BEER DRIVEL

Change to: www.beerdrivel.se

2010-05-04T20:04:00.003+02:00

I have finally changed from Blogspot to Wordpress. While I was at it I changed adress to: www.beerdrivel.se I still have allot of work to be done but at least it's readable as it is now ;)

You can also find the blog on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Beer-Drivel/118376574857606 If you want to follow the blog on Facebook, click on the small icon at the top that says: 'Like'.

Time for a white weekend

2010-04-30T19:31:00.002+02:00

This is the first weekend this year that I won't drink any beer. Feels like it's time to be a bit more healthy. I've had a very hectic 2010 so far and visited several festivals, also tried lots of nice beers of course :) But now I need a short rest.

I got some interesting plans in the near future. First up is the Enköping Homebrew Festival and on the 15th of May it's time to brew some beer again. Will tell you more about it in a later post.

Even though I won't try any beers this weekend I won't sit with my thumbs up my ass. I plan to start on my new blog using wordpress. I've gotten quite tired of blogspot with all it's bugs and issues and I have been recommended to try out wordpress. I'll play around with it when I get time to see what I think of it.

Gouden Carolus Cuvee Van De Keizer Blauw/Blue

2010-04-30T11:47:00.000+02:00

Gouden Carolus Cuvee Van De Keizer Blauw/Blue 2009 (75 cl bottle) 11%
This beer was part of a news release at Systembolaget last year. I also have a bottle of their red beer that I will rate soon.

Style: Belgian Strong Ale

Cost: ? SEK

Bitterness------Sweetness-----Sourness-----Intensity-------Body

■□□□□□□□----□□■□□□□□-----□■□□□□□□---□□□□■□□□----□□□■□□□□

Appearance: 3/5

Dark hazy amber liquid with a small dirty white foam.

Smell: 8/10

Dried fruit, raisin, plums.

Taste: 8/10

Dried fruit, yeast, plums and wine.

Mouthfeel: 4/5

Medium smooth and medium carbonation. Puckering mouthfeel.

Comment:

A fruity and nice belgian ale. Lots of flavour and none of them bad. Despite the high alcohol this was fairly easy to drink and it didn't feel very boozy. This beer is probably best on it's own but probably works great with some cheeses.

Total: 3,9/5

Results from the SC

2010-04-29T08:07:00.004+02:00

I completely forgot to post the results in my previous post. But I just saw this morning that they are updated at www.shbf.se

Judges Competition

Peoples Choice Competition + extra awards

Detailed Peoples Choice Competition

Program sheet from the SC

Nice to see that Gullefjun got a 6th place in Peoples Choice. I honestly didn't expect it to perform that well. Since it was only 3,4% and with a very mild flavour that easily got drowned in all the high flavour beers in that class.

I'm also suprised to see we got 4th place with our Nalle Puh Porter. That means the four of us managed to get 1st, 4th and 6th place which feels like it's way over expectations. How are we going to top that? We better start planning for next years competition right away. At the moment we have two beers in the works, I will write about them later on.

The Swedish Championship in Homemade Beer 2010 - Part 2

2010-04-28T11:00:00.000+02:00

This years festival broke several records. 370 beers participated in the Judges Competition and 103 beers participated in the Peoples Choice Competition. The festival wasn't just packed with beers it also got packed with people. More then 700 people visited the festival and you can see from the picture above what it looked like when it peaked.

The Peoples Choice Competition was divided into 3 categories, bottom fermented, top fermented and special beers. We had DBH3 and Nalle Puh Porter in the special beers class and Gullefjun in the top fermented class.

Even though I didn't go shit crazy tasting beer this festival (like I usually do) I have to say it was the most fun I've had at a beer festival so far. I loved standing in the booth giving out samples. Everybody where really friendly and we got allot of great comments on DBH3. Nalle Puh Porter and Gullefjun also got their share of course, but the majority went for the Death.

DBH3 actually got so popular we managed to get a gold medal in the Peoples Choice Awards, under the category Special Beers. I didn't quite understand it at first and it wasn't until I saw Chrille standing there with the medal around his neck that it sunk in. Felt weird to stand on stage like that, but allot of fun as well.

Unfortunately we "only" brought 38 litres of DBH3 so we ran out fast after the win was announced. I think Benny from Stockeboda and my friend Per was the ones who was the most upset about the lack of DBH3.

A few minutes later it was time for the big announcement, the winner of the Swedish Championship in Homemade Beer. Drakens Dubbel-IPA took home the first place, brewed by Rick Gordon Lindqvist, Tomas Lundqvist and Magnus Alström. Big congratulations to them.

They didn't participate in the Peoples Choice Awards with the beer which probably was lucky for us. It would have been fun to try it on the spot, but I traded a bottle with Rick just before the festival so I'm going to try it out later. I actually traded quite allot of bottles and I will write about them here later on. They are in Frövi with my father so I will get them at a later date.

To summarize the experience it feels like yet another great SC. I've been to several and this felt just as good as the others. The people involved in arranging it should have a huge pat on the back.

The Swedish Championship in Homemade Beer 2010 - Part 1

2010-04-27T11:00:00.000+02:00

Despite staying up late on friday I woke up early feeling very energetic. I had a good feeling about the day and wanted to get to the SC right away. But I knew it wouldn't be open until 10:00 so I settled down and tried to relax. Which didn't work so well so I headed of to the festival.

On the way there I did some "touristing" with the trams, taking in the beautiful scenery.... ok I admit it I managed to jump on the correct line but going the wrong way. I eventually ended up showing up 15 minutes late. So much for my plan to be there early. Well my father was worse and showed up just before it started. Someone remind me to pull his ear for that one ;)
When I got there Chrille and Erika where already hard at work setting up the cooler and taps. I brought the kegs out and started working on the decorations. Yes, you heard it right, I got put on the decorating job. But I'm actually quite satisfied with what I could accomplish (which was basically just putting stuff out on the table). Below is a picture of the non-finished booth.
Me and Erika started off in the booth and where prepared to take on the happy beer drinkers.

Since I was waiting for my father I took the time to walk around and check all the other booths out. I fairly quickly ran into the gang from Hembryggarbloggen, a bunch of happy and friendly guys and gals. I got some high quality homebrews and I have to complement them on their nice logo.

I also walked by the sticker competition. The quality of the stickers keep getting better and better each year. Most of them are much nicer then the commercial stickers. Below you can see the three stickers that Chrille made, number 7-9.

I spent most of the festival in my own both so I sadly didn't try that many beers. However people kept showing up and giving me samples of beer so I was quite satisfied with that. Christer (from Överjäst) even showed up with a couple of beers that I tried. Specially Fett Brett was really nice.

I realised this post got quite long so I turned into two parts as I usually do. Part 2 will include the winners of this years SC and some other things.

Friday night in Gothenburg

2010-04-26T20:25:00.001+02:00

After an unusually long drive to Gothenbourg we finally reached out destination after 8,5 hours of driving. The reason it took so long was that we switched cars in Uppsala, picked up a friend at Arlanda and got the kegs of beer in Örebro. But trust me, it was worth the long trip.

As soon as we got into Olles (friend of Per's that let us stay in his apartment for the weekend) the other guys where very quick to open the first beer of the evening. I however had to wait until I could go to the SC and deliver the kegs of beer.

When I got back from the slightly scary and confusing drive through central Gothenburg I was immediately served a glass of Death By Hops 3 (DBH). But I surprised the others by pulling out a bottle of DBH2. After drinking our beer we headed of to meet a bunch of friends that had come to Gothenburg to visit the SC and basically have a good time. We found them at Victoria which just didn't feel like a very interesting place to be. So I managed to chase them out of there and we headed of to Tre Små Rum.

I've heard allot of good things about this pub and Reza Ganon recently got a golden pin from the Beer Consumers Association. That is as good a sign for quality as you can get.

It took a few seconds after entering to realise that we had come to the right place (well most of us at least). I started out with a Närke Örebro Bitter Peated Viking. Which is a smoked version of their Örebro Bitter. I liked it, but I think I prefer their normal version.

Another beer that stood out was Duggest Bitter Sweet Dream. Great beer that I hope to try again so I can give it a proper rating.

I think Reza got a bit tired of my friends that had drank quite allot during the day, but thankfully for him some of them headed of to a club fairly soon. Me and some other beer lovers stuck around until the pub closed.

Jonny in the background (turned 30 on the day of the SC). Dave "the Bushman" and Mark "the Reverend" came over from England to drink some beer.

My brother, Per and Olle.

When we where about to leave we ran into a couple of beer blogers that had been sitting in the other room the whole time. First up a picture of me and the guys from Schnille och Schmak, Daniel och Ralph.

But also Christer from Överjäst and Weine from Casa Beer Blog. I hope I run into all of these guys again in the near future.

We decided to head of to Bishops Arms Avenyn together to grab another beer. They didn't have allot of interesting beer and the things that seemed interesting where fairly expensive. I did find Angel's Share #5 Korre Ale, which I went for. Decent beer that didn't quite stand out. But to be fair it was 02:00 and I didn't really give it a serious thought.

Christer shared a very nice beer, Mikkeller 10, with the rest of us before we decided to call it a night. Thanks for that one Christer.

I will post about the SC tomorrow. It was a good day :)

Preparing for the SC

2010-04-22T22:57:00.004+02:00

It's been a hectic week but we are finally done with the preparations for the Swedish Championship in Homemade beers. The last thing I did was bake a bunch of bread from the malt we used while brewing the two beers we participate with. It resulted in 3 kinds of bread. First a couple of loafs of DBH3 malt made with regular (wheat) flour. I also made some heavier bread with the Nalle Puh malt, using rough rye flour and graham flour. Here are some pictures:

As stated before we (me, my father and Chrille) will participate with 2 beers. A DIPA named Death By Hops 3 and a honey porter called Nalle Puh Porter. Chrille and Erika will also participate with a Mild called Gullefjun. I haven't had a chance to try that one yet so really looking forward to it. We will also share some chocolate-honey-trufels (thanks Lina!), malt bread and honey (used in the Nalle Puh Porter) at our table.

For those interested I will bring a couple of bottles of DBH3 in case you want to trade a bottle.

My father is already in Göteborg and I plan on leaving tomorrow morning. Me, Per (my beer drinking sidekick) and his brother will drive by car early tomorrow morning. Chrille will drive from Örebro early Saturday morning. I also have allot of friends coming to Göteborg. We usually go on a cruise at this time of year to celebrate Andy and Johnny's birthdays. But this year we are trying something new.

I can't wait for the festival this is going to be great. :)

Want to trade?

2010-04-21T06:07:00.003+02:00

The Swedish Championship in Homebrews is this weekend and our preparations are under way. I will bring a couple of bottles of Death By Hops 3 to the SC in case anybody wants to trade.

You can either contact me on stefan@beerdrivel.se or just simply approach me at the festival.

Fräcka Halvpannan

2010-04-18T00:42:00.000+02:00

Yesterday me and Karin went to Fräcka Halvpannan, a small pub/restaurant in southern Stockholm. I'm not sure how to translate the name but here is an attempt: Insolent Half-pan. I found out about this place through the Swedish Beer Consumers Association. After reading through their menu online I decided to pay them a visit. It was mostly the wide and cheap beer list that got my interest.

The first thing I did was to order a beer, but as it turned out they where all out of my first choice. But the waiter had brought a bottle of Dieu Du Ciel Corne du Diable, which just happened to be my second choice. Quite impressive to nail what my second choice would be. Corne du Diable was a hopped up IPA with lots of grapefruit and a high bitterness. Very nice and I gave it a 4/5.

The olives we got with the beer was very juicy and salty. Marinating in lots of oil and herbs. Before dinner arrived I went ahead and ordered a can of Oskar Blues Gordon Ale. Which is a mix between a Double IPA and an Imperial Amber Ale. Not surprisingly lots of hops but also a fairly high sweetness. I prefer my DIPAs a little bit less sweet but this was a nice beer. Definitely the best DIPA/IAA I've had from a can, but then again this is the only one I've tried. I would give it a 3,9/5.

Both me and Karin went for the beef tenderloin with potato cake and mushroom sauce. Both of us got just the right degree on the meat. I went for medium-rare and it was perfect, just they way I like it.

To finish off I ordered a bottle of Founders Curmudgeon Old Ale. It poured a very thick and hazy dark dirty amber liquid with lots of stuff floating around in it. A very strong (9,8%) ale with a heavy sweetness and intense flavour of caramel, malt, leather, dried fruit, yeast and hops. I'm giving it a 3,8/5. I had to drink this fairly slowly and about halfway through my desert arrived.

I went for the white chocolate mousse, which looked very small at first. But it was rich and creamy with lots of flavour. Felt like just the right amount at the time.

Karin decided to try their chocolate cake which was a bit dry but very rich. I prefer my chocolate cakes allot more sticky and juicy.

All in all this was a great visit, great service, great beer, great food and all at a very reasonable price. Compared to similar pubs they are on the low end of the price scale. Something worth noting is that the beer and food menu is out of date on their site. But if you read them you will get the general idea of what they have on offer.

Birthday dinner

2010-04-17T12:43:00.002+02:00

When I got home last night I was greeted with a birthday dinner. A pork tenderloin stew with chantarelles and mushrooms served with potatoes and fresh salad.

To drink I treated myself to a bottle of Hopslam. A fantastic DIPA that is ranked as 4th in the style. I had it for the first time last year and awarded it: "Beer of the year". I traded the beer with Baggen from Beerwell. He got two bottles of Death By Hops 3 and I got a bottle of Hopslam. I think we where both very happy with the trade. I hope he enjoys DBH3 :)

Tonight we are going to Fräcka Halvpannan, a restaurant on the south side of Stockholm that has a nice selection of beers at a very reasonable price. For example you can get a Stone Ruination for 69 SEK per bottle. Which is an amazing deal, I think OT charges 120 SEK. I haven't been there before but will post something tomorrow.

BrewDog coming to Bishops Arms

2010-04-16T08:20:00.003+02:00

I've been slacking with the blog lately. Well I haven't actually slacked with the blog in general as I have been working on different projects concerning the blog. Also have some other beer related project that is stealing time.

