26th December 2011

So I promised an English beer special edition this week, and here it is. Three rather disappointing efforts, in all honesty. Better luck next week.

Samuel Smith's Old Brewery Pale Ale (England)

This didn't have enough ale flavour, tasted more like a lager, but a good lager.  

Brakspear Bitter (England)

Bitter is definitely the right word to describe this. But it had an aftertaste that made you want to drink more. It was probably good that I only had one bottle of this, it might be addictive.

Bateman's XXXB (England)

This slightly pornographic sounding beer wasn't the best pale ale in the world. But it was quite a nice way to start a weekend's drinking on a winter afternoon.

19th December 2011

Late again, I know. But at the weekend I drank three more beers from the book. This week I'll be heading back to my native Britain, so tune in next week for an English beer special. 

Gulden Draak (Belgium)

The Belgians seem to love strong beer. This one is 10.5% but doesn't taste at all toxic. Well done Belgium.

Midnight Sun (Scotland)

Not a bad porter, but the bar was set pretty high by the Anchor porter I had a few weeks ago, this wasn't as good as that. It's funny how all the British beers seem to have won some award or another though.

Old Tom Strong Ale (England)

In the words of my lovely girlfriend: "This tastes like it's going to give you diarrhoea". I didn't think it was as bad as that, but definitely not worthy of the title of "World's best ale" which it proudly boasts on the bottle, probably voted by the people who work in the brewery.

12th December 2011

Another week, and another few beers knocked off the list

Fuller's Vintage Ale (England)

They say that this beer gets better with age, so I left it for four days... not sure it made any difference. Only 150 000 bottles of this were produced, and each one is individually numbered, which is a nice way to drive up the price. Good beer though.

O'Hara's Irish Red (errr Ireland)

I was a little disappointed that it wasn't bright red. It has a sort of Irishy taste that I can't describe. So it's a standard Irish ale, only a little bit redder.

Krinitsa (Belarus)

Belarus is not very good at a lot of things, and if this is the best beer they can brew, then you can add it to that list.

5th December 2011

OK, so I'm a day late this week. I spent all evening yesterday stressing about trying to book flights. I hope you can forgive me.

Mikkeller From To (Denmark)

A word of advice: Do not drink this when you have a hangover. This stuff was so dark it actually frightened me a little bit when I poured it. It was quite nice, and I would probably have a better opinion of it if I drank it again... but at eleven Euros a bottle, that's not going to happen.

Aecht Schlenkerla Rauchbier Märzen (Germany)

Who was the crazy arsonist that thought that smoke tastes good? To me it tastes like the time you dropped a sausage in to the barbecue but you were so hungry that you decided to eat it anyway... eurgh.

Pilsner Urquell (Czech Republic)

This beer is great, and I really needed it after the smoke beer. As you may have noticed, I couldn't wait to open this one.

28th November 2011

It's almost the end of the month, which means I have no money left. So this weekend I bought one or two (three) cheap beers from the book.

Baltika 6 Porter (Russia)

Not as good as the American porter I had last week, but still nice.

Velkopopovický Kozel (Czech Republic)

The beer that sends my spellchecker in to a frenzy (no, I do not mean Leopoldville, whatever that is) The book only said Velkopopovický Kozel and the shop I went to had three different kinds, so I bought the cheapest. Delicious and economical.  

Meantime London Pale Ale (England)

I love pale ale, but this was my first ever "London Pale Ale". I would definitely recommend this.

21st November 2011

Not a bad weekend. I drank four beers from the book, and three of them were excellent.

Anchor Porter (USA)

Delicious beer, I need to buy more of this in the future.

Newcastle Brown Ale (England)

Good old Newcastle Brown, this beer is a classic, and there's a reason it's so popular around the world.

Estrella Damm (Spain)

Very nice lager. Perfect for a summer day on la playa, but also nice on a cold November evening in Finland.

Chang (Thailand)

This had a very light taste, almost like fizzy water with a hint of beer. It quenches a thirst though.

Updating part 2

Chouffe Houblon Dobblen (Belgium)

Very nice IPA. It was probably a good thing that I only drank one of them, at 9% and coming in a large bottle, if I'd drank any more I might have woken up in a stranger's house with no money... or eyebrows.

Zhujiang Beer (China)

A nice enough beer from China, nothing spectacular but definitely drinkable.

Bohemia Regent Prezident (Czech Republic)

I usually like Czech beers, and this one was no exception. Even though they spelled president wrong.

Paulaner Salvator (Germany)

This is probably my favourite beer from the book so far, which isn't really saying much, seeing as I've only had 9, but this was amazing.

Norwegian Wood (Norway)

Tasted more like Armenian drywall.

Samuel Adams Boston Lager (USA)

Lager. From Boston. To be honest, I don't remember drinking this, which is probably not a good sign. Forgettable.

Bring the blog up to date

I started the quest a couple of weeks ago. So I'm going to upload all the pictures that I have so far in one go.

Finlandia Sahti - Strong (Finland)

Some people might like this, but I'm not some people. This stuff would be better used sprayed in your garden as a cat deterrent.

Weihenstephaner Vitus (Germany)

Recently voted the best beer in the world by some association that I know nothing about. I'm not really a fan of Weissbier, but I did like this.

Theresianer Strong Ale (Italy)

A nice beer which is so strong it can get you drunk just by looking at it. Allegedly.

About the Quest

I recently acquired the book "1001 Beers You Must Try Before You Die" by Adrian Tierney-Jones. Here I will try to blog my way through the book, and post pictures of the beers I drink. 


This is not an easy challenge, and hopefully I can complete it without having to go to places such as Laos, Ethiopa and the Palestinian Territories. But I'm not in a rush...


Cheers everybody