30th April 2012

After a couple of weeks of drinking beers that can be described as "average-to rubbish", I was hoping for a upturn in fortune this week. Starting with...

Black Chocolate Stout (USA)

I don't know what black chocolate is, but I probably wouldn't want to eat it. As a drink though, it's wonderful. The aftertaste tastes like you ate a spoonful of cocoa powder, which is pretty bitter stuff. At 10% it's quite a strong beer, and you can taste the alcohol in it. I drank this after a long day at work and it made me feel a bit drunk. It's a winter beer, so won't be available for long periods of the year, but worth a try if you can find it.

1698 (England)

Many of the beers I've had from the book so far have been great to try. This, however, is one of the few that could become your "usual" at you local pub. Perfect for drinking slowly on a lazy Sunday afternoon.

23rd April 2012

Writing this blog with a mild hangover is not a good idea.


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Dark Island (Scotland)

The bottle says "5000 years in the making", and it tasted like that too, like it had been in someone's basement for the last five millennia. It's hard to find something to say about this beer, except that I just didn't like it. Maybe something to do with the fact that the aftertaste tasted like I'd just eaten a packet of Marlboro reds.

Estrella Damm Inedit (Spain)

This beer was developed with some fancy-pantsy chef. According to the little label that came with the bottle I was supposed to drink this from a white wine glass, but because I'm not a woman, I poured the whole giant bottle in to my giant glass. The first question that came in to my head was "Is this it? Seriously?" One year with a world renowned chef and the result was a weak beer that tasted like a supermarket's own brand lager. Disappointingly rubbish.

16th April 2012

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Sara (Belgium)

It looked like I was drinking a glass of coke. And, to be honest, this is what I would expect coke to taste like if it didn't have any sugar or sweeteners in it. I will describe it as Coca-Cola's bitter twin. The taste wasn't half as strong as the appearance suggested, but it was still a nice drink, just a little different from what I was expecting. I guess that's typical of Belgian beers, they have the ability to surprise you. Special thanks to José for bringing this from Belgium for me.

Negra Modelo (Mexico)

From the makers of Corona comes this weird concoction. It's supposed to be a dark beer, only it doesn't taste anything like a dark beer. It might have only been me, but I thought it had a slightly buttery taste. Like someone had mixed a can of Carlsberg with a dollop of Flora. To be fair, it might be nice on a hot Mexican beach, but on a blizzardy weekend in Estonia it wasn't what I was looking for. 

9th April 2012

This weekend I went on a little trip to Tallinn, Estonia. As always, I had my readers at the front of my mind, so I brought back almost twenty beers that will appear on these pages over the coming weeks. Enjoy.

I thought that since I'm drinking so much beer nowadays, I need a glass that is worthy of all these great beers. What could be better than this one litre of manliness from the Paulaner brewery? That's right, nothing.

Ola Dubh Special 30 Reserve (Scotland)

Hopefully this is most expensive beer I have to buy to complete this book. It's brewed in casks previously used to distil thirty year old Scotch whisky. And the whisky taste definitely comes through, even though it's not overpowering. It's a limited edition beer, so it might be hard to find, but luckily there is a really amazing pub where I was able to find this. At twenty Euros a bottle, I probably won't buy this again, but if you find yourself with some extra money burning a hole in your pocket, go out and give it a try. It's definitely one of the best beers I've had so far.

Saku Porter (Estonia)

I like my beers, especially my dark beers to be bitter, and this wasn't. It tasted way too sweet for me. I think the best part of this beer was the view; I drank it while my girlfriend was in the bath. The negative part was that it was quite a big bottle and by the end of it I was really struggling to get it down. 

2nd April 2012

I'm going to leave out the crap April fool's jokes and get straight on with it...

Ostravar (Czech Republic)

This beer was gratefully received from my friends Jitka and Jukka who brought it from the Czech Republic for me. And I'm glad they did, this was very nice to drink on a lazy Sunday afternoon while watching football. I'd already had a few cans of generic lager before I drank this, so it seemed to have a slightly sweet taste which made a nice change. I have yet to find a Czech beer that I don't like. So thanks for this, guys.

Taras Boulba (Belgium)

A weird name for a weird beer. Wine drinkers would probably say that this is "dry" and "sour" and "not wine". I got a bit scared when I saw the barmaid pour it in to the glass, because it looked like a wheat beer. But the bitterness of this surprised me. I've been thinking about it for three days and I'm still not sure whether I liked it or not. I'll rate it somewhere in the middle.

26th March 2012

My sources for buying the beers from the book are running out, so I've decided to slow the blog down a bit. From now on I will only drink two beers per week. Starting with...

Old Hooky (England)

My first observation is that the name sounds too much like "old hooker", which might put some people off drinking it. I soldiered on though, and I'm happy that I did. Even my girlfriend didn't mind this beer, and usually when she tastes my beer she makes a face like she'd just sucked a lemon, then she swears a lot, so it's a pretty good appraisal from her. This is a good old English beer and a nice way to get a party started.

Baffo d'Oro (Italy)

Kindly given to me by my friend Lorenzo, and brought all the way from Italia. I was worried when looking at the bottle that the beer looked a little pale, so I thought it would be rather weak tasting. Thankfully I was wrong. It had a slightly bitter taste, which I really like in beer, it always makes me want to eat some cheese and drink some more. So, thank you very much Lorenzo. And by the way, I'm not just writing nice things because there's a man on the label who might put a horse's head in my bed.

19th March 2012

A new batch of beers for you this week. And not one of them was horrible. Hurray!

Aventinus Weizen-Eisbock (Germany)

Despite the horrific smell that assaulted my nose when I opened the bottle, this actually tasted pretty good. I think the best way to describe it is to say that it tastes very German. It's also pretty strong, so you might want to eat a sandwich before you tackle this.

O'Hara's Irish Stout (Ireland)

So Saturday was St. Patrick's day, and to honour that I thought I should try a beer from the land of potatoes. Guinness would have been the obvious choice, and to be honest, in a blindfold test I probably wouldn't be able to tell the difference. It's Irish stout, so it tastes like a cup of black coffee that you made and then forgot about for a few hours.

Liberty Ale (USA)

San Francisco is home to many hippies and homosexuals, and it's also home to what is quickly becoming my favourite brewery in the world. Anchor Brewery make some of the finest beer I've had during my quest so far, and this is another great example. I strongly recommend any of their range.