SMÖF 2009, part 4

As we started to finish up in the beer hall we made our way across to Folkets Hus where they had all the bottled beer (except for the ones in the singles bar). Here they had a wide range of swedish micro brewed beer but also a couple of foreign breweries like: Antares, Hoppin Frog, Holgate and a couple more. I wonder who brought them along? Was it Monks?

Fairly soon after we arrived they released a suprise beer. Apparently the organizer of the festival had met the brewer from De Molen and he had been impressed by the festival and decided to dedicate a beer to it. I couldn't quite hear the whole story due to bad sound but it was something about a keg being left behind in his back yard.

Bloed, Zweet and Tranen (bottle) 8,1%
It poured a dark liquid with a small light brown foam. It had a smell of something burned and smoke, also some sourness and stingy on the noose. It had a smooth mouhfeel. It had a sweet taste of smoked ham, honey and vanilla. Decent beer but it felt a bit watered down.
Total: 3/5
Just as with last year we made our own Närke Stormaktsporter testing. I think it will be a returning edition to SMÖF for me. Me, my father and Nicklas shared a sample of each bottle: Kaggen Stormaktsporer 2008 and Närke Stormaktsporter 2007 and 2008. I have already rated Kaggen and gave it a 4,9/5, the highest score I have so far given to a beer. But I haven't rated Stormaktsportern even though I have tested it several times. Looks like I didn't take notes this time either so I will leave the proper rating for another day. Great beers though.

All in all a great festival. I tried 76 beers where I think 65 where new to me. I actually didn't have anything interesting left to try at the end, which is a new feeling for me. But I got a chance to re-try some great beers such as Three Floyds Behemoth Barley Wine. The next festival is Örebro Beer and Whisky and I hear allot of interesting brewers and importers are coming.

SMÖF 2009, part 3

There was a new edition to this festival, the singles bar. No, this wasn't a place to meet single men and women. It was a place for beer geeks to meet single bottles of beer and I think allot of love was created this evening. They served one bottle at the time and as soon as the bottle was finished they opened a different one. I didn't try them all but a couple of noticable beers where: Mikkeller Simcoe Single Hop IPA, Old Viscosity, Three Floyds Behemoth Barley Wine. I didn't see the full list of beers but I know Chrille and his friend worked very hard to finish them off so that they could taste the next one.

Berith and H-G from Närke Kulturbryggeri together with my father and Erkki in front of the singles bar.

Another change was that they didn't brew any beer outside this year. Which was a nice addition but I can imagine it wasn't allot of fun for the person having to stand outside in the cold all evening.

Another addition to this years festival was a cheese stand. They sold nice cheeses at really affordable prices. I personally bought a pot of Stilton for 60 sek, and 100g of Gamle Ole for 20 sek. The cheese platters where great snacks with the beer. I really hope they got the cheese mobile next year as well.

My brother, grandfather, Toivo and myself tasting some tap beer.

After a while I finished off most of the tap beers. I had only left a couple of stouts and porters which I planned to go back and taste later in the evening. So I crossed over to Folkets Hus where they had all the bottled beer. But more about that tomorrow...

SMÖF 2009, part 2

They had a competition for the best beer of the festival called Guldskum. I’m not sure how they choose the beer but there where seven beers from different breweries participating in the competition. I tried them all and below is the score with a short comment:

Irish Pub Sundsvall Guldkusten (tap) 4,3%

It poured a hazy brown-golden liquid with a dirty yellow foam. Strong smell of malt and yeast. Very smooth and easy to drink. Taste of malt and hops.

Total: 2,8/5

Eskilstuna Oktoberfestöl (tap) 6,2%

It poured a hazy golden liquid with a small white foam that left some lacing. Very weak smell. Some sourness, a bit stingy mouthfeel. Decent beer.

Total: 2,5/5

Tanngnjost och Tanngnisrir (tap) 7,5% (couldn't find it at Ratebeer)

It poured a dark hazy golden liquid, with a small yellow foam that left some lacing. Smelled of smoked ham. Smooth mouthfeel and very smokey, like it had been poured through a large chunk of smoked ham.