But back to what's important and that is beer. James Watt from BrewDog will visit Bishops Arms at Folkungagatan tomorrow. The visit is connected to the release of Abstrakt -01, a vanilla bean infused quadrupel. Sounds jummy if you ask me. There will be more beers on tap and I wouldn't mind trying their Hardcore IPA on tap. I plan to visit Fräcka Halvpannan tomorrow and I hope I get some time to run over to Bishops and meet James Watt. Also heard Darren from Beer Sweden will be there, would be fun to meet him as well. But we will see what happens tomorrow.

Chateu Grand Cru 2010 - Part 2

2010-04-14T13:00:00.000+02:00

I visited this festival in 2008 as well. Compared to 2008 it there where more cheese oriented booths this year. It felt like there where allot more food in general. I was also under the impression that there was a higher number of expensive wines in 2008. But we might just not have been offered them. Who would serve nice wine to a bunch of trashy beer geeks anyway?
This years festival was more cramped than last time and eventually me and Per got tired of both the crowd and the wine and decided to go for a beer. So we walked across the bridge to Bishops Arms. It didn't take us long to have 5-6 bottles of beer lined up in front of us. We focused mainly on hopped up IPAs and DIPAs, but a couple of other beers managed to mix in with the crowd.
BrewDog Hardcore IPA was the one that stood out the most. Would love to try it again when I don't have countless of wine samples in my belly. We also had Avery IPA and BrewDog 5am Saint. Tractor-Kalle decided to try a bottle of De Molen Hel & Verdoemenis and I wasn't late to sneak a small sample out of the bottle. I finished the set with a bottle of Mikkeller Black. Which definitely was the biggest mistake of the evening. Even though it was expensive I probably should have left the 17,5% beer in it's glass as I had to rush off to the bus.

Chateu Grand Cru 2010 - Part 1

2010-04-12T20:46:00.006+02:00

I'm finally starting to feel human again. It was a fun but rough weekend with lots of nice beer and wine. Despite the name the first thing I encountered at the wine and cheese festival was actually a beer. It was a hotel in Dalarna that had brewed their own beer through Grebbestads. A decent lager with some fruity notes, actually got some cloud berry feeling from it. Might just be my expectations playing tricks on me.

I then went for a walk and checked the festival out. The scenery is perfect and brings a fantastic atmosphere, but it almost gets hidden behind all the commercial from the booths. I walked around a bit with my beer and took in the sights. Rumor has it the festival will move to Conventum in the future, I really hope they keep it at the castle as it is a defining part of the festival. It's cramped and probably not very economical, but it makes the festival stand out amongst the rest.

After finishing off my beer I went to a random booth and got offered a small sample of sparkled wine. I asked if they had anything fun and special and ended up with almost a full glass of some limited edition wine. To be honest I prefer small samples at these things and the wine didn't feel that "limited" in my newbie wine mouth.

It didn't take long before I ran into my parents and their friends. They where doing an Italian red wine tasting and I tagged along. We also did a tasting at Torres before Per showed up an hour after we entered the festival. Me and Per then teamed up to try some more wine. We tried to combine some wine and cheese and did small tastings at every booth we visited. Mostly strong and rough red wines, but we also tried white, rosé, sparkled, beer and cider. The supply of the last two where far from great but it was nice to mix it up a bit. Specially having a dry cider after all that red wine was great.

I will continue part 2 with some expressions from the festival and what happened afterwards.

Death by hops can be lethal...

2010-04-10T10:44:00.003+02:00

Just woke up after an evening of trying Belgian beers and then finishing it up with a couple Death By Hops 3. That beer is fucking lethal, I'm still a bit drunk and I'm due at the wine festival in an hour. This is going to be a rough weekend....

Im off to Chateu Grand Cru

2010-04-09T13:42:00.002+02:00

I plan to visit the Chateu Grand Cru this weekend. It's a wine and cheese festival in Örebro, located inside the castle. I've been there before and it's usually pretty good. Very nice setting inside the castle and the people in the booths are always knowledgable and friendly.

The only thing I can complain about is that it get quite cramped and the ticket system seems a bit overcomplicated. This year you buy tickets that give you right to enter at different times during the day. I personally have the earliest tickets so I won't be affected but it feels like a drop in value for those that show up late, but my beer-loving sidekick Per had some problems getting tickets and will have to show up at a later time. However I guess it will be a fix to the overcrowd problem.

I should have a report up some time after the weekend.

New adress

2010-04-07T09:54:00.003+02:00

As you might have noticed you get redirected to www.beerdrivel.se when you visit this blog. I recently bought the domain which is a step towards some changes on the blog. I plan to change blog motor some time in the future and also working on a new logo. The reason is I hope to make a better looking site and add some stuff that I can't do on blogspot, also a bit fed up with all the problems and bugs with blogspot.

Belgian Blizzard

2010-04-07T06:00:00.000+02:00

Belgian Blizzard (33 cl bottle) 9,4%
This is a Rochefort 10 clone that my father, Peter the chef and Erkki brewed at Källarknut during a raging blizzard.

Style: Belgian Quadrupel
Cost: Homebrewed not sure what they paid for the ingredients.

Bitterness------Sweetness-----Sourness-----Intensity-------Body

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Appearance: 3/5
It poured a very dark and very hazy amber liquid with a small dirty white foam.

Smell: 8/10
Fruity, berries, yeast and sweetness.

Taste: 8/10
Fruity, berries and yeast.

Mouthfeel: 5/5
Smooth and puckering mouthfeel. Thick body and medium carbonation.

Comment:
I should start by saying that Rochefort 10 is one of my favourite Belgian beers. This clone is very good but doesn't taste exactly like the original. I will have to test this at a later date, I actually have a bottle of Rocherfort 10 but didn't think of opening it.

That being said lets take a look at what we got. It's a very nice belgian quadrupel and extremely easy to drink. I didn't feel the high alcohol at all. The only thing I might complaint about is that I would have love some more complexity. It felt a bit one-sided but I got a feeling this might change over time. The beer is quite young and should probably sit for a while to mature.

Total: 4/5

TT normal vs TT ecological

2010-04-05T00:47:00.000+02:00

Carlsberg recently released an ecological version of their normal Three Towns beer called TT Green Lager. Since doing a normal review of the beer would feel a bit boring I figured I should try their normal against their new ecological version.

Appearance
They had the same watery yellow colour and big white foam. Only difference was that the normal looked to have a higher carbonation with more bubbles.

Smell
Both had the usual lager smell of sweet bread and metal, but the ecological had a slightly stronger smell.

Taste
Same here, very similar taste, just like a regular pale lager. Only difference is that the normal version had a bit more flavour and was a bit "rounder".

Mouthfeel
Both had a semi-smooth mouthfeel with a light body and medium carbonation. Normal was just slightly smoother.

Total
As expected the two where very similar to each other. There are just marginal differences that are hard to distinguish if you aren't actively looking for them. I didn't exactly like any of them, but I think the normal version has a slight edge on the ecological. It had a slightly better taste and mouthfeel.

Normal TT wins over Eco TT.

Nynäshamn Bötet Barley Wine

2010-04-02T13:00:00.000+02:00

Nynäshamn Bötet Barley Wine (25 cl bottle) 9,1%
This beer was released as a temporary addition at Systembolaget in the beginning of Marsch. There are still plenty of bottles left for those that want to buy a couple of bottles.

Style: Barley Wine

Cost: 33,50 SEK

Bitterness------Sweetness-----Sourness-----Intensity-------Body

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Appearance: 4/5

Dark, slightly hazy, amber liquid with a small dirty white foam.

Smell: 8/10

Strong smell of wood, malt, caramell and also wineous almost like porter. Some alcohol as well.

Taste: 8/10

Sweet with allot of malt, sugar, hops, fruits and wine.

Mouthfeel: 5/5

Puckering mouthfeel, thick body and medium smooth puckering mouthfeel. It put a smile on my face.

Comment:

A very nice Barley Wine that reminds me a bit of Bigfoot Barley wine although with less hops and lighter body. It might have been a bit to sweet though, but it might improve over time. I'm going to buy another bottle and store for at least a year to see what I think.

Something worth mentioning is the 25 cl bottle that just feels perfect for this kind of beer. I wouldn't mind similar bottles in the future.

Last time I rated this I gave it a 3,6/5, but that was on tap and a couple of years back. So this time I gave it a slightly higher score:

Total: 4,1/5

Van Diest Früli Strawberry Beer

2010-04-01T06:00:00.000+02:00

Van Diest Früli Strawberry Beer (33 cl bottle) 4,1%
This beer was released at Systembolaget on the 24th of March and is now part of the permanent supply. It's a belgian wheat beer with strawberry juice. According to the pamphlet I got with the bottle it's real fruit juice and no essences where used while making this beer.

Style: Fruit Beer
Cost: 14,90 SEK

Bitterness------Sweetness-----Sourness-----Intensity-------Body

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Appearance: 3/5
Hazy red-orange liquid with a small pink foam that left no lacing.

Smell: 5/10
Very sweet smell of strawberries and fruit candy.
Taste: 5/10
Strawberries, rasberries. Very sweet and thirst quenching.

Mouthfeel: 4/5
Smooth mouthfeel with a medium body and low carbonation.

Comment:
I'm not sure how to rate this beer or if I should even call it a beer. I know that is a comment allot of people have with lambics and similar beers. Then I just smile at them but this time I'm the one asking the question: Is this beer? Well it is, it's just the fruit juice that is throwing me off. It basically smells and taste like a very good soft drink. Very fruity and sweet, but it has a thicker body and a deeper more complex flavour compared to a soft drink.

Even though I don't give the highest score to this, I actually believe I will buy more bottles in the future. It's extremely easy to drink and very thirst quenching. Would consider it with a dessert or even just sitting on the porch on a hot summer day.

Concerning suitable food companions it's obvious this is a dessert beer. The pamphlet suggests vanilla ice cream or using it as an ingredient in a sorbet. Both sounds very nice and I'm actually willing to try them out. I also have a feeling this would work very well with chocolate. Possibly not the fantastic combo that kriek and chocolate is, but it should be close enough.

Total: 2,7/5

Dugges Lager No. 1

2010-03-31T15:00:00.000+02:00

Dugges Lager No. 1 (50 cl bottle) %
This beer was released at Systembolaget on the 24th of March and is now part of the permanent supply. I tried it at Söderbärke Micro beer festival last year and really enjoyed it. Gave it a 3,4/5 and this comment:

"It had a smell of hops, citrus, grape and grass. Nice smell. It was smooth and tasted of malt and grassy hops. Great lager! Recommended."
Style: Premium Lager
Cost: 24,90 SEK

Bitterness------Sweetness-----Sourness-----Intensity-------Body

□□■□□□□□----□■□□□□□□-----■□□□□□□□---□□■□□□□□----□□■□□□□□

Appearance: 2/5
Clear golden liquid with a medium sized white head that left chunks of lacing on the side of the glass.

Smell: 7/10
Malt, bread and grassy hops.

Taste: 7/10
Fresh. Malt, bread, grassy hops, hay and citrus.

Mouthfeel: 4/5
Smooth mouthfeel, low-medium carbonation

Comment:
I just looked back at the score and see I gave this beer exactly the same score both times. However I remember it to have allot more hops when I tried it at SMÖF.

This is a well balanced lager, it doesn't have an overwhelming hop aroma or bitterness but there are some hops in it. It's just balanced against all the other flavours. I personally love beers with lots of hops but for this style it works very well.

I think this beer should work good with most kinds of food. Ranging from a nice steak dinner to a greasy pizza. But you shouldn't expect wonders. It will most likely make a good companion but it won't enhance the flavour like with kriek and chocolate.

If you are one of those people that only drink Norrlands Guld, Carlsberg or any of the other macro lager, then I recommend you to try this out. Don't get scared by the slightly higher price, it's worth the extra SEK.

Total: 3,4/5

Nalle Puh Jul Porter

2010-03-31T06:00:00.003+02:00

Nalle Puh Jul Porter (50 cl bottle) %
Me, Chrille and my father brewed a honey porter a while back called Nalle Puh Porter (Vinnie the Puh Porter). We plan to bring it to the Swedish Championship in Gothenburg at the end of April. When we divided the beer between us we noticed that we would get 3 small 9 litre kegs of beer. So we decided to experiment with those kegs, each person was tasked to spice their keg and we would later try the results. This bottle is from my father and he decided to add saffron and some extra honey to his keg. I have a completely different plan with my beer, but I will keep it to myself for now.

I tried the original Nalle Puh Porter a while back, see review here. I wasn't overly impressed and it had a very noticeable chemical taste to it. I later found out it came from the honey. I used some of the honey in my cooking and noticed the same flavour. So I think it comes from heating the honey. Hopefully this off-flavour will disappear over time.

Style: Porter
Cost: Material cost of around 9 SEK/litre.

Bitterness------Sweetness-----Sourness-----Intensity-------Body

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Appearance: 5/5
It poured a pitch black liquid with a big brown head. The foam slowly receded and left allot of foam on the side of the glass.

Smell: 8/10
As I started to pour the bottle I could smell the saffron and sweetness of this beer. A closer sniff also revealed some chocolate and a dash of coffee.

Taste: 8/10
Very sweet with lots of saffron and honey. Also some chocolate, coffee, nuts and toasted bread.

Mouthfeel: 5/5
Smooth, creamy and mouth coating mouthfeel with a thick body and low carbonation. Great mouthfeel.

Comment:
Wow! This sure was something special. Very sweet with lots of honey and saffron, allot more then I expected. I honestly don't think I've tried something similar before. It's also extremely easy to drink and I keep interrupting my writing with a sip. The chemical flavour is also completely gone which is very happy news, hopefully it's gone from the original as well.

If I where to give any constructive criticism it would be about the high sweetness and almost overpowering saffron taste. I personally like both, but maybe it will get old over time. It would be interesting to lower the amount of honey and saffron a bit to let the other flavours of the beer come forward a bit. Not sure if it would improve the beer, but could be worth a try.

I say have this with most deserts and you won't go wrong. But it should be fantastic with chocolate.

Total: 4,3/5

Mohawk Extra IPA

2010-03-30T06:00:00.004+02:00

Sigtuna Brygghus Mohawk Extra IPA (50 cl bottle) 7,5%
This beer entered the permanent supply at Systembolaget on the 24th of March.

