The GABF07 week: The result in pictures...

So here is just some pictures from our great beer adventure around the Denver area.



What can you say?, we simply had a blast and will live on the beer experience for months to come.

Cheers to all that attended the GABF and the Falling Rock during the days & nights.

Söderbärke Mikro Öl Festival (Beer Festival)

With the help from Thomas Husing here is the official list for this years beer festival over at Söderbärke (Oct 26-27). This is a yearly held festival that has created quite a lot of credit the last couple of years.

Will not be able to attend (already filled up with Copenhagen, Stockholm, GBBF and lastly GABF this year, so far, :-)).

But I really recommend for you guys that can attend to get over to the festival, because looking at the list it is pretty impressive for such a small and local beer festival. Seems like a good mixture of beer locally from Sweden, but also a good selection of imported beers from the UK, Germany and the US.

More information about the festival can be found over here; SöderbärkeMikroÖlFestival. And if you ever wonder where this place is located here is a map.

SMÖF 2007
Bryggeri	Ölsort	%	Land
Bath Ales	Bath Wild Hare	5	England
Bernard Family Brewery	Bernard Světlý Ležák 12°, fat	4,7	Tjeckien
Bernard Family Brewery	Bernard Cerné Pivo 13°, fat	5,1	Tjeckien
Bernard Family Brewery	Bernard Svetly lezak 11	4,5	Tjeckien
Bernard Family Brewery	Bernard Jantarový Ležák 11°	4,5	Tjeckien
Bohemia Regent	Bohemia Regent Svetly Lezak, fat	5	Tjeckien
Brasserie Almaza	Almaza Pilsener	4,1	Libanon
Brauhaus Riegele	Riegele Feines Urhell	4,7	Tyskland
Brauhaus Riegele	Riegele Kellerbier	5	Tyskland
Brauhaus Riegele	Riegele Alte Weisse	5	Tyskland
Brauhaus Torgau	Torgauer Landbier	5,5	Tyskland
Butcombe Brewery	Butcombe Gold	4,7	England
Christophe Noyon Brasseur	2 Caps	6	Frankrike
De Proefbrouwerij	IKI	4,3	Belgien
Dinkelacker-Schwaben Bräu AG	Das Schwarze	4,9	Tyskland
Dugges Ale o Porterbryggeri	Johannas Bästa Bitter	4,6	Mölndal
Dugges Ale o Porterbryggeri	Avenyn Ale	5	Mölndal
Duvel Moortgat	Maredsous 6 2005	6	Belgien
Flying Dog Brewery	Gonzo Imperial Porter 2005	9,5	USA
Fürstlich Fürstenbergische	Furstenberg Weizen hefe dunkel	5,4	Tyskland
Föroya Bjór	Rockall Brown Ale	5,8	Färöarna
Great Divide Brewery	St Bridgets Porter	5,9	USA
Hantverksbryggeriet	Baronen 2005	9,6	Västerås
Haus der 131 Biere	Akosombo	5,5	Ghana
Haus der 131 Biere	Owusu Dark	6,5	Benin
Heather Ales	Fraoch Ales	5	Skottland
Hong Kong S.A.R. Brewing	Hong Kong Dragons Back	5,2	Hong Kong
Hue Brewery	Hue Beer	5	Vietnamn
Inveralmond Brewery	Blackfriar	7,5	Skottland
Irish Pub	Svarta Katten, cask fat	4,1	Sundsvall
Irish Pub	Stabbläggaren, cask fat	4,3	Sundsvall
Kilimanjaro Beer Works	Serengeti-Banana	5,1	Tanzania
Kopparbergs Bryggeri	Zeunerts Merke	5,3	Sollefteå
Kulmbacher Brauerei	Kapuziner Weissbier	5,4	Tyskland
Kulmbacher Brauerei	EKU 28	11	Tyskland
Kulmbacher Brauerei	Mönchshof Kellerbier	5,4	Tyskland
Lao Brewery Co	Beer Lao	5	Laos
Lefebvre Brasserie	Vallon	5,8	Belgien
Left Hand Brewery	Jackmans Pale Ale	5,2	USA
Left Hand Brewery	Deep Cover Brown Ale	4,4	USA
Left Hand Brewery	Haystack Wheat	5,0	USA
Leikeim	Leikeim Schwarzbier	4,9	Tyskland
Lindemans	Lindemans Lambic 1996	6	Belgien
Lion Brewery	Lion Stout	8	Ceylon
Meantime brewing	Meantime Pale Ale	4,7	England
Nils Oscar Bryggeri	Nils Oscar Julöl 2005	7	Nyköping
Nogne Ö	India Pale Ale 2005	7,5	Norge
Nynäshamns Ångbryggeri	Brännskär Brown Ale	5,3	Nynäshamn
Närke Kulturbryggeri	Kaggen Stormaktsporter 2006	10	Örebro
Närke Kulturbryggeri	Max Golding Starkporter 2007	7,2	Örebro
Närke Kulturbryggeri	! , fat	8,8	Örebro
Närke Kulturbryggeri	Närke Slättöl, fat	4,7	Örebro
Närke Kulturbryggeri	Söderbärke Festivalöl, fat	5,8	Örebro
Närke Kulturbryggeri	Sim-Ko	4,8	Örebro
Närke Kulturbryggeri	Anders Göranssons Bästa Rököl, fat	6,3	Örebro
Okells	Doctor Okells IPA	4,5	England
Oppigårds Bryggeri	Oppigårds Old Town Ale 2005	6,5	Dalarna
Oppigårds Bryggeri	Smithy Ale, fat	4,6	Dalarna
Oppigårds Bryggeri	Winter Ale 2007, fat	5,3	Dalarna
Orkney Brewery	Dragonhead Stout	4	Skottland
Oskar Blues Brewery	Old Chub Scottish Ale	8,0	USA
Pivovar Maly Rohozec	Rohozec Podskalak Světlé Výčepní 10°	4,2	Tjeckien
Pivovar Maly Rohozec	Rohozec Skalak Světlý Ležák 12°	5,3	Tjeckien
Pivovar Maly Rohozec	Rohozec Skalak Tmave Speciali 13°	5,9	Tjeckien
Pivovar Náchod	Primátor Premium Lager	5	Tjeckien
Pivovar Svijany	Svijanský Máz 11°	4,8	Tjeckien
Pivovar Svijany	Svijanská Kněžna 13°	5,2	Tjeckien
Pivovar Svijany	Svijanský Kníže 13°	5,6	Tjeckien
Pivovar Svijany	Svijanský Rytíř Bitter	5	Tjeckien
Postbrauerei Nesselwang	Allgäuer Landbier	4,8	Tyskland
Postbrauerei Nesselwang	Postwirts Dunkel	4,9	Tyskland
Pugsley Brewing LLC	Sea Dog Hazelnut Porter	5,4	USA
Pugsley Brewing LLC	Sea Dog India Pale Ale	6,0	USA
Ridna Marka	Pshenychne Etalon	5	Ukraina
Ringwood	Ringwood Old Thumper	5,6	England
Ringwood	Ringwood XXXX Porter	4,7	England
Rochefort - Abbaye de Notre	Rochefort 10 2006	11,3	Belgien
Rouge Brewery	Chipotle	5,5	USA
Rouge Brewery	Dry Hop Red	5,2	USA
Rouge Brewery	Half-E-Weizen	5,2	USA
Sakara Gold	Sakara Gold	4	Egypten
Samuel Smith	Famous Taddy Porter	5	England
Samuel Smith	Old Brewery Pale Ale	5	England
Samuel Smith	Nut Brown Ale	5	England
Samuel Smith	Organic Ale	5	England
Sandbacka Bryggeri	Sandbacka Brown Ale, fat	5,5	Sandviken
Sandbacka Bryggeri	Sandbacka Porter, fat	6	Sandviken
Sandbacka Bryggeri	Sandbacka Red Ale, fat	5,5	Sandviken
Sierra Nevada Brewing	Bigfoot Barley Whine 2005	9,6	USA
Skebo Bruksbryggeri	Herrgårdsporter	5	Rosslagen
Skebo Bruksbryggeri	Höstrusk	4,8	Rosslagen
St. Bernardus	St. Bernardus Pater 6 2005	6,7	Belgien
Stralsunder Brauerei	Störtebeker Schwarzbier	5,0	Tyskland
Taybeh Brewing	Taybeh Beer Golden	5	Palestina
Tempo Beer	Maccabe	4,9	Israel
Timmermans	Lambicus Blanche	4,5	Belgien
Traquair Brewery	Traquair 900	9	Skottland
Ulan Bator Breweries	Ulan Bator Baadog	4,8	Mongoliet
Unibroue	Edition 2005	10	Kanada
Weideneder Bräu	Weideneder Papst-Bier	5,4	Tyskland
Westmalle - Trappisten	Westmalle dubbel 2006	7	Belgien
Williams Brothers	Williams Brothers Roisin	4,2	Skottland
Ölands Gårdsbryggeri	Segerstad Pale Ale	2,1	Öland
Ölands Gårdsbryggeri	Ölandsöl	5,9	Öland
Ölands Gårdsbryggeri	Långe Erik	3,5	Öland
Ölfabrikken	Ölfabrikken Porter 2006	7,5	Danmark