Total: 3/5

Oppigårds Pale Ale (tap) 5,5%

It poured a slightly hazy golden liquid with a small white foam. It had a fresh smell and taste of grassy and flowery hops, citrus, grapefruit and hay. Nice!

Total: 3,2/5

Skebo Vinteröl (Stilla fNatt?) (tap) 5,4%

It poured a hazy brown liquid with a small white foam. It had a weak smell of caramell and malt. Some spices in the smell. Good christmas beer.

Total: 2,7/5

Slussvaktaren Strömsholm (tap) 4,5%

I rated this a couple of weeks ago.

Total: 3/5

Monks Kaffeporter (bottle)

It poured a dark liquid with a small light brown foam. It had a smell and taste of coffey, chocolate and something smoked. Also some sweetness. Fairly smooth mouthfeel.

Total: 3,1/5

The winner was Oppigårds Pale Ale, which was also the beer I voted for. Congratulations!

SMÖF 2009, part 1

We all met at the train station to take a bus to Söderbärke. Only a few had dropped out due to sickness or work, but a large part of the Eriksson family was there. We even took a family picture:During the bustrip I shared a couple of bottles of DBH2. I think most of them enjoyed it even though it’s quite extreme. Besides that it was a calm trip, I didn’t have any beer to save myself for testing at the festival. But it was a very nice bustrip, the scenery as you get closer to Söderbärke is very nice, with big hills and lakes passing by the window.

We reached the festival at 13:00, one hour after opening and there had already formed a line. But it didn’t take long before we got inside and got a sample of this years festival beer brewed by Skebo.

Skebo Söderbärke Festöl (tap) 5,2%
It poured a clear golden liquid with no foam. Weak smell of malt and bread. Smooth mouthfeel and very easy to drink. Tasted of malt and grassy hops. Can imagine it working well on a hot summer day.
Total: 2,3/5

After finishing of the first beer we made our way to the hall where they had all the tap beer. There where already quite allot of people there but the sound level was suprisingly low and it stayed that way the whole day. The service behind the taps was great and it didn’t take long to get a sample.

Pannknektarnas Kaffeporter

My friend Chrille has made his own beer together with Pyrre at Närke Kulturbryggeri. It’s a Coffey porter and I heard that they add the coffey through cold boiling it. Which means that they put the coffey beans in cold water for 24 hours before removing the coffey beans and adding the liquid to the beer. The beer was recently released at Bishops Arms in Örebro so after bottling DBH2 we decided to try it out.

Närke Pannknektarnas Kaffeporter (tap)

It poured a picth black liquid with a creamy light brown foam. It had a strong smell of coffey. It had an extremely smooth and creamy mouthfeel, felt great in my mouth. It tasted of coffey and lots of it, also a hint of chocolate. It had some sweetness but not allot. The body was medium thick. I normally don’t drink coffey but this was quite nice. I can imagine someone who likes coffey would like this.

Total: 3,4/5

While sampling the beer Erika showed up and tipped my father of two De Dolle beers they recently got in. Since my father was driving I tried their Ara bier:

De Dolle Arabier (bottle) 8%

It poured a hazy golden with a very small white foam. It had a strong sweet smell of honey and fruits. It tasted strong with honey, figs, yeast and some sweetness. Lots of carbonation. Nice beer!

Total: 3,6/5

Bottling Death By Hops 2, part 2

We tried some of the new beers that where released at Systembolaget at the beginning of October. They are now part of the ordinary supply.

Comenius (bottle) 6%

It poured a clear golden liquid with a big white foam that quickly dissapeared and left no lacing. It had a weak smell of malt and honey. It tasted of honey, malt, a hint of puke and also a very odd taste. Very watery and a light body. Stingy mouthfeel. No this definitely wasn’t a beer for me. I ended up pouring it down the sink and that is quite unnusual for me.

