Currently Oliver Twist has a new batch of US-micros for sale (actually since a couple of weeks) and has this time around also succeeded in getting a bunch of them on draught. Simply it is a small miracle that you can now drink your favorite US-micro or even better a new favorite on draught in the capital of Sweden (thanks to Jugge at OT). They are not provided as a single batch, so you have to wait for them, one by one, when one has been finished.
On the picture you can see the line up, which is pretty amazing, when you actually check what kind of beer it is. Mostly it is strong beers, which I imagine is caused by the long travel, so that kind of beers is better for travels on kegs, but I do not know the actual cause.
How about favorites so far, well that needs to be the Double Daddy IPA from Speakeasy. The Jah*va stout from Southern Tier is impressive, but to me it was simply to much to drink, at least with the amount you got, more fun then world class.
I will come back about this, when I have succeeded in testing at least some more of the draught beers (work is starting on Monday, so you can not be there every day from now on, :))
2007-08-19
Great US-micros on draught at Oliver Twist
2007-08-18
If ever in SF...
If you ever have the possibility and time to get over to San Francisco and is looking for any good brews, here is then a great link if you like to use the public transports (metro = BART) at the same time; Beer By Bart
Simply it will show you one of the best places to drink good micros in the city and the bay area, and with using the BART-system to find your way. You can see that through going with the train you can in couple of minutes get to quite far out places, and do not need to drive get here.
For some personal favorites, here is a short list;
1. Jupiter
2. Toronado
3. Speakeasy Brewery (not directly with BART, but it is accessible through BART + MUNI)
And in the same time if you want any good reading before you get there, I can really recommend the following blog regarding news about beers around the bay area; "http://beernewsletter.zacharywalter.com/blog/"
Back again
I am back writing some new stuff after being out of the country for a while (summer vacation).
It is not easy to get to a computer and have the time to write some new things when your are out traveling.
2007-07-23
And one more beer gadget (I promise)...
Even if you fill it up with that watery swill known as American beer, this Asahi beer dispensing machine spotted in Narita Airport in Japan can bring the sacred suds from keg to glass with flawless precision.
And here is a url for all kinds of beer gadgets: Gizmondo
A new beer gadget that seems interesting...
People really seems to have time, and different techniques for drinking beer.
2007-07-21
My Current Top 30 Beers
Its not easy to create a top 30 list, but I like my lists, has always created them for all kind of different topics and purposes.
The list do not reflect what is seen as the best beer in the world, merely what I like to drink at the moment.
So I will try to update as soon as possible, when my taste changes (happens often). You can probably also see that I am currently into US-micros (and of course Swedish micros), so it does not say that they are any better than the european originals, but what the heck, it is my list, so I can do what ever I like, and you will never see Westvleteren on the number 1 spot.
TOP 30 BEERS LIST, ALL CATEGORIES, MEANING BEERS I LIKE TO DRINK, A BEER I WILL ORDER WHEN I SEE IT AND COULD CONSIDER DRINKING 2 OFF.
1. Närke Kaggen! Stormaktsporter
2. Russian River Pliny The Elder
3. Bell's Two Hearted Ale
4. Russian River Blind Pig IPA
5. Cantillon Kriek 100% Lambic
6. Stone IPA
7. Weyerbacher Hops Infusion
8. Drie Fonteinen Kriek
9. Bell's HopSlam
10. The Tap Leatherlips IPA
11. Green Flash Imperial India Pale Ale
12. Victory Storm King Stout
13. Weyerbacher Insanity
14. Pelican India Pelican Ale
15. Alpha King Pale Ale
16. Dogfish Head World Wide Stout
17. Slottskällans Imperial Stout
18. Dugges Avenyn Ale
19. Stone Double Bastard Ale
20. Left Hand Imperial Stout
21. Nøgne Ø India Pale Ale
22. Blue Point Hoptical Illusion
23. Dugges ½ Idjit! Porter
24. Drie Fonteinen Oude Gueuze
25. Cantillon Rosé De Gambrinus
26. Närke Örebro Bitter
27. Weyerbacher Double Simcoe IPA
28. Ocean India Pale Ale (cask)
29. Blue Point No Apologies Imperial IPA (cask)
30. Thirsty Dog Siberian Night Imperial Stout
2007-07-20
VIP visit at Oliver Twist
Oliver Twist and Jugge who is also doing some distributions of US-beers to the Swedish "Systembolaget" and also other pubs around Scandinavia, got some important visitors last Saturday.
It was no other than "Douglas Moody" who is the North Coast's Breweries Senior Vice President. The most important beer distributed by Oliver Twist is the great Red Seal Ale and it seems that Doug got to drink his own beer at Oliver Twist. The Red Seal is currently a standard beer at the Systembolaget, so it has been a big success for both Oliver Twist, for actually getting a beer at Systembolaget, and North Coast for getting a big sales beer in Sweden. It has actually been so lucky to win won a gold medal for its Red Seal Ale at the Annual Stockholm Beer Festival (strong ale category).
On the picture you see Doug on the left side of the bar, and Jugge, who is one of the owners of Oliver Twist on the right side. What the visit was about, is a secret for me, but it was probably some new great plans regarding North Coast brews in Scandinavia, or simply a summer visit for Doug.
At least they had a nice day at Oliver Twist, and the weather was really great, compared to how the last couple of days has been in July (i.e. Rain, Rain and some more Rain).
New Vertical Epic is out!
The new Vertical Epic has been released. I know, it was actually released on 07/07/07 (in shops 06.18.07) but it is new for me and has not seen actual pictures of the beer before.
If you have not heard about this experiment before, it is Stone Brewery in San Diego that has started to create a special brew for each year. It follows each month, day and year with the above form. So it started out in 02/02/02 and the plan is to release one new beer each year until 2012. The main idea is to create beer that will last until 2012 or that you can use them for vertical tastings during the time. The main idea with the brews is as follow;
EPIC, meaning
1. Heroic and impressive in quality.
2. Surpassing the usual or ordinary, particularly in scope or size.
3. Of, constituting, having to do with, or suggestive of a literary epic.
So it is basically what the word means, a "epic" beer that will standout and will give you something extra in taste and beer experiences. Taken from the first bottle released by Stone at 02/02/20 it looks like below;
"As with any good epic, herein lies the promise of larger-than-life experiences, heroicss and twists & turns as the adventure unfolds. Think of this bottle as the first chapter. The tale of the Stone Vertical Epic Ale is just now beginning. You see, this bottle-conditioned ale is specifically designed to be aged.