US draught list at Oliver Twist Oct-Nov 2007

Just back from Colorado and this years GABF it is excellent that you can still trust the people of OT when you see the updated list of draught beers from the US during october and november.

Here is the complete list, bold is the one being served right now, which is actually a Canadian beer that was served during the Stockholm beer festival.

1 stone ipa slut
2 no apoligies dipa blue point slut
3 Read seal på nu
4 aprhodisiaque dieu'd ciel montreal
5 oak aged yeti great divide
6 avery ipa
7 humboldt red nectar
8 moylan's ipa
9 smuttynose wheat ale
10 old rasputin
11 sierra anniversary
12 hoptical illusion
13 old stock ale 2007
14 avery red point ale
15 hazelnut brown
16 sierra ipa
17 unearthy ipa
18 smuttynose ipa

What do you think?, quite a impressive list of beers on draught. Seems that we from now on actually have a steady list of US beers on tap all year round.

Cheers to Jugge over at OT.

Thomas & Jörgen during the Great Divide luncheon.

UPDATED 071021
And here is the actual list from last Saturdays beer round.

GBTD-07: The tour and the beers

View Album

Get your own

Our beer tour in Colorado during the GABF was mostly about the beers, so what did we have?.

But it is always a bit tricky to keep track of everything you drink, so I have probably missed some of the beers during the trip (mostly during the massive number of strange brews we had or did not have at the Falling Rock during the late nights in Denver).