Inspiration for this beer has come form the US west coast, a high alcohol beer with lots of hops and complexity. They used allot of hops to make this beer: Amarillo, Cascade, Centennial, Chinock, Columbus, Magnum and Simcoe.

Style: Imperial/Double IPA
Cost: 36,10 SEK

Bitterness------Sweetness-----Sourness-----Intensity-------Body

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Appearance: 4/5
Very hazy orange golden liquid with a medium sized dirty white head that left chunks of foam on the side of the glass.

Smell: 6/10
Surprisingly weak smell of grassy hops and flowers.

Taste: 8/10
Lots of grassy hops, grapefruit and citrus with a high and long lasting bitterness.

Mouthfeel: 5/5
Thick body, puckering and smooth mouthfeel. Low-medium carbonation.

Comment:
This is something for the hopheads (myself included). Lots of grassy hops and a very high bitterness that stuck around long after my lips left the glass. I really liked it and will buy more bottles in the future. However it could have been better. First of all I would have loved a stronger smell. It would also have been nice to have had more hop aroma in comparison to the very high hop bitterness. Would have also loved a more complex hop palate.

This beer works great on it's own but if you want some company with your beer try some Gruyère cheese. It's a salty hard cheese that works great with hopped up beer.

Total: 3,7/5

S:t Eriks Pilsner

2010-03-29T06:00:00.004+02:00

S:t Eriks Pilsener (33 cl bottle) 5,3%
This beer entered the permanent supply at Systembolaget on the 24th of March. Just as with Sailor this is a re-introduction of an old brand. However this brand is far older then Sailor, it has been brewed by different breweries between the 1850s and the 1960s when it was cancelled.

This new version of the beer has been brewed by Jessica Heidrich at Slottskällans in Uppsala. Jessica is well known through the Swedish homebrewing scene and I've tried several of her beers over the years. They are often well produced and thought through so I had good hopes for this beer. Even thought the very nice package gives of a wibe of "nice exterior crappy interior".

Style: Premium Lager
Cost: 15,90 SEK

Bitterness------Sweetness-----Sourness-----Intensity-------Body

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Appearance: 1/5
Clear pale watery yellow liquid with a small white foam.

Smell: 7/10
As I poured the bottle I was hit by a fistful of fruity hops. Lots of tropical fruits such as passion fruit and pineapple. Also some grass and hey. Smelled very fresh.

Taste: 7/10
Also lots of fruity hops but also some grassy hops. Tropical fruits with passion fruit being the most dominant. It had a fairly high bitterness that lasted a long time.

Mouthfeel: 3/5
Medium smooth with a medium body and low-medium carbonation.

Comment:
A very nice american style hopped up lager. Very fresh and with lots of tropical fruits. If you like your hops you will surely enjoy this beer.

The bottle looks really cool and at first I was a bit afraid that it would be another beer that was intended to sell on it's package. But it's the inside that counts and this one had a much better inside than outside. Regarding food I'm not sure.

Someone once told me that hopped up beer works well with sushi. Since I can't eat sushi anymore I can only take their word for it. But I think this beer is best suited to be enjoyed in the sun. Feels like a perfect match with its thirst quenching fresh fruity hops and freshly cut grass.

One of the best Swedish lagers I've tried. I recommend trying it out, but try not to get freaked out by the fruity flavour and the high bitterness.

Total: 3,2/5

Sailor... toy or beer?

2010-03-28T08:00:00.000+02:00

Sailor (33 cl bottle) 5%
This beer was released at Systembolaget on the 24th of March and is now part of the permanent supply. However this isn't the first time this beer has been at Systembolaget. It was actually sold in 50 cl cans until 2005, and is now being re-introduced in a whole new package. From a distance it almost looks like a ceramic copy of an old bottle. But up close it looks more like a plastic toy. Darren from BeerSweden commented that his kid thought it looked like something out of SpongeBob Square Pants. I've never actually seen it but I think the kid is on to something.

Style: Pale Lager
Cost: 12,90 SEK

Bitterness------Sweetness-----Sourness-----Intensity-------Body

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Appearance: 1/5
Greenish pale watery yellow liquid with a small white foam.

Smell: 2/10
Weak smell of white bread, lime, banana and fruit candy.

Taste: 2/10
An odd artificial taste of white bread, chemical sweetness, lime, caramel, bananas, fruit candy, wet paper and butter.

Mouthfeel: 1/5
Light body, medium-high carbonation, a bit rough mouthfeel.

Comment:
This was bad, tasted like a mix of chemicals, water and a fistful of mixed candy. Felt very artificial and hardly even resembles a beer. It also had some off flavours such as wet paper and butter which drags the points down a bit more. However it didn't have any of the really bad flavours that often troubles macro lagers such as puke, cat pee, metal and so on, which saves it from getting the minimum score.

Despite my dislike for this beer I think it might actually sell. The unique bottle design will turn some heads and will probably find a crowd that likes to stand out. But I personally ended up pouring it out after I finished my review. Just couldn't stand to drink any more.

Total: 0,9/5

Easter Beer Summary

2010-03-27T08:00:00.000+01:00

I'm finally done with my Easter beer tasting for this year. I think the beer this year was slightly better then last year. However I didn't really find any great beers this year and I won't be buying any more bottles this year. Best was Mikkellers GIPA but it's not really an Easter beer.

After drinking them all I feel kind of feed up with them. Feels like Easter beer (and Octoberfest beer) usually are of lower quality then normal. Christmas beers are an exception where some of them can really stand out of a crowd.

Here is a summary of the Easter beer:

Mikkeller Hoppy Easter (33 cl) 6,6% - 34,90 SEK

A very interesting beer style named GIPA, aka German IPA. It's similar to a normal IPA but brewed using German hops, which gives it a completely different character.

Total: 3,5/5

Jämtlands Påsköl (50 cl) 6% - 24,90 SEK
The best Easter beer of the year. Good balance between bitterness and sweetness. It also had a noticeable hoppy and malty character.
Total: 3,3/5

Sigtuna Easter Ale (50 cl) 5,6% - 26,90 SEK

An easy to drink lightly hopped APA with some notes of tropical fruits. Well balanced and easy to drink, but nothing for hopheads.

Total: 3,3/5

Sigtuna Röd Påsk (50 cl) 6,2% - 27,90 SEK

A lightly hopped ale that I relate to British ales. It had some spices and orange flavours.

Total: 3,1/5

Dugges Påsköl (50 cl) 6% - 29,80 SEK

Smoky ale with very little carbonation. Worked well with chocolate.

Total: 3/5

Pumpvikens Påsköl (50 cl) 5,8% - 29,10 SEK

A smooth and mild British style ale with a decent amount of smoke. It didn't work with the Easter food last year and I suspect it will be just as bad a combo this year. It might work with other kinds of food though.

Total: 3/5

Easter Bird (33 cl) 5,5% - 19,90 SEK

A moderatly hopped APA that has some resemblance of regular lagers. However ok to drink and probably works well when you finally get to sit outside and enjoy the Spring sun.
Total: 2,9/5

Slottskällans Blåkulla Påsköl (50 cl) 4,8% - 24,80 SEK

Tasted like smelling a bag of malt. Something I love, but it lacked some hops and other flavours to balance it out. Should be a good partner with the Easter food.

Total: 2,9/5

Oppigårds Easter Ale (50 cl) 5,3% - 25,60 SEK

Mild, fruity and easy to drink English style ale, however it does have a metallic taste and mouthfeel. Worked well with the Easter food last year and will probably be just as good this year.

Total: 2,8/5

Nils Oscar Kalaspåsköl (33 cl) 5,6% - 19,30 SEK

A very mild and easy to drink beer with very little flavour. Was a decent partner with the Easter food last year and I think it will work well this year as well.

Total: 2,7/5

Eriksberg Påsköl (50 cl) 5,8% - 15,50 SEK
A very mild beer with very little flavour whatsoever. This beer needs to be acompanied by food, it just can't holds it's own ground.
Total: 2,1/5

Mariestads Påskbryggd (50 cl) 5,8% - 17,50 SEK
Tasted synthetic and artificial and I didn't like it very much. It will need some food to go with it, on it's own it was just to depressing.
Total: 2/5

New beer from Närke

2010-03-26T16:36:00.001+01:00

Just got an email from Närke Kulturbryggeri. They have brewed a new beer together with Menno Olivier from De Molen. It's a Belgian double brewed with Finish smoked malt, Swedish juniper and Chinese tangerine peels, which they named Närke Double Dutch Viking (6,8%).

As far as I know this is the first Belgian styled beer that Närke makes. Also think this is the first time they do a coop brew. So I'm pretty interested in trying this beer out, considering I usually love both De Molens and Närkes beers this could be really good.

Below is a list of breweries that will get it soon or already have it:

ÖREBRO
Bishop's Arms (Drottninggatan 1)

LINKÖPING
De Klomp (S:t Larsgatan 13)

GÖTEBORG
Ölrepubliken (Kronhusgatan 2B)

STOCKHOLM
Akkurat (Hornsgatan 18)
Hörnans Kök & Belgo Bar (Bryggargatan 12, Stockholm)

Mariestads Påskbryggd

2010-03-26T15:00:00.002+01:00

Mariestads Påskbryggd (50 cl bottle) 5,8%
This is the last Easter beer that I had to review, I'll post a summary tomorrow.

Style: Vienna
Cost: 17,50 SEK

Bitterness------Sweetness-----Sourness-----Intensity-------Body

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Appearance: 3/5
Clear amber liquid with a dirty white foam.

Smell: 4/10
Sweet and weak smell of caramel and bread.

Taste: 4/10
A synthetic taste of caramel and bread.

Mouthfeel: 2/5
Stingy mouthfeel with a medium-thin body, medium carbonation and a warm alcoholic finish.

Comment:
I didn't like this beer very much, it tasted to synthetic. Almost like it was made from chemicals rather then proper ingredients like malt and hops. I actually ended up poring it out in the end. It need some more body, more malt to carry the little sweetness there is and also a dash of hops to bring some bitterness. Feels like it's lacking all over.

I think these beer needs company to be able to work. Any kind of food should work, but don't expect a Hallelujah moment.

Total: 2/5

I might be a bit cranky with the score now, but I'm starting to get tired of the Easter beer. Tonight I'm going to drink something a bit more exciting. Founders Breakfast Stout maybe?

Jämtlands Påsköl

2010-03-26T06:00:00.000+01:00

Jämtlands Påsköl (50 cl bottle) 6%
This is another Easter beer released at Systembolaget on the 15th of March.

Style: English Strong Ale
Cost: 24,90 SEK

Bitterness------Sweetness-----Sourness-----Intensity-------Body

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Appearance: 4/5
Dark amber liquid with a medium sized fluffy dirty white head that left chunks of foam on the side of the glass.

Smell: 6/10
Grassy hops, caramel, malt and fruits.

Taste: 6/10
Caramel, malt, bread, fruits and citrus.

Mouthfeel: 4/5
Smooth mouthfeel with just a little bit of sting, creamy, medium thick body and low carbonation.

Comment:
Probably the best Easter beer so far. Good balance between bitterness and sweetness. It also had a noticeable hoppy and malty character.

Fairly enjoyable but I suspect this isn't a great match with the Easter food. The bitterness isn't very intense but I got a feeling it would clash with the salty Easter food, specifically anything containing dill.

Total: 3,3/5

Nils Oscar Kalaspåsköl

2010-03-25T15:00:00.000+01:00

Nils Oscar Kalaspåsköl (33 cl bottle) 5,6%
This is another Easter beer released at Systembolaget on the 15th of March. I tried this with the Easter food last year and gave it a 2,3/5, with this comment:

"It tasted of bread, caramel and a hint of burned toast and metal. Was pretty boring with low taste and smell, but was ok in combination with the food."

Style: Amber Ale
Cost: 19,30 SEK

Bitterness------Sweetness-----Sourness-----Intensity-------Body

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Appearance: 3/5
Clear dark amber liquid, medium sized light beige head that left an even layer of foam on the side of the glass.

Smell: 4/10
Weak smell of caramell and bread.

Taste: 5/10
Mild taste of bread, caramell and malt.

Mouthfeel: 5/5
Smooth and creamy mouthfeel with a medium thick body and low carbonation.

Comment:
Very easy to drink but also very mild with a malty caramel flavour. I think it was to mild though, would have loved some more flavour. I had to concentrate to feel anything at all.

This one worked well with the Easter food last year, and I suspect it will work well this year as well.

Total: 2,7/5

Eriksbergs Påsköl

2010-03-25T06:00:00.001+01:00

Eriksbergs Påsköl (50 cl bottle) 5,8%
This is another Easter beer released at Systembolaget on the 15th of March.

Style: Vienna
Cost: 15,50 SEK

Bitterness------Sweetness-----Sourness-----Intensity-------Body

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Appearance: 3/5
Very dark clear amber liquid, almost looked brown, with a medium sized light brown head.

Smell: 4/10
Weak smell of malt and bread.

Taste: 4/10
Weak smell of malt, bread and caramel.

Mouthfeel: 2/5
Medium smooth mouthfeel with some sting, thin-medium thick body with a low-medium carbonation.

Comment:
A very mild beer with very little flavour whatsoever. I would have preferred some more flavour in this beer as it got a bit uninteresting to drink.

I suspect it might work with some food though, can't say for sure if it's a good combo with Easter food. But this beer needs company, it just can't holds it's own ground.

Total: 2,1/5

Nynäshamns Pumpvikens Påsköl

2010-03-24T16:00:00.002+01:00

Nynäshamns Pumpvikens Påsköl (50 cl bottle) 5,8%
This is another Easter beer released at Systembolaget on the 15th of March. I tried it with the Easter food last year and gave it a 2,1/5, with this comment:

"It had a weak smell of bread. Tastes of bread and caramel and didn’t go very well with the food. The stingy bitterness was a bad combo with the salty Easter food, specially the salmon. To bad, I usually enjoy Nynäshamns beer."
Style: Mild Ale
Cost: 29,10 SEK

Bitterness------Sweetness-----Sourness-----Intensity-------Body

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Appearance: 4/5
Slightly hazy dark amber liquid with a medium sized beige head.

Smell: 5/10
Weak smell of caramel, fruits, oranges and other citrus.

Taste: 6/10
Smoke was the most dominant, but also bread, caramel, malts and oranges.