Until sometime after December 12th, 2012 to be exact. At that time, it is designed to be enjoyed in a "vertial" tasting alon with its other Stone Vertical Epic Ales cousins. Eleven of the to be exact. Each one bottle-continioned. Each one unique to its year of release. Each with its own "twist & turn" in the plotline. Each one released one year, one month and one day from the previous edition."
I have not been fortune enough to actually get a bottle, simply because you can not buy them here in Europe, and that they are sold out almost the same day they are released. So you lucky people that can by locally I say, "hurray", and hopefully I can plan for a vertical tasting myself when the time is getting close to 2012, hopefully Stone will have a big tasting that year where you can bye yourself in, :).
But basically at least the idea is great and nothing that has been seen from other breweries, at least not in the form of the Epic line.
So what kind of beer can you expect, well a blogger in the USA (Summer of Beer) recently could not wait for 2012, and here is some notes from that blogger;
"The '07 pours with a nice dark golden color, ever so slightly orange, although I was drinking this on the back patio at night in dim lighting. Aroma is contributed by the Belgian yeast, a good deal of fruit in the aroma and also a bit of must (saison heritage?) and earthiness which I thought was coming through from the hops. The taste evolves from a bitter initial bite, to fruit over the middle of the tongue, to some subdued earthy/mustiness in the end. This beer is carbonated on the higher end of things and I liked it that way. Sometimes Tripels or other Belgian Strong Golden Ales get a bit viscous, or sticky, and it seemed like the carbonation cut that down a little. I also thought that this beer tasted better at its colder temperatures, more so than the last 1/4th of the glass that had warmed up a bit. This was a pretty nice beer to drink, and although I couldn't really bring myself to giving it any higher than a 4 in any of the Beer Advocate rating categories, I probably would have scored it higher in an "overall" category (strange I know, but I am an enigma). Overall, I gave it a 4.0 on BA (higher than its average so far of 3.85)."
And regarding the 06/06/06 (Summer of Beer);
"The 06.06.06 was a pretty tasty Belgian dark ale, though not the best I've had."
So it simply sounds that they should be rested for a while and it will be more fun in drinking them together in 2012, :).
Picture from Stone Brewing Company site and if you want to read more about Epic ales;
The old world meets the "New World"
Came back from a short pub night at Akkurat this evening during our holiday. It is always exciting to see what they have on the tap and today I discovered something new and exiting, at least for me.
It is always fun when you see new brewers from the old world, that is not scared in mixing and being influenced by new things, and not being to locked into its own brewing history (like the belgians, :) ). So today we had a very typical american pale alse, that is from the ground inspired by tasty english pale ales. But the difference today, is that the beer was not from the US, instead it was from a young brewery (at least for england) with the name of Dark Star. And it is always fun so see these influences, because the A.P.A is very typical for american breweries, all of them has something called a pale ale (like dpa for denver pale ale or pda for pelican pale ale), but the difference here was that it was probably better than most of the the american varities, at least better than 85% of everything I have tested in the US.
So here we have a new english brewery from Brighton England being influenced from the US which instead is influenced by classic pale ale from england like "Fuller's London Pride" or "Young's Special". And the mixture of these influences has in such a way created something new and refreshing.
It is not always bad to be a copy, because a copy of the copy can then create something even more amazing and lives up the originals is such a good way.
So how about the beer?, well everyone that tasted this evening thought it was great and in simple words, "You can not believe this is a beer from england, and is it really a real ale from brighton?".
The beer is exclusively with Chinook hops, with a great "hop"-taste. A floral hoppy aroma and with a sweet malty backbone. It is so fruity and contains such nice hoppy aromas that I had to have two of them.
Regarding good originals?, I would of recommend the above choice from Fullers and Youngs. And from the US, it would be; Alpha King Pale Ale & the Sierra Nevada Pale Ale.
2007-07-16
Pictures from USA 2006 Lost & Found
I have recently found a bunch of pictures from the USA beer trip last year. Almost 450 new pictures that filled a lot of holes in the story, and pictures I thought had taken but could not find. So today I suddenly realized that the answer for these lost pictures, was simply that I downloaded almost all pictures from the mobile to an other computer.
So therefore I have now updated my webalbum with a bunch of new pictures, that can be seen here;
USABeerTrip2006
Basically it is much more pictures from the different breweries and pubs we visited. At the moment in not correct chronicle order, but I am working on that.
The Bar at Pelican Pub in Pacific City
New & Old beer gadgets
Found a new great invention for drinking beers at the The "Beer Me" Blog that seems to be very interesting to test out (url to the article).
According the article it seems that it is very serious business and something that has been in development for 3 years, and with their own patent.
When you see things like that, it has some likeness to the beer holder at the copenhagen beer festival (great product, right?).
I like it at least, and it is a great beer geek product.
2007-07-15
Great American "Strong" Beers at Oliver Twist
At the Oliver Twist pub in Stockholm you can always create your own little US-micro heaven, and dream of the wonderful beer experience you have had in the USA. I feel really lucky that I can find all these great brews only 30 minutes from home, instead of travelling all over the world to get them.
I have almost found all my US favorites at Oliver Twist, and they are really quick in getting what is seen as the best and latest great beers and breweries. So this time it felt that it was time for some strong and warming beers (at least what we found in the refrigerator this particual evening).
So this is not beers for the lager boys, and I guess that they should be seen as to extreme for most people, but what the heck, you have vacation only once each year, so why should you not have the best?
So what about the beer menu, well here it is;
1. HE´BREW Origin Pomegranate Ale (A American Strong Ale)
2. Weyerbacher Blasphemy (A Quadrupel)
3. Dogfish Head 90 Minute IPA (American Double IPA)
4. Dogfish Head Raison D'etre (A Belgian Strong Dark Ale)
5. Avery Mephistopheles Stout (A American Double Stout)
Thats not a bad beer menu up here in the nordics and very far from the original places they are brewed and served. Do not think that you can find it anywhere else in the rest of Europe, at least not according to me (if someone as any news about a better US-micro pub in Europe, please help me out)
So what about a winner, it probably depands who you ask but my personal favorite right now is the one from Weyerbacher Brewing Company.