Total: 1.1/5

Wisby Klosteröl (bottle) 5%

This is an old beer in a new design and size (down from 50 cl). It poured a hazy brown-orange-golden liquid with a big white foam that left allot of lacing. It had a weak smell of yeast, malt and some fruit. It had allot of carbonation and was a bit watery. Not my kind of beer, there are better choices out there.

Total: 2,4/5

I also tried a bottle of Belhaven Twisted Thistle IPA which I have already rated and then gave a 3,2/5. The only difference was that it was in a smaller bottle (33 cl down from 50 cl).

Bottling Death By Hops 2, part 1

As I mentioned in a previous post I went to SMÖF this weekend. I also managed to drag Nicklas along with me. We started the weekend by bottling Death By Hops 2 – Return of the Hops. Washing the bottles took some time. But once we got a routine for it we picked up speed and before we knew it we could start pouring the beer into bottles.

My father has constructed a device that makes it easy to bottle the beer. First you preassures the bottle with gas and then beer flows in from below as you release the gas from the top. As you see from the picture below there are three “slangar” coming in. One for gas, one for beer and one to release the preassure. I hope my father constructs something for washing the beer as well.




While we worked I took the opportunity to try some beer out. I tried DBH2 again and will post a review soon. It really is a great beer, Chrille has done a fantastic job with the recipe. I also tried some of the october beer news at Systembolaget. More about that in the next part...

Slottskällans Red Ale

I tried one of the new beers from Slottskällan recently. It was part of the october news release at Systembolaget.


Slottskällans Red Ale (bottle) 5%
It poured a clear dark reddish liquid with a medium sized dirty that left allot of lacing.

It had a sweet smell of hops, flowers, rosehip and malt.

It tasted similar of hops, grass and flowers. It didn't have very thick body and was a bit watery. Some stingyness at the back of my mouth. Decent beer but not really my kind of beer.
Total: 2,8/5

Monks Orange Ale

I made an unexpected visit to Monks Café at Sveavägen today after work. Some of my co-workers where of to some free-booze party and decided to grab a beer before it started. I skipped the party since I got allot of beer drinking planned this weekend and want to stay fresh and alert. But a beer sounded nice. Since I recently noticed that I haven't rated their Orange Ale yet I figured it was time to do so. I tried this beer at the Swedish Championship in Homemade beer when Charles Casino was participating and also tried it just after it was released at Monks. It seems like there are some changes to it over time. At least on the ABV.

(Sorry no pic, I didn't have my camera with me)

Monks Café Orange Ale (tap) 7,1%
It poured a hazy brown-red liquid with a small dirty white foam.

It had a strong smell of yeast, citrus, orange and some nuts. So far so good.

The taste was similar, fairly strong with some yeast, citrus, spices, orange, nuts and something sweet. It had a thick body and was a bit dry. Some stingyness at the end which is quite common in belgian ales, but after warmin it up and releasing some carbonation it got allot smoother and better.

The one thing that holds this beer back is that there is a taste that feels a bit wrong. Not sure what it is but it doesn't mix as well with the other flavours. Almost like combining brushing your teeth and then eating caviar a while later. Maybe it's some bitterness from the oranges. But it's not so bad that the beer gets ruined, it just holds it back a bit. All in all still a good beer.
Total: 3,5/5

Regarding the changes to the beer. I seem to remember the original version that participated in the SC as allot more extreme with allot of orange flavour in it. I also remeber the version I tried at Monks several years ago as allot lighter and smoother. But hard to be precise since it's a couple of years apart if I'm not misstaken.

SMÖF Update

I just noticed that they released the SMÖF booklet. I had problems with the link, if you have the same problem as me just Save Target and open the file from your computer.

I noticed a couple of changes to the beer list. Ex: Bridgeburner Special Reserve Ale from Lakefront (couldnt find the beer) seems to have been cancelled and instead I find La Trappe Isid'or in its position. A beer that will be released at Systembolaget next month. They had also added an India Pale Ale from St Peters.