Mouthfeel: 4/5
Smooth mouthfeel with a medium thick body and low carbonation.

Comment:
A smooth and mild British style ale with a decent amount of smoke. Easy to drink and I can imagine drinking it in a pint glass at a pub.

This beer didn't work at all with the Easter food but I did try it with some cashews and spring rolls, both worked well. However the Easter food is a bit more salty and intense, which might not work as well. I think I'll settle with this being a good combo with food but not necessarily Easter food.

As you can see I'm raising the score quite a bit compared to last year. But I think it might have been the stressful testing schedule together with the horrible combo between Easter food and beer that lowered the score that time.

Total: 3/5

New beers at Systembolaget today!

2010-03-24T06:47:00.000+01:00

For the third time this month Systembolaget release new beers. The reason this one isn't at the start of April is because of the Easter holidays. Since these beers are released into the permanent supply at Systembolaget they aren't all that exciting. For once I won't buy all of the beers released. I'll skip all the ones that have just changed packaging. I'll give some short comments below:

Adnams The Bitter - 4,5% - 50 cl - 19,90 SEK
As far as I can see this is the same beer as they have had on can before, this time released as a bottle.

Belhaven Wee Heavy - 6,5% - 35,5 cl - 17,90 SEK
If I'm not incorrect this beer has been part of the permanent supply before but now comes back in a smaller bottle.

Bjørnebryg - 4,5% - 33cl - 7,90 SEK
Released with a lower ABV and lowered price.

BrewDog Trashy Blond - 4,1% - 33 cl - 15,90 SEK

Another BrewDog beer in the permanent supply? Have to give it to them, they are very successful in getting their beers into Systembolaget. If I'm not misstaken this beer was initially released with a very different sticker. Couldn't find a picture of it though.

Bryggmästarens Premium Guld - 5,7% - 50cl - 12,90 SEK
Just a switch from can to bottle.

Carlsberg Hof, PET-bottle - 5% - 50 cl 15,10 SEK

The same Carslberg Hof but this time in a Pet-bottle.

Früli Strawberry Beer - 4,1% - 25 cl - 14,90 SEK

A wheat beer with strawberries? I'm getting some Hoegaarden Rosé flashbacks here, but I also like different kinds of lambics. No idea if this will be something similar, but it's definitely worth a try. The ratings at Ratebeer is very spread, most of the 'big' raters gives this a 2/5.

Åbro Guldkällan - 4,8% - 50 cl - 14,50 SEK

Used to be in a can now it's released as a bottle.

Jenlain Blonde - 5,9% - 33 cl - 12,90 SEK

It sounds like an interesting Belgian blonde but it's a pale lager from France. I don't have high hopes but I will try it out.

Lager No 1 - 4,7% - 50 cl - 24,90 SEK

I tried this beer at SMÖF and really liked it. One of the better lagers I've tried, it's going to be interesting to see what I think about it this time.

Mikkeller Jackie Brown - 6% - 50 cl - 34,90 SEK

A brown ale from Mikkeller? Sure why not, I'm definitely trying it out. Nice score at Ratebeer as well putting it at the 95th percentile.

Mohawk Extra India Pale Ale - 7,5% - 50 cl - 36,10 SEK
This is probably the beer I'm most interested in trying out. I thought the regular Mohawk IPA was pretty good, interesting to see Rye in a beer. But this is a more hopped up version of that beer, which sounds very intriguing.

Pripps Blå - 5,2% - 33 cl - 10,50 SEK
Not sure what this is, probably new packaging.

S:t Eriks Pilsner - 5,3% - 33 cl - 15,90 SEK

This beer is an old brand that is re-released with Jessica Heidrich as head brewer. I haven't tried her Angels Share beer but I tried plenty of homemade beer from her and they are always of high quality. Nice bottle as well.

Sailor, PET-flaska - 5% - 33 cl - 12,90 SEK
This bottle looks like an old sailors tattoo. According to the press release it's a meeting between the Caribbean and the Swedish Archipelago.

TT Green Lager - 4,5% - 33 cl - 8,90 SEK

An ecological version of the normal TT lager. I got a can at home so will buy a normal TT and see if there is any difference.

A picture of the beers and 1 cider that Galatea released:

Slottskällans Blåkulla

2010-03-23T15:00:00.001+01:00

Slottskällans Blåkulla (33 cl bottle) 10%
This is another Easter beer that was released at Systembolaget on the 15th of March. As far as I know it's the only ecological beer in this release.

I tried this last Easter and gave it a 2,3/5, it was tested during the Easter dinner and I shared the bottle with my grandfather, father and brother. This is the comment I wrote:

"Had a medium bitter taste with hints of bread, caramel, metal and some sweetness. Easier to drink compared to the other Swedish Easter beers and enjoyed by the others around the table. "

Style: Dunkel
Cost: 24,80 SEK

Bitterness------Sweetness-----Sourness-----Intensity-------Body

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Appearance: 3/5
Clear amber liquid with a medium sized light beige head that left an even layer of foam on the side of the glass.

Smell: 6/10
Mild smell of malt, the kind of smell you get when smelling a bag of freshly grinded malt. Also some metal.

Taste: 6/10
Same as the smell. Malt bag, some metal and sweetness.

Mouthfeel: 4/5
Smooth mouthfeel with a thin-medium body and a low carbonation.

Comment:
It had a very distinct flavour that I relate to smelling a bag of malt. Something I love, but it lacked something to balance it with. It didn't have a much of any hops and the body was a bit to light to carry the heavy malty flavour.

I think this might work well with the Easter food though, there isn't an intense bitterness in the way of the fat and salty food and the beer might improve with some company. At least that's what I remember from last year.

Total: 2,9/5

Dugges Påsköl

2010-03-23T06:00:00.000+01:00

Dugges Påsköl (50 cl bottle) 6%
This is another Easter beer released at Systembolaget on the 15th of March.

Style: Brown Ale
Cost: 29,80 SEK

Bitterness------Sweetness-----Sourness-----Intensity-------Body

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Appearance: 4/5
Very dark hazy amber liquid with a light beige foam that left a thick lacing.

Smell: 5/10
Very smell, noted some spices and smoke.

Taste: 6/10
Smoke was the most dominant, but also some roasted notes and bread.

Mouthfeel: 4/5
Smooth and creamy mouthfeel with a medium thick body and low carbonation.

Comment:
My first thought was a Scottish ale with smoked malt or a fairly mild smoked ale. But the style is set as Brown Ale. Ah well lets settle it as an English style ale with a distinct smoky flavour. A fairly easy to drink ale with a low carbonation.

I tried this with some salty snakes and it was a decent combo. But it worked allot better with some chocolate, not a perfect match but the chocolate actually improved the beer slightly. So this might work best after dinner with a couple of pieces of chocolate. Don't think this beer would work with a full on dessert.

I usually love Dugges beers but this feels slightly below average for the brewery. That Im still giving it a 3/5 is a testament to the quality of beer from this brewery.

Total: 3/5

Sigtuna Easter Ale

2010-03-22T15:00:00.000+01:00

Sigtuna Easter Ale (50 cl bottle) 6,2%
This is another Easter beer released at Systembolaget on the 15th of March. Brewed with Riwak and Pacific gem.

Style: American Pale Ale
Cost: 26,90 SEK

Bitterness------Sweetness-----Sourness-----Intensity-------Body

□□■□□□□□----□■□□□□□□-----■□□□□□□---□■□□□□□□----□□■□□□□□

Appearance: 4/5
Slightly hazy golden liquid with a big white fluffy foam. Big chunks of foam stuck to the side of the glass.

Smell: 6/10
Not very intense but fresh with some hops and malt. Fruity hops with some passion fruit and other tropical fruit. My first thought was Simcoe, but it turned out to be Riwaka and Pacific gem. Also a hint of vegetable broth.

Taste: 7/10
Same as the smell, a mild taste of hops and malt. The hops where fruity towards tropical fruits.

Mouthfeel: 3/5
Medium smooth mouthfeel with a bit of sting at the end, with a low-medium thick body. Medium carbonation.

Comment:

An easy to drink pale ale. If you are expecting a hop fix you will be disappointed, since it's moderatly hopped and the hops is just there to balance the beer rather then be the major ingredient. But it's well balanced and enjoyable to drink. The only big thing I have to complain about is the vegetable broth smell. Feels like something might have gone wrong somewhere.

I have a feeling this beer might work well with the Easter food. But I can't know for sure, since many of last years Easter beers where horrible matches for the fatty and salty food. Hmm... it feels like I will end up trying many of these during Easter.

Total: 3,3/5

Sigtuna Röd Påsk

2010-03-22T06:00:00.002+01:00

Sigtuna Röd Påsk (50 cl bottle) 6,2%
This is another Easter beer that was released at Systembolaget on the 1st of March. The translation of Röd Påsk is Red Easter.

It's described as a hoppy american style red ale brewed with Centennial and Amarillo

I've now tried 3 of the Easter beer and hope to be done with my tasting before the holiday.

Style: Amber Ale
Cost: 27,90 SEK

Bitterness------Sweetness-----Sourness-----Intensity-------Body

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Appearance: 4/5
It had a clear amber liquid with a fluffy dirty beige head that left allot of foam on the side of the glass.

Smell: 6/10
Grassy hops, citrus, malt and some fruitiness. Do I smell oranges?

Taste: 6/10
Grassy hops, malt, some fruits and flowers and that orange flavour is there again. Some spiciness but not enough to say what it is.

Mouthfeel: 3/5
Medium smooth with a bit of sting to it. Medium body.

Comment:
Even though the description says American style ale my first thought was British. It's moderately hopped with a fruity and flowery flavour. But not fruity like many American hops, more like some of the British hops.

Anyway, leaving that subject. I think this is a drinkable ale but it feels like it's missing something, the flavours aren't really mixing as well as I would have liked. There is some spices here but not sure if it's from hops, yeast or malt or if it's actually added spices. Either way it's not distinct enough so that I can put my finger on it. But that's not a complaint as I like beers like that, a bit mysterious.

Now to the question of what to eat with this. I reckon it's intended for the Easter feast but I can't say for sure if it would work. Will have to try during Easter holiday.

Total: 3,1/5

Opigårds Easter Ale

2010-03-21T16:00:00.001+01:00

Oppigårds Easter Ale (50 cl bottle) 5,3%
This is another Easter Beer that was released at Systembolaget on the 15th of March. I tried it with with the Easter food last year and gave it a 2,6/5. This a short comment from that test:

"Had a metallic taste and smell with some hops and spices. It wasn’t very exciting but it worked very well with the salty food."

Style: English Strong Ale
Cost: 25,60 SEK

Bitterness------Sweetness-----Sourness-----Intensity-------Body

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Appearance: 3/5
Clear amber liquid with a dirty white head that left chunks of foam on the side of the glass.

Smell: 6/10
Fruity, caramel, malt, citrus, some oranges and a hint of metal.

Taste: 6/10
Caramel, malt and some fruits, also a hint of metal.

Mouthfeel: 2/5
Metallic, medium smooth, medium thick body, low-medium carbonation.

Comment:
Slightly below average English style ale. Mild, fruity and fairly easy to drink, but the metallic taste and mouthfeel draws down the points.

This beer worked well with the salty and fat Easter food last year and I got a feeling it will be just as good this year as well.

Total: 2,8/5

First beer in the sun!

2010-03-21T12:11:00.005+01:00

It has been a very long and cold winter this year but yesterday we finally got a taste of Spring. The weather was fantastic, the sun was shining and it was the warmest day we have had in months. I figured this was a good as time as any to have a sun-beer-premier. I positioned myself in shelter of the wind (which was still fairly cold) and enjoyed the sun. Here is a picture:

However today we are back to Winter again. The snow is pouring down outside and Spring feels far away again.

Mikkeller Hoppy Easter new

2010-03-21T06:00:00.003+01:00

Mikkeller Hoppy Easter (33 cl bottle) 6,6%
This is one of the Easter beers that where released at Systembolaget on the 15th of March. It's actually Mikkeller Drikkeriget GIPA. Now you might get as puzzled as I was when I saw GIPA, but it stands for German IPA and it's basically brewed with German hops.

Style: India Pale Ale
Cost: 34,90 SEK

Bitterness------Sweetness-----Sourness-----Intensity-------Body

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Appearance: 4/5
Hazy dirty orange liquid with a huge white head that left big chunks of foam on the side of the glass.

Smell: 7/10
Hops, grass, citrus and yeast.

Taste: 7/10
Fresh with hops and grass. The hops definitely feels more European then American.

Mouthfeel: 3/5
Medium smooth, dry with a medium thick body.

Comment:
A very interesting beer, I don't I've tried this style before. It definitely doesn't feel American and although I wouldn't have nailed German hops as the source it did feel very European.

The beer itself doesn't feel like an Easter beer, which is logical since it's another beer with a different label. I think the fairly high bitterness won't be a great match with the salty and fatty Easter food, but it feels suiting for the oncoming Spring weather. So go outside and enjoy this beer in the sun.

Total: 3,5/5

Halfway through the Easter beers

2010-03-20T15:00:00.000+01:00

I'm currently focusing on this years set of Easter beer. I've now tried 6 out of 12 and hope to finish within the next couple of days. I will post two reviews per day for a couple of days and then finish with a summary.

I started out with the beers I hadn't tried before and so far I feel this years set of beers has been better then last years. Here is a link to last years summary.

Fuglsang Easter Bird

2010-03-20T06:00:00.002+01:00

Fuglsang Easter Bird (33 cl bottle) 5,5%
This is one of the Easter beers that where released at Systembolaget on the 15th of march. They have used European malts and American hops, Cascade and Simcoe are mentioned.

This beer is named Early Bird in Denmark and has just been re-labelled for Easter.

Style: American Pale Ale
Cost: 19,90 SEK

Bitterness------Sweetness-----Sourness-----Intensity-------Body

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Appearance: 4/5
Clear copper liquid with a medium sized white foam that left big chunks on the side of the glass.

Smell: 5/10
Lager-like smell, bread, malt, citrus and just a little bit of metal and hops.

Taste: 6/10
Grassy hops, malt, citrus and also some fruits. Can't quite distinguish which, but feels like a faint tangerine taste.

Mouthfeel: 3/5
Medium smooth with a medium thick body. Feels ok I have nothing to complain about really.

