Beer wars

I just watched the movie Beer Wars. It's a documentary about the American beer industry. It focuses on the problems micro breweries encounter and the fierce competition they face from the big breweries. There are interviews with corporate leaders on both sides. From the micro breweries Sam Calagione from Dogfish Head gets allot of attention. But also Stone, Samuel Adams, Brooklyn and the maker of Moonshot beer pop by.

I quite enjoyed the movie and definitely recommend a watch. You can find a trailer here and you should be able to stream it from one of the links from this site.

The Original HY Super Beer Cuvée (HΨ)

The Original HY Super Beer Cuvée (75 cl bottle) 11%
This beer was part of a middle of the month release at Systembolaget sometime last year. It is only available at the three biggest Systembolag and through ordering. I know that Regeringsgatan still have a few bottles.

It has been brewed by a Belgian brewery on order from an Italian firm.

Style: Belgian Strong Ale

Cost: 179 SEK

Bitterness------Sweetness-----Sourness-----Intensity-------Body

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Appearance: 3/5

Hazy dark amber with a trace of a dirty white foam on the edge of the glass.

Smell: 6/10

Wine, fruity, wood and honey.

Taste: 5/10

Wine, sugar, fruity, honey and caramel. Very sweet.

Mouthfeel: 4/5

Medium smooth, medium body and medium carbonation.

Comment:

This seems to be the same concept as their other beer. A fairly low quality brew but in a fancy package and at a high price. However I have to admit that the Cuvée was better then the Original Beer. It's definitely drinkable but not excellent, a bit to sweet for my taste.

Considering the high price it's not worth to buy and it seems like that is an issue since there are still bottles left at Systembolaget. A faith that seem to hit most Italian beers that Systembolaget takes in. After drinking this one as well I'm sticking by my assumption that this beer was brewed aiming for an Italian upper class. I wonder if it has been successful?

Total: 2,8/5

The Original HY Super Beer (HΨ)

The Original HY Super Beer (HΨ) (75 cl bottle) 11%This beer was part of a middle of the month release at Systembolaget last year. It was brewed by a Belgian brewery on order from an Italian firm.

Style: Abbey Triple
Cost: 149 sek

Bitterness------Sweetness-----Sourness-----Intensity-------Body

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Appearance: 1/5

Clear golden liquid with a small white foam. Not appealing.

Smell: 2/10

Smelled like any macro lager. Fairly weak with some white bread.

Taste: 7/10

Completely different from the smell. Fruity, apples and very sweet. Well hidden alcohol.

Mouthfeel: 3/5

Medium smooth with a medium body and low carbonation.

Comment:

I'm puzzled about this beer, it looks and smells like a cheap cheap lager but it tastes like a fruity Belgian tripel or similar.

I'm not sure they created the beer this way and what customer group they are aiming for. The price is very high but it isn't matched by a high quality product. Maybe it's brewed for high end restaurants and hotels that get allot of customers that don't care about a high price tag and will enjoy the prestige of being able to order a very expensive bottle.

Either way I'm not very impressed with this beer.

Total: 2,3/5

Nalle Puh Porter

Nalle Puh Porter (tap) 8%
This is the beer me, my father and Chrille brewed during Christmas. It's a strong honey-porter at 8%. We used honey from a local producer called Puh Honey (think Vinnie the Poh). It's probably a bit early to try this beer so this is a sneak preview, it still has about 2 months until it is to be served at the Swedish Championship in home made beer.

Something worth mentioning is that we each have a 9 litre keg that we plan to experiment with. We are going to add something to the beer and then try it together. I got a plan for my keg but I will keep it to myself for now.

Style: Porter

Cost: I think it cost around 9 SEK/litre to brew.

Bitterness------Sweetness-----Sourness-----Intensity-------Body

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Appearance: 5/5

Pitch black liquid with a big dirty white foam that has lots of craters and left a nice lacing. Looks great!

Smell: 7/10

Some sourness, coke, chocolate, vanilla and a hint of coffee.

Taste: 6/10

Not overly intense. Chocolate, nuts, coffee, musty, roasted, dark bread. Some sweetness and coffee bitterness. A hint of chemicals (aceton).

Mouthfeel: 4/5

Smooth, creamy, just a bit harsh. Dry and medium body.