Museums and beer, part 2

So we finally reached Medborgarplatsen and we where both pretty hungry, wet and tired at this point. The rain had been pooring down on us all day and the bursts of wind made it feel like it was coming in sideways. When we reached the pub there was already a line forming outside, but thankfully it was opening in 3 minutes. I've heard allot of good things about this place so I was pretty excited to finally set foot in this place. It also felt nice to finally get some warmth and remove the cold and damp jacket.

The place was really cosy with old sturdy wooden tables and chairs. The service was fast and attentive, as soon as I was cloose to running out of beer I got asked if I wanted another one. The food was fairly cheap compared to similar pubs with prices ranging from 100-125. There where also some smaller dishes that you could order with your beer. I was so damn hungry that I decided to start with such a small dish. Turns out they aren't that small, I choose the bread and beer-cheese, which was a big pile of toasted bread served with some soft cheese mixed with chopped up goat cheese (I think) and olives. Very nice but I almost got full on just that dish. After a short while the waiter showed up with our scnitzel. I got one filled with ham and cheese served with fried potatoes and Karin had a plain one served with potato sallad. The one with ham and cheese was really nice and juicy, but the plain one was a bit dry and boring. The potato sallad didn't taste much at all.

Now to the beer, I heard that they had an unpasterourised (spelling?) Pilsner Urquell so I started out with that:
Pilsner Urquell (tap) 4,4%
It poured a clear golden liquid with a big white foam that left big chunks on the side of the glass. It had a very weak smell of sweet malt and some grass. It had a fresh and crisp taste of sweet malt and bread. Watery with a light body. Smooth and nice mouthfeel. It was fresh and had no bad tastes but I would have loved just a hint of hops, now I couldn't feel any at all. All in all a slightly above average lager. It worked well with the food though.
Total: 2,6/5

As I was getting close to the bottom of the glass the waiter came up and asked if I wanted another one. I quickly glanced at the short beer list and ordered the only one I hadn't tried before:
Skalak (tap) 5%
It poured a clear golden liquid with a big creamy white foam, that left big chunks on the side of the glass. It had a weak smell of malt and bread. It had a fresh taste of malt, bread and some sweetness. A bit stingy mouthfeel. No bad tastes but it lacked hops altogether. A bit boring. An average lager.
Total: 2,1/5

All in all my visit at Soldaten Svejk was a good one. The food was good and very affordable, service was great. It's not a place I personally would go back to just for the beer, unless they get some of the better micro beers from the Czech Rep. But I will surely come back for the atmosphere and food.

Museums and beer, part 1

Yesterday me and Karin vitited the central parts of Stockholm. We walked along Strandvägen towards Djurgården. I had been inspired by "Öl är gott, resor är kul", who recently visited the Titanic exhibition and ate food at Soldaten Svejk. However when we got to the exhibition there was a long slow moving line of people trying to get in. After standing in line for 20 minutes and hardly moving anywhere we decided to visit some other museum in the area. We started with the biological museum outside of Skansen. But we quickly realised it wasn't something for us. Just a bunch of stuffed birds and animals. It looked pretty cool with the wildlife scenes in that old wodden building.
After a quick look around we decided to head over to the Nordic museum instead. This museum is housed in an early 1900 century building. They had some exhibitons about weddings, traditions, internal design, samer, old photos, Livstycket and other stuff. Some of it was pretty interesting but we where starting to get hungry so we walked back towards Kungsgatan. Karin wanted to visit some stores so I ran over to Monks Café to try a couple of beers. I started out with an american beer that was on sale (60 sek):

Goose Island Honkers Ale (Bottle) 5%
It poured a hazy golden liquid with a small dirty white foam. It had a sweet smell of caramell, malt and honey. It had a smiliar taste of caramell, malt, bread , honey and something sweet at the end. It had a decent mouthfeel with some stingyness at the end. Medium thickness, a bit watery with a mild bitterness. Decent beer but nothing special.
Total: 3/5

