope I will be able to find a supermarket open long enough for me to get my hands on some of these brews! I don't expect the pub in the Legoland Hotel to offer too much of a choice.

Posted by: KnutAlbert at 15:00 | link | comments
beer, denmark, microbreweries

Outstanding Swedes

Some mighty fine beers from the Nils Oscar brewery I took home from Sweden:

The Nils Oscar Barley Wine is a very good pastiche of an English ale of the type. And this is not something that came out of a bag, those guys actually grow and malt their own barley. A sweet/sour flavour, with the alcohol shining through. Maybe a year in the cellar would smoothen the edges a bit on this one.

The Nils Oscar Kalasøl has a most beautiful amber/ruby colour and an amazingly full taste for 5,2%. Rather sweet and malty, but there is some bitterness in the finish. Not dry and bitter enough to make it to the top of my list, but with rich food and a bitter schnapps, this would be great.

The Lundgrens lager smells of hay and straw from the hops. Very fruity aroma - the taste is seducingly mild until the finish swipes the mouth clean. More, please!

Posted by: KnutAlbert at 12:25 | link | comments (1)
beer, sweden, microbreweries

Back to Nørrebro

I did not have more than a few hours in Copenhagen the other week, but with careful planning, I managed to squeeze in a visit to Nørrebro Bryghus, a forerunner in the Danish micro revolution.

I wrote about my visit there last year, so I will not go into details. I did not have time to try their menu, but went right for samples of their beers. On the day they had eight beers on tap.  The best three of those were, IMHO:

Brugge Blonde - a splendid pastiche of a Belgian blonde ale. Deceivingly easy-drinking, leaving a pleasant, almost sour bitterness.

Bombay Pale Ale is a great IPA. English malt and hops, a grapefruit-like bitterness. Maybe not the perfect IPA, but a mighty fine one!

Their North bridge Extreme is inspired by California IPAs. Lots and lots of hops and bitterness. Can there be too much of a good thing? It is certainly not a beer for quaffing. The aftertaste is the king here, the hops are dancing on my tongue a long time after the last sip. They rightly recommend this as the last beer to try - it would be impossible to enjoy a lager for some time after this!

Posted by: KnutAlbert at 13:30 | link | comments (2)
beer, denmark, microbreweries

1000 ways to open a beer bottle

Beer blogging takes many forms. I found this site quite inventive - there should be some chuckles for everyone here. And while the google translation of the web site may look a bit weird, it's the pictures that carry the message anyway!

Posted by: KnutAlbert at 14:14 | link | comments

New London pub guide

Five years ago, there were two London pub guides competing for the market, Ted Bruning's London by Pub and a CAMRA publication called London Pub Guide. (If the amazon.co ranking is to be believed, the Bruning book outsold the other by far.) The Bruning book was by far the better of the two, and I have used it extensively both for planning and for taking along. But five years is quite some time in the London pub business, and despite local area guides made by CAMRA branches, some of which are very comprehensive, and web sites, such as fancyapint, which can be updated frequently, there was probably time for a new book.

This time CAMRA has done a very respectable job, and I am happy to recommend their London Pub Walks, written by Bob Steel. It is very comprehensive, covering 30 walks, but the most pleasing is the layout, which includes full colour maps and photos throughout. It is similar to guide books like the Insight series. The format invites you to slip it into your pocket and head for the nearest Tube station to try out some new areas. In addition to the more familiar walks in Central London, there are walks on Wimbledon Common, Wandswoth Common, Greenwich and other green areas. There should be something here both for a Summer's day out as well as for a cold December afternoon. I look forward to using this. In late November, if the Good Lord is willing and the creeks don't rise, as Hank Williams used to say.

Posted by: KnutAlbert at 16:23 | link | comments
london, beer, pubs

The wit and wisdom of Nøgne ø

Norwegian brewers Nøgne ø has just released a wit and an Easter beer, and I decided to try them both last night.

The wit is true to the type, with a proper cloudy aroma and a nice citrus smell. Mild wheat flavour with a slight lemon bite. Fine fefreshing hops makes this a soft, well balanced beer. Just the thing for a hot summer afternoon. This beer is more understated than their other beers, but they don't all have to be kicking and screaming, do they?

The God Påske has a rich malty aroma. This is an ale with some wheat malt. The wheat brings inn some nice roundness. In addition there is a full malt flavour, flowery hops and a fine slightly bitter finish. Another winner from Nøgne ø!

Now, if I can get hold of a bottle of the Easter brew from Haandbryggeriet!

Posted by: KnutAlbert at 23:07 | link | comments
beer, norway, nøgne ø