Comment:

Not a very complex porter, but well balanced and easy to drink. It has the usual flavours that you would expect from a porter; chocolate, coffee and so on. The alcohol is well hidden. I'm surprised I didn't find any honey flavour.

However it did have a chemical after taste that I relate to acetone. I suspect this off flavour has its origin in the honey. Since I've tried using the honey in cocking and gotten similar results. Thankfully it seems to disappear over time, while I was eating the food as leftovers the acetone flavour was gone. I just hope the beer will mature enough for the Swedish Championship.

I tried this with some chocolate and it was a good match. I plan to make some chocolate honey truffles and bring it to the Championship.

Total: 3,5/5

List of micro breweries - Need help

I'm working on a project at the moment and I'm gathering data of all the Swedish micro breweries. However I'm not sure if I have found them all. Have I missed any?

Ahlafors

Bredaryd

Dugges

Eskilstuna Ölkultur

Grebbestads

Hantverksbryggeriet

Helsinge

Irish Pub Sundsvall

Jämtland

Killekulle

Mora

Monks Café

Nils Oscar

Nynäs

Närke

Ocean

Oppigårds

Pannrummet kök och bar

Qvänum

Sandbacka

Sigtuna

Skebo

Slottskällans

Stockeboda

Strömsholm

Två Bryggare

Leo Beer

Leo Beer (33 cl bottle) 5%
The first time I had this beer was in Thailand in 2005. Me and Karin where at Koh Pang Ngang for the full moon party. Now Galatea has managed to get Leo Beer into Systembolagets ordering supply. Restaurants can already buy it but it will be released for regular customers on the 1st of April.

Article nr. 89989-03 (33 cl) and 89991-01 (66 cl)
Style: Pale Lager

Cost: 13,50 SEK (63 cl costs 24,90 sek)

Bitterness------Sweetness-----Sourness-----Intensity-------Body

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Appearance: 1/5

Clear pale yellow liquid with a medium sized white foam. It disappeared fast and left a clear liquid and some lacing. I managed to screw up the picture so the foam had already receded when I took the picture.

Smell: 3/10

Weak smell of white bread and some sweet malt. Typical lager smell.

Taste: 3/10

Weak taste of white bread, rice, some malt, some sweetness. No hops, but also no bad tastes.

Mouthfeel: 2/5

Smooth with a medium-low carbonation that didn't feel to harsh. Very low bitterness and a very light body.

Comment:

This was an easy to drink lager, with a very mild taste and smell. Not very exciting but I also couldn't find any off flavours that I usually do in these kinds of beers.

It probably works great on a hot sunny beach or with some spicy Asian food. Well any spicy food really.

This isn't very exciting for a beer geek, but if you want to bring back memories of sunny beaches and full moon parties or want a substitute for your Singha this is the beer for you.

Total: 1,4/5

Lets finish this review with a picture of me drinking the beer in Thailand:

Port Brewing Older Viscosity

Port brewing Older Viscosity (37,5 cl bottle) 12%
I reviewed the younger brother of this beer yesterday. The difference between the two is that Older Viscosity has been aged on Heaven Hills Bourbon Barrels for 6 months.

Style: American Strong Ale

Cost: ? SEK

Bitterness------Sweetness-----Sourness-----Intensity-------Body

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Appearance: 3/5

Pitch black liquid. It was completely flat with just a few bubbles floating on the surface and it left no lacing.

Smell: 8/10

Red wine, port wine, dried fruit, whisky, booze and yeast.

Taste: 8/10

Wine, nuts, wood, chocolate, whisky and coconut.

Mouthfeel: 3/5

Smooth with no carbonation. Had a noticeable alcoholic feeling that dried my mouth up.

Comment:

As I poured this I was quite surprised as it didn't look like Old Viscosity. It was completely flat and when I smelled it the first thing that came to mind was port wine. I had a glass of red wine available compared the two and there where several similarities. After tasting it I realised it had allot of red wine flavours. But also whisky and a mix of other alcoholic beverages.

Not sure what would fit with this beer but I imagine the same thing that works with strong red wines, or port wines, with lots of flavour.

This was an unexpected and interesting experience. I expected the same beer only with some wood and whisky flavour. But this version was a completely different beer. I quite enjoyed it though.