They had a german beer festival going on but I wanted something a bit more tastey. I had tried all of their beers on tap and had to search the beer list for a while until I found something interesting:
Goose Island Pere Jacques (Bottle) 9%
It poured a clear reddish liquid with a big light brown foam that left allot of lacing. It had a smell of caramell, malt, yeast, spices, wood and pepper. Very nice. It had a similar taste of sweet malt, caramell, nuts, spices and a hint cognac or similar at the end. Very smooth and nice mouthfeel. Very enjoyable, I liked this one.
Total: 3,9/5

As I was just about to finish my bottle Karin showed up and we headed of to the south side of town for some food. But more about that tomorrow....

A couple of english beers, part 2

Here are some more english beers I've picked up at Systembolaget at Regeringsgatan over the last couple of months.

Fullers 1845 (bottle) 6,3%
It poured a lightly brown dark golden liquid with a big lasting foam, that left allot of lacing. It had a smell of caramell and something funky like an outdoor toilette. It had a smooth mouthfeel at first but got stingy further back in my mouth. It tasted of caramell, malt, some roasted notes and funky toilette. Not very good. Considering the fairly high score at Ratebeer there must have been something wrong with my bottle.
Total: 1,9/5
Shepherd Neame 1698 (bottle) 6,5%
It poured a clear dark golden liquid with a medium sized white foam that left allot of lacing. It had a smell of grassy hops, hay, malt and something sweet. It tasted the same but also had some sugar. Thick liquid with a smooth mouthfeel. Easy to drink and had very little stingyness. Felt a bit like drinking tea with sugar.
Total: 3,1/5

A couple of english beers, part 1

I've been trying out some of the more common beers at Systembolaget and now I've started working on the different kind of english ales that are supplied at Regeringsgatan.

Adnams The Bitter (Can) 4,5%
It poured a dark sligthly foggy golden copper liquid with a medium sized foam that left allot of lacing. IT had a scent of grassy hops (dry hopped?), flowers and fresh cut grass. It was smooth and tasted watery with a light body. But it also had a taste of flowers, caramell, fudge. Very easy to drink.
Total: 3,3/5

Boddingtons Pub Ale (can) 4,7%
It poured a clear dark golden liquid with a small creamy head. The liquid was very white and bubbly at first before it settled. It left a very thick and creamy lacing on the side of the glass. It had a weak scent of caramell, bread and a hint of grassy hops. It felt nice in my mouth, thich creamy, smooth and easy to drink. However it was also quite bland and watery with very little taste, just a hint of bread and a weird alcoholic finish.
Total: 2,6/5

Greene King - Abbot Ale (bottle) 5%
It poured a dark golden liquid with a medium sized dirty white foam that left a little bit of lacing. It had a smell and taste of malt, caramell, some grassy hops and something sweet. The mouthfeel was a bit stingy, specially at the back of my mouth. It also had an alcohlic finish, not to strong though. I'm not sure what it is but I didn't really enjoy this beer that much.
Total: 2,5/5

Time for SMÖF

Saturday the 24th of October it's finally time for Söderbärke Mikroölsfestival. It's one of my favorite festivals and what I like about it is mostly the smaller size and that it doesn't get to crowded. It's easy and fast to order and you don't have to cuddle the guy next to you to get to the bar. Another plus is the great selection of swedish micro brewed beer and at a very nice price.

So far a fairly large chunk of my family and friends are coming. As usual me and my dad are going, but also my grandfather, uncle and I hope to get my mom and brother to go as well. Also Per and Nicklas are coming with me from Stockholm and I heard that Alfie the pop-up-man and Tommy Tommy is coming.

There is a bus leaving Frövi at 10:30 on saturday and it returns from Söderbärke at 22:00. It makes stops along the way and picks people up. The trip + entrance costs 350 sek. If anybody is interested in going on this trip contact me or my father and we'll make sure that you are signed.