Comment: A fairly easy to drink American pale ale that I initially mistook for a lager. The only thing that made me think otherwise before trying it was the foam that didn't look much any lager I've seen. Even as I drink it I find some characteristics that I relate to regular Danish lagers. Not sure why I draw that reference, could it be the yeast? It's also very moderately hopped, which is a bit disappointing.

This beer might work with your Easter dinner, but I have a feeling it's better suited for that first Spring sun. Find shelter from the cool winds and I think this beer would come to it's best.

I'm not overly impressed, it's a decent APA, but there are better options available. Feels like they chickened out a bit when they added the hops. Or maybe it was the use of lager yeast... or both. Anyway here is the score:

Total: 2,9/5

Summary of the February release at Systembolaget

2010-03-19T06:00:00.002+01:00

I have now tried and rated all the beers from the release at Systembolaget in the beginning of February. Here is a short summary of my scores:

Anderson Valley Hop Ottin IPA - 35,5 cl - 24,30 sek
Nice IPA that has gotten a bit tired. Don't think we got the freshest batch. But if you like hopped up beer and they are all out of Oppigårds Amarillo Spring or Sierra Nevada Torpedo IPA, I would go for this one.
Total: 3,3/5

Dugges Spring Beer - 50 cl - 23,90 sek
A few of the bottles had gone bad. But if you get one of the good ones you should count yourself lucky. It doesn't really taste like a lager, more like a hoppy ale.
Total: 3,5/5

Dugges 1/2 Idjit - 50 cl - 39,00 sek
Fantastic porter. Fantastic with chocolate, but works great on it's own.
Total: 4,1/5

Goose Island 312 Urban Wheat Ale - 35,5 cl - 19,90 sek
A wheat beer with very little taste of wheat, tastes more like a lager. Not a good match with food. I recommend trying other wheat beers on the market.
Total: 1,8/5

Nynäshamns Sotholmen Extra Stout - 25 cl - 23 sek
An easy to drink stout with a light body. Mostly tastes of dark chocolate with just a hint of coffee and roasted toast.
Total: 3,6/5

Oppigårds Amarillo Spring - 33 cl - 19,90 sek
Fantastic beer. A single hop american style IPA with lots of fresh hops. Run and buy now!!
Total: 4,3/5

Pistonhead Spring Edition - 33 cl - 11,50 sek
Spendrups tries to go micro and fails. Tastes like any other macro lager on the market.
Total: 1,8/5

Sierra Nevada Celebration Ale 2009 - 35 cl - 26,90 sek
A hoppy christmas beer with some pine needle, caramel and spices. Despite the theme I say this would work well on a hot summers day.
Total: 3,7/5

Sigtuna Vårweizen - 50 cl - 24,90 sek
Nice to see a Swedish wheat beer, but it doesn'treach the same quality as others available at Systembolaget.
Total: 3,4/5

Stensbogaard English Dark Stout - 50 cl - 56,00 sek
A decent stout with some odd flavours. Drinkable but there are better options available.
Total: 3,4/5

Stensbogaard India Pale Ale - 50 cl - 56,00 sek
An IPA with lots of fresh hops. It looks and smells great but has a fairly light body and milder taste.
Total: 3,9/5

Stone Double Bastard Ale - 65 cl - 89,90 sek
A very nice strong ale that almost resemble a Barley Wine.
Total: 4,1/5

Schneider Aventinus Weizen-Eisbock

2010-03-18T16:00:00.000+01:00

Schneider Aventinus Weizen-Eisbock (33 cl bottle) 12%
This beer was released on the 1st of March at Systembolaget and is still available in many stores across the country.

It was originally created by mistake when a batch of the breweries Aventinus Doppelbock froze and they tried the concentrated liquid. The brewery has since then recreated the "mistake" in a controlled fashion.

Style: Eisbock
Cost: 31,90 SEK

Bitterness------Sweetness-----Sourness-----Intensity-------Body

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Appearance: 4/5
Dark hazy brown liquid with a medium sized dirty white foam.

Smell: 8/10
Strong smell of foam bananas and booze.

Taste: 8/10
Foam banana, fresh bananas and vanilla. Fairly sweet and with a noticeable alcoholic profile.

Mouthfeel: 5/5
Thick body, smooth mouthfeel and alcoholic warmth.

Comment:
Wow! A very thick, intense, complex and high alcoholic wheat beer. I tried a Franzizkaner on the side and it tasted like water in comparison. It had allot of bananas but not only foam bananas, also some fresh bananas.

I usually prefer my wheat beers during hot summer days but this beer feels to strong for that. It might work well with certain cheeses, but I also believe this could work as an aperitif, possible coupled with a dessert. Unfortunately I didn't have any sweets to try it with at the time.

A very interesting beer that I wouldn't mind trying again. Curious on how this will evolve over time I will save a bottle for later.

Total: 4,2/5

Stone Double Bastard Ale

2010-03-18T06:00:00.002+01:00

Stone Double Bastard Ale (65 cl bottle) 10,5%
This beer was released at Systembolaget on the 1st of February. I have tried it several times before but never gotten around to rating it. Also had the pleasure of trying the oak aged version a couple of times, a great beer that I gave 4,2/5.

Style: American Strong Ale
Cost: 89,90 SEK

Bitterness------Sweetness-----Sourness-----Intensity-------Body

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Appearance: 5/5
Hazy dark amber liquid with a medium sized dirty beige foam that left a nice lacing on the side of the glass.

Smell: 7/10
Fairly mild smell of hops, malt and caramell.

Taste: 8/10
Caramell, malt, hops, grass and pine needle.

Mouthfeel: 4/5
Dry and medium smooth mouthfeel with a thick body.

Comment:

It almost felt like a barley wine with allot of malt and a bit wineous. The alcohol was well hidden and it was really easy to drink. Having a pint of this wouldn't be a problem but the effect of the alcohol afterwards might be. All in all a very nice beer. The oaked version is slightly better in my opinion but it definitely holds it's ground.

Total: 4,1/5

Ola Dubh tasting

2010-03-17T06:00:00.001+01:00

Ola Dubh is Harviestouns Old Engine Oil that has been stored on old whisky barrels. They use Highland Park barrels of different ages. Last Saturday we tried their 12, 18 and 30 year old versions. I tried their 12 year old version at Örebro Beer and Whisky Festival and was really impressed. Ended up giving it a 4,3/5 and was lucky enough to be given what was left in the bottle when I bought my 5 cl sample. However there where more then 5 cl left in the bottle so I was quite pleased with myself.

To save time and space I can tell you that all three of them had similar characteristics. They where all black as sin with chocolate, coffee, whisky, licorice and wood aromas. So instead of repeating myself I will give you some shorter reviews focusing on their differences.

Ola Dubh 12 (33 cl) 8%
This one was quite raw and boozy despite it's relatively low alcohol. The others thought this one had the most whisky flavour in it. Some even claimed it had to much whisky flavour. I personally didn't find it that intense.
Total: 4/5
Ola Dubh 18 (33 cl) 8%
This one was allot milder then both the 12 and the 30. It also had more licorice and butter compared to the others. It also had the lightest body of the three. Definitely worse then the others.
Total: 3,8/5

Ola Dubh 30 (33 cl) 8%
This is the one I thought had the strongest whisky flavour of the three. It had a very noticeable smoky whisky flavour. It had the most intense flavour and the thickest body of the three I tried. Also felt more complex and well balanced then the others. Definite winner in this test.
Total: 4,2/5

Sierra Nevada Harvest

2010-03-16T06:00:00.000+01:00

Sierra Nevada Harvest - 13th edition Wet Hop Ale (33 cl bottle) 5%
This beer was part of a temporary "middle-of-the-month" release at Systembolaget in February. What makes this beer special is that they use freshly picked (wet) hops. There is a description on how they make it work at Ratebeer:

"Our Harvest Ale was the first American beer ever brewed with 100% fresh picked, "wet hops." In just one day, we harvest hops in Yakima, WA, ship them that night to our brewery in Chico, CA, and then rush them into the brew kettle as they are unloaded at dawn the next day."

Style: India Pale Ale

Cost: 69,10 SEK

Bitterness------Sweetness-----Sourness-----Intensity-------Body

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Appearance: 5/5

Almost clear copper liquid with a medium sized dirty white foam that lasted a long time and left chunks of foam on the side of the glass. The foam also had some crater action going on. Looked really nice.

Smell: 8/10

Lots of fresh hops, grass, citrus and pine needle.

Taste: 8/10

Lots of fresh hops, grass, hop recin, pine needle and citrus. High bitterness that stuck around for a long time.

Mouthfeel: 4/5

Dry with a medium smooth mouthfeel. Medium thick body.

Comment:

This is a very nice IPA with lots of hops and a very high bitterness. A hop kick to the tongue that would satisfy any hop head.

I really don't have much to complain about this beer. It could use some more malt to balance the very high bitterness but it's not something that bothers me.

I think this beer would be best on it's own rather then mix it with food. Some hard salty cheeses might work well though.

All in all a great beer, if you like hops and see this beer on the shelf then it's definitely worth to buy.

Total: 4/5

Comments on Leo Beer

2010-03-15T15:00:00.000+01:00

I was at a party last Saturday and figured it was a good time to see what other people thought of Leo Beer. I got two bottles a couple of weeks ago, 33 and 63 cl bottles. I tried and reviewed the 33 cl bottle a while back. Now I shared the big bottle with a couple of friends. Below are some comments:

24 year old male (drank Italian lager at the party):
"Very nice, just the way I like my beer"

25 year old male (loves beer with lots of hops, drank Sierra Nevada Torpedo and various beers):
"I didn't like it. Way to little flavour, I prefer stronger beer."

35 year old male (drinks Norrlands Guld all the time)
"Not for me, it has to little flavour"

28 year old female (drank drinks and wine all evening, normally don't drink beer)
"Tasted like any other beer"

The first person really enjoyed the beer and asked for a refill twice. The other three seemed less interested and went back to drinking what they drank before.

Middle of the month release and Easter beer

2010-03-15T06:00:00.002+01:00

Update: I added pictures of all the beer I bought today. Unfortunately not in order but I guess you can see which beer is which. Mouthwatering isn't it?

Tomorrow is a great day for any Swedish beer nerd. First of all Systembolaget are releasing a couple beers at the three biggest stores in Sweden. Here is a list:

La Rulles Triple (75 cl) 8,4% - 69,80 SEK
BrewDog Cambridge Stone Juxtraposition Black Pilsner (33 cl) 10% - 66,00 SEK
Founders Breakfast Stout (35,5 cl) 8,3% - 54,90 SEK
Founders Centennial IPA (35,5 cl) - 7,2% 44,90 SEK
Boris the Crusher Barrel Aged (65 cl) 9,4% - 159 SEK

All of these beers are very interesting. I've heard great things about Founders but never had the chance to try them. I've also tried the normal version of Boris the Crusher and really enjoyed it, so hopefully the barrel aged version is just as good.

On the same date they are also releasing a bunch of Easter beer:

Slottskällans Blåkulla Påsköl (50 cl) 4,8% - 24,80 SEK
Dugges Påsköl (50 cl) 6% - 29,80 SEK
Easter Bird (33 cl) 5,5% - 19,90 SEK
Eriksberg Påsköl (50 cl) 5,8% - 15,50 SEK
Mikkeller Hoppy Easter (33 cl) 6,6% - 34,90 SEK
Jämtlands Påsköl (50 cl) 6% - 24,90 SEK
Mariestads Påskbryggd (50 cl) 5,8% - 17,50 SEK
Nils Oscar Kalaspåsköl (33 cl) 5,6% - 19,30 SEK
Oppigårds Easter Ale (50 cl) 5,3% - 25,60 SEK
Pumpvikens Påsköl (50 cl) 5,8% - 29,10 SEK
Sigtuna Easter Ale (50 cl) 5,6% - 26,90 SEK
Sigtuna Röd Påsk (50 cl) 6,2% - 27,90 SEK

I've tried most of these before (except those that are new for the year) and none have gotten a score above 3/5. However I plan to buy one bottle each and re-rate them. Last time I did the tasting during Easter dinner to see what beer fitted the meal best. As far as I remember Oppigårds was the winner that time. But the tasting was a bit hectic and the food might have created some odd results. So this time I plan to drink the beers without any food, hopefully I can post a summary in good time before Easter.

Lots of beer last night

2010-03-14T13:00:00.002+01:00

I spent last night trying beers with some friends. I started with a Sierra Nevada Wet Hop Harvest Ale before the others showed up. Then we went on to do an Ola Dubh tasting where we started with the 12 year and went up to 18 and 30. I also tried Stone Double Bastard and shared my last bottle of Leo Beer. I wanted to see how people that aren't as passionate about beer perceived it.

Anyway I got lots of writing to do today and you should get some reviews in the coming days.

Brooklyn Black Chocolate Stout

2010-03-14T06:00:00.001+01:00

Brookly Black Chocolate Stout (33 cl bottle) 10%
This beer was released at Systembolaget on the 1st of March. Despite the name it actually doesn't have any chocolate in it, the flavour comes from different kinds of malt. I've tried it several times before since it's regularly released at Systembolaget. Last time I gave it a 3,9/5.

Style: Imperial Stout
Cost: 19,90 SEK

Bitterness------Sweetness-----Sourness-----Intensity-------Body

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Appearance: 4/5
It poured a pitch black liquid with a medium sized brown foam.

Smell: 8/10
It didn't have an overly intense smell. The strongest aroma was chocolate but also coffee and nuts where present.

Taste: 8/10
Chocolate, some coffee, roasted notes, nuts and dark bread.

Mouthfeel: 5/5
Lean and smooth mouthfeel with a thick body and a low carbonation.

Comment:

A well balanced imp. stout where none of the flavours really takes over. Chocolate is the most noticeable flavour but it's not to intense and doesn't overpower the rest of the flavours.

I tried it with a chocolate cake with cream and it was a perfect match. The cake intensified the flavour of the beer and the beer somehow made the cake taste better.

This beer is an absolute steal at 19,90 SEK and I'm happy I bought an extra bottle. Hopefully there are still some bottles left when I visit Systembolaget next time.

