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.

16th December 2013

Now I'm starting to look forward to Christmas. An overdue trip to the UK awaits. Until then, though, there's beer to be drunk.

Gouden Carolus Christmas (Belgium)

This is already my second "Christmas beer" of the festive period, and my first question is: Why do they have to be so strong? It's almost as if the breweries want us to spend Christmas completely trolleyed. This one is 10.5%, although it's Belgian, so this is nothing unusual for them. I smelled the beer, it smelled like licorice. Then I tasted the beer, it tasted like licorice. The beer hides the strong alcohol content really well, it's like you're just drinking licorice juice. The good news is that nowadays I like licorice, I didn't when I was a child. So if I'd have tried this as an eight-year-old I wouldn't have liked it... and social services would probably have come round to take me away from my parents.

Budweiser (USA)

Of all the beers that are in this book, it's the inclusion of this one that I understand the least. Budweiser is one of the most bland and flavourless beers in existence. Apparently it's in the book because of Anheuser-Busch's commitment to quality and consistency. Only the finest quality ingredients go in to making Budweiser, we're told. Which seems to me a little like taking your antique mahogany dining furniture and processing the crap out of it to make toilet paper. King of beers, my arse.

18th November 2013

It's exactly two years since I wrote my first ever blog post on these hallowed pages. I can't think of a way to celebrate that, but I guess nowadays dragging my lazy bum to the computer is a kind of celebration in itself. Lately I haven't had much time to write on here, because, since her laptop started making strange noises, my girlfriend has hijacked my computer to play Candy bloody Crush all day long. And typing is a little uncomfortable right now, since I almost chopped off a fingertip trying to slice a pizza.

Abbaye de Saint Bon-Chien (Switzerland)

I seem to be saying this quite often, but this was the most expensive beer I've had so far. It smells like wine and looks like something that was drained from a portable toilet at a Romanian music festival. Sour beer is definitely an apt name for this, it tastes like malt vinegar. It wasn't as bad as the Belgian sour beers, but maybe that's because I'm British and I bloody love vinegar. Put some fish and chips in this and you'd have a great meal. Unfortunately, I had to drink this giant 750ml bottle by myself, at least my innards should be well preserved.

Anchor Steam Beer (USA)

Anchor has probably become my favourite brewery. Which is something I've discovered while drinking my way through this book. This tastes like a good old-fashioned British bitter, but with a lot more force in the flavour. After almost a fortnight of travelling through Europe drinking I thought I would need a break from it. This beer proved me wrong.

2nd November 2012

I've now given up on trying to write a new blog post every Monday, it started to feel too much like a chore. Instead I will update it whenever I have the energy, which I hope will continue to be once a week from now on.

Dreher Bak (Hungary)

There's only one Hungarian beer in the book, which is understandable as the whole country seems to be more concerned with wine. This 7.2% concoction is the only one deemed worthy. And it is worthy. It's powerful and bitter, but also slightly fruity. It tastes a little bit a batch of Dr. Pepper that had gone wrong, like they'd forgot to put sugar in it or something. I didn't make it sound delicious, but it is.

Jacobsen Sommer Wit Weissbier (Denmark)

So, this one isn't in the book. But there is one in there called Jacobsen Sommer Wit, which I descovered will probably never be brewed again. I went to the Carlsberg museum in Copenhagen, where this stuff is brewed, and a very informative man told me that the Sommer Wit wasn't actually very good, which makes me wonder how it found its way in to the book. The man also told me that this is about as close as I would be able to find, so I'm using it as a substitute. And it's a pretty good substitute. For a weissbier this is very drinkable, even for me. Regular readers will know that I'm not exactly a fan of wheat beers. But this one isn't too wheaty and doesn't leave a taste in your mouth like you've been chewing the same bagel for three days. Thumbs up.