Edit: Just saw that Bark from Ofiltrerat posted a beer list for SMÖF. Lots of interesting beer and at excellent prices. 80 SEK for a bottle of Kaggen is an amazing price.

Flying Dogs, part 2

A couple of more Flying Dogs we tried before calling it a night.

Flying Dog Dogtoberfest Märzen (bottle) 5,2%
It poured a dark golden-caramell liquid with a small dirty white foam. It had a smell of caramell and sweet malt. It had a taste of sweet malt, caramell, tea and sugar. Fairly smooth with no bad tastes. Felt like a slightly above average lager.
Total: 2,4/5

(Forgot to take a picture of this one)

Flying Dog Double Dog Double Pale Ale (bottle) 11,5%
It poured a hazy dark golden-caramell liquid with a small white foam. It had a smell of caramell, malt, grassy hops, grapefruit and citrus. It tasted of caramell, malt, grapefruit and grassy hops. High bitterness and a thick and semi-smooth mouthfeel. Very nice!
Total: 3,9/5

Flying Dog Horn Dog Barley Wine (bottle) 10,2%
It poured a hazy brown-amber liquid with a medium sized dirty white foam. It had a strong smell of caramell, malt, whine and an alcoholic finish. It tasted the same way with a thich and heavy taste of caramell, malt and a warm alcoholic finish. A well done barley wine that I really enjoyed.
Total: 4/5
Flying Dog Old Scratch Amber Lager (bottle) 5,3%
It poured a clear dark golden-caramell liquid with a small white foam. It had a smell of sweet butter scotch, caramell, malt and rosehip (nypon). It had a medium-high carbonation, and tasted of caramell, malt and some grassy hops. Mild bitterness. Decent beer.
Total: 3/5

Flying Dogs, part 1

The other beer I brought along to my brother was Flying Dog Gonzo Imperial Porter.

Flying Dog Gonzo Imperial Porter (bottle) 9,5%
It poured a pitch black liquid with a small light brown foam that left a thin layer on the side of the glass.

It had a strong boozey smell of chocolate, wood, coffey and soy sauce.

It had a strong taste of chocolate, coffey, nuts and a hint of cognac. Felt very complex and interesting. It had a bitey, dry mouthfeel and a long lasting taste. Very nice and perfect with the chocolate my brother served.
Total: 4/5

Aftertrying out Urthel, WD Gonzo and then DBH2 we decided to take a walk along Riddarfjärden and then visit a restaurant. We initially intended to visit an austrian restaurant but they where fully booked when we got there so walked around the corner to Texas Long Horn. I was hoping for a couple of american beers but was still pleasently suprised to find a nice selection of Wild Dog and Sierra Nevada beers. Since I had already tried everything from Sierra Nevada I focused on the Wild Dog beers I hadn't rated yet. Unfortunately they served all their beer in frosted glasses so the beer got way to cold. We had to heat them up with our hands before they got a decent temperature.

Flying Dog In-Heat Wheat Hefe-Weizen (bottle) 4,7%
It poured a slightly hazy golden liquid with a medium sized white foam that left big chunks of lacing.

It had a smell of foam banana and yeast.

It had a taste of foam banana, yeast and something sweet. Smooth mouthfeel, but a bit to cold. Decent wheat beer but far from one of the better ones.
Total: 2,8/5

Urthel Hop-It

The first beer we tried while visiting my brother was Urthel Hop-It. I have recenlty tried a couple of their beers and reviewed them in this post. I was a bit dissapointed with their Quadrupel so I didn't have very high expectations on this beer. But a hoppy belgian ale sounded very interesting.

Urthel Hop-It (Bottle) 9,5%
It poured a hazy golden liquid with a big white foam that lasted a long time. It left a thin layer of foam on the side of the glass and the final part of the liquid contained allot of yeast.

It had a fairly strong smell of yeast and fruits, mainly apples and other similar fruits.