Any way here is the "complete" nerd list;

Saturday October 6
1. Boulder Beer Cold Hop
2. Mountain Sun Illusion Dweller
3. Mountain Sun I&IPA

Sunday October 7
4. Pumphouse Kilt lifter
5. Pumphouse Flashpoint IPA
6. Pumphouse Red Alert
7. Pumphouse Pyro Porter
8. Pumphouse Igniter Pale Ale
9. Avery Elites Brown Ale
10. ODells 90 Shilling Ale
11. Left Hand Milk Stout
12. Avery IPA
13. ODells 5 Barrel Pale Ale
14. Redfish Treehugger Organic IPA
15. Boulder Beer Hazed & Infused
16. Redfish Big Easy Pale Ale
17. Walnut Seasonal Wheat Beer
18. Walnut Buffalo Gold
19. Walnut Indian Peaks Pale Ale
20. Walnut St. James Irish Red Ale
21. Walnut Big Horn Bitter
22. Walnut Old Elle Brown Ale
23. Walnut Devils Thumb Stout
24. Bj Tatanka Stout
25. Bj Piranha Pale Ale
26. Bj PM Porter
27. Stone Black IPA (Old Chicago)

Monday October 8
28. Avery Hog Heaven
29. Avery The Reverend (oaked)
30. Avery Dramant
31. Avery Breezes Bad Karma oaked (cask)
32. Avery The Beast 07
33. Oskar Blues Tenfidy Stout
34. Oskar Blues IPA
35. Oskar Blues Pale Ale
36. Estes Park Renegade IPA
37. Estes Park Samson Stout
38. Estes Park Trail Ridge Red
39. Estes Park Porter
40. Estes Park Raspberry Wheat
41. Estes Park Stinger
42. Estes Park Gold
43. New Belgium Fat Tire
44. CooperSmiths Sigdas Green Chilli
45. CooperSmiths Not Brown Ale
46. CooperSmiths Oktoberfest
47. CooperSmiths Kölsch
48. CooperSmiths Punjabi Pale Ale
49. ODells 5 Barrel Pale Ale
50. ODells Cutthrout Porter
51. Full Sail IPA
52. Stone IPA

Tuesday October 9
53. New Belgium 1554
54. New Belgium Lips of Faith
55. New Belgium 2 Below
56. La Folie Sour Brown
57. Abbey
58. Fort Collins Brewery Major t p Wheat
59. Fort Collins Brewery Retro Red
60. Fort Collins Brewery Rocky Mountain IPA
61. Fort Collins Brewery Z lager (rauch bier)
62. Fort Collins Kidd Lager
63. Fort Collins Chocolate Stout
64. ODells Hillbilly Hefeweissen
65. ODells Double Pilsner
66. ODells Isolation Ale
67. ODells cutthroat Stout (nitro)
68. ODells Easy Street
69. ODells Levity Amber Ale
70. ODells 5 barrel Pale Ale
71. ODells 90 Shilling Ale
72. ODells IPA
73. Cutthroat Porter
74. Rock Bottom (Longmont) Double Barrel Pale Ale
75. Dry Dock SS Mirror Pale
76. Dry Dock Mild
77. Dry Dock Enterprise IPA (nitro)
78. Dry Dock Breakworker Pale Ale
79. Green Flash West Coast IPA
80. Summit Extra Pale Ale
81. Boulder Beer Hazed & Infused
82. Arrogant Bastard
83. Great Divide Titan IPA (Cask)
84. Victory Hop Devil
85. Oskar Blues Gordon Double IPA

Wednesday October 10
86. Boulder Beer Mojo IPA
87. Boulder Beer Mojo Risin Double IPA
88. Boulder Beer Stout
89. Left Hand Milk Stout
90. Left Hand Imperial Stout
91. Pumphouse Pyro Porter
92. Oskar Blues Oaked Gordon
93. Oskar Blues Pale Ale
94. Oskar Blues tenfid Imperial Stout (canned)
95. Lagunitas IPA
96. Lagunitas Undercover Shutdown

Thursday October 11
97. Great Divide DPA
98. Great Divide Titan IPA
99. Great Divide Hibernation
100. Great Divide Barley Wine
101. Great Divide Belgian IPA
102. Breckenridge Amber
103. Breckenridge Pale Ale
104. Breckenridge Oatmeal Stout
105. Breckenridge Vanilla Porter
106. Breckenridge R220 Red
107. Breckenridge 471 IPA
108. Breckenridge Lager
109. Avery Uber Schwein (oaked hog heaven)
110. Summit Pale Ale
111. Stone Double Bastard 05
112. Stone Imperial Stout 03
113. HeBrew Jewelation Whiskey Oaked
114. HeBrew Lenny On Rye (RIPA)
115. HeBrew Anniversary 11
116. Stone Anniversary 11
117. Stone Vanilla Porter

Friday October 12
118. Flying Dog Double Dog Pale
119. Flying Dog Doggie Style Pale Ale
120. Flying Dog Gonzo Imperial Stout
121. Flying Dog Horn Dog Barley Wine

Saturday October 13
122. ??? IPA (pitcher)
123. Anchor Steam (cask)

Sunday October 14
124. Great Divide DPA

This was the beer that I tested myself and is not connected to the actual GABF festival, which is an other story.