A very strong beer (11.8) that is styled as a quadrupel. What it means is a beer aged in bourbon barrels, with "gentle" vanilla oaky notes and based on the normal QUAD beer that they also produce.
According to the brewer, this beer (QUAD) is the first quadrupel style beer to be commercially brewed and bottled in the United States. .
It is the strongest beer they make, so it is important to understand that when you enjoy it, so you need an hour or so to finish it, and a good suggestion is to share it with your closest beer friends.
Anyway it is everything I want in a beer at the moment, malty with a sweet smelling, dark fruit aromas (taste like raisin or plums) and finally is has a spicy kick to it plus noticeable amount of alcohol. And if you then in the "Blasphemy" beer ad the vanilla flavour from the oak barrels, you have it all.
Finally a big thanks to the Alström Bros at Beeradvocate that learned me to appreciate the oak barrel extremes when we visited the extreme beer fest in Boston. If you have not attended, you should try it out.
Picture from the Swedish vs. Danish "Landskamp"
Just saw that a picture had been taken on us at the "Landskamp" at Oliver Twist around a month ago. And the photographer also succeeded in getting the name right, (this time, :) ).
Mikael, Maria och Mattias
Well at least it does not look to bad, and seems we had a great time (which we also had).
Cantillon has Sold Out!
Got the information that the Cantillon brewery in Brussels has stopped all sales, simply because the have sold out!. Due to the enormous need from the beer communities, Cantillon has now reached the end of capacity. So to solve the situation at the moment they have taken the drastic move to stop selling beers until September.
But do not dispair, they are planning to increase the production and after September we will be able to look for even more beers from Cantillon and in a more stable phase. Why they have this "problem", could be thought about, but my thesis is that the increasing awarness of belgium beers in the USA has something to do with the answer.
So at Akkurat last Friday we could found the following letter from Cantillon, explaining the situation. 
My own Lambic basket
At the last visit to the Akkurat I finally got my own Lambic basket. A bit geeky but I have been looking for my own basket to serve my lambics at home for years. It has not been a easy task, because that can not simply buy them at a beer store, not even in belgium. So for me it has been a bit of a mystery, where you get those baskets, if you are not having your own pub.
So with the simple question to Rille at Akkurat last Friday, "Where do you get these basket?", I got the answer back; "We buy them in belgium"!. But then I got the question back if I needed one, so what the heck, yes sure I do.
So Rille, who is a very friendly bartender borrowed me one for my personal usage, thanks, and Rille I promise to give it back in January 2015, :).
Geeky, but I am very happy, and I will have very great moments with my lambics and basket.
The traditional "Akkurat" visit to celebrate the summer vacation
Last Friday was the first day for our summer vacation, so it was then time for our "tradition" (3 times creates a tradition, according to me) to start of the vacation by a visit to "Akkurat" for a couple of beers.
With everyone doing the last things at work we made it to Akkurat in a reasonable time around 4:30. Found a good place on the outdoor terrace (we Swedes needs to be outdoors as soon it is possible, and you do not freeze to death) and could start with some great beers.
The summer has started so the beer range is not so exiting and many as you normally see at Akkurat (meaning draught beers, the normal stocked beer range is nothing that you can complain about) but you could survive, and probably the best in town anyhow.
Personally I like English real ales, and I could found at least 3 from Dark Star.
but decided to start of with a Ålö Ale from Nynäshamns Ångbryggeri instead. It took I while to actually get the beer, as it normally does when this great English Pale Ale styled beer is served as it should. But it was worth the wait, because it was a good start, a very drinkable ale with a complex, rewarding mix of hops and fruitiness
Lets go back to the Dark Star real ale offering for the night, we found 3 of them as I wrote earlier;
1. Dark Star Old Ale (traditional enlish Old Ale)
2. Espresso Stout (amerian stout?)
3. Dark Star Festival (Strong Bitter / ESB)
This is beers from a brewery that has been the summer real ales in Stockholm for the last 2 summers, after we lost the great Harviestoun Brewery to Belhaven and could not drink the amazing brews (meaning as real ales, with the old taste) like; Bitter & Twisted and Schiehallion. So a local english real ale brewery as Dark Star is good replacement (but not the same as Harviestoun, :( ).
My personal favorite is the Hophead (not served at Akkurat, but later at Oliver Twist, :)) which is a very hoppy english bitter, at least for a beer from England. Great bitter with a hoppy and citrus fruit flavour, a hop aftertaste but not too bitter, just hoppy.
Some information about this very small brewery in England is that the brewery was born in 1994 in the cellar of The Evening Star Pub, in Brighton. 
With a brew plant only marginally bigger than an enthusiastic home-brew kit the characteristic style of hoppy beers was developed and tried out on the willing guinea pigs at the bar. In 2001 the brewery relocated to a new purpose built 15 brewers barrel brewery in Ansty, near Haywards Heath, from where it still supplies the Evening Star with a selection of its beers, along with its sister pubs.
Skipped the real ale (not my friends that tested both the Festival and the Espresso) and thought about trying something different, so I went for a german Zwickel bier from Lisberger. This was a new beer style for me. Basically it is a unfiltered lager\pils beer and with more hop than a traditional german lager. For me it was a great beer and something that made me understand that german lager beers can also be interesting. Had to look Zwickel up, and found the following description at RateBeer;
Zwickel/Keller/Landbier
Three related, minor, lager styles most common in Franconia. Essentially, these are hoppier versions of a helles, served with natural carbonation and unfiltered - they are the lager world's answer to real ale. Kellerbier will on average be hoppier than zwickelbier. There is also Landbier, which is more malt-accented, may be filtered, but is similarly lacking in carbonation. Gravity is standard, hop rates ranging from 22-40 IBUs, the colour from pale to reddish-amber and the palate should be balanced with a hop accent.
So Zwickel is not a brewery or a beer name, it is a beer style, in the same tradition as keller bier.
That was not the end of the pub walk and the evening, but it was the end of the first "Akkurat" visit that day, so it was the end of the "tradition", and the rest is an other story.
