19th August 2013

Nothing really exciting happening this last week. My first week back at work was pretty uneventful. I did try to culture myself by trying to learn to like red wine, but it still tastes like vinegar to me. So that's the end of that, I'll stick to the beer in future.

Bel Pils (Belgium)

The problem with trying to write the blog while on holiday is that I end up writing notes on the back of receipts or whatever other scrap of paper I can find. Those scraps of paper are very easy to lose. So I'll have to try to remember what it was like. This was drank in a small pub in Helsinki on a very hot day, and as you can maybe tell from the colour of this beer, it was a great refresher. And although it looks really pale, it still had a very nice taste, not very strong, but a great way to cool down. Oh, and it's my girlfriend's fingers you can see through the glass, it wasn't served with a packet of sausages in it.

Titan IPA (USA)

This was drank on the same day as the Bel Pils above, so I've lost the notes for this too. And it came served in this non-descript glass, so you'll have to trust me that it's definitely Titan IPA in it. As regular readers of this blog will know, I love the American IPAs, and this, although not the best example of those, is still a really excellent beer. I just love the bitter hoppiness, it was also a great beer for a relaxing afternoon beer on a summer day. I can't really remember much else about it, there's been a few weeks and many beers since I drank this.

12th August 2013

I know it's been a while since my last update. But I've been away on holiday for a couple of weeks. But not to worry, I've come back feeling invigorated to start writing this blog more regularly again. Hopefully.

Žatec Xantho (Czech Republic)

Surprisingly, Prague is a difficult place to find beers from my book, with most places selling the usual Pilsner Urquell or Kozel. I expected to be bouncing from pub to pub quaffing gallons of good new beers. Unfortunately I only found this one during my trip, in a rather excellent pub, the Prague Beer Museum, which you can read about here www.praguebeermuseum.com. I say unfortunately, but I shouldn't really be too disappointed, for this is an excellent beer. The book mentions something about this beer helping women through menopause, but I'm not really interested in that...yet. It was a very nice bittersweet dark Czech beer, which was great to drink in the beer garden, even in the melt-your-face temperature of Prague in August.

Zlatý Bažant 12% (Slovakia)

Since the Czechs invented lager/pilsner in the 17th century, they have gone on to become one of the world's brewing powerhouses. The same cannot be said of their former countrymen. I guess being a Slovakian brewer is a bit like being Janet Jackson, you may do some pretty good stuff, but you'll always be overshadowed by your sibling. There are only two Slovakian beers in the book, and I couldn't find the other, even in Bratislava, so I'm beginning to worry that it doesn't exist any more. This was my first Slovakian beer, taken from the minibar in our hotel room and replaced with a bottle I bought from the supermarket for a fraction of the cost. Prudent. It's actually quite a good beer, nothing extravagent, but very drinkable. And don't worry, the 12% is not the abv, I actually don't know what it means.