GBTD-07: My samples at GABF, Day 1 + 2

Friday evening
1. Moylans IPA
2. Pizza Port Beach Street Bitter
3. Pizza Port Wipeout IPA
4. Russian River Toronday 20th ave
5. Russian River Bearfication
6. Seabright Blur IPA
7. Surly Darkness Imperial Stout
8. Surly Furious IPA
9. Iron Hill Imperial Stout
10. Brooklyn Blast IPA
11. Allagash Inoculator
12. Bear Republic XP Pale Ale
13. Blue Frog Porter
14. HeBrew Origin
15. Firestone Walker DBA
16. Pelican IPA
17. Summit IPA
18. Bells Two Hearted IPA
19. Firestone Walker Rufus
20. Duck Rabbit Draught Milk Stout
21. Capital Oaked Imperial Stout
22. Terrapin Big Hoppy Monster

Saturday evening
23. Frank Street Brewery Park City IPA
24. Dogfish 120 IPA
25. Dogfish World Wide Stout
26. Goose Island Dublin Stout
27. Goose Island Bourbon County Stout
28. Summit Northern Porter
29. Laughing Dog IPA
30. Smuttynoose Imperial Stout
31. Smuttynoose Lager
32. Stone Coast 840 Imperial Stout
33. Troegs Double Bock
34. Victory Festbier
35. Wild Goose IPA
36. Yards Pale Ale
37. Avery Gemini IPA
38. Elysian The Wise ESB
39. Elysian Jasmin Stout
40. Elysian Dragontooth Stout
41. Rock Bottom Hop bomb IPA
42. Issaquah Brewery Manage a frog
43. Walking Man Jay Walker Imperial Stout
44. Bend Outback X
45. Drakes demongizer Double IPA
45. Moyland Irish Dry Stout
46. Oggis Hop Juice
47. Oggis Black Magic Stout
48. Big Dogs War Dog Imperial IPA
49. Montana Brewery Espresso Stout
50. Lagunitas Olde Gnarly Wine
51. Vinos Quawpaw Quarter Porter
52. Hams Double Peg Imperial IPA

The end...

GBTD-07 (GABF): A tribute to the best bartender in the World

This is a simple and very short tribute to a bartender at the Falling Rock tap house in Denver. Thanks for being the coolest bartender in the world and thanks for making the beer moments at Falling Rocks during the GABF week a amazing time that we will not forget in a very long time.

Difficult to explain but we really like the Falling Rock establishment, it had everything you want in a bar. A rough place with simple rules, meaning serving the best beers in the world as fast as possible.

Sometimes it was difficult to get a beer, but when you finally learned that you got your single second of reconition with you and you succeed in knowing exactly want you want it turned out well and you got your beer in a second. Did you miss it you had to wait for the next turn, if you got one!.

It is not easy when 100 people are all screaming we want beer and you simply answer back; "What do you want?, give it to me?, What do you want?". Myself had not served a single beer with that pressure, really cool, simply outstanding.
Hope you can handle the silence now when the GABF is over and everything go to normal.

If you have never been to Falling Rock and do not know how a good bar should be, according to me, here is the shortlist of my best rough beer bars in the USA that play in the same league as the Falling Rock.

1. Barcade, Brooklyn
2. Toronado, San Fran
3. Bukowski's Tavern, Boston

Happy Swedes in Lyons (Oskar Blues)

Got a nice little picture from our new beer friend "J" over at The Beer Hermit when we had a wonderful time (did not want to leave) over at Oskar Blues in Lyons during the Left Hand Beer Tour (more about that later on).

Thanks J, unfortunately I have not found a picture of you, but at least we had a blast during the days at GABF and thanks for the fun talks we had.

Also noticed that we got mentioned at his blog over here; The Brew Cruise Rocks Boulder County!, look for "Swedes".

Yes I know we sounded a lot (reported as raucous cheers), we normally do that when we are on buses when we get beer to drink during the same time, :-).

GBTD-07 (GABF): Back from the US...

So we are all back from the US and our beer trip in Colorado. Had a great time drinking amazing beers all week, plus meating a bunch of new great people.

Unfortunately I had no time or simply too tired (dizzy) to find any inspiration to write something interesting when we came back to the hotels. I tried a couple of times, but early decided that it was better to go to sleep so that you could continue the beer journey in a controlled order the next day.

But I have a bunch of material to work on and hopefully come back to it during the next couple of weeks (seems that my work has taken all my time during the week I came back, so I have not find the time yet, :-)). For the time being here is a nice picture taken at the Great Divide gathering (people cheering; the normal beer crew, the OT gang and owner of GD on the right side).

GBTD-07 (GABF): The Great Divide Luncheon

Before the festival had actually started we where invited through the good friends at OT to a special get together early party over at the Great Divide brewery.

At 12.00 sharp on the Thursday av bunch of happy beer drinkers got together and could enjoy the great bears of GD within the brewery itself.

It is always fun for a beer geek to actually get the opportunity to have your favorite beers at the actual source and also meet the creators of these wonderful products.

[Original picture removed on request] [140513]

We had a great lunch and got the possibility to help yourself through out the brewery. It interesting to see that such a great brewery and a brewery that you see as quite big is housed in such a small complex in central Denver (quite central anyway).

Simply you can say that you do not need much space to create great products. As it was free we sampled a lot of the different brews available both at the party inside the brewery and also at the nearby tap room (DPA, Titan, Hibernation 07 (heard they also had H06 but did not see it available), barley wine, belgian IPA, samuray, the lot).