Beer Trip Planner
The beer friends at Beer Mapping Project which is my starting point for planning a beer trip to the USA or Canada has added a very nice little feature.
With the "Beer Trip Planner" you can now get customized beer maps with direction through normal google maps. So you can simply search for the pubs and breweries you want to visit and in what order. The service will then calculate the route that you can use together with google maps. You get both directly a links against google maps or you can save a url for later use.
Simple and a great example how different internet technologies can be combined and with that create a new service in matter of minutes.
For example you want to create a map going from d.b.a to The Blind Tiger you will create this simple url;
http://beermapping.com/maps/searches/daisychain.php?ln=3346,1637
Or if you are in San Francisco and want a great pub day;
http://beermapping.com/maps/searches/daisychain.php?ln=2233,2239,1314,1,514,1157
2007-07-12
Beer pictures...
Bo "Akkurat" Kullmar has decided to publish his pictures collection of beer and pubs on the internet.
Here is the URL; "Bo Kullmar Pics".
I call him "Akkurat", because there is a very big chance that you meet him at the Akkurat pub, and 100% chance that he is sitting at his normal corner place (as in the added picture).
2007-07-08
The Beer Geek Process
When you are a beer geek the taste for different beers changes almost every year and season, you find some personal favorites that you continue to drink all year round, mostly due to what kind of beer style it is and you like, but basically it changes quite often.
You have different kind of stages that you pass, taking some favorites with you along the beer journey, mainly because you learn during the years what you like.
Often you start with available beers sold at your local "systembolaget" and browse the different kind of categories. You find out that you can drink good beer from england, germany and the czech republic on the bottle.
Later you find out that the best beer country is probably Belgium and you have your very long Belgium stage (for some it never ends, :) ). Starting with blond ales and very strong ales, continue with the trappist range, and if you dare continue with the amazing world of lambic, krieks etc (lambic is still close to my heart).
Suddenly you also get to learn that real ale is much better so you try them all, ranging from england to germany. So you continue with drinking real ales everytime you can, and discover great english bitters and ale.
You probably also discover that you can find good beer in countries that are not seen as "beer countries", like that you discover that you can suddenly get amazing beers from you home country (or close by), mostly inspired by the big ones. So you start to drink (in my case) Swedish micros, and discover that you can get a great bitter, pale ale or IPA.
Some of the beers continue to be on your beer list, but it constanly changes, so in the end you have your favorite list that you can always drink and like. But each season or beer trip, you find a new style or a new country that you can test and find out all different kinds of combinations.
For example american breweries inspired by belium styles beers, so suddenly you sit at your favorite pub and is drinking an american trippel or a american wheat beer. Or even further, you can drink danish or swedish micros inspired by american IPAs and Pale ales, which itself are inspired by english ales, but with a personal touch and new types of hops.
This does not happen to all beer geeks, we also have those that only drink a specific type of beer or a specific country and style. But I would recommend all to test some more, because you will discover so much more, so much styles and different flavours and combinations.
Do not think that this will change, for me at least, so I see my beer experience as always evolving, to a great mixture of beer.
After 10 years of drinkning great beer (not only beer, because that was the case before) the favorite list looks like below (in the following prio order);
MY DRINKING LIST:
1. Double or triple american IPA:s (on oak barrels if available)
2. American IPAs & Pales Ales on draught (best in NY & San Fran)
3. New Swedish micros (you will always test the new ones)
4. English real ale (best at Wenlock arms in London)
5. Swedish micros inspired by USA (read Dugges & Ölands at the moment)
6. Lambics (cantillon & drie fountains)
7. "Classic" Swedish micros (Örebro bitter, High5, Bedarö, Indianviken, Smithy Ale)
8. Danish micro
9. The trappist range
10. Some golden ales from Belgium (Duvel & Delirium Tremens)
11. The rest...
Outside of the list (international lagers & swedish "ful"-öl)...
International match between Swedish & Danish micro breweries
A few weeks back we attended the first ever "landskamp" between Swedish and Danish micro breweries (at least I think so, :)) held at the Oliver Twist pub in Stockholm.
The idea was to serve around 15 micros from each country with a simple beer festival arrangement. The idea was very simply, serve good Swedish and Danish micros together with a bunch of beer lovers.
And the result proved to be a big success (many thanks to Jörgen at Oliver Twist). The combination between great micros from the two countries at one place, made the arrangement be as good as the Danish and Stockholm big beer fests, but in a smaller package. You simply got everything you wanted in a quick and coozy way, instead of running around in a large unpersonal warehouse all day.
So what about beer, well the full list is not available for me just now, but a majortiy of the served beer looks like below; (some not server at the particular day, but the serving continued for a few days afterwards).
*****
SWEDEN
Nils Oscar:
1. KaffeCasken,6,5%(Cask)
2. India Ale,5,3%(Cask)
Nynäshamn:
1. Yttre Gaarden,4,8%(Fat)
2. Yttre Gaarden,4,8%
3. Brännskär Brown,5,3%
4. Pickla Pils,4,8%
5. Smörpundet Porter,6%
6. Sotholmen Extra Stout,6,6%
Oppigårds
1. Golden Ale,5,2%
2. Easter Ale,5,3%
3. Indian Tribute,5,5%(FAT)
Dugges:
1. Celebration Ale,6,7%(FAT)
2. Celebration Ale,6,7%
3. I/2Idjiet! Porter,6,4%
4. Holy Cow,% (FAT)
5. I/2Idjiet! Porter,6,4%(FAT)
Sigtuna:
1. Gas-Jannes Golden Ale,5%
2. Humle Hildas Alt-Bier,4,7%
3. Holiday Booster,8%
Närke:
1. Kaggen, Stormaktsporter 2OO7,IO%
2. Black Golding,7,2%
3. Anders Bästa Rököl,5,7 %
4. Häklefjäll,4,4 %
5. Huvill 2OO5,7,8 %
6. ? Barley Wine 2OO6,8,8%
DENMARK:
Braunstein:
1. Dark Wheat,7,5%(Fat)
2. Dark Bok,7%(Fat)
3. Amber Lager,5,2%
4. Dark Lager,5,4%
5. Pilsner,4,9%
Ölfabrikken:
1. Tripel,9%
2. RUG IPA,7%
3. IOO gram IPA,9%
4. Porter,8%%
5. Kaffeporter,6,5%
Raasted:
1. Stout,5,2%
2. Cascade IPA,5,5%
3. Imperial Stout,9%
Gourmet:
1. FinAle,6,5%
2. Barley Brew,IO,5%
3. Piney,5,2%
4. Happy Easter,6%
Mikkeller:
1. Beer Geek Breakfast,7,5%(Fat)
2. Beer Geek Breakfast,7,5%
3. Jackie Brown,6%
4. Green Gold,7%
Norrebro:
1. Påskebock,7%(Fat)
2. Skärgaards Porter,6%(Fat)
3. North Bridge Extreme, 9,5%(Fat)
4. La Grajna Stout,7,5%(Fat)
5. Little Korkny Ale 2oo5,I2%(Fat)
*****
So what about personal favorites, it was a bit difficult, because you could not drink them all and some of them was simply tasted already at other places.