Total: 3,8/5

Schorschbräu aims for lead

Pilsner.nu just reported that Schorschbräu plans to make a 45% beer which should put them on top in the war to brew the strongest beer. BrewDogs Sink the Bismarck was the latest nr.1 at 41%. I haven't found any English sources but there is a German news article here.

Here is a full list of the current strongest beers.

This makes me wonder, how far can you theoretically go? And can we even call this beer any more? What can we learn from these experiments? Will it bring out a new type of beer?

Port brewing Old Viscosity

Port Brewing Old Viscosity (75 cl bottle) 10%
This beer was part of a news release last year but I have now forgotten exactly when I bought it. I also have their Older Viscosity which I will review tomorrow.

Port Brewing is actually the same brewery as Lost Abbey. I have tried several beers from these breweries before and they have all been of high quality. I have a personal favorite in Hop 15.

Style: American Strong Ale according to RB, but I would call it an Imperial Stout.

Cost: ? SEK

Bitterness------Sweetness-----Sourness-----Intensity-------Body

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Appearance: 4/5

Pitch black liquid with a small light brown foam that left a curtain of lacing on the side of the glass.

Smell: 7/10

Chocolate, sweet, nuts.

Taste: 8/10

Chocolate, coffee, nuts, roasted and dark bread.

Mouthfeel: 4/5

Smooth, thick body, dry and mouth coating.

Comment:

It wasn't very complex, however felt well balanced, the flavours all complement each other in a good way. There also weren't any off-flavours. The alcohol was well hidden, it only revealed itself in the alcoholic warmth that followed after taking a sip.

I liked this beer but I would have preferred it with a bit more flavour and complexity. The chocolate is definitely there but I would have liked some more coffee and dark malty flavours.

Total: 3,8/5

Barrel Tales - Beer trips

I got a tip from my father about a company that organize beer related trips. Since I hadn't heard of it before I figured it might be a good idea to post it here in case people are interested.

Barrel Tales is owned and run by Oscar Hammar and Peter Kamenko. The company is located in Stockholm. They do trips to both the Czech Republic and to local breweries in Sweden. The trips are sold as a whole package including transports, lodging and entrance fees. However food and drinks are not included as they want to leave it up to the traveler to decide what to drink and eat. They also plan to organize trips to other countries in the future.

At them moment they have two trips planned in the near future. The first one is a trip to the Czech Republic over 4 days. Amongst many other things they plan to stop at Chodovar where you can take that beer bath I wrote about earlier. Traveleres will also be able to brew their own beer and then get it shipped home at cost.

A picture from a brewery in Plzen.

The second trip is to Nynäshamns Ånbryggeri on the 19th of June. People will get a chance to tour the brewery, try some beer and it all ends with a BBQ.

A picture from the last trip to Sigtuna.

They also have some events planned, I found an Easter beer tasting that they will host in Stockholm.

It's going to be interesting to see what these guys do in the future. I'm personally very intersted in visiting Nynäshamns Ångbryggeri.

Stensbogaard English Dark Stout

Stensbogaard English Dark Stout (50 cl bottle) 6,3%
This beer was part of the spring news release in the beginning of February 2010. It's the second beer I try from the same brewery. I tried their IPA and found it hoppy fresh just the way I like 'em. So lets see how their Stout is.

Style: Stout

Cost: 56,00 SEK

Bitterness------Sweetness-----Sourness-----Intensity-------Body

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Appearance: 4/5

Pitch black liquid with a small light brown foam that left some lacing.

Smell: 7/10

Chocolate, syrup, boiled vegetables and a hint of coffee.

Taste: 6/10

Funky cellar, chocolate, nuts, hint of coffee.

Mouthfeel: 4/5

Medium smooth, dry, medium-thick body.

Comment:

A decent stout but it feels like it lacks something. Could use some more roasted notes and coffee. Also has some odd flavours like boiled vegetables in the smell and funky cellar in the taste.

Total: 3,4/5

Link to Beer Charger

I got some e-mails and comments about the link to the Beer Charger. I completely forgot to add it before posting. But here is the link to buy the Beer Charger. We bought 5 of them and payed about 300 SEK each, there is a small tube of gas included in the package.

