19th May 2014

Welcome to another edition of my blog. It's getting easier to write it now, since I have more excuse to drink with the weather being so nice. I even had the opportunity to dust off the barbecue over the weekend. A word of warning though, next week's edition will be late, probably by a couple of days. But let's worry about that later.

Schneide Weisse Unser Aventinus (Germany)

This wasn't the worst wheat beer I've had, nor was it the best. The darkness surprised me a little, so I wasn't sure what to expect. But what I got was a rather nice beer that was very easy to drink. Even while I was watching some horror movie. If I gave beers scores out of ten (which I should have done from the start) then this would be a solid 6.

Bourbon County (USA)

As you may guess from the name, this stout is conditioned in bourbon barrels. Which gives it a bit more power in the taste, almost tastes a little like a red wine. It's also 15%, which reminded me of the Mikkeller Black I had a while back in terms of power of flavour and effects. This was so strong that it took me almost an hour and a half to drink it. But I'm glad I did, it was delicious.

12th May 2014

After a weekend of drunken Eurovision nonsense beer couldn't be further from my mind. But I'm determined to keep going. Another thing I've noticed is that I need to organise my notes and photos better, I've just spent an hour looking through my computer for a photo of a beer that I know I've drunk, but may have to buy another one just to get a picture. The lengths I go to for you folks...

Stouterik (Belgium)

Europeans don't generally make much stout, and after trying this you have to wonder why that is. This Belgian effort is really good. It isn't as strong as some of the imperial ones, but the taste is up there with the best of them. It also makes a nice change for the Belgians to make some normal beer, rather than making some insanely strong weirdness out of wheat and pears, or some such.

Old Stock Ale (USA)

Brutal. Absolutely brutal. Although I expected nothing else from an ale that weighs in at 11.7%. It's a strange one because it looks like a regular red ale. But they cranked the volume up to 11 on it. So it definitely packs a wallop, both in terms of flavour and the effect it will have on your thought process.

7th May 2014

Welcome to another edition of the blog. Nothing really to report in my intro this week, so let's get right to it...

La Trappe Dubbel (Netherlands)

As you can see, another beer I had over Christmas which is only just finding its way on to these pages. When I poured this I did so much too quickly, and the foam threatened to flow all over my kitchen. So the first taste I got from this was of the head, which tasted like some weird honey cake. The actual beer part doesn't taste like cake. I've always wondered why the Belgians make great beer, and the Dutch make... well, Heineken. This beer proves that the Dutch can do it just as well.

Fuller's Golden Pride (England)

Fuller's claim on the label that this is their finest beer. And you know what? I think they may have a point. This is a great strong ale, a nice beer to beer to drink in the evening while watching your favourite detective series (Columbo, by the way). It definitely tastes strong, and a little bit boozy, so don't go drinking too much of it in a hurry. 

28th April 2014

Finally spring is upon is here in Finland. I just wish I had more money so I could go sit outside a nice pub somewhere and have a few nice beers in the sunshine. It will have to wait. For now though...

Amager IPA (Denmark)

This Danish brewery took inspiration from American IPAs rather than the British version, and who can blame them? The barman in this Copenhagen bar, called Ørsted Ølbar, told me that Amager used to make standard, safe lagers until a few years ago when they started making other stuff too. And if this is an example of what they can do, then thank God they decided to be a bit more daring. Great beer.

Celebration Ale (USA)

As you can see from the picture, I drank this at Christmas time and it's just now making it on to the blog. I was a little scared to drink this because I'd bought it a couple of years ago, and then forgot about in a cupboard in my mum's house. It looked cloudy, but I'm not sure if it was supposed to or not. It tasted fine, but I thought it'd be better if I played it safe and didn't drink the whole thing. If I come across it again I'll buy another and drink a fresh one. That way I could get a clearer opinion.

22nd April 2014

Let me begin by wishing everyone a belated happy Easter. I spent a lovely weekend in Estonia with my lovely wife where we sampled plenty of the local brews, and also some international ones. It'll take me a while to recover, and I don't really feel like writing about beer, but here goes. I actually drank these a few months ago, but because I've been writing the blog so infrequently they're only just making it to your computer screen.

Hoegaarden (Belgium)

There's nothing like a nice cold, refreshing beer after a hard week at work. And a remarkably nice beer too. If you like beer, you'll have no doubt heard of Hoegaarden and you're wondering "how haven't you drank this before?" Truth is I have. And I didn't care for it much. I cared for it so little, in fact, that I postponed drinking this in favour of other beers that I thought I would like more. But this time I had a pleasant surprise. Hoegaarden is nice. There, I said it. Now if only I could go back in time to teach my 22-year-old self something so I wouldn't have missed out on several years of Belgian excellence.

Jacobsen Saaz Blonde (Denmark)

Copenhagen is an amazing place, full of friendly people and some truly excellent beers. And although this isn't the most spectacular of the ones that I tried, it's still a very good example of what can be achieved with a bit of effort. Jacobsen is a branch of the Carlsberg brewery, and this is so much better than the flagship Carlsberg beer, that it makes me wonder why they don't use this as their standard.

31st March 2014

So the clocks have now gone forward (at least here they have) and soon it will be summer. I'm looking forward to taking a few these brews to a beach somewhere. For now though, I'm stuck indoors drinking these. 

Trade Winds (Scotland)

This is another beer that surprised me with how good it is. I suppose it shouldn't, it's obviously in the book for a reason. It had a very nice, sharp, almost citric edge to it. It also had a taste which belied it's pretty weak 4.3% strength. This would be brilliant for a post-work session, although it was just as good while relaxing on a Saturday evening too.

Westmalle Trappist Tripel (Belgium)

Smells like wine. It also tastes a little like wine. A wine that's been corked. A wine that's been corked and then left in the open for a couple of weeks. If you like wine you'll probably be horrified by that idea. But I don't like wine. I like beer, and as a beer this is a winner. A little bit fruity, a little bit bitter, a little bit boozy. Add all those things together and you end up with a special beer.

3rd March 2014

So this is the first blog post of 2014, I can but apologise for the delay. It's also my first blog post as a married man. I'm very grateful to have found someone who will tolerate this obsession I have developed for beer. 

Tanglefoot (England)

As you can see, it was Christmas time when I drank this during my almost annual trip to my mum's house in Britain. I had bought a few beers from my book on my previous trip to the UK, this was one of them. Unfortunately that previous trip was 18 months prior to this one, and the one I'd left there had gone all cloudy and weird. So I bought another one just to make sure I didn't poison myself. This is a pretty good beer, tastes a little bit like cream crackers, so would probably go well with a slab of cheddar.  

Köstritzer Schwarzbier (Germany)

Dark lagers are still a bit strange to me. I look at it in the glass and I'm expecting it to taste like a stout or porter. But it doesn't. It tastes like a lager that's been a little bit burned. This toastiness makes them so much more tasty than the generic lagers you buy by the shedload from your local supermarket. This has a smooth, almost creamy mouthfeel, and I can't believe I used the word "mouthfeel", I've been reading too many other beer sites. There's a danger that I'm starting to take this too seriously.