But my shortlist looks like below;
1. Kaggen, Stormaktsporter 2OO7, *****
2. Green Gold, ****
3. IOO gram IPA, ****
4. Beer Geek Breakfast,7,5%(Fat), ****
5. Cascade IPA, ***
The result of the "competion" was later collected and with the following result for all served beers;
SWEDEN -- DENMARK:
Placering Bryggeri Land Öl Poäng:
1 NÄRKE S Kagen Stormaktsporter 2OO7, 10 % 9,27
2 NÄRKE S ? Barley Wine 2006, 8,8 % 9,23
3 MIKKELLER D Beer Geek Breakfast, 7,5 % 8,17
4 ÖLFABRIKEN D RUG IPA, 7 % 8,0
5 NÄRKE S Huvill 2OO5, 7,8 % 7,95
6 ÖLFABRIKEN D Porter, 8 % 7,81
7 ÖLFABRIKEN D 100 gram IPA, 9 % 7,78
8 MIKKELLER D Green Gold, 7 % 7,75
9 NÄRKE S Anders Bästa Rököl, 5,7 % 7,64
10 MIKKELLER D Beer Geek Breakfast, 7,5 % (Fat) 7,59
11 RAASTED D Stout, 5,2 % 7,57
12 NYNÄS S Yttre Gaarden, 4,8 % (Fat) 7,55
13 NORREBRO D La Grajna Stout, 7,5 % (Fat) 7,33
14 ÖLFABRIKEN D Kaffeporter, 6,5 % 7,30
15 NILS O S Kaffe Casken, 6,5 % (Cask) 7,29
2007-07-02
Talking about good pubs
And if we continue with some good pubs in the USA, we can continue with the my personal top 5 list for the Boston area;
1. Bukowski's Tavern - 50 Dalton Street, Boston
2. Sunset Grill & Tap - 130 Brighton Avenue, Allston
3. RedBones Barbeque - 55 Chester St., Somerville
4. Deep Ellum - 477 Cambridge Street, Allston
4. The Other Side Café - 407 Newbury St., Boston
Regarding New York Pubs
Just when we are talking about pubs in New York it could be a bit interesting to do some ratings, you can compare this list to the current once at Beeradvocate or Ratebeer, but this is currently my personal top 5.
1. Barcade, at 388 Union Avenue, Brooklyn, *****
2. Blind Tiger Ale House, at 281 Bleecker Street, *****
3. The Collins Bar, at 735 8th Ave. @ 46th St., ****
4. Mugs Ale House, at 125 Bedford Ave, Brooklyn, ****
5. Ginger Man, The, 11 East 36th Street, ****
And some runner ups.
1. CB Six, at 252 East 51st Street, Manhattan ***
2. Spuyten Duyvil, at 359 Metropolitan Avenue, Brooklyn ***
2007-07-01
A small beer trip to New York
A few weeks back we attended the EMC World in Orlando, and to made sure that we had the necessary beers before we came to Orlando, we simply decided to head for New York City. Mainly this was done because it was quite easy the case that we could not expect any good micros in the area around Orlando, at least not near the convention center.
Together with a NY beer scene newbie we headed out to have some great beers.
The journey took us to the following great places; (with the help of beearadvocate beerfly, thanks a lot, :), and beermapping. )
1. Divine Bar, at 244 E 51st St
2. The Collins Bar, at 735 8th Ave. @ 46th St.
3. Heartland Brewery, at 34th St. Empire State Building
4. Blind Tiger Ale House, at 281 Bleecker Street
5. Peculier Pub, The, at 145 Bleeker Street
6. d.b.a., at 41 First Ave
7. Ginger Man, The, 11 East 36th Street
8. Waterfront Ale House, at 155 Atlantic Avenue (Between Henry & Clinton), Brooklyn
9. Brooklyn Brewery, at 79 North 11th Street, Brooklyn
10. Mugs Ale House, at 125 Bedford Ave, Brooklyn
11. Spuyten Duyvil, at 359 Metropolitan Avenue, Brooklyn
12. Barcade, at 388 Union Avenue, Brooklyn
13. CB Six, at 252 East 51st Street, Manhattan
Some of the other pictures that was taken during the beer trip can be seen here;
Stockholm Beer Scene
Nothing is happening much with this beer blog, mostly because I do no have time to write anything interesting, instead I have to focus on drinking all the good beers that is available. But I thought at least that I could share some of the good places where you can actually drink world class beer in the capital of Sweden.
So here comes 3 of the great places that I normally go to (we have a couple of more that I will come back to, hopefully,:) ) in the Stockholm area.
Lets start with the world class belgo bar;
Akkurat
Some information about the pub:
Address: Hornsgatan 18
Phone: 08-644 00 15
Draft beers: 28 Bottled beers: 680
Link: Akkurat
Second one is the great pub called Oliver Twist and is probably my personal favorite at the moment. Mostly due to the great selection of american micros, which is what I drink nowdays.
Oliver Twist
Some information about the pub:
Address: Repslagargatan 6
Phone: 08-640 05 66
Draft beers: 23 Bottled beers: 150
And thirdly we have a great pub if you want to drink Swedish micros. Glenfiddich Warehouse No. 68 has them all and is served in a very nice place located in the old town of Stockholm.