It had a taste of yeast and fruit, the hops that I expected wasn't very strong. I just felt a hint of hops but the bitterness was fairly high. It wasn't very smooth and it didn't have a very nice reaction in my mouth. Felt a bit like eating caviar and then brushing my teeth, however not that intense. Slightly below average belgian ale in my opinion.
Total: 2,9/5

Celebrating birthdays

Yesterday me, Karin, my parents and grand parents visited my brother and his girlfriend, Lina. The reason was that my brother recently had his birthday. While we where at it we also celebrated my grandmothers and fathers birthday since they also got one year older very recently.

I gave my brother two bags of beer, some of them where: Left Hand Milky Stout (one of his favorites and I got the last two bottles from Regeringsgatan), Rocherfort 10 (great beer), Orval (my favorite) and Sierra Nevada Torpedo Extra IPA. My brother hadn't tried the last three so I hope he likes them.

I gave my father a book about brewing, The Complete Joy of Home Brewing by Charlie Papazian. I honestly don't know if it's good or not since I haven't read a book about brewing before. But I hope it will do the trick. I know that he wanted a book about how you design recipes. I also gave him a copy of Brew Your Own - 150 Classic Clone recipes, hopefully he can get some ideas from that magazine. Here's a picture of him holding a bag of assorted chocolates and coffey that my brother gave him:

My grand mother, Sonja, who recently turned 70 got a hat that me and my brother bought together. I hope she liked it, I think it looks good on her at least. Here's a picture of her and my grand father in the background. Below them is a picture of my mother trying out the hat.

My grandmother had also brought some cockies and other goodies and Lina had made some cheese cake that was absolutely amazing. I guess nobody is suprised if I tell you that I brought some beer along. I will post reviews of thoose later on. My father brought two bottles of Death By Hops 2 - Return of the Hops. He said it was better when it was straight from the tap so I won't post my review just yet. But I can tell you as much that it was pure hop juice. Lots of fruity hops with a high bitterness. This is just the way I love my DIPAs and the initial grades where very high, maybe even higher then Death By Hops 1. Can't wait to try it again. Here is a preview of how it looked:

Nynäshamn Lagrad Smörpundet Porter 2007

I've had this bottle lying around for quite some time now. I keept coming up with reasons not to drink it, "you have already had to much to drink tonight" "save if for a better occasion". Well fuckit, why wait? Last night I finally cracked this bottle and I wasn't dissapointed.

Nynäshamn used to be my favorite swedish brewery, a position now held by Närke Kulturbryggeri and after that Dugges. I have allot of good memories from standing at Nynäs booth at SBWF and always have enjoyed their beer. The below beer wasn't an exception. It was brewed with two different kinds of chocolate malt and stored for a year on big steel tanks. The bottle I had was from 2007 and according to the note hanging from the neck of the bottle it gets better over the years. To bad I didn't buy a couple more bottles to see if that was true. Anyway lets see what I thought of it.

Nynäshamns Lagrad Smörpundet Porter 2007 (bottle) 6%
It poured a pitch black liquid with a medium sized light brown foam, that left a nice thick layer of lacing on the side of the glass.

It had a deep smell of rich dark chocolate, nuts and a hint of coffey. I also sensed some milk, I wonder if they put some lactos in this brew?

It had a very smooth mouthfeel, thick liquid that left a buttery and oily feeling in my mouth. It was semi-dry and felt really good in my mouth. Once again I got this milky feeling. It tasted of chocolate, some coffey and a hint of something burned.

It didn't have a very heavy flavour or smell and if I have to give any critique it would be that I would have wanted some more flavour, or at least a bit more intense. It also felt like there was something missing, maybe a bit more coffey or a different kind of chocolate. Just something that would attack my tounge in a different way. But besides that a very enjoyable beer, not fantastic but still very well brewed.
Total: 3,8/5

BrewDog 77 and Zeitgeist

I picked up two new Brewdog beers at Systembolaget the other week. They where both part of the release to the ordinary supply.

BrewDog 77 Lager (bottle) 4,9%
It poured a clear golden liquid with a medium sized white foam that left a little bit of lacing.

