List of Swedish Beer Festivals

My father recently complained that I don't keep him informed about upcoming festivals, so I figured it might be a good idea to post a list of upcoming (and already past events). I've added some other alcohol related festivals as well. Let me know if I have forgotten something.

30 jan. - Belgofesten, Uppsala (home brewed beer)
6 feb. - Linköping Whisky Expo
26-27 march - Sundsvall Beer & Whisky
9-10 april - Chateu Grand Cru, Örebro (Wine and cheese)
10 april - Linköpings Beer Expo
21-24 april - Vinordic, Stockholm (various alc. beverages, incl. beer)
22-24 april - Gothenburg Beer Festival
24 april - Swedish Championship in home brewed beer (Göteborg)
8 may (??) - Enköpings Open (home brewed beer)
30 sept. - 2 oct. and 7-9 oct. - Stockholm Beer & Whisky
29-30 oct. - Söderbärke Micro beer festival
19-20 nov. (??) - Örebro Beer & Whisky

Foreign beer festivals:
6-8 may - Copenhagen Beer Festival
3-7 aug. - Great British Beer Festival
16-18 sept- Great American Beer Festival

Belgofest tomorrow

Tomorrow I jump on the train to Uppsala to visit the Belgofest. It's a homebrew festival that focus on belgian beer and is usual helt this time of year. It's one of my favorite festivals due to my love to belgian and homebrewed beer but also that it's quite small.

I should have some pictures up on sunday, depending on how many beers I sample on saturday ;)

Beer list for ÖBWF 2009

Next weekend I'm going to Örebro to visit the Beer and Whisky Festival. I'll be there on saturday together with Per, my father and some other people that usually show up on this blog. Ölkultur med David och Fredrik recently published the beer list and here it is again. Looks like allot of promising brewers and importers are coming. Chrille is officially releasing his Pannknektarnas Kaffeporter, even though it had a sneak premier at Bishops a while back. I also hope to meet some fellow beer bloggers.

Brill hasn't released what beers they are bringing but if it's anything like what they had at SBWF 2009 I will be very happy. I tried some fantastic beers at their booth and hope to try some more this time.

Närke has a fairly big selection of beers and I hope to try their Närke Kaggen 2008 Pure Swedish Oak. I have already tried their 2007 and 2008 versions twice and they where both great but 2008 was slightly better. I like their InternationAle so I also hope to try the New InternationAle.

Galatea is bringing a couple of belgian beers I haven't tried before so might be able to fill in some holes. I've tried most of the beers from Hantverksbryggeriet and Nynäshamn, but I have a couple that I haven't rated yet.

Great Brands is bringing a bunch of beers that I want to try, will probably stand at their booth for a while. The first four breweries on their list is very interesting and Harviestoun brews one of the best lagers I have ever tried, so hopefully I can try some more beers from that brewery.

There are also allot of other breweries and importers that I haven't mentioned but something that seems worth mentioning are the producers displayed under "ÖVRIGA". There are some cheese and chocolate companies and also Torslundskagge who makes wooden barrels, one beer that use them is Närke Kaggen Stormaktsporter.

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.

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.

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.

SBWF 2009, part 9 - Finishing words

As I write this the festival is coming up on it's last hours. I've been thinking about visiting the festival on both weekends but I've never gotten around to it. Well there is always next year ;)

I've been to the festival six times now and it's always one of the high points of the year. Lots of intresting beer and allot of interesting people to talk to. The only downside is that it becomes a bit to much people after a couple of hours. My favorite is definitely the first 2-3 hours of the day when the crowd is quite modest and you don't have to spoon 10 other guys to get a beer. But besides that it's great. Everybody is very friendly and the amount of great beer seems limitless.

We spent most of our time at Oliver Twists booth, but I have to say that Brill was my favorite for the evening. I had som amazing beer there and the service was great. I also quite enjoyed trying Kaggen at Bishops Arms. The only place I got a complaint with is Monks. I'm not a fan of buying a whole bottle at festivals and that is the only reason we left and didn't come back. But I still like Monks and I love that they make their own beer. But I would love them even more if they would sell me some tasters in the future so that I can try more of their own beer.

Another complaint would be the transportation. The bus came every 30 minutes and SL sent a small bus for the job. Maybe SBWF can organize alternative transport in case SL doesn't realise that there is an event going on.

In total we tried about 90 beers and I rated about half of thoose. Feels like a decent result after 10 hours of sampling beer.