Total: 4,2/5

Oceanbryggeriet Eko Pale Ale

2010-03-13T06:00:00.000+01:00

Oceanbryggeriet Eko Pale Ale (50 cl) 4,5%
This beer was released at Systembolaget on the 1st of March and should still be available at many stores. I tried it on tap a while back and gave it a 3,1/5. But I wanted to give it a second chance and a more serious review.

Style: English Pale Ale
Cost: 28,40 SEK

Bitterness------Sweetness-----Sourness-----Intensity-------Body

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Appearance: 4/5
It poured a very dark amber liquid with a small dirty white foam.

Smell: 7/10
It had a fairly sweet smell of malt, caramell and fudge.

Taste: 7/10
Caramell, malt, flowery, sweet, grass and some fudge.

Mouthfeel: 5/5
Smooth and creamy with a thick body and little to no carbonation.

Comment:

This was a very typical English ale. Not very intense but well balanced, enjoyable and very easy to drink. I could definitely imagine having a few pints of this and the low alcohol would allow me to do it without walking on my noose afterwards.

This beer should work well with most kinds of food. Maybe a shepherds pie or some fish and chips to make it even more British.

Looking at my old notes I see that I had a different experience of this beer on tap. It was more grassy, funky and a bit smoky. I actually liked it better on bottle and raising the score from 3,1 to....

Total: 3,7/5

Dugges Spring Beer is actually pretty good

2010-03-12T20:53:00.003+01:00

I just opened a bottle of Dugges Spring Beer. I reviewed it a couple of weeks ago and didn't like it at all. Lots of earth, dirt and funky earth cellar flavours. I figured it must have gone bad and noticed that several other bloggers had a completely different experience. So I decided to give it another try and bought a new bottle when they restocked at Regeringsgatan. This time it was allot better. Very fresh with citrus some hops and a nicely balanced maltyness. It still doesn't taste like a lager, but if this is categorized in the lager category it's one of the best in the style.

BrewDog Stone Bashah

2010-03-12T06:00:00.000+01:00

BrewDog Stone Bashah (33 cl) 8,6%
Bashah is short for: Black As Shit Hoppy As Hell. It was brewed at BrewDog together with Stone Brewing Co. They describe the beer as a Black Belgian Style Double India Pale Ale which of course gets my imagination started.

Style: American Strong Ale
Cost: 38,40 SEK

Bitterness------Sweetness-----Sourness-----Intensity-------Body

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Appearance: 4/5
It poured a pitch black liquid with a medium sized light brown foam that left a nice lacing.

Smell: 7/10
Actually not as strong as I expected. But it smelled of chocolate, yeast, hops and wood.

Taste: 8/10
The taste was allot stronger with chocolate, coffee, hops and some roasted notes. It had a high hop bitterness but not allot of hop aroma. The hops might have been hidden by the strong coffee-chocolate-roasted aromas.

Mouthfeel: 4/5
Thick body with a low carbonation. Fairly smooth and nice mouth feel.

Comment:

A very odd and complex brew, but I actually expected something even more complex. Thought there would be more fruitiness and yeast and other aromas that I connect to Belgian style ales. This tasted more like an imperial stout with hop bitterness.

Trying to put my expectations on the side I have to say this was an enjoyable beer. I tried it with some chocolate and it was a very good match. Well I used a high quality (70%) chocolate bar with cherries and chilli, which felt like the perfect match for this beer.

Total: 3,8/5

Monks Café Riegele Stout

2010-03-11T06:00:00.000+01:00

Monks Café Riegele Stout (10 cl sample) 5,3%
Another one of the beers I tried last week at Monks Café Sveavägen. It has been aged on Mackmyra barrels. Style: Stout Cost: 25 SEK Bitterness------Sweetness-----Sourness-----Intensity-------Body

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Appearance: 4/5
It poured a pitch black liquid with a small light brown foam.

Smell: 6/10
Butter, buttered popcorn and wood. Taste: 6/10
Chocolate, butter and wood.

Mouthfeel: 3/5
Medium smooth mouthfeel with a medium body and low-med carbonation.

Comment:

Despite being aged on Mackmyra barrels this beer wasn't very complex. I expected another dimension to the beer that felt a bit one sided. It also had to much butter (diacetyl) then what I prefer. The bartender it came from the barrels, which I'm not sure about. Their latest weizen bock had the same problem. I just hope this isn't a permanent problem in their production.

Total: 3,1/5

Monks Café Black Lucia

2010-03-10T06:00:00.000+01:00

Monks Café Black Lucia (10 cl sample) 4,5%
This is another sample I tried at Monks Café last week.

Style: Stout
Cost: 25 SEK

Bitterness------Sweetness-----Sourness-----Intensity-------Body

■□□□□□□□----□■□□□□□□-----□■□□□□□□---□□□□■□□□----□□■□□□□□

Appearance: 4/5
It poured a pitch black liquid with a small light brown foam that left some lacing.

Smell: 3/10
A smell of gunpowder attacked me when I smelled this beer. I think noticed some smoke and coal. Taste: 6/10
Dark bread, smoke, nuts and pumpernickel.

Mouthfeel: 3/5
Smooth with a light body and low carbonation.

Comment:

A very odd beer. I didn't like the smell at all, it must have gone bad. The taste was ok but the smell ruined it. I wouldn't drink this beer again if given the choice.

Total: 2,3/5

Monks Café Broke Weg W.B.

2010-03-09T06:00:00.000+01:00

A couple of days ago I passed by Monks Café on Sveavägen and saw that they had a couple of new beers I hadn't tried. So I ordered their rack of 5 samples. The only beer I won't review is the second from the right which is Sierra Nevada Bigfoot Barley Wine. A great beer but I have recently reviewed it on the blog.

I will start by reviewing this beer:

Monks Café Broke Weg W.B. (10 cl sample) 6,5%
I don't have allot of information about this beer. It was brewed with pale, pale chocolate, wheat and roasted barley malt. Tettnanger, Saaz and Cascade where used as hops and Weihestephaner yeast.

Style: Weizen Bock
Cost: 25 SEK

Bitterness------Sweetness-----Sourness-----Intensity-------Body

■□□□□□□□----□□■□□□□□-----■□□□□□□□---□□■□□□□□----□□□□■□□□

Appearance: 3/5
It poured a hazy dark golden liquid with a small dirty white foam.

Smell: 6/10
Banana, fruit candy and butter.

Taste: 5/10
Lots of butter (diacetyl), but also some bananas and fruit candy.

Mouthfeel: 5/5
Smooth mouthfeel with a medium body and carbonation.

Comment:

Decent weizen bock but I think it had way to much butter. Not sure if it was intentional or if the beer has gone bad in any way. The mouth feel was pretty nice though and it was drinkable, it was just the butter that drew down the points a bit.

Total: 3/5

Monks Café low alcohol beers

2010-03-08T06:00:00.001+01:00

As I mentioned a couple of weeks ago Monk's Café has started brewing and selling some low alcohol beer. The other day I went passed their pub on Sveavägen and bought a 6-pack. They had 3 different beers and I bought 2 of each, my dad will get the three I still have left. It seems like the concept has been a success, according to their news letter they are widening their supply of low alcohol beer. Here are some short reviews of the beers I bought:

Monks Mandarin Ale (33 cl) 3,3%
This is a lighter version of Monks Orange Ale (scored 3,5/5). It tasted a bit like a low alcohol lager with allot of orange and mandarin flavour. It doesn't have much fruitiness and yeast as I expected compared to the original. It had a light body and felt a bit watered out. It felt fresh and probably works well with most kinds of food.
Total: 2,3/5
Monks Svea Pale Ale (33cl) 3,3%
This is a lighter version of Monks Svea IPA (scored 3,8/5). It had a smell and taste of hops, mostly grassy hops, but also some citrus and bread. Despite the hops it had a low bitterness. The body was light and the beer felt a bit watered out. As with the Mandarin Ale this probably works well with food, but I think the Mandarin Ale is a better companion.
Total: 2,5/5

Monks Black Isak (33 cl) 3,3%
This is a lighter version of Monks Black Jack (scored 3,8/5). It looked great when I poured it, pitch black liquid with a big brown foam. It also had a nice aroma of coffee, chocolate and some roasted notes. Actually a pretty decent beer, the body is of course light and the flavour wasn't as intense as a stronger beer. But it feels like a viable option if you want something lighter. It also worked great with some chocolate.
Total: 3,2/5

It was hard to put points on these beers, the low alcohol gave them all a light body and the flavour was less intense then normal. But I think they work well as an option for other low alcohol beer.

Goose Island 312 Urban Wheat Ale

2010-03-07T08:30:00.000+01:00

Goose Island 312 Urban Wheat Ale (33 cl) 4,2%
This beer was part of the release at Systembolaget at the beginning of February. I've tried it before at Monks Café and didn't much enjoy it, ended up giving it a 1,4/5 and would have poured it down the drain if I was at home. But I wanted to give it a second chance now that it was released at Systembolaget.

Style: Wheat Ale
Cost: 19,90 SEK
Bitterness------Sweetness-----Sourness-----Intensity-------Body

■□□□□□□□----□□■□□□□□-----■□□□□□□□---□■□□□□□□----□■□□□□□□

Appearance: 3/5
It poured a hazy yellow liquid with a small white foam.

Smell: 4/10
A very weak smell with a hint of banana and candy.

Taste: 3/10
Very weak smell, some bread and sweetness.

Mouthfeel: 2/5
Medium smooth with a medium carbonation and a light body.

Comment:

This is a watery and boring wheat beer with very little flavour and aroma. The big question is, where is the wheat? This tastes mostly like a pale lager.

I figured this would be a good match with most kinds of food. So I tried it with some rolls of minute steak filled with pesto, mozarella and gorgonzolla served in a creamy sauce with rice on the side. It wasn't a good match at all, the beer got a very odd bitter taste and the food also taste worse. Maybe it was the cheeses that created the weird combo but I think this beer is best on it's own.

I'm raising my score a bit since the beer is drinkable and doesn't have any bad tastes. But there are better options out there if you crave some wheat beer. If you are more in the mood for lager (as this beer taste like) then there are better lagers available as well.

Total: 1,8/5

All mails sent

2010-03-06T15:21:00.003+01:00

I finally got around to sending those emails to the Swedish micro breweries. It probably won't lead to anything but you never know.

Besides that I plan to try allot of beers this weekend and have already written 8 posts. Mostly reviews on recently released beers but also some other stuff. I also plan to start on my macro brewery data gathering soon. Also thought of a new statistics project that I will start after the macro investigation.

It's a sunny day today in Stockholm. I think I will grab a beer and enjoy it :)

2010-03-06T09:15:00.000+01:00

Mohawk Rye IPA (50 cl bottle) 7,5%
This beer is brewed through a cooperation between Stefan Gustavsson at Wicked Wine and Slottskällans Bryggeri. Compared to other IPAs this one is brewed using 20% rye malt and the hops Amarillo, Centennial, Columbus and Palisades.

Style: India Pale Ale (IPA)
Cost: 38,80 SEK

Bitterness------Sweetness-----Sourness-----Intensity-------Body

□□□□■□□□----□■□□□□□□-----■□□□□□□□---□□□□■□□□----□□□□■□□□

Appearance: 4/5
It poured a hazy amber liquid with a medium sized light beige foam. The big chunks of the foam got stuck on the side of the glass as it receded. Also left a nice lacing that stuck around until I finished the beer.

Smell: 7/10
Fairly weak smell of hops, grass, pine needles and malt.

Taste: 7/10
The taste is stronger then the smell. Hops, malt and a taste I couldn't quite distinguish. The sticker says the rye gives a pepper and mint flavour. I definitely feel the pepper and the mint is their it's just not as strong. It also had a milky taste.

Mouthfeel: 4/5
Fairly smooth mouthfeel with a low carbonation.

Comment:

This was a very odd IPA, the rye definitely brings something new to the style, not sure if it's positive or negative. My first reaction is that it would be better without it, but it might be a cause of learning over time. I also got the idea that rye might be more suitable in other beers, how about an imperial stout with rye? Or a porter?

Not sure what would be a suitable match for this beer. I got the feeling this is best on it's own as the bitterness will probably miss match with most food groups. Not sure why but it felt like an autumn beer.

Anyway I think it was a decent IPA, definitely something I would consider drinking again. It was easy to drink and I didn't even think about the relatively high alcohol.

Total: 3,6/5

Death By Hops 3 - Raiders of the Big Hops

2010-03-05T06:00:00.003+01:00

Death by Hops 3 - Raiders of the Big hops (50 cl bottle) 9%

This is the third edition of our Double IPA, that me, my father and Chrille brewed. You can find reviews on the other editions under the category Death By Hops. We plan to bring a keg or two to the Swedish Championship in Homemade Beer in Gothenburg.

We tried DBH2 and DBH3 together as a comparison. DBH2 was served from a glass bottle but DBH3 had been poured into a plastic bottle which isn't ideal. It was also taken from the last couple of litres from the fermentation tun. In the above picture DBH2 is the glas on the left and DBH3 is the one on the right.

Chrille made the sticker for the beer and as you can see we have carried on our movie theme. The version you see above is actually not the one we are going to put on the bottles, but this version is more suitable for the blog. Also have a poster that we will bring to the festival.

Style: Double IPA

Cost: Homebrewed, ingredients cost around 13 sek per litre

Bitterness------Sweetness-----Sourness-----Intensity-------Body

□□□□□□■□----□■□□□□□□-----□■□□□□□□---□□□□□■□□----□□□□□■□□

Appearance: 4/5
It poured a very hazy orange-brown-red- liquid, with a small dirty white foam. It was hazier then DBH2 and the foam was dirtier.

Smell: 8/10
A strong smell of fruity hops attacks the entire room as I poured the beer. Passion fruit, ripe fruit, grapefruit and apricots are noticable.

Taste: 8/10
Strong taste as well and lots of fresh hops. Mostly grassy hops, but also grapefruit, passion fruit and some fruit candy. Very high and lasting bitterness. It had an odd aftertaste that I couldn't put my finger on.

Mouthfeel: 4/5
Medium smooth with a low carbonation and a thick body.

Comment:

As you can see in the above picture DBH3 has a slightly darker colour then DBH2. You can also see that DBH2 has more carbonation and a bigger foam. The colour is most likely a result of what part of the batch it is, since I had a similar problem with some of my bottles of DBH2. The carbonation is a result of the bottling.