Glenfiddich Warehouse No:68
Some information about the pub:
Address: Västerlånggatan 68
Phone: 08-791 90 90
Draft beers: 23 Bottled beers: 15
Used to be Ardbeg Room, but changed the name in 2005.
Here is an other one, that is also very important when we talk about Swedish micro beers. Meaning MacKinlays Inn, which is a sister pub to Glenfiddich Warehouse above and serves most of the available Swedish micros;
Some information about the pub:
Address: Fleminggatan 85
Phone: 08-650 83 20
Draft beers: 22 Bottled beers: 10
2007-02-19
Extreme Beer Fest in Boston
The result of the beer tasting we had looks like below;
Extreme Beer Fest
Winters Bourbon Cask Ale (mr)
Michelob Celebrate Vanilla Oak (mw)
ARQUEBUS (mr, mw)
Palo Santo Maron (mr, mw)
Immort Ale (mr, mw)
Imperial Brown Goose (mw)
Firestone Walker Brewing Co.
Firestone 10 (mr, mw)
Backwoods Bastard (mr)
Kuhnhenn Brewing Co.
NINE (mr, mw)
The Angels Share (mw)
Veritas 001 (mr)
Oak Aged S’muttonator (mr, mw)
Bourbon Barrel Aged 2006 Imperial Russian Stout (mr, mw)
840 Imperial India Pale Ale (mr, mw)
Mojo Risin’ Double IPA (mr)
Captain Swains “Big Woody” Stout (mr)
Twelve (mw)
Festina Peche (mr)
World Wide Stout (mr, mw)
Reds Rye (mr)
Hopzilla (mr)
Double IPA (mr, mw)
Dales Pale Ale (mw)
He’Brew Bittersweet Lennys RIPA (mr,mw)
He’Brew Genesis 10:10 (mr)
He’Brew Jewbelation 5766 (2005) (mw)
Gemini (mw)
Barley Wine (mr,mw)
Jamaican Stout (mr, mw)
Erebus (mr,mw)
Nugget Nectar (mw)
Double Simcoe IPA (mr)
Insanity (mw)
2007-01-05
List of beers from the US-beer tour 2006
Well the blogging for the beer tour in 2006 went a bit slow at the end, mostly due to bad internet access at different motels that we passed. But the journey continued and we succeeded in getting to almost 100% of the places we intended to visit. Earlier I posted the pictures of the beer so here comes now the total list of establishments and the great beer we had.