I also got the question of where you could find new tubes of gas to refill the Charger. But Ulf Bronner at SHBF was faster then me to find it. You can buy it from this site.

Stensbogaard India Pale Ale

Stensbogaard India Pale Ale (50 cl bottle) 7%
This beer was released at Systembolaget in the beginning of February 2010. It's the first beer I try from this brewery, they also managed to get a Stout into the same release, which I will rate tomorrow.

Style: India Pale Ale

Cost: 56,00 SEK

Bitterness------Sweetness-----Sourness-----Intensity-------Body

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Appearance: 5/5

Hazy dark orange liquid with a medium sized dirty white foam that left a nice lacing.

Smell: 9/10

Very fresh with lots of hops. Also grapefruit, citrus and freshly cut grass.

Taste: 7/10

Milder then the smell. Lots of fresh hops, grass, citrus and grapefruit. Med-high bitterness.

Mouthfeel: 4/5

Medium smooth with some harshness. Medium carbonation. Med-light body.

Comment:

I just loved the look of this beer, a very appealing hazy orange liquid with a nice looking foam. When I smelled it I got hit by a fist full of fresh hops. If you have ever opened a bag of frozen hops and crunched them together in the bad, then you know how this smelled.

The taste of this beer didn't hold the same quality as the smell and appearance. Allot milder and with a fairly light body. It's basically the only thing that is holding it back. Still a very fresh and nice beer though.

It feels like this beer has the hoppy aroma of a Double IPA but not the body to back it up.

Total: 3,9/5

BrewDog strikes back!

For a while the German beer Schorschbräu Schorschbock 31% was the strongest beer in the world and they didn't look threatened. Then along came the Scottish punks from BrewDog and made Tactical Nuclear Penguin at 32%. The Germans wheren't late with their comeback and made a 40 % icebock. The Italians at Revelation Cat Craft Brewery entered the fight with Freeze the Penguin. Which is a mix of a barley wine and an imperial stout and is sitting at 35%. They also made another version spiced with Habanero peppers.

Up until yesterday there was a seize fire in the world war to brew the worlds strongest beer. But yesterday all hell broke loose as the Scotts at BrewDog hit back. They have made a quadrupel IPA at 41% with lots of american hops and named it Sink the Bismarck! (the movie is worth a watch).

I can't help but see the fun in all of this. The race is on and I wonder who will strike next. Will the Germans retaliate with yet another Eisbock? Or will the Italians come up from behind with another blended beer?

While the war rages on I have to think of a way to get my hands on these beers. Here are the pictures of the current top 3:

Beer charger

Drinking from a keg can be great, it's also fairly easy to handle when you have it at home. However if you want to bring your keg to a friends house or similar it can be a pain to lug a big tube of gas with you. My father has been searching for a way to fix this problem. He found the solution in a beer charger. It's basically a small plastic device with a small tube of gas inside.

Here is a link to the site where we bought it and refills.

Here is a picture of it:


My father then bought a plastic connection to the keg from Humlegården, which you can see in the below picture:

However he didn't use the beer charger to get initial pressure into the keg. He used the big tube at home to get pressure into the keg at first and he took it about 1-1,5 points higher then usual. Then just used the beer charger to get some more pressure into the keg as we started tapping beer out of it. He also used a very thin 5 meter pipe that you can see in the below picture. The reason he uses a very thing and long line is because of the high pressure in the keg. With a shorter pipe the pressure would have been to high.

Nynäshamn Sotholmen Extra Stout

Nynäshamn Sotholmen Extra Stout (25 cl bottle) 7%
This beer was part of the news release at the beginning of February and will be available for another 2,5 months.

Style: Foreign Stout

Cost: 23,00 SEK

Bitterness------Sweetness-----Sourness-----Intensity-------Body

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Appearance: 4/5

Pitch black liquid with a small dark brown foam that left some lacing.

Smell: 7/10

Not very intense. Musty, chocolate, sweet, nuts and a hint of coffee.

Taste: 7/10

Dark chocolate, nuts, dark bread, some roasted notes, hint of coffee. Low bitterness.

Mouthfeel: 4/5

Smooth and lean, dry and a light body.

Comment:

A stout with a weak smell and mild taste. Feels balanced but not very complex. Despite the small bottle and dark appearance it was quite easy to drink. Could probably work just as well in bigger bottles.