Best beer?, the oaked imperial stout and the new fresh hop beer (had earlier already bought a bottle to get home an enjoy for myself!, seems that the concept of "fresh hops" is quite in right now.)).

The Tap room at GD

We also met some interesting people during this event, among them our good friends of OT and Akkurat, a guy also from Sweden with the name of Marc who is working for Galatea (a big beer distributor in Sweden), Jim from last days brew cruise and also Ray McCoy (Beer drinker of the year 2003) and his wife Cornelia (also a beer drinker of the year winner!).

So as a summary this was a excellent way to enjoy beers early in the day and a very good start for the rest of the festival and something I am glad I could join.

Cheers

A beer vulcano at GD?

GBTD-07 (GABF): 2nd Annual Boulder County Brews Cruise 2007

One of the best beer experiences I have had took place before GABF actually started. We first heard about the brews cruise through Jugge over at OT a few weeks before we went over to Colorado and something that we are very glad that we did not miss.

The Boulder Country Brews Cruise is a event arranged by the good people over at Left Hand Brewery and this was the second year that they arranged it. The concept is simple, for the bargain price of 40 bucks you get a t-shirt, a arranged bus that will take you to 4 different interesting breweries in the Denver area, breakfast and lunch, plus a bunch of lovely and interesting people to join you on the beer cruise.

Everyting started out in morning outside the convention centre where GABF was held in central Denver. A full bus of people started the journey for "breakfast" and the first beer of the day. Together with the normal beer crew we also got good company with the people from OT and Akkurat (local pubs in Stockholm). So we had a great group of people from Sweden to acompany the rest of the Americans on the bus.

First stop was Boulder Beer outside Boulder, a brewery with great beers like Mojo IPA and Hazed & Infused. We got some breakfast and the opportunity to check the brewery with a short brewery tour. Boulder Beer is really a pioneer as a micro brewery in the US if you recon that it started out so early as 1979. At that time the only existing micros was anchor in san fran and a few others. So its fun to see that the brewery is very lively and continues to produce new and exiting beers.

The journey continued and we ended up in Longmont and the Left Hand Brewery. We were met by Eric Wallace who is the founder and brewer of Left Hand. We all met him when he visited the Stockholm Beer festival in September and when we had a tasting round together with him at the OT booth.

So this was the second time we met and it was fun to actually meet him at his own brewery and hometown of Longmont. The beers were all excellent as they alway are. Had a amazing cask version of the milk stout that you could drink all night long, seems that this stout is getting better and better in my mind.

Together with the Imperial Stout also on cask this was probably the best beers we had during the beer cruise.

Jugge and the rest of OT gang disapeared during the end of the visit to Left Hand, so we had to leave them behind.


Seemed that they got the opportunity to have a additional sampling somewhere at the brewery, it was told that it was something new and exiting that Eric sneaked out of the brewery!

Next stop it was time for the Pumphouse Brewpub in central Longmont. Here we got lunch and a new beer of the day. What I remember I had the porter, which is quite nice as a beer, and very traditional to the style. Seems that Pumphouse is doing a full range of beer styles and is very focused on English style beer and following that tradition. A nice place for food and sports if you are into that.

The OT gang got back to the bus through the help of Eric W and a couple of Mountain Beer Mixers that was later passed on through the bus (which increased the mood on the bus, so when we later arrived in Lyons and Oskar Blues we had started to learn the Americans on the bus Swedish beer songs, or something, :-))





Last stop for the day was Oskar Blues over at Lyons which is really where the mountain region starts, so it is a very exiting place and a great place for such a amazing brewery. Located in a very small building, you here have a brewery, restaurant, bar and blues club.


We got some great beers (Oaked Gordon!) and got the oppotunity to check out how they handles the cans (yes, if you do not know it, this brewery makes all the beer in cans).


They now even has put their great imperial stout in a can, which is really a great idea, so I bought a 4-pack of the Tenfidy imperial stout to take back home. 4 amazing beers for the amount of 10 bucks, that is really a bargain.

Spent the last hour of the beer cruise at the outdoors terrace with a pint of OB and did not want to leave. You could probably have been sitting there for the rest of the day but the bus was leaving, so we simply had to leave and get the last pint of OB Pale Ale with us on the bus.

With some additional Swedish beer songs and some explanations about who we were at the front of the bus we continued the journey back home to Denver. Seems that everyone on the bus had a blast during the day and if you ever go to GABF I really recommend to get on the bus, this is really a good start of the festival and in some sense this was even more fun than the actual festival.

Also thanks to "J" over at The Beer Hermit blog for taking a nice picture of us when had the beers over at OB in the sun.

More pictures from this amazing day can be found here;

GABF07 (Left Hand Beer Bus Cruise)

GBTD-07 Special Report: Rocky Montain IPA!

This is a special announcement to the great people at Fort Collins Brewery over at Fort Collins, Colorado. We had a great time over at the brewery today and enjoyed all of the great beers you do. During that time we had a discussion about Rocky Montaint beers in Sweden, especially the IPA. Yes, it is true we actually got the beer over at Oliver Twist, Stockholm, Sweden at the end of summer, both on bottle and then later at a draught version during the US-beer draught weeks. Here is the proof (the IPA is the 2nd beer served);

And here is the same beer served at the brewery today, in a growler. Thanks for creating so great and exciting brews, and good luck in the future.

