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.

24th September 2013

I know, I know- I'm getting lazy at this blogging business. Yesterday I was still recovering from a rather heavy weekend, so writing about beer was the last thing on my mind. As for all the other editions I've skipped, I'm too lazy to even try to think of an excuse. 

St. Peters Fruit Beer (Grapefruit) (England)

I drank this once already on my birthday, but I was already so far gone that I forgot to write any notes or take a photo, so I had to buy another bottle. So in the end I had to pay double to bring this beer to the blog. But it was worth it, this is probably the best English beer I've had so far. I only got a slight taste of grapefruit from it, even though the citric smell was quite strong when I stuck my nose in the glass. I also like the shape of the bottle, which looks like it's been squashed a bit. I passed this around my friends and the general consensus was that this is really good stuff.

Ayinger Ur-Weisse (Germany)

You might not be able to read the picture properly, but that is Ur-Weisse in the middle. The reason for the blurred picture is because I had to take it fast so I could escape the gaze of the world's grumpiest barman. This is a dark wheat beer, which means it was never going to be anywhere near the top of my list, but even so, I was expecting something better than this. I also had to pay crazy inflated airport price for this too, which probably made it taste just that little bit worse.

4th September 2013

I know it's not Monday, but I finally plucked up the energy to write something on here. I just logged in and noticed that I've just gone past 3000 page views in just under two years, which is fantastic because I didn't think anyone would care to read what I think about all these beers. So thank you very much for reading, and I hope you continue to do so. 

Old Slug Porter (England)

Let me tell you a little story. It was a Friday night and I really fancied a porter because I hadn't had one for ages. So I drank this. End of story. This porter was pretty good, but it had a strange aftertaste, which may be because I fudged the temperature and drank it colder than I perhaps should have. It tasted a little bit like coffee, which is what it's supposed to do. Not the best I've had, but I would buy it again, so you may consider that a recommendation. But only if you like porter. 

James Boag's Premium Lager (Australia)

As you can see, I've put this picture in an Australian-friendly manner. This way readers from the land down under will be able to see it properly. I was assured by the barmaid that this is the best Australian beer, but I dispute that. I've already had two Aussie beers that were better than this, both of them from from the Coopers brewery. This was light and refreshing, but nothing special.

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.