The most dominate flavour was chocolate. These kinds of beers usually have allot of roasted and coffee flavours but in this beer both where pretty mild. I think a bigger portion of those flavours would increase the overall flavour of the beer.

I tried it with some chocolate and it was a great match. Worked with both chocolate cake and truffles.

All in all a very drinkable beer but it feels like it lacks certain flavours and the body is a bit to light for my taste.

Total: 3,6/5

New beers at Systembolaget

There was a news release at Systembolaget today. It's the middle of the month release so only Regeringsgatan in Stockholm, Nordstan in Göteborg and Hansacompagniet in Malmö got bottles. Here is a list of the beer that was released today (Picture was stolen from Gjölens beer blog):

Brew Dog Tactical Nuclear Penguin (33 cl) 32% - 540,00 sek
Brooklyn Black Ops (75 cl) 11% - 230,00 sek
Sierra Nevada Harvest (71 cl) 6,7% - 69,00 sek
Kriek De Ranke (75 cl) 7% - 79,30 sek
Cuvée De Ranke (75 cl) 7% - 79,30 sek

I went to Regeringsgatan a couple of minutes before opening. The reason for being there so early was to try and get my dirty paws on a bottle of Tactical Nuclear Penguin. They only had 24 bottles and I got bottle nr 13 or something. The reason people where queueing for this bottle was that it was the strongest beer in the world (32%) when it was announced and caused quite allot of attention. Since then the German brewer Schorsbräu has made a beer at 40% called Schorschbräu Schorschbock.

I'm also looking forward to trying Black Ops. Which is denied by Brooklyn Brewery but if it where to exist it would be an imperial stout aged on burbon barrels.

I've tried Sierra Nevada Harvest before and enjoyed it, gave it a 3,5/5 with a comment about lots of flowery hops and a high bitterness. It's an IPA brewed with freshly picked hops ("wet hops").

I've only tried one beer from De Ranke before and that is their XX Bitter that was on tap at Akkurrat last summer. The two beers that was released at Systembolaget are ranked as the breweries nr 1 and 2 beer at Ratebeer so it looks like Im in for a treat. Specially since I love kriek.

All in all it looks like another great release at Systembolaget and I will post reviews as I try them out.

Book Review: Evaluating Beer

During Christmas I got a book from my parents called Evaluating Beer. The gift also included some rhyme about how it should help against disgruntled brewers. We'll just have to wait and see if that holds true in the future. ;)

Evaluating Beer

Available at: Humlegården => http://shop.humle.se/se/art/evaluating-beer-238-sidor-1993.php

Price: 169 SEK

Authors: Charlie Papazian, Greg Noonan, George Fix, Jim Koch, Ron Siebel, David Eby, Jean-Xavier Guinard, Ian Robertson, Ted Konis, Raoul Palamand, Grosvenor Merle-Smith, Morten C. Meilgaard and Ilse Shelton.

The book is written by as many as 13 authors, they both have a section each with some jumping in on several sections.

The book takes on quite a sientific approach to beer evaluation, both as a meassure for home brewers but also for industrial testing for the biggest breweries. The book covers both smell, taste and visual evaluation of beers. They also describe how to train your senses into discovering certain aromas. It also follows up with what causes bad flavours in beer and how to fix it.

To give some critique; the main problem is that there are so many authors that bring up the same thing. After a while it feels a bit unstructured and I think they could have shortened the book down by 50-60 pages if they didn't repeat themselfs all the time.

Another downside is that it focuses a bit to much on macro lager testing which isn't very interesting in my oppinion. It also gives an odd view on evaluating beer as it doesn't apply to other beer styles. But thankfully macro lager isn't the only beer style that is covered in the book. Most of the book covers beer in general and applies to homebrewers as well as large industrial breweries.

However all in all this was a very interesting book. It's fairly short and easy to read as the english isn't overly advanced most of the time. I think most beer enthusiast would find this book interesting specially if you regularly rate beer in one way or the other.

Total: 4/5

The next book I'm going to read is Classic Beer Style Series #7 - German Wheat Beer. We plan to brew a wheat beer in the middle of may and apparently I'm assigned to be brew-leader. So I better read up ;)

Andersson Valley Hop Ottin IPA

Andersson Valley Hop Ottin IPA (Bottle) 7%
This beer was part of the spring news release in the beginning of February 2010.