All in all this was a great festival and I can't wait for the next one. Well at least I can satisfy myself with SMÖF at the end of October and ÖBWF at the end of November. Hopefully I'll meet you there.

SBWF 2009, part 8

After a while we ended up at Brills counter and some really nice beers. Pierre Brill was there himself and suggested some really interesting beers. :)

We started out soft as I spotted a label that looked interesting:

Nögne Ö - Aku Aku Lemongrass (tap) 5,5%
Someone described this as drinking thai food as a beer. Which is a fairly good description. It had a very fresh scent and taste of lemon and lime. But it was also a bit watery and bland. Interesting but not great.
Total: 2,6/5

I think it was Per who thought it would be fun to try some other Nögne Ö beers and was suggested to try this one:

Nögne Ö Imperial Stout (tap) 9%
Lots of chocolate and coffey. Compley with lots of different tastes. Very nice.
Total: 4/5

I started asking about their american beer, what kind of Jolly Frogs they had and so on. Turned out I had tried most of them. But Brill pulled out a beer I had been wanting to try for a long time:

Pizza Port Hop 15 (bottle) 10,5%
It poured a hazy golden-orange liquid with a small white foam. It had a fresh smell and taste of grassy hops, lemon and other citrus fruit. It was very smooth with a round feeling that just hugged my tongue. Balanced and extremely good, one of the best beers I've had.
Total: 4,3/5

I got pretty excited about this beer and started pouring compliments over Brill. He then suggested I tried this beer, once again something I have been drooling over for a long while. Finally had a bottle in front of me and I could feel my mouth watering.
Beer Here Dark Hops (bottle) 8,5%
It poured a pitch black liquid with a medium sized light brown foam. It had a strong smell of both hops, citrus and chocolate and coffey. It tasted similar with a combo of hops and all the flavours I relate to a stout. Smooth, creamy and complex. This is a kind of beer Ive been talking about making. Combining lots of hops with a spicey stout. Very nice I really enjoyed it!
Total: 4,4/5

I then told him that this is probably the best line of great beers Ive ever had. He told me that I should try this beer and pulls out a beer that I once again have been pining for.

Three Floyds Behemoth Barley Wine (bottle) 12% (pink = 2005)
It poured a hazy copper golden liquid with a small white foam. It had a strong smell of grassy hops and flowers. The smell was thick and intense with some warm alcohol to build it up. It had a thick and heavy taste of caramell, hops and malt. High bitterness, very nice, a great beer!
Total: 4,2/5

After four really fantastic beers we decided to take a break and grab something to eat. After this I just enjoyed myself and to be honest I was just a bit to drunk to give the beer a fair chance.

SBWF 2009, part 7

We had been walking around in the area between Oliwer Twist, Galatea and Wicked Wine for a while and finally got our asses moving closer to the entrance side of the room. We first went by Nils Oscar that had two new beers, I didnt rate them and I have no notes of it but I think they where named Hay Stack and God Ale. I tried the Hay Stack that was pretty nice and then forgot to try God Ale. But hopefully they both show up at Systemet sooner or later so I can do a proper testing.

Next stop was Bishops Arms. They had a bunch of Swedish Microbreweries on tap and bottle. Most noticable Närke Kaggen Stormaktsporter. A beer I had tried several times before and it has the number 1 spot in my book with a whoppin 4,9 score. I had tried 05 and 06 before if my memory serves me right, but it was from bottles. They where both excellent and this time they had 07 and 08 on tap. We ordered both and they where fantastic. According to me and Per 07 had edge on 08 since 07 felt like it still wasn't quite finished. But I'm sure it will be great if it just sits for a while. They also had a Kaggen that had been aged in old Mackmyra barrels. Unfortunately the premiere was at 20:00 and I completely forgot about it at that time.

I didn't take any notes from the Kaggen testing as I had already rated it. But it was nice to just enjoy a beer and not having to think to much. But here is a couple of other beers I tried durin this time (not all at Bishops):

Sierra Nevada Torpedo Extra IPA (bottle) 7,2%
It poured a hazy golden-orange liquid. It had a strong sweet smell of grassy hops and caramell. It tasted of grassy hops, grapefruit and had a very high bitterness. Lacked some roundness but besides that a very nice IPA. I wanted more ;)
Total: 4,1

Dugges Rail Ale (tap)
A fresh beer with lots of grassy hops.
Total: 3,8/5

Strömsholms Beridaren 6,2%
Interesting to see a belgian style ale by a swedish brewery. Is it just me or do most stick to english and american ales these days? Well and also the numerous varieties of lager.
Anyway, this was a nice attempt a smooth brew with some yeast and spices. Would like to see more stuff like this.
Total: 3,1/5