It was noticeable that DBH2 had lost allot of hop flavour, it had also made the alcohol allot more noticeable. The hops hid the alcohol fairly well when the beer was fresh. DBH3 had allot more aroma and flavour overall and was allot more aggressive. The taste of hops was so fresh it smelled like my hands after handling the 1,3 kg of hops we used in this brew.

As you can see I'm giving DBH3 lower scores then DBH2. But I think I know the cause of the problem which I explained above. We'll see what the beer tastes like when it comes straight from the tap.

Total: 4/5

New beers at Systembolaget - March

2010-03-04T06:00:00.002+01:00

I didn't miss this release but didn't want to publish the list at the same time as the swedish micro brewery statistics. These beers where released in about 30 Systembolaget stores on the first of March:

Oceanbryggeriet Eko Pale Ale (50 cl) 28,40 SEK, 4,5%
I've tried Oceanbryggeriets Eko Pale Ale before and gave it a 3,1/5. However last time was on tap and I will give it a more serious review this time.

Mohawk Rye IPA (50 cl) 35,80 SEK, 7,5%
Mohawk Rye IPA is a result of a cooperation between Stefan Gustavsson at Wicked Wine and Slottskällans Bryggeri. It's going to be interesting as Ive never tried an IPA brewed with Rye.

Ichtegems Grand Cru (75 cl) 59,50 SEK, 6,5%
I've tried Ichtegems Grand Cru before and gave it a 3,9/5 with positive remarks so I look forward to trying it again.

Brooklyn Black Chocolate Stout (35,5 cl) 19,90 SEK, 10.6%
Brooklyn Black Chocolate Stout makes a comeback and I don't think Im the only one that is happy with that. I've tried it several times before and gave it a 3,9/5 last time.

Brewdog Stone Bashah (33 cl) 38,40 SEK, 8,6%
This is a black Belgian Style Double India Pale Ale, brewed at BrewDog together with Stone. Sounds insane and I can't wait to try it.

Nyäshamn Bötet Barley Wine (25 cl) 33,50 SEK, 9,1%
Last time I tried this I gave it a 3,6/5. I remember it as an English style Barley Wine, compare to the more hopped up American versions. Score seems a bit low but we'll see what I think the second time around.

Schneider Aventinus Weizen-Eisbock (33 cl) 31,90 SEK, 12%
Schneider claims this is the most complex and intense weiss-bier in the world. Well lets wait and see how it is, sounds very interesting though.

I bought a bottle of each and also an extra bottle of the Chocolate Stout, Bashah and Barley Wine. Some of the beer blogers have already started rating these beers but I'll wait until the weekend to start. However first I want to rate the two beers I have left from the February release and post a summary.

Swedish micro - What do they brew? - Part 3

2010-03-03T06:00:00.002+01:00

Yesterday I presented some statistics on how many breweries that brew each style of beer. As you could see there where no styles that all the breweries brewed. Which can be explained by some breweries brewing significantly less different types of beers then others. So I have made a list of the breweries and how many different kinds of beer they brew:

Most different beer per brewery
Brewery	Quantity	% of total
Monks Café	67	10,75%
Slottskällans	53	8,51%
Nynäs	44	7,06%
Dugges	43	6,90%
Ölands	40	6,42%
Sigtuna	39	6,26%
Närke	38	6,10%
Nils Oscar	31	4,98%
Ocean	24	3,85%
Oppigårds	23	3,69%
Pannrummet kök och bar	23	3,69%
Jämtland	21	3,37%
Grebbestads	20	3,21%
Irish Pub Sundsvall	20	3,21%
Eskilstuna Ölkultur	19	3,05%
Två Bryggare	17	2,73%
Ahlafors	15	2,41%
Skebo	15	2,41%
Bredaryd	14	2,25%
Helsinge	13	2,09%
Hantverksbryggeriet	11	1,77%
Strömsholm	9	1,44%
Mora	8	1,28%
Sandbacka	7	1,12%
Kinnekulle	4	0,64%
Qvänum	4	0,64%
Stockeboda	1	0,16%

I have shortened the names down a bit but I guess you all know which brewery is which. Monk's brews allot of different beers which might have something to do with their small brewery and lust to experiment. As far as I know they don't re-brew many of their beers either. I know that some of these breweries have more beers in their portfolio. But I have only included those that where registered at Ratebeer. Stockeboda for instance has more then 1 beer I have tried 2 myself. But they are new and I have a feeling the number will increase fairly fast.

Monk's Café brews allot of different beers but as I pointed out before they also brew several of the same beers and it seems to be a trend amongst the breweries to stick to their style of beers. But lets see how many different styles of beers each brewery actually brew.

Nr. Of different styles per brewery
Nynäs	25
Monks Café	24
Slottskällans	24
Nils Oscar	21
Sigtuna	21
Pannrummet kök och bar	18
Dugges	17
Ocean	15
Eskilstuna Ölkultur	14
Jämtland	14
Närke	14
Ölands	13
Ahlafors	12
Bredaryd	12
Oppigårds	12
Grebbestads	10
Hantverksbryggeriet	10
Irish Pub Sundsvall	10
Helsinge	9
Två Bryggare	9
Sandbacka	7
Skebo	7
Mora	6
Strömsholm	6
Qvänum	4
Kinnekulle	3
Stockeboda	1

This way of calculating it we see that Nynäshamns Ångbryggeri has the biggest diversity of beers in their portfolio. Actually the top part of this table looks very different from the top part of the table I posted just above it. However when we look at the bottom part of the tables they look fairly similar.

This is as much statistics I can present at the moment. I have an excel file of data if anybody wants a closer look at it.

While presenting these tables I've gotten curious. Why do they look this way? Why are certain styles more popular then others? To try and get some answers I will send e-mails to all the micro breweries to see if I can find anything interesting.

While waiting I will start working on a closer look at the big Swedish macro breweries. Do they only brew pale lagers? Well we will soon find out.

Swedish micro - What do they brew? - Part 2

2010-03-02T06:00:00.003+01:00

Yesterday we looked at what style of beer was most commonly brewed by Swedish micro breweries. However the results where a bit hard to interpret due to some breweries brewing several beers in the same style. So I've made a table of how many breweries that brew each style not taking into account how many they brew of each style.

Nr. Who brew the style
Style	Quantity	% of total
English Pale Ale	17	62,96%
IPA	17	62,96%
Premium Lager	15	55,56%
Porter	15	55,56%
Premium Bitter/ESB	14	51,85%
English Strong Ale	14	51,85%
Dunkel	11	40,74%
American Pale Ale	11	40,74%
Pilsener	10	37,04%
Brown Ale	10	37,04%
Bitter	9	33,33%
Stout	9	33,33%
Belgian Ale	9	33,33%
Vienna	8	29,63%
Oktoberfest/Märzen	8	29,63%
Schwarzbier	8	29,63%
Golden Ale/Blond Ale	8	29,63%
Imperial Stout	8	29,63%
Spice/Herb/Vegetable	8	29,63%
Pale Lager	7	25,93%
German Hefeweizen	7	25,93%
Bohemian Pilsener	6	22,22%
Scottish Ale	6	22,22%
Smoked	6	22,22%
Dry Stout	6	22,22%
Low Alcohol	6	22,22%
Imperial/Double IPA	5	18,52%
Barley Wine	5	18,52%
Belgian Strong Ale	5	18,52%
Heller bock	4	14,81%
Mild Ale	4	14,81%
Old Ale	4	14,81%
Amber Ale	4	14,81%
Sweet Stout	4	14,81%
Belgian White (Witbier)	4	14,81%
Saison	4	14,81%
Doppelbock	3	11,11%
Altbier	3	11,11%
Irish Ale	3	11,11%
Imperial/Strong Porter	3	11,11%
Fruit Beer	3	11,11%
Traditional Ale	3	11,11%
Classic German Pilsener	2	7,41%
Kölsch	2	7,41%
Dunkler Bock	2	7,41%
Baltic Porter	2	7,41%
Foreign Stout	2	7,41%
Abbey Dubble	2	7,41%
Abbey Tripple	2	7,41%
Mead	2	7,41%
Dortmunder/Helles	1	3,70%
Eisbock	1	3,70%
Weizen Bock	1	3,70%
Wheat Ale	1	3,70%
American Strong Ale	1	3,70%
Abt/Quadrupel	1	3,70%
Lambic - Fruit	1	3,70%
Perry	1	3,70%

IPA is still on top and being brewed by 17 of the total 27 micro breweries. It's also noticable that English Pale Ale is just as common. However as we saw in yesterdays table it isn't a style that is brewed in several different varieties. Premium Lager and Porter are both very popular as they also where when we looked at the total amount of beer.

I have put a couple of beers in bold as those where some of the styles I have felt that we lack in from Swedish Micro Brewers. I'm surprised to see that a total of 7 breweries brew a German Hefe-Weizen. Same with Imperial/Double IPA and Barley Wine that are both brewed by 5 out of 27 breweries. The other styles are less common.

You might wonder why there are no styles that are brewed by all the breweries. It can mostly be explained by the fact that some breweries haven't brewed that many beers yet or haven't had them registered at Ratebeer. I will present some statistics from the breweries point of view tomorrow.

Swedish micro - What do they brew? - Part 1

2010-03-01T06:00:00.001+01:00

I've always had a soft spot for statistics and I just love Swedish micro brewed beer. However I've felt for a while that there is something lacking amongst Swedish micros. For instance I rarely see a Swedish barley wine, wheat beer, double IPA or any of the Belgian style ales. Meanwhile it feels like different types of lager, English ales, porters and stouts are very common. I figured I should have a closer look at it, so I've gathered data on what micro brewery brews what beer.

I've limited myself to using Ratebeer as my source, the style that is registered on the site is the style I used. This is a limitation in the data due to the chance of mistakes during registry but also that some beers don't fit just one style. For instance some beer are labelled as 'Smoked' even though they can be a lager, stout or anything in between. I also decided to skip the annual beers if they where where of the same style as previous years.

I've gathered data from 27 Swedish micro breweries who in total brew 623 different beers. First thing I looked at was which style that was the most popular:

Top by Style
Style	Quantity	% of tot.
IPA	45	7,22%
Porter	42	6,74%
American Pale Ale	33	5,30%
Premium Bitter/ESB	32	5,14%
Premium Lager	29	4,65%
English Pale Ale	29	4,65%
Bitter	26	4,17%
Golden Ale/Blond Ale	23	3,69%
English Strong Ale	22	3,53%
Pale Lager	21	3,37%
Vienna	19	3,05%
Dunkel	18	2,89%
Belgian Ale	18	2,89%
Low Alcohol	18	2,89%
Pilsener	17	2,73%
German Hefeweizen	14	2,25%
Stout	14	2,25%
Spice/Herb/Vegetable	14	2,25%
Imperial Stout	13	2,09%
Brown Ale	11	1,77%
Oktoberfest/Märzen	10	1,61%
Schwarzbier	10	1,61%
Scottish Ale	9	1,44%
Smoked	9	1,44%
Belgian Strong Ale	9	1,44%
Bohemian Pilsener	7	1,12%
Heller bock	6	0,96%
Mild Ale	6	0,96%
Imperial/Double IPA	6	0,96%
Dry Stout	6	0,96%
Altbier	5	0,80%
Irish Ale	5	0,80%
Amber Ale	5	0,80%
Barley Wine	5	0,80%
Imperial/Strong Porter	5	0,80%
Sweet Stout	5	0,80%
Fruit Beer	5	0,80%
Mead	5	0,80%
Traditional Ale	5	0,80%
Old Ale	4	0,64%
Belgian White (Witbier)	4	0,64%
Saison	4	0,64%
Kölsch	3	0,48%
Doppelbock	3	0,48%
Weizen Bock	3	0,48%
Baltic Porter	3	0,48%
Classic German Pilsener	2	0,32%
Dunkler Bock	2	0,32%
Wheat Ale	2	0,32%
Foreign Stout	2	0,32%
Abbey Dubble	2	0,32%
Abbey Tripple	2	0,32%
Dortmunder/Helles	1	0,16%
Eisbock	1	0,16%
American Strong Ale	1	0,16%
Abt/Quadrupel	1	0,16%
Lambic - Fruit	1	0,16%
Perry	1	0,16%

IPA contains both American and English stype IPAs. The high number can be explained by a few breweries brewing several different IPAs, Monks (11), Nynäshamn (6) and Dugges (5) account for almost half of the different types of IPA. Noticable in this table is that all of the styles I mentioned in the beginning are all very low, with the exception of German Hefe-weizen that is surprisingly high up.

It might be hard to get a closer look at the above table and it is not really reader friendly. But I wanted the whole list for those that want to get a closer look. In the below table I've tried to group most of the styles into bigger categories. I have separated Stout, Porter, Wheat, and Barley Wine since I wanted to take a closer look at them. Also didn't put Smoked or IPA into a category as I wasn't sure where to put them.

Top by category
Category	Quantity	% of tot.
Brittish	177	28,41%
German	78	12,52%
Lager	76	12,20%
Porter	50	8,03%
Belgian	46	7,38%
IPA	45	7,22%
American	40	6,42%
Stout	40	6,42%
Misc	38	6,10%
Wheat	19	3,05%
Smoked	9	1,44%
Barley Wine	5	0,80%

The British styles are very popular and there is no competition for the top spot. I wonder how that is, could it be the close relations Sweden have with England. We can deal with the why question later. Among the German styles most of them could have ended up in the lager category, which gives a picture of how popular different styles of lagers is even among micro brewers. The Belgian category is higher then I expected and can largely be explained by the number of Belgian Ale and Belgian Strong Ales. The rest of the Belgian styles are very uncommon. Wheat and Barley Wine end up at the bottom of the list. Only a few breweries brew this style of beer.

As you notice the numbers can be a bit off if there is one brewery that brews allot of the same style. That seems to be a trend amongst the microbreweries to brew the same style of beer. For instance Pale Lager that mostly is brewed by Slottskällans and Grebbestads. So to get a better picture lets look at how many breweries brew each style of beer. I will publish my results tomorrow.