I tried this beer in february last year at Oliver Twist in Stockholm. It was from tap and I gave it a 3,9/5. This is one of the comments I gave it:
"It also had a taste with allot of grassy hops, citrus and grapefruit, yet the bitterness wasn’t as insane as I expected. Great thirst quencher, very enjoyable beer."

Style: India Pale Ale

Cost: 24,30 SEK

Bitterness------Sweetness-----Sourness-----Intensity-------Body

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Appearance: 3/5

Clear copper liquid with a medium sized white foam that left chunks of lacing.

Smell: 6/10

Weak smell. Hops, grass and pine needle.

Taste: 7/10

Hops, grass, hint of grapefruit, pine needle, hop resin.

Mouthfeel: 4/5

Mostly smooth but with a slightly harsh finish. Overall nice mouthfeel with a medium bitterness and body.

Comment:

I remember this beer being allot better, I think the hops had gotten a bit tired. I don't know for sure but I read on another blog that it was a year old. Which might be why it has lost some flavour. I don't remember Hop Ottin as being overwhelming but it was stronger then this.

Even though I'm a bit disappointed I have to admit it's still a pretty decent beer. Definitely something I would drink again. Just as with the other beers of this release I think it would be perfect for a sunny day. Just as with most of the beers from this release, feels like Im repeating myself.

Total: 3,3/5

Chrilles Extra Special Bitter

Extra Special Bitter (50 cl Bottle) 5,2% I got this beer from Chrille, which he made a while back.

Style: Extra Special Bitter

Cost: Gift from Chrille, so..... free of charge :)

Bitterness------Sweetness-----Sourness-----Intensity-------Body

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Appearance: 4/5

Hazy amber liquid, medium dirty white foam, groups of foam sticks to the glass.

Smell: 6/10

Fairly weak. Caramell, knäck, bread, grassy hops, milk??, hint of butter scotch and a hint of iron or maybe copper.

Taste: 5/10

Mild taste. Caramell, bread, malt and a hint of iron, copper coins to be exact.

Mouthfeel: 5/5

Smooth with a medium body. Very creamy and feels nice in my mouth. Very low bitterness. Very low carbonation.

Comment:

A very english bitter, easy to drink with a smooth mouthfeel and very low carbonation. It's very mild in both taste and smell with caramell and bread being the most dominante.

It has one major flaw and that is the copper or iron that breaks through in both taste and smell. Could be the pipes or maybe a by-product of the malts. Besides that I'm not sure how to fix it.

I would have loved some more hops in this, not allot but some more bitterness and aroma would be nice. I couldn't find any hops in the taste, but a hint in the smell. However the hops might have disappeared over time, I'm not sure how old this bottle is.

All in all this is an easy to drink beer. I can definitely imagine drinking a couple of pints in this in any English pub. Thanks for the beer Chrille!

Total: 3,2/5

Sierra Nevada Celebration

Sierra Nevada Celebration Ale (33 cl Bottle) 6,8%
This beer was part of the spring news release in the beginning of February 2010. I've rated this before and gave it a 3,4/5.

Style: India Pale Ale

Cost: 26,90 SEK

Bitterness------Sweetness-----Sourness-----Intensity-------Body

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Appearance: 4/5

Hazy copper liquid, medium dirty white foam, lots of lacing.

Smell: 7/10

Hops, grass, caramel, grapefruit, hay, some sweetness.

Taste: 8/10

Grass, hops, malty, caramel, pine needles, hint of spices. Lasting bitterness.

Mouthfeel: 3/5

Medium smoothness, low carbonation, medium bitterness.

Comment:

A rich beer with piny hoppy flavour with a hint of some spices. Not something I would relate to Christmas beer but I wouldn't mind drinking it during Christmas.

An enjoyable beer, but not extraordinary. Also quite easy to drink. Despite the theme of the beer I think it would be a great match on a hot summer day. Just as with most beers of this release.

Last time I had this I gave it a 3,4/5 and thought it was an above average ale. But I think I enjoyed this one better. Maybe this batch is fresher, either way it felt better and I'm raising my score to:

Total: 3,7/5

A tub of beer?!?

