MY_BEER_DIARY #5: 2009-09-05@Monks Cafe

The latest beer report, now coming from Monks Cafe (@Wallingatan), surprise surprise. It actually worked out very well this time as every beer asked for actually existed. So this time it is possible to say Cheers and a big thank you very much for all the beer experience today.

1. SKA Brewing Buster Nut Brown Ale (b)
2. Big Sky Scape Goat Pale Ale (b)
3. Great Lakes Brewing Commodore Perry IPA (b)
4. SKA Decadent Imperial IPA (b)
5. Port Brewing Old Viscosity Ale (b)

Best beer?, well I can not help myself to simply say that Port Brewing rules in this compilation.

 

( c = cask\handpump, d = draught, b = bottle, cn = can)

79 US-breweries & 453 different beers at Monks

I guess the news about Monks bar in Stockholm to be serving 453 different beers from 79 US-breweries from Sept 1th is some kind of record (must be, at least in a bar).

The complete list is specified below and from the list its surely some interesting breweries that I have been thinking about trying, including Big Sky Brewing and SKA brewing.

The news is at least that they will have bottles from all these breweries from Sept 1th connected to their biggest US beer festival and guest beer list ever (the initial goal was 500 beer). Do not know if this includes both locations in Stockholm, but I guess that would be the case.

 

1. Abita Brewing Company
2. Allagash Brewing Company
3. Anchor Brewing Company
4. Anderson Valley Brewing Company
5. Anheuser-Busch InBev
6. Arcadia Brewing Company
7. Avery Brewing Company
8. Barley Island Brewing
9. Bear Republic Brewing Company
10. Bells Brewery
11. Big Sky Brewing Company
12. Black Mountain Brewing Co.
13. Boston Beer Company
14. Boulder Beer Company
15. Breckenridge Brewery
16. Brooklyn Brewery
17. Brownings Brewery
18. Buffalo Bills Brewery
19. Capital Brewery
20. City Brewery (Melanie Brewing Co)
21. Coors Brewing Company (MillerCoors)
22. Dark Horse Brewing Company
23. Dogfish Head Brewery
24. Eugene City Brewery & Rogue Ales
25. Flying Dog Brewery
26. Founders Brewing Company
27. Goose Island Beer Company
28. Gordon Biersch Brewing Company
29. Great Divide Brewing Company
30. Great Lakes Brewing Company
31. Half Acre Brewery
32. Harpoon Brewery
33. High Falls Brewing Company
34. Hoppin Frog
35. Iron City Brewing
36. Jolly Pumpkin Artisan Ales
37. Lagunitas Brewing Company
38. Lakefront Brewery
39. Left Hand Brewing Co.
40. Leinenkugel Brewing Company
41. Lion Brewery, Inc.
42. Lost Coast Brewery & Cafe
43. Magic Hat Brewing Company
44. Matt Brewing Company
45. Mendocino Brewing Company
46. Metropolitan Brewing
47. Miller Brewing Company (MillerCoors)
48. Minhas Craft Brewery
49. Moylans Brewery & Restaurant
50. New Belgium Brewing Company
51. New Holland Brewing Company
52. North Coast Brewing Company
53. O'Fallon Brewery
54. Olde Saratoga Brewing (Mendocino Brewing Co.)
55. Ommegang Brewery (Moortgat)
56. Otter Creek Brewing
57. Pipeworks Brewing Co.
58. Port Brewing/Lost Abbey
59. Pyramid Breweries Inc.
60. Redhook Brewery
61. Rogue Ales
62. Sand Creek Brewing Co.
63. Sea Dog Brewing
64. Shipyard Brewing Company
65. Sierra Nevada Brewing Company
66. SKA Brewing
67. Southampton Publick House
68. Southern Star Brewing Co.
69. Southern Tier Brewing Company
70. Spoetzl Brewery (Gambrinus Company)
71. Sprecher Brewing Company
72. Stevens Point Brewery
73. Stone Brewing Co.
74. Sudwerk Privatbrauerei Hubsch
75. Summit Station Restaurant & Brewery
76. Three Floyds Brewing Company
77. Two Brothers Brewing Company
78. Tyranena Brewing
79. Victory Brewing Company

So I guess its time to give Monks a new visit in a close future. Hopefully the list above actually means that the beers are available in real life. Simply if you are a bit frank I really hope that this do NOT mean that 453 beers means just a couple of bottles per beer, that has been the case before.

Because if that would be the case again you can really question what the purpose is, except to be able to impress the public with nice numbers. To be serious (and this time it truly looks amazing) if this is a hit it need to mean that you have the chance to get what you want and when asked for during a visit. I understand that beers from the US are limited and will be out of stock during the coming weeks, but seriously if a beer is only available with 2-3 bottles it does not matter if the list is impressive, it is still just a nice facade and nothing visit or recommend.

Enough with complaints- I will give it a chance and recommend others to come, and I hope all the luck to Monks that this is a true success that will make all US-craft beers in Stockholm happy and satisfied.

I at least already have a short list building up that I want to test.’

If interested here is the complete list of beer from each brewery; Monks US Guest Beers.

Beers from Argentina enjoyed in Sweden

Monks Café on Wallingatan 38 Stockholm/Norrmalm speciality is large number of beers, estimated to 1200 different bottles and arround 16 on the tap. I am not there so often (you can not visit every good place in Stockholm) but at some occurences we get up to the place and to try out some new brews from around the world.

This time I like to get the opportunity to give some credit to beers from Argentina. Maybe not a country that is famous for the beers, but why not, if Sweden can produce great micro beers why not Argentina.

So we sampled some of the beers available (Monks had a little Argentina beer festival, but I am sorry to say that I do not know the rest of the available beers) and discovered the beer from Antares. This is a small Brew Pub/Brewery located in the city of Mar del Plata (located on the coast of the Atlantic Ocean in the Buenos Aires Province) brewed at the New Patagonia Brewery.

Antares beer is one of the fastest-growing premium beer in Argentina and has recently started to be available outside the country, exported to countries like Canada, Germany, Australia, South Africa, Brazil, and Japan.

Even in May month it has been announced that the beers (at least the lager) will be available in the US through the distribution of Aladdin Beverage (Brooklyn , NY). The lager seems to be the largest beer when talking about sales but we instead concentrated on the more interesting styles of port and stout.

First one was the porter that at start due to the cold storage did not taste much, but when the beer was warmed it turned out to be a very well made porter. This is a classic porter with aroma of toffe, coffee and and the end some roasted malts. It has has a quite thick beige head and quite oily in the mouth. Not a favorite in porters for me but at least very drinkable.

Second one was the stout (Antared Imperial Stout) that also comes with a deep dark brown color with a similar brown\beige head as the porter. This is of course something else compared to the porter, simply because of the storage and ABV. It has a very strong roasted malty character with quite smoky tastes. Not a favorite in imperial stouts (like Bells Expedition Stout and Närke Kaggen Stormaktsporter) but it has the standard characters of a imperial stout and can be recommended to at least try out.

Always interesting to learn new beer countries and it will be interesting what the planned beers from Brazil that Monks is going to provide for us.

For the interested, here is a complete list of beers from Monks that are or at least have been available;

1. Antares Barley Wine
2. Antares Imperial Stout
3. Antares Kölsch
4. Antares Porter
5. Antares Scotch Ale
6. Aracuana Bock
7. Aracuana Doppio Malto
8. Aracuana Pale Ale
9. Aracuana Weizen
10. Otro Mundo Golden Ale
11. Otro Mundo Nut Brown Ale
12. Otro Mundo Strong Red Ale