Always fun to hear that we got a beer over at Stockholm from a brewery that is so new and small that they got very surprised that the beer had travelled all over the world to a bunch of beer lovers in Sweden.

Great Beer Trip to Denver 2007 (GABF) has started!:

I and the rest of the beer crew has left for Denver and this years GABF. So it will probably be a little bit slow over here during next week. But you will never know, it might be possible to add some live updates during the trip, but nothing that is promised.

Anyway we will have a nice little beer trip in Colorado and hopefully experience some new and existing breweries and their beers. In short the trip will look something like this;

Main plan

6 Oct Stockholm – Denver – Car to Boulder
7 Oct Boulder – Longmont (pub) – Boulder (TPBC, ABC)
8 Oct Boulder – Estes Park (EPBC) -- Grand Canyon -- Fort Collins (motel i FC)
9 Oct Fort Collins (under dagen, NBB, OBC, FCB) -- Denver (hotell Denver)
10 “Boulder County Brews Cruise” (Starts in Denver) (BB, LHBC, OBGB, RM)
11 Denver tour + breweries (GDB, FDB, BBBP, RM) + The Great Divide Lunch (12.00)
12 Oct Denver (GABF I)
13 Oct Denver (GABF II)
14 Get back home again

Breweries:
Denver: Dry Dock Brewing Co (in Aurora), Great Divide Brewing Company, Flying Dog Brewery, Breckenridge BBQ & Brew Pub
Boulder: Boulder Beer, Twisted Pine Brewing Company, Avery Brewing Company
Longmont: Left Hand Brewing Company
Lyons: Oskar Blues Grill and Brewery
Estes Park: Estes Park Brewing Company
Fort Collins: New Belgium Brewing, Odell Brewing Company, Fort Collins Brewing

Bars:
Denver: Falling Rock Tap House, Breckenridge Ball Park Brew Pub, Cherry Cricket, The, Old Chicago, Blake Street Tavern, Victory American Grill And Bar
Boulder: Mountain Sun Pub & Brewery, Southern Sun Pub and Brewery
Fort Collins: Choice City Butcher Shop And Deli, Washington's Bar & Grill, Lucky Joe's Sidewalk Saloon, Pickle Barrel

And our planned route

Brewery map of Sweden

Just added a new link (under the profile) to a google map of the breweries in Sweden. The list is provided by the Swedish Beer Consumers Association, that I am a member of.

Here is the URL.

That means that we currently have 37 breweries in the country, quite amazing if you compare to the situation 5-10 years ago. As a small reflection the total number of breweries has looked like below;

1890 554
1955 119
1993 13
2002 18

So from 2002 it has increased with additional 19 breweries, and that has only inclued new small micro breweries.

The best 6 beers you'll never drink

I just stumpled over a short but a bit interesting article over at tampa bay!

It can be connected a bit about a entry a few days ago where I wrote about unusual and hard found beers.

That is exactly what this article is about, beers that we talk about but rarely can drink because it is almost impossible to get them. And it is quite fun that 2 of the beers from this paper in tampa bay are both from Scandinavia, one from Sweden (Kaggen) and one from Denmark (X Imperial Stout).

Seems that this reporter know his stuff, but are also a bit arrogant (maybe its ironi, I do not know, :-)), but he writes about why they are so rare is due to;

The foremost is the general public doesn't want them

and

They are typically obscure styles such as Flanders Red, Imperial Stout or Baltic Porter

So a Baltic Stout or a Flanders Red are "obscure" beer styles?, well its not to me, but I am maybe not seen as normal and part of the "general public" when we talk about beers, :-).

Stockhom Beer 2007: Missed a beer!

Just saw that we missed one of the better DIPAs at the Stockholm Beer Festival this year, and it was even a cask version.

Well you can not have them all and you could not be there every day, seems the Brooklyn Blast Pale Ale was served over at Carlsberg during the last Saturday of the festival and when Garett Oliver, brewmaster of Brooklyn Brewery had a presentation, and also the toast for late Michael Jackson. If you are wondering about Carlsberg togehter with brooklyn simply it is because all brooklyn beers are distributed nowdays by Carlsberg in Sweden and Denmark.

At least I got to taste the beer last New York beer trip in May when we visited the Brooklyn brewery (served in a plastic glass).

But it feels a bit strange that we missed a hop monster when it was available on cask, :-), as a DIPA lover it feels hard that we did not even think about heading for the Carlsberg booth during the festival, probably because of all the rest of the boring beers sold over at Carlsberg.

QUICK TAKE: Blue Point No Apologies Imperial IPA

Tasted at the Stockholm Beer 2007 in a cask version. What can you say?, simply this is my cup of tea. Sampled this amazing DIPA already in May over at Spuyten Duyvil in Brooklyn, New York during our short New York beer trip.

Based on the fact that we already thought that this was the best beer during that trip it was really exciting to actually drink the beer again on cask in your own backyard.

I know this is a extreme beer, but the name says it all!, here is a beer that is a hop monster extreme and with no apologies to be anything else. Simply this is something that I can enjoy and will continue to drink.

The beer has a very cloudy orange body topped by a thick, off-white head that lasts a long time. Flavor is really one-dimensional with a extreme piney hop bitterness, but you can actually feel the maltiness so in that sense it is at least a bit balanced and together with the orange touch it makes a great mixture. Probably not drinkable for most people, but for me it is a hit and a very drinkable beer, yes I know I am bit destroyed on these kind of beers.