I just got an email about bathing in beer. Apparently a Czech brewery, Chodovar, arrange beer baths. Here is a link to their site. It supposedly costs around 200 SEK and a beer is included.

Feels like a huge waste of beer... well unless it's a drinkable beer that is. Hmm maybe you could drink it afterwards... *urkh* What do you think? Interested in trying it out? I have to admit that I'm intrigued...

Dugges Spring Beer

Dugges Spring Beer (50 cl Bottle) 4,7%
This beer was released at Systembolaget in the beginning of february. I heard this is their Lager nr 1 but I tried it at SMÖF 2009 and it didn't taste anything like this. So I'm think this a completely new beer.

Style: Premium Lager

Cost: 23,90 SEK

Bitterness------Sweetness-----Sourness-----Intensity-------Body

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Appearance: 4/5

Hazy honey-golden liquid with a big white foam that slowly disappeared and left lots of lacing.

Smell: 5/10

Hops, grass, earth, earth cellar. Not very strong smell but definitely noticeable.

Taste: 3/10

Flat taste. Hint of hops, some sugar, wet paper and most dominant earth. It tasted like an old murky earth cellar.

Mouthfeel: 3/5

Low carbonation. Smooth and easy to drink.

Comment:

I'm a bit dissapointed, which I rarely am with Dugges beer. First of all it didn't taste like a premium lager (not sure if that is a bad thing though). It tasted more like an english bitter or similar type, but with an odd funky earth flavour. I also missed hops and that malty bread flavour.

However on the bright side it was easy to drink and I reckon it could work on a hot summer day. Maybe also with some regular home cooked food.

Total: 2,3/5

Sigtuna Vårweizen

Sigtuna Vårweizen (Bottle) 5%

This beer was part of the spring news release in the beginning of February 2010. It is a hoped up version of a German wheat beer.

Style: German Hefeweizen

Cost: 24.90 SEK

Bitterness------Sweetness-----Sourness-----Intensity-------Body

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Appearance: 5/5

Very hazy golden liquid with a big white foam that left lots of lacing. Looks very appealing.

Smell: 7/10

Banana bread, foam bananas, yeast, coriander

Taste: 6/10

Foam banana, yeast and a hint of cloves. Some sourness. No bitterness and low sweetness.

Mouthfeel: 3/5

Fairly smooth, just a bit harsh and dry, medium body. Decent mouth feel.

Comment:

I was hoping for some hops in this beer but they never showed up. Instead it has to compete with beers like Weihestephaner and Franzizkaner and it can't really compete with those. However I do like that a Swedish brewer makes a wheat beer, that is something that doesn't happen everyday. But maybe they should have been a bit more heavy on the hops to make it stand out.

Not a bad beer though and I think it would well with most kinds of food. Probably nice on a hot summer day as well.

Total: 3,4/5

Dugges 1/2 Idjit!

Dugges 1/2 Idjit! (50 cl Bottle) 7%
This beer was released at Systembolaget in the beginning of february and will be available for the coming 3 months. I have tried it several times before and also wrote some notes on it. But for some odd reason the notes always gets lost. This time I won't make the same misstake ;)

Style: Imperial porter

Cost: 39,00 SEK

Bitterness------Sweetness-----Sourness-----Intensity-------Body

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Appearance: 4/5

Pitch black liquid with a small beige foam that left a nice lacing.

Smell: 8/10

Chocolate, roasted, malty and dark bread to name the most noticeable aromas.

Taste: 8/10

Very roasted with chocolate, dark bread, some coffee and a hint of nuts. A coffee-chocolate bitterness.

Mouthfeel: 5/5

Smooth and creamy with a thick body and a bit dry. Very pleasent.

Comment:

A well balanced porter with allot of taste without being overwhelming. It has allot of roasted flavour and also chocolate and it is all balanced by a good portion of sweetness. It was easy to drink but at the same time complex and interesting.

It was fantastic with chocolate but I can definitely imagine drinking this in pint glasses with my friends. However I should warn you that the alcohol (7%) is well hidden.

The price of 39 sek per bottle is the only downside with this beer, since it might be a bit to much for some people. However it is definitely worth buying a bottle to try it out. I'm personally going to buy a couple more just because it was so good.

Total: 4,1/5