Bishops Arms, Vår Egen IPA (brewed by Ölands Token)
A fresh IPA with allot of grassy hops. I wonder what their plans are for this beer. If its a new house ale I approve.
Total: 3,5/5

Mora Kölner-Bier (bottle) 5%
A slightly above average lager, not really impressed.
Total: 2,4/5

SBWF 2009, part 6

After a couple of beers at Galatea we got a bit split up and started trying all kinds of beers. But the focus still lay on heavy beers such as Imperial Stouts, IPAs and Barley Wines. When we stood at the Wicked Wine booth I ran into the guys at FemKommaNoll TV. Friendly guys and I'm looking forward to watching the segment they did at the festival.

Me, Johan and Thomas from FemKommaNoll-Tv.

When we came back to Oliver Twist I also ran into Markus from Öl är gott, resor är kul. When we stood there talking I also got introduced to Hrigilzkar from this blog and Fajanen and Jöns was there as well. It was allot of fun meeting these guys and I hope to run into them again in the future.

Markus, Hrigilzkar and Fajanen.

I didn't get to chat very long with them, before my father came running and told me had something special he wanted me to try. When I got over to Wicked wine that was only a few meters away I got handed a glass of something very black and heavy. Even though I had tried quite allot of beers at this point I could feel the spicey aroma that was drifting up from the glass. I tasted it and it was like an explosion of flavour. Very heavy and my tongue got attacked from left and right. My father just laughed and showed me the bottle, it was this beer:


BrewDog Tokyo* (bottle) 18,2%
An imperial stout at 18,2%. Well actually the label said: "intergalactic fantastic oak aged stout". Which is actually a very good description. I look at my notes now and see that I have written: "Warm alcohol hits me in the face!". I bet if I would have been more focused I would have written something similar about the taste. It tasted sweet with chocolate, wood, burned and lots of other spices. The alcohol was also very dominant and it might have been a bit to much. However a very nice beer, would love to re-test it in the future.
Total: 4,1/5

SBWF 2009, part 5

After our extended stay at Oliver Twist we headed over to Galatea to try some trappist. I had already seen that they had some beer from La Trappe that I hadn't tried before. I tested a bunch of La Trappe beers in this post. While testing I had the pleasure of meeting some guys from Strömsholms Brygghus. Unfortunately I got a bit distracted so I didn't have a chance to chat very long with them. Here's a picture of three happy beer lovers:

La Trappe Bockbier (bottle) 7%
It poured a hazy dark brown liquid with a small light brown foam. It had a fairly weak smell of yeast and spices. It had allot of carbonation and a taste of spices, caramell and yeast. An ok beer.
Total: 3,4/5
La Trappe Witte Trappist (bottle) 5,5%
It poured a hazy pale yellow liquid with a white foam. It smelled and tasted of yeast, coriander and spices.
Total: 3,3/5

La Trappe Blond (bottle) 6,5%
It poured a hazy golden liquid with a small white foam that left some lacing. It had a spicey smell with some yeast. It had a smooth mouthfeel and had a taste of yeast and spices. Quite alright beer.
Total: 3,5/5

Liefmans Goudenband (bottle) 8%
Total: 3,4/5

Vedett Extra White (bottle) 4,7%
Total: 2,9/5

SBWF 2009, part 4

We tried a couple more beers at Oliwer Twist. Chrille and his friend Pyrre joined us at this point.

Victory Wild Devil Ale (bottle) 6,7%
It poured a hazy dark golden-orange liquid with a medium sized foam. Had a scent of caramell, hint of hops and some toilette. It had allot of carbonation, felt stingy in my mouth. Tasted sligthly sour and also had a taste of caramell and hops.
Total: 2,6/5
Tommyknocker Butt Head Bock (bottle) 8,2%
It poured a dark golden-brown liquid with a small foam. It had a scent of malt, caramell and warm alcohol. It was dry and had a taste of caramell with an alcoholic finish. An ok beer but it didn't stick out as anything special.
Total: 3,3/5

Stone Imperial Russian Stout (bottle) 10,8%
It poured a thick and pitch black liquid. It had a strong spicey scent of chocolate, soy sauce, coffey and bread. It tasted just as it smelled, a very nice beer.
Total: 4,2/5

Maui Brewery Coconut Porter (can) 5,7%
Coconut and chocolate, yum yum.
Total: 3,5/5

Terrapin India Style Brown Ale (bottle) 6%
Total: 3,5/5

SBWF 2009, part 3

After Monks we made our way over to Oliwer Twist. They had brought a huge supply of american beer and we decided to go for some DIPAs, Barley Wines and Imperial Stouts. Just as I was about to start ordering someone tapped me on my shoulder, turned out it was Fajanen and Jöns, from another beer blog. Nice meeting a fellow beer blogger at the festival.