For being a no apologies DIPA it is a sure winner, not the most balanced one but I guess that it is not the idea here, and with 10% ABV it is best served in small gobles and is a great last beer of the night.

It will make a appereance on my personal top list because now I have tasted the beers at least 3 times, :-D, and it is time for some changes after the festival.

The beer served at this years Stockholm Beer

Regarding Blue Point this is a local brewery in Patchogue (long island), New York state. Started by 2 beer geeks (Pete & Mark) on Long Island. They also produce the great IPA in the form of; Hoptical Illusion.

Finally a very large thank you to Jugge, for actually getting this beer all the way over to Stockholm. It is always fun to sample the beer you bring home, how would the Stockholm beer scene look without your help?

Stockholm Beer 2007: And the winner is?

The festival has ended and some of the breweries returned home with a bunch of prizes. Some of the most interesting beer that won according to me, looks lkte below; (here is the full list link)

Category: Best Bottled Ale 4.8-5.9 ABV
Harpoon IPA (Harpoon Brewing Co)

Category: Stong Beer 6% ABV & above
Shakespeare Stout (Rogue Ales)

Categroy: Stong Beer 8% ABV & above
90 Minute IPA (Dogfish Head Craft Brewery)

Category: Swedish Bottle Beer
Oppigårds Slåtteröl (Oppigårds Brygger AB)

Category: Draught Ale 4.8-5.9 ABV
Avenyn Ale (Dugges Ale & Porterbryggeri)

Category: Draught Beer 6% ABV & above
Imperial Stout (Nils Oscar Company AB)

Category: Draught Beer 8% ABV & above
Slottskällans Imperial Stout (Gamla Slottskällans Bryggeri AB)

Category: Swedish Draught Beer
Avenyn Ale (Dugges Ale & Porterbryggeri)

I guess it is good choices, but for my own taste the list is a "bit" different. My personal favorite during the weekens would look like below;

Best beer all categories:
1. Blue Point No Apologies Imperial IPA (cask)
2. Left Hand Imperial Stout (cask)
3. Dieu du Ciel Brasserie Solstice d'Hiver (cask)

Best Swedish Beer:
1. Dugges 1/2 Idjit!

Best newcomer that can be something:
1. Dugges Idjit!

Best unexpected beer:
1. Spinnakers Iceberg Pale Ale

Stockholm Beer 2007: Beer tasting list day II

Last night was the second day for us at the Stockholm Beer Festival and it turned out to be a great evening and festival as always. I had expectations to broaden my perspective a bit and try more of the other beers available at the festival. And as I reported a few entries ago I had a list of potential beers to taste. And I tried, I promise you I really tried this time, but the result was not actually as planned and we got stuck over at Oliver Twist most of the time, again :-).

From the potential list of 13-14 beers I only succeeded in sampling 4!. 1. Sierra Nevada Bigfoot Barley Wine (cask), 6. Dugges Idjit! 1st Limited Edition (Imperial Stout) 16,5 vol%, 9. Bluepoint No Apologies Double IPA 10%, 12. Oppigårds Smithy Ale, 4,6% - new receipe. And it was through help of some friends, so it was not all my own samples. What can you do?, currently I am into these type of beers and it is not everyday you can sample them, so what the heck.

Below is the full list of beers that I sampled myself and paid for, no additional tasting as last week so this time it was all up to my own planning and taste.

SECOND DAY RESULTS:

1. Nils Oscar Kalasöl (new receipe)
A classic Vienna styled beer brewed by Nils Oscar. This year it had a updated receipe, so that was why it was on the list. Sorry, I did not notice any differences, a good beer, but a bit boring for my taste.

2. Dieu du Ciel Aphrodisiaque
Second draught beer from the Brasserie Dieu Du Ciel brewpub in Montréal, Quebec, Canada. A American styled Stout with Dark chocolate & Cocoa! It was like drinking a chocolate crème brulée and with 80% cacao or similar. Interesting but it was simply to much for me. Instead I still recommend last weeks draught beer from this brewery; Solstice D'hiver. Other geeks I spoke with had other thoughts about this beer and were very exited about it. So it seems that at least the brewery is doing a very good job with the beers.

3. Spinnakers Iceberg Pale Ale
An India Pale Ale (IPA) brewed by Spinnakers Brewpub Victoria, Canada. One of my favorite "normal" beers for the evening. A very clean and balanced American style IPA, drinkable and something that you can drink a lot of. A very nice bitter finish and something to recommend. One of the best "normal" Canadian beers during the festival, will be on my top 3 from my Canadian beer experience so far.

4. Stone IPA (Cask)
What can you say, a classic American IPA from one of the best breweries in the world. On my top list and it will still be there. Avaiable on draught over at the Oliver Twist booth and it was in the same league as the Dogfish head 60 min IPA last weekend. A clean balanced IPA, a classic.

5. Närke Örebro Bitter
If you talk about classic beers and from my top list this is the Swedish counterpart. One of the best beers from Sweden and from one of the best breweries in the world. Not always available at the Stockholm pubs so it has been a while since I sampled it, and now when the Bishop Arms branch had their own booth at the festival I thought to sample it. This was one of the first beers from a Swedish micro that I really liked and made it a classic for me as soon as it came out. Örebro Bitter is an English style ale, hopped with East Kent Golding and Cascade and as I said a classic and something to really recommend.