************************************************************************
20060731
1. Vancouver: Steamworks Brewing Co. (Water St.)
1. Signature Pale Ale
2. Nirvana Nut Brown Ale
3. Empress IPA
4. Heroica Oatmeal Stout
Cascadia Cream Ale
2. Vancouver: YaleTown Brewing Company
5. Yippie IPA
6. Red Truck Ale
7. Rasperry Wheat
20060801
3. North Vancouver: Taylors Crossing
8. Indian Arms
9. Red Truck Lager
4. North Vancouver: Sailor Hägars Brewing Company
10. Bengal IPA
11. Lohins ESB
12. Maple Cream Ale
13. Grizzly Nut Brown Ale
14. Hagars Honey Pilsner
5. Vancouver: Granville Brewing Company
15. Maple Cream Ale
16. Island Lager
17. English Bay Pale Ale
18. Robson Street Hefeweizen
6. Vancouver: Dockside Brewing
19. Cartwright Pale Ale
7. Vancouver: DIX Brewing
20. DIX Brewing IPA
21. DIX Irish Stout
20060802
8. Seattle: The Pike Brewing Company
22. Pike Pale Ale (heirloom amber)
23. Pike IPA
24. Pike Tandem Double Ale
25. Kiltlifter Ruby Ale
26. Pike Double Stout
9. Seattle: Rock Bottom Brewing Company
27. Hopbomb IPA
28. Peashooter Pale Ale
29. Rain City Red
30. Belgian Triple
10. Seattle: Six Arms
31. Rogue Anniversary IPA
32. Hales ESB
33. Scuttlebutt Hoptopia
34. Mc. Hammerhead Ale
11. Seattle: Gordon Biersch
35. Gordon Biersch Kölsh
36. Dunkles
20060803
12. Seattle: Pyramid
37. Thunderhead IPA
38. Draught Pale Ale (DPA)
39. Macs Ale
13. Seattle: Collins Bar
40. Pelican IPA
41. Walking Man IPA
14. Seattle: Virginia Inn
42. Hales Mongoose IPA
43. Mac & Jacks African Amber
44. Fat Tire Amber Ale
45. Maritime Pacific Old Seattle Lager
15. Seattle: Belltown Bistro
46. Mirrorpond Pale Ale
47. Bridgeport IPA
48. Red Hook Ale
16. Seattle: Elysian Brewing Company
49. Immortal IPA
50. Elysian Fields Pale Ale
17. Seattle: Elephant & Castle
51. Lagunitas IPA
52. Rogue Hazelnut Brown Nectar
20060804
18. Snoqualmie: Snoqualmie Brewing Company
53. WildCat IPA
54. Copperhead Pale Ale
19. Ellensburg: Iron Horse Brewery
55. Rodeo Extra Pale Ale
56. Wheat & Rye
57. IPA
58. Brown Ale
59. Loco-Motive Red Ale
20. Sunnyside: Snipes Mountain Microbrewery & res.
60. Sunnyside Pale Ale
61. IPA
62. Coyote Moon Amber Ale
63. Porter
20060805
21. Hood River: Full Sail Brewing Company
64. Sunspot IPA
65. IPA
66. Pale Ale
67. Amber
68. Bock
22. Portland: Bones & Brew
69. Siletz Paddle Me IPA
70. Steelhead Hopto Trot Pale
71. Amnesia Dusty Pale
72. New Old Lompoc C-Note
73. Ninkasi Total Domination IPA
74. Caldera Dry Hop Orange
75. Golden Valley Red Thistle Ale
23. Portland: Bridgeport Brewing Company
76. Blue Heron Pale Ale
77. Ropewalk Amber Ale
78. Surpris
79. IPA
80. ESB
81. Porter
82. Black Strap Stout
83. Old Knucklehead Barley Wine
24. Portland: Lucky Labrador Beer Hall
84. Superdog IPA (cask)
85. Organic No Pity Ale
86. Single Hop IPA
87. Bavarian Wheat
25. Portland: The Produce Cafe
88. Great Divide Samurai (rice ale)
89. Dicks Best Bitter
90. Laurelwood Pale Ale
91. Racer 5 IPA
20060806
26. Raleigh Hills, Portland: Racoon Lodge & Brew Pub
92. IPA
93. Ring Tale Pale
94. Tropic Ale
27. Forrest Grove: McMenamins Grand Lodge
95. Hammerhead IPA
28. Pacific City: Pelican Pub & Brewery
96. Dorymans Dark Ale
97. Kiwanda Cream Ale
98. Pelican IPA
99. Tsunami Stout
100. Summer Surfers Ale
20060807
29. Newport: Rogue Brewery & Public House
101. Rogue I2PA
102. Rauchbier
103. Juniper Pale Ale
104. Chipotle Ale
105. Youngers Special Bitter
30. Eugene: Steelhead Brewing Company
106. Bombay Bomber IPA
107. Raging Rhino
31. Rosenburg: McMenamins Station
108. Vienna (nitro)
109. IPA
110. Porter on nitro
111. ESB
112. Terminator Stout
20060808
32. Cave Junction: Wild River Brewing Company
113. IPA
33. Eureka: Lost Cost Brewing Company
114. Lost Coast Pale Ale
115. Alleycat Amber
116. Downtown Brown
117. Indica IPA
118. Tangerine Wheat
34. Eureka: Gallahers Irish Pub
119. Andersson Valley Summer Solstice
120. Mendocino Eye of the Hawk Ale
20060809
35. Fort Bragg: North Coast Brewery
121. Acme IPA
122. Acme Pale Ale
123. Red Seal
124. Red Seal (draught cond.)
125. Pranqster
36. Boonville: Andersson Valley Brewing
126. Hopotin IPA
127. Poleeko Gold Pale Ale
37. Hopland: Mendocino Brewing Company
128. White Hawk IPA
129. Red Tale Ale
38. Ukiah: Ukiah Brewing Company
130. Yokayo Gold
131. Sunhouse Amber
132. Orr Springs IPA
133. 10 Guilder
134. Palace Porter
135. O'Bohannans XXX Irish Stout (nitro)
20060810
39. Healdsburg: Bear Republic
136. Racer 5 IPA
40. Calistoga: Napa Valley Brewing Company
137. Calistoga Wheat Ale
138. Pale Ale
41. Santa Rosa: Russian River Brewing Company
139. Blind Pig IPA
140. Parking Violation Pale Ale
141. Russian River IPA
142. Pliny the Elder
143. Little White Lie
144. Redemption
145. Perdition
146. Damnation
42. Petaluma: Dempsey's
147. Petaluma Pale Ale
148. Petaluma Strong Ale
149. Red Rooster Ale
150. Ugly Dog Stout
43. Petaluma: Finbar Devines
151. Lagunitas IPA
20060811
44. Berkley: Jupiter
152. Jupiter IPA
153. Jupiter Hefeweizen
154. Jupiter Pale Ale
45. Oakland: Pacific Coast Brewing Company
155. Old Oak
156. Yellow Yackett
157. Gray Whale
158. Leviathan Imperial Stout
159. Killer Whale Stout
160. Special 2 Ale (not known)
161. Code Blue
46. Pleasanton: The Hopyard
162. Stone Arrogant Bastard
163. Big Sky IPA
164. Blind Pig IPA
165. Hoptown IPA (nitro)
47. San Francisco: San Fran Brewing Company
166. Shanghaipa
167. SF Pale Ale
20060812
48. San Francisco: Rogue Ale House
168. Dead Guy Ale
169. Shakespeare Stout