Beer wars

2010-02-28T14:13:00.000+01:00

I just watched the movie Beer Wars. It's a documentary about the American beer industry. It focuses on the problems micro breweries encounter and the fierce competition they face from the big breweries. There are interviews with corporate leaders on both sides. From the micro breweries Sam Calagione from Dogfish Head gets allot of attention. But also Stone, Samuel Adams, Brooklyn and the maker of Moonshot beer pop by.

I quite enjoyed the movie and definitely recommend a watch. You can find a trailer here and you should be able to stream it from one of the links from this site.

The Original HY Super Beer Cuvée (HΨ)

2010-02-26T06:37:00.000+01:00

The Original HY Super Beer Cuvée (75 cl bottle) 11%
This beer was part of a middle of the month release at Systembolaget sometime last year. It is only available at the three biggest Systembolag and through ordering. I know that Regeringsgatan still have a few bottles.

It has been brewed by a Belgian brewery on order from an Italian firm.

Style: Belgian Strong Ale

Cost: 179 SEK

Bitterness------Sweetness-----Sourness-----Intensity-------Body

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Appearance: 3/5

Hazy dark amber with a trace of a dirty white foam on the edge of the glass.

Smell: 6/10

Wine, fruity, wood and honey.

Taste: 5/10

Wine, sugar, fruity, honey and caramel. Very sweet.

Mouthfeel: 4/5

Medium smooth, medium body and medium carbonation.

Comment:

This seems to be the same concept as their other beer. A fairly low quality brew but in a fancy package and at a high price. However I have to admit that the Cuvée was better then the Original Beer. It's definitely drinkable but not excellent, a bit to sweet for my taste.

Considering the high price it's not worth to buy and it seems like that is an issue since there are still bottles left at Systembolaget. A faith that seem to hit most Italian beers that Systembolaget takes in. After drinking this one as well I'm sticking by my assumption that this beer was brewed aiming for an Italian upper class. I wonder if it has been successful?

Total: 2,8/5

The Original HY Super Beer (HΨ)

2010-02-25T11:30:00.000+01:00

The Original HY Super Beer (HΨ) (75 cl bottle) 11%This beer was part of a middle of the month release at Systembolaget last year. It was brewed by a Belgian brewery on order from an Italian firm.

Style: Abbey Triple
Cost: 149 sek

Bitterness------Sweetness-----Sourness-----Intensity-------Body

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Appearance: 1/5

Clear golden liquid with a small white foam. Not appealing.

Smell: 2/10

Smelled like any macro lager. Fairly weak with some white bread.

Taste: 7/10

Completely different from the smell. Fruity, apples and very sweet. Well hidden alcohol.

Mouthfeel: 3/5

Medium smooth with a medium body and low carbonation.

Comment:

I'm puzzled about this beer, it looks and smells like a cheap cheap lager but it tastes like a fruity Belgian tripel or similar.

I'm not sure they created the beer this way and what customer group they are aiming for. The price is very high but it isn't matched by a high quality product. Maybe it's brewed for high end restaurants and hotels that get allot of customers that don't care about a high price tag and will enjoy the prestige of being able to order a very expensive bottle.

Either way I'm not very impressed with this beer.

Total: 2,3/5

Nalle Puh Porter

2010-02-24T06:00:00.000+01:00

Nalle Puh Porter (tap) 8%
This is the beer me, my father and Chrille brewed during Christmas. It's a strong honey-porter at 8%. We used honey from a local producer called Puh Honey (think Vinnie the Poh). It's probably a bit early to try this beer so this is a sneak preview, it still has about 2 months until it is to be served at the Swedish Championship in home made beer.

Something worth mentioning is that we each have a 9 litre keg that we plan to experiment with. We are going to add something to the beer and then try it together. I got a plan for my keg but I will keep it to myself for now.

Style: Porter

Cost: I think it cost around 9 SEK/litre to brew.

Bitterness------Sweetness-----Sourness-----Intensity-------Body

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Appearance: 5/5

Pitch black liquid with a big dirty white foam that has lots of craters and left a nice lacing. Looks great!

Smell: 7/10

Some sourness, coke, chocolate, vanilla and a hint of coffee.

Taste: 6/10

Not overly intense. Chocolate, nuts, coffee, musty, roasted, dark bread. Some sweetness and coffee bitterness. A hint of chemicals (aceton).

Mouthfeel: 4/5

Smooth, creamy, just a bit harsh. Dry and medium body.

Comment:

Not a very complex porter, but well balanced and easy to drink. It has the usual flavours that you would expect from a porter; chocolate, coffee and so on. The alcohol is well hidden. I'm surprised I didn't find any honey flavour.

However it did have a chemical after taste that I relate to acetone. I suspect this off flavour has its origin in the honey. Since I've tried using the honey in cocking and gotten similar results. Thankfully it seems to disappear over time, while I was eating the food as leftovers the acetone flavour was gone. I just hope the beer will mature enough for the Swedish Championship.

I tried this with some chocolate and it was a good match. I plan to make some chocolate honey truffles and bring it to the Championship.

Total: 3,5/5

List of micro breweries - Need help

2010-02-23T07:49:00.003+01:00

I'm working on a project at the moment and I'm gathering data of all the Swedish micro breweries. However I'm not sure if I have found them all. Have I missed any?

Ahlafors

Bredaryd

Dugges

Eskilstuna Ölkultur

Grebbestads

Hantverksbryggeriet

Helsinge

Irish Pub Sundsvall

Jämtland

Killekulle

Mora

Monks Café

Nils Oscar

Nynäs

Närke

Ocean

Oppigårds

Pannrummet kök och bar

Qvänum

Sandbacka

Sigtuna

Skebo

Slottskällans

Stockeboda

Strömsholm

Två Bryggare

Leo Beer

2010-02-22T00:03:00.001+01:00

Leo Beer (33 cl bottle) 5%
The first time I had this beer was in Thailand in 2005. Me and Karin where at Koh Pang Ngang for the full moon party. Now Galatea has managed to get Leo Beer into Systembolagets ordering supply. Restaurants can already buy it but it will be released for regular customers on the 1st of April.

Article nr. 89989-03 (33 cl) and 89991-01 (66 cl)
Style: Pale Lager

Cost: 13,50 SEK (63 cl costs 24,90 sek)

Bitterness------Sweetness-----Sourness-----Intensity-------Body

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Appearance: 1/5

Clear pale yellow liquid with a medium sized white foam. It disappeared fast and left a clear liquid and some lacing. I managed to screw up the picture so the foam had already receded when I took the picture.

Smell: 3/10

Weak smell of white bread and some sweet malt. Typical lager smell.

Taste: 3/10

Weak taste of white bread, rice, some malt, some sweetness. No hops, but also no bad tastes.

Mouthfeel: 2/5

Smooth with a medium-low carbonation that didn't feel to harsh. Very low bitterness and a very light body.

Comment:

This was an easy to drink lager, with a very mild taste and smell. Not very exciting but I also couldn't find any off flavours that I usually do in these kinds of beers.

It probably works great on a hot sunny beach or with some spicy Asian food. Well any spicy food really.

This isn't very exciting for a beer geek, but if you want to bring back memories of sunny beaches and full moon parties or want a substitute for your Singha this is the beer for you.

Total: 1,4/5

Lets finish this review with a picture of me drinking the beer in Thailand:

Port Brewing Older Viscosity

2010-02-21T06:00:00.000+01:00

Port brewing Older Viscosity (37,5 cl bottle) 12%
I reviewed the younger brother of this beer yesterday. The difference between the two is that Older Viscosity has been aged on Heaven Hills Bourbon Barrels for 6 months.

Style: American Strong Ale

Cost: ? SEK

Bitterness------Sweetness-----Sourness-----Intensity-------Body

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Appearance: 3/5

Pitch black liquid. It was completely flat with just a few bubbles floating on the surface and it left no lacing.

Smell: 8/10

Red wine, port wine, dried fruit, whisky, booze and yeast.

Taste: 8/10

Wine, nuts, wood, chocolate, whisky and coconut.

Mouthfeel: 3/5

Smooth with no carbonation. Had a noticeable alcoholic feeling that dried my mouth up.

Comment:

As I poured this I was quite surprised as it didn't look like Old Viscosity. It was completely flat and when I smelled it the first thing that came to mind was port wine. I had a glass of red wine available compared the two and there where several similarities. After tasting it I realised it had allot of red wine flavours. But also whisky and a mix of other alcoholic beverages.

Not sure what would fit with this beer but I imagine the same thing that works with strong red wines, or port wines, with lots of flavour.

This was an unexpected and interesting experience. I expected the same beer only with some wood and whisky flavour. But this version was a completely different beer. I quite enjoyed it though.

Total: 3,8/5

Schorschbräu aims for lead

2010-02-20T11:08:00.003+01:00

Pilsner.nu just reported that Schorschbräu plans to make a 45% beer which should put them on top in the war to brew the strongest beer. BrewDogs Sink the Bismarck was the latest nr.1 at 41%. I haven't found any English sources but there is a German news article here.

Here is a full list of the current strongest beers.

This makes me wonder, how far can you theoretically go? And can we even call this beer any more? What can we learn from these experiments? Will it bring out a new type of beer?

Port brewing Old Viscosity

2010-02-20T08:44:00.000+01:00

Port Brewing Old Viscosity (75 cl bottle) 10%
This beer was part of a news release last year but I have now forgotten exactly when I bought it. I also have their Older Viscosity which I will review tomorrow.

Port Brewing is actually the same brewery as Lost Abbey. I have tried several beers from these breweries before and they have all been of high quality. I have a personal favorite in Hop 15.

Style: American Strong Ale according to RB, but I would call it an Imperial Stout.

Cost: ? SEK

Bitterness------Sweetness-----Sourness-----Intensity-------Body

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Appearance: 4/5

Pitch black liquid with a small light brown foam that left a curtain of lacing on the side of the glass.

Smell: 7/10

Chocolate, sweet, nuts.

Taste: 8/10

Chocolate, coffee, nuts, roasted and dark bread.

Mouthfeel: 4/5

Smooth, thick body, dry and mouth coating.

Comment:

It wasn't very complex, however felt well balanced, the flavours all complement each other in a good way. There also weren't any off-flavours. The alcohol was well hidden, it only revealed itself in the alcoholic warmth that followed after taking a sip.

I liked this beer but I would have preferred it with a bit more flavour and complexity. The chocolate is definitely there but I would have liked some more coffee and dark malty flavours.

Total: 3,8/5

Barrel Tales - Beer trips

2010-02-19T13:00:00.007+01:00

I got a tip from my father about a company that organize beer related trips. Since I hadn't heard of it before I figured it might be a good idea to post it here in case people are interested.

Barrel Tales is owned and run by Oscar Hammar and Peter Kamenko. The company is located in Stockholm. They do trips to both the Czech Republic and to local breweries in Sweden. The trips are sold as a whole package including transports, lodging and entrance fees. However food and drinks are not included as they want to leave it up to the traveler to decide what to drink and eat. They also plan to organize trips to other countries in the future.

At them moment they have two trips planned in the near future. The first one is a trip to the Czech Republic over 4 days. Amongst many other things they plan to stop at Chodovar where you can take that beer bath I wrote about earlier. Traveleres will also be able to brew their own beer and then get it shipped home at cost.

A picture from a brewery in Plzen.

The second trip is to Nynäshamns Ånbryggeri on the 19th of June. People will get a chance to tour the brewery, try some beer and it all ends with a BBQ.

A picture from the last trip to Sigtuna.

They also have some events planned, I found an Easter beer tasting that they will host in Stockholm.

It's going to be interesting to see what these guys do in the future. I'm personally very intersted in visiting Nynäshamns Ångbryggeri.

Stensbogaard English Dark Stout

2010-02-19T06:00:00.000+01:00

Stensbogaard English Dark Stout (50 cl bottle) 6,3%
This beer was part of the spring news release in the beginning of February 2010. It's the second beer I try from the same brewery. I tried their IPA and found it hoppy fresh just the way I like 'em. So lets see how their Stout is.

Style: Stout

Cost: 56,00 SEK

Bitterness------Sweetness-----Sourness-----Intensity-------Body

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Appearance: 4/5

Pitch black liquid with a small light brown foam that left some lacing.

Smell: 7/10

Chocolate, syrup, boiled vegetables and a hint of coffee.

Taste: 6/10

Funky cellar, chocolate, nuts, hint of coffee.

Mouthfeel: 4/5

Medium smooth, dry, medium-thick body.

Comment:

A decent stout but it feels like it lacks something. Could use some more roasted notes and coffee. Also has some odd flavours like boiled vegetables in the smell and funky cellar in the taste.

Total: 3,4/5

Link to Beer Charger

2010-02-18T12:00:00.003+01:00

I got some e-mails and comments about the link to the Beer Charger. I completely forgot to add it before posting. But here is the link to buy the Beer Charger. We bought 5 of them and payed about 300 SEK each, there is a small tube of gas included in the package.

I also got the question of where you could find new tubes of gas to refill the Charger. But Ulf Bronner at SHBF was faster then me to find it. You can buy it from this site.

Stensbogaard India Pale Ale

2010-02-18T06:00:00.000+01:00

Stensbogaard India Pale Ale (50 cl bottle) 7%
This beer was released at Systembolaget in the beginning of February 2010. It's the first beer I try from this brewery, they also managed to get a Stout into the same release, which I will rate tomorrow.

Style: India Pale Ale

Cost: 56,00 SEK

Bitterness------Sweetness-----Sourness-----Intensity-------Body

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Appearance: 5/5

Hazy dark orange liquid with a medium sized dirty white foam that left a nice lacing.

Smell: 9/10

Very fresh with lots of hops. Also grapefruit, citrus and freshly cut grass.

Taste: 7/10

Milder then the smell. Lots of fresh hops, grass, citrus and grapefruit. Med-high bitterness.

Mouthfeel: 4/5

Medium smooth with some harshness. Medium carbonation. Med-light body.

Comment:

I just loved the look of this beer, a very appealing hazy orange liquid with a nice looking foam. When I smelled it I got hit by a fist full of fresh hops. If you have ever opened a bag of frozen hops and crunched them together in the bad, then you know how this smelled.

The taste of this beer didn't hold the same quality as the smell and appearance. Allot milder and with a fairly light body. It's basically the only thing that is holding it back. Still a very fresh and nice beer though.

It feels like this beer has the hoppy aroma of a Double IPA but not the body to back it up.

Total: 3,9/5