The smell was the best part of the beer, even though it wasn't that good. A noticable smell of malt, bread and caramell.

It had a smooth and dry mouthfeel. Tasted of malt, bread and a hint of caramell. But where´s the hops? Where's the rebellion? In the end it's just another average lager and doesn't seperate itself from the rest.
Total: 2,2/5
BrewDog Zeitgeist (bottle) 4,9%
It poured a pitch black liquid with a medium sized light brown foam that left some lacing.

It had a smell of coffey, chocolate and burned toast.

It had a smooth and dry mouthfeel. Tasted the same as it smelled with some coffey, chocolate and burned toast. It feels like there is something lacking in this beer. There's nothing wrong with it, but it feels like it doesn't bring anything to the table.
Total: 3,1/5

Testing Urthel

On friday it was time to try two beers I've had sitting in my fridge for a while, Urthel Trippel and Quadrupel. Both are brewed by De Koningshoeven, which is a monestary. I'm quite suprised to see that they also brew La Trappe. Looks like they make allot of beer, I always thought they only made the La Trappe beers. Anyway lets see what I thought of them:

Urthel Hibernus Quentum Tripel (bottle) 9%
It poured a hazy golden liquid with a big white foam that left allot of lacing.

It had a strong smell of yeast, spices, hops, citrus, nuts, ripe fruit, apples and a hint of pepper. Nice smell, I liked it.

It had a similar tast ewith yeast, spices, coriander, ripe fruit, apples, banana, hops and a hint of orange. Medium-hich carbonation and an alcoholic finish. At first it wasn't very smooth, it felt a bit stingy in my mouth but it got better at the end. A nice beer though I enjoyed it.
Total: 3,7/5
Urthel Samaranth (bottle) 12%
This is their quadrupel. It poured a clear dark golden liquid with a medium sized foam that left a nice lacing.

It had a smell of caramell, ripe fruit and a hint of burned toast.

It had a strong taste of caramell, peppers, nuts, ripe fruit and a very strong alcoholic finish. Medium amount of carbonation and a thick liquid. It tickled my mouth and wasn't very smooth. It had a very strong alcoholic taste, too strong if you ask me. It took over and covered all the other flavours in the beer.

The score might be a bit to high but I got another bottle so I can re-evaluate later on and see if it has changed over time.
Total: 3,1/5

An Australian in Stockholm, part 3

We continued our walk south towards Old Town. We have a history of joking about us swedes being vikings and coming over to ravage England every now and then. Also, me and my dad had a 25+50 years party a couple of years ago where the theme was vikings. So I figured a good place to go would be Sjätte Tunnan (the Sixth Barrel), which is a medieval restaurant/pub located in a cellar in Old Town. The staff is dressed in medieval style clothing, the place is lit by candels and decorated by weapons and armor. In the background you hear some kind of medieval music playing. A nice atmosphere to drain a ceramic jug of mead.

Dave at the Sixth Barrel.

After the mead it was getting a bit late, so instead of walking up to Akkurat we walked around the block to Glennfidich Warehouse. They usually have allot of swedish micro beer on tap and just as with Bishops Arms I wasn't dissapointed. We decided to these beers should end our evening:
Nils Oscar Imperial Stout (tap) 7%
It poured a pitch black liquid with a small light brown foam that left some lacing. It had an unexpected smell of fruit candy, black currant, blue berries and some sourness. It had a strong taste of burned toast, sweet chocolate, coffey and nuts. It was smooth and dry. A weird beer, the smell didn't match the taste at all, felt like two different beers.
Total: 3,5/5
Dugges Never mind the Bollox! (tap) 9,2%
It poured a dark hazy reddish liquid, with a small light dirty orange foam. It had a strong smell of caramell, malt, bread, something sweet and alcohol. It tasted of caramell, malt, something sweet and had a warm alcoholic finnish. It had a smooth and thick mouthfeel and it tickled my mouth. A very nice beer.
Total: 4,2