170. No fault ale
171. Brutal Bitter
172. Mocha Porter
173. Dry Hop Red
49. San Francisco: Toronado
174. Speakeasy Big Daddy IPA
175. Moonlight Bombay by boat IPA
176. Firestone Walker Nectar IPA
177. Santa Barbara IPA
178. Iron Springs Casey Jones Double IPA
179. Russian River Blind Pig
50. San Francisco: Magnolia Pub & Brewery
180. Prescription Pale
181. Spudsboy IPA
182. Blue Bell Bitter (cask)
183. Dark Star Mild
51. San Francisco: Thirsty Beer Brewing Company
184. Kozlov Stout
185. Howard Street IPA
186. Seasonal Pale Ale
52. San Francisco: 21 amendment
187. Russian River Blind Pig
188. Amendment Pale Ale
189. General Pippers Porter
20060813
53. San Francisco: The City Beer Store & Tasting Bar
190. Drakes IPA
191. Lagunitas Red Ale
192. Lagunitas Freak Out Ale
193. Stone IPA
194. Hair of a dog Fred
195. Drakes Porter (draught)
196. Deuchettes Inversion IPA
******************************************************************************
That means a total of:
1. 53 pubs or brewpubs being visited
2. 196 beers being tasted
HOW ABOUT THE RATING, WELL IT LOOKED LIKE BELOW;
Beer: Rating:
Signature Pale Ale 3
Nirvana Nut Brown Ale 2(+)
Empress IPA 2(+)
Heroica Oatmeal Stout 3(-)
Cascadia Cream Ale 3(-)
Yippie IPA 3(+)
Red Truck Ale 3
Rasperry Wheat 2
Indian Arms 3
Red Truck Lager 3
Bengal IPA 4
Lohins ESB 3(+)
Maple Cream Ale 1(+)
Grizzly Nut Brown Ale 3(+)
Hagars Honey Pilsner 2(+)
Maple Cream Ale 2(+)
Island Lager 1(+)
English Bay Pale Ale 2(-)
Robson Street Hefeweizen2(+)
Cartwright Pale Ale 2(+)
DIX Brewing IPA 3(+)
DIX Irish Stout 3
Pike Pale Ale (heirloom amber) 4
Pike IPA 3(+)
Pike Tandem Double Ale 4
Kiltlifter Ruby Ale 4(-)
Pike Double Stout 3(+)
Hopbomb IPA 4(+)
Peashooter Pale Ale 5(-)
Rain City Red 3(+)
Belgian Triple 3(+)
Rogue Anniversary IPA 4
Hales ESB 4
Scuttlebutt Hoptopia 3(+)
Mc. Hammerhead Ale 3
Gordon Biersch Kölsh 4
Dunkles 3(+)
Thunderhead IPA 4
Draught Pale Ale (DPA) 4
Macs Ale 3(+)
Pelican IPA 4(+)
Walking Man IPA 4(+)
Hales Mongoose IPA 4(-)
Mac & Jacks African Amber 3
Fat Tire Amber Ale 2
Maritime Pacific Old Seattle Lager 2
Mirrorpond Pale Ale 3(+)
Bridgeport IPA 4(-)
Red Hook Ale 3(+)
Immortal IPA 4(-)
Elysian Fields Pale Ale 3(+)
Lagunitas IPA 4
Rogue Hazelnut Brown Nectar 4(-)
WildCat IPA 3(+)
Copperhead Pale Ale 4(-)
Rodeo Extra Pale Ale 4
Wheat & Rye 3(+)
IPA 4
Brown Ale 3(+)
Loco-Motive Red Ale 3(+)
Sunnyside Pale Ale 3(+)
IPA 4(+)
Coyote Moon Amber Ale 3(+)
Porter 4
Sunspot IPA 4(+)
IPA 3(+)
Pale Ale 3
Amber 3
Bock 3
Siletz Paddle Me IPA 4
Steelhead Hopto Trot Pale 3
Amnesia Dusty Pale 4(+)
New Old Lompoc C-Note 4
Ninkasi Total Domination IPA 4
Caldera Dry Hop Orange
Golden Valley Red Thistle Ale
Blue Heron Pale Ale 3
Ropewalk Amber Ale 4(-)
Surpris 3(+)
IPA 4(-)
ESB 4
Porter 3(+)
Black Strap Stout 4
Old Knucklehead Barley Wine 4(-)
Superdog IPA (cask) 4(+)
Organic No Pity Ale 4(+)
Single Hop IPA 4(+)
Bavarian Wheat 3(+)
Great Divide Samurai (rice ale) 4
Dicks Best Bitter 3(+)
Laurelwood Pale Ale 3(+)
Racer 5 IPA 4
IPA 3(+)
Ring Tale Pale 3
Tropic Ale n/a (not a beer)
Hammerhead IPA
Dorymans Dark Ale 4
Kiwanda Cream Ale 4
Pelican IPA 5
Tsunami Stout 4(+)
Summer Surfers Ale 4(+)
Rogue I2PA 4(+)
Rauchbier 4
Juniper Pale Ale 4
Chipotle Ale 4(-)
Youngers Special Bitter 3(+)
Bombay Bomber IPA 4(-)
Raging Rhino 3(+)
Vienna (nitro) 3
IPA 3
Porter on nitro 3(+)
ESB 3(-)
Terminator Stout 3(+)
IPA 4(+)
Lost Coast Pale Ale 4(-)
Alleycat Amber 3(+)
Downtown Brown 3(+)
Indica IPA 4(+)
Tangerine Wheat n/a (not a beer)
Andersson Valley Summer Solstice 4
Mendocino Eye of the Hawk Ale 4
Acme IPA 4
Acme Pale Ale 4(+)
Red Seal 4
Red Seal (draught cond.)4(+)
Pranqster 4(-)
Hopotin IPA 5(-)
Poleeko Gold Pale Ale 4(+)
White Hawk IPA 4(-)
Red Tale Ale 4(-)
Yokayo Gold 4(+)
Sunhouse Amber 4(-)
Orr Springs IPA 4
10 Guilder 3(+)
Palace Porter 3
O'Bohannans XXX Irish Stout (nitro) 2(-)
Racer 5 IPA 4(+)
Calistoga Wheat Ale 3(-)
Pale Ale 3(-)
Blind Pig IPA 4(+)
Parking Violation Pale Ale 4
Russian River IPA 4(+)
Pliny the Elder 5
Little White Lie 4
Redemption 4(+)
Perdition 4
Damnation 4(-)
Petaluma Pale Ale 3(+)
Petaluma Strong Ale 4(-)
Red Rooster Ale 3(+)
Ugly Dog Stout 3(-)
Lagunitas IPA 4
Jupiter IPA 4
Jupiter Hefeweizen 4(-)
Jupiter Pale Ale 4(-)
Old Oak 3(+)
Yellow Yackett 3(+)
Gray Whale 3(+)
Leviathan Imperial Stout3(-)
Killer Whale Stout 4(-)
Special 2 Ale (not known)3(-)
Code Blue 3(+)
Stone Arrogant Bastard 4(+)
Big Sky IPA 4(+)
Blind Pig IPA 5
Hoptown IPA (nitro) 4
Shanghaipa 3(+)
SF Pale Ale 3
Dead Guy Ale 4
Shakespeare Stout 4(+)
No fault ale 4(+)
Brutal Bitter 4
Mocha Porter 4(+)
Dry Hop Red 4(-)
Speakeasy Big Daddy IPA 4(+)
Moonlight Bombay by boat IPA 4(+)
Firestone Walker Nectar IPA 5(-)
Santa Barbara IPA 4(-)
Iron Springs Casey Jones Double IPA 4(+)
Russian River Blind Pig 5(-)
Prescription Pale 4(-)
Spudsboy IPA 4(-)
Blue Bell Bitter (cask) 4(-)
Dark Star Mild 4
Kozlov Stout 3(+)
Howard Street IPA 3(+)
Seasonal Pale Ale 3
Russian River Blind Pig 4(+)
Amendment Pale Ale 3(+)
General Pippers Porter 3
Drakes IPA
Lagunitas Red Ale
Lagunitas Freak Out Ale
Stone IPA
Hair of a dog Fred
Drakes Porter (draught)
Deuchettes Inversion IPA
WHICH MEANS THAT THE TOP 6 IS:
1. Pelican IPA 5
2. Pliny the Elder 5
3. Blind Pig IPA 5
4. Firestone Walker Nectar IPA 5(-)
5. Peashooter Pale Ale 5(-)
6. Hopotin IPA 5(-)
***********************************************************************