6. Dugges Idjit!
A Swedish Imperial Stout first presented at the festival, see my earlier entry about this new beer, that might be a new classic Swedish stout. Stockholm Beer 2007: A new Swedish beer classic? .

7. Dugges 1/2 Idjit!
Porter from Dugges and part of the Idjit range of beers. 1/2 Idjit is simply half a Idjit!, so it is a very potent porter and one of my favorites. It has a dark ruby color. Hint of coffee beans and a very roasted taste. Long roasted aftertaste with some alcohol buzz. As Dugges says this is half a Idjit but it is really making its own place and among the best porters available.

8. Steamworks Conductor Imperial India Pale Ale
An American style IPA from Steamworks brewery over in Colorado. This is a very potent beer and on the list because it was a imperial IPA which I always have to taste if available. Amber in color with a little white head. A very strong smell of hops, I believe it includes Simcoe. Simply a very drinkable DIPA, not on the top list but as a hop head this was quite a good beer. A new brewery at the festival and Sweden and it seems that they can do beer here also. Brewery is from Durango, Colorado.

9. Blue Point No Apologies Imperial IPA
Oh what can you say? Well the name says it all. This is a amazing DIPA and something I have to write more about in a separate entry. QUICK TAKE: Blue Point No Apologies Imperial IPA.

10. Hantverksbryggeriet Blåbärs Lambic Special (blueberry lambic)
Strange brew from the Hantverksbryggeriet over at Västerås. Sampled it last year at the festival and it is still no success. Like a alco-pop with some sourness, calling it a lambic is simply a shame. Something to jump over.

11. Samuel Adams Hallertau Imperial Pilsner
A very good hop bomb pilsner!, this was surely a winner and something that was on my top list for the night. See my earlier entry about this pilsner from Samuel Adams; QUICK TAKE: Samuel Adams Hallertau Imperial Pilsner. Will be available at Systembolaget in the beginning of December.

Beer of the evening:
Blue Point No Apologies Imperial IPA

QUICK TAKE: Samuel Adams Hallertau Imperial Pilsner

Sampled at Stockholm Beer 2007 last night.

A new beer for me from Samuel Adams that will also be sold at Systembolaget starting from December. I read about the beer due to soon being sold in Sweden and something that I was planning to buy in December, but now it was available at the festival.

This is a so called Imperial Pilsner in the tradition of American brewers playing with old beer style and not follow any rules regarding creating balanced beers. So "Imperial" simply means, when we talk about American beers; more of everything, often double or tripple of everything.

The beer has a very golden color and a white steady head. When it comes to aroma it is very similar to a strong IPA, meaning extra malt and massive amounts of hops. The flavor is hoppy and bitter and actually very balanced with the malt sweetness.

It has a great after-taste and it made its place together with the rest of IPAs that was sampled during the evening.

It is a lager beer but in the same moment due to the similarities to a American IPA the beer is a bit difficult to classify. At least it was interesting to taste my first Imperial Pilsner and it is always fun to see new kind of experiments, especially when it actually was at least a bit balanced if you recon that the beer has 110 in the IBU scale.

So based on my very limited experience in American Imperial Lagers, this is my favorite and something that I can recommend.

Stockholm Beer 2007: A new Swedish beer classic?

Last night at the Stockholm Beer a new beer was presented (so far as I know) over at Dugges in the form of a idiot! A limited release has been available before, but this was the first real stuff.

Idjit is Imperial Stout which will be a new beer from Dugges and a test brew was released in bottles during the festival (just for fun, according to Dugge).

At 18.00 sharp we got the opportunity to test this new beer that had only been stored for 2 months and was very young compared to the final product. But it was big news anyway and the line was long for actually getting a full Idjit!, as you can see below;

Dugge the brewer serving the new Idjit! beer

How about the beer?, well it is still not ready and the plan is to actually store it for a additional year, and in that sense you actually do not know how it it will evolve. It has a dark brown colour, the flavour is very woody with a strong alcohol buzz (ABV 16%),coffee, and you can feel some raisins and a touch of porter and sherry.

What can you say?, it feels like a hit and it will be very exiting to actually taste this beer when it is ready, with the knowledge of Dugges I am sure that last night a new beer legend was born. It can not be compared to my favorite Imperial Stout/Porter (Närke Kaggen Stormaktsporter), at least not with the current appearance, but at least something similar and a good beer continuing the dark beer tradition in Sweden in form of porters and stouts.

Seems that the Idjits is slowly being built up as a series of beers. Because currently we already have the amazing 1/2 Idjit which is a very potent porter and in the future Dugges will also provide a "Perfect Idjit" which will be a oaked stored Idjit for 2-3 additional months.

It also seems that Dugges (best brewery in Stockholm according to me) also got recognized as a brewery through winning several prizes at the festival. Here is the result for Dugges;

Category: Best Swedish Draught Strong beer over 6% ABV
Bollox! - Bronze!

Category: Best Draught Ale 4,8-5,9% ABV:
Avenyn Ale - Gold!

Category: Best Swedish Draught Beer:
Avenyn Ale - Gold!

Thats a very good result for Dugges, a brewery that has only been brewing a couple of years. Thanks Dugge for creating such great brevs like "High Five", "Bollox" and "Avenyn Pale Ale (APA)".