OT had what must have been the best deal of the festival. One 65 cl bottle of Arrogant bastard for only 60 sek. Now it's a bit to much for sampling but still a very nice deal. Lots of good beer for your hard earned money. I ofc got my hands on a sample and since I loved the oak aged version I had high expectations.

Stone Arrogant Bastard (bottle) 7,2%
It poured a hazy golden-brown liquid with a small foam that left no lacing. It had a smell of caramell and warm alcohol. Tasted of caramell, hops with an warm alcoholic finnish. Medium-high bitterness. A very nice beer but the oak aged version is better. I gave that one 4,2/5.
Total: 3,7/5

We ended up staying at Oliver Twist for a while sampling different kinds of beers. Here's a a few reviews and scores from the testing:

Dogfish Head 90 Minute Imperial IPA (bottle) 9%
It poured a hazy dark golden liquid with a small foam with big bubbles. It had a strong smell of caramell, hops, citrus and grape. It had a very round and smooth mouthfeel. Lots of hops, high bitterness and some citrus, caramell and grape. Very nice!
Total: 4,2/5

Maui Brewing Bikini Blonde Lager (can) 4,5%
Comment: Warning this is not served by a bikini blonde!
Total: 2,4/5
North Coast Anniversary XX (bottle) 12,5% (couldn't find it at Ratebeer)
Comment: Made from agave nectar. Interesting but also a bit watery.
Total: 3,2/5

Great Divide Hercules DIPA (bottle) 9,1%
Comment: Very nice DIPA.
Total: 3,9/5

SBWF 2009, part 1

I'm finally vertical again after yesterdays visit at Stockholm Beer and Whisky festival. It was a great festival and I got to experience allot of interesting beers.

I meet up with Per and his brother Henning at Slussen to take the buss to Nacka Strand. Unfortunately we wheren't the only ones that was going the same way and the platform was packed with people lining up to get on the buss. After 25 minutes the buss finally showed up and it's a small one. SL should really get some critique here, it's the same way each year. They should really use some extra busses on days like this. However we managed to squeeze ourselfs in on the first buss that came. Once we got to Nacka we joined up with my father and Erika who had taken the car from Örebro/Frövi. The line was long but it was decimated very fast and before we knew it we where rushing for the first pitstop.

We started with Hantverksbryggeriet from Västerås. Last year they had a blueberry lambic that got allot of attention and they ran out of it very fast. So this year I wanted to start here to have a chance at testing it. We all choose different beers, I took Alkemisten (blueberry lambic). The others took Julnarren, Baronen and Bödeln.

Here's some short reviews:
Hantverksbryggeriet Alkemisten (bottle) 5%
It poured a hazy red liquid with a very small reddish foam. It had a strong sweet and sour smell of gruits and berries. It tasted fruity and yeasty. But I couldn't really feel the blueberries, tasted more like black currant and other red berries. It was also a bit watery and lacked some depth and roundness in the mouthfeel. Sorry to say that it didn't live up to my expectations, not one of the better lambics I've had.
Total: 2,9/5
Hantverksbryggeriet Julnarren (tap) 7%
It poured a hazy dark brown-golden liquid with a small foam. Smelled of dark bread and spices. Tasted similar but also dry and it felt like it was missing something. Decent christmas beer though.
Total: 3,2/5

Hantverksbryggeriet Baronen (tap) 11,3%
It poured a hazy dark golden liquid with a light brown foam that left some lacing. It had a strong smell with some warm alcohol. It felt round, thick and smooth in my mouth. Had a warm alcoholic finnish. Tasted of caramell, malt and fruity. Very nice.
Total: 4/5

Hantverksbryggeriet Bödeln (tap) 5,6%
It poured a hazy orange liquid with a light orange foam. Strong smell of grassy hops, pine, citrus and grape. High bitterness, grape, citrus, grassy hops. Fresh and lots of hops, I liked it.
Total: 3,8/5

Time for SBWF 2009

It's finally time for me to visit the Stockholm Beer and Whisky festival. Something I look forward to each year. It's like christmas, you have problem sleeping, hang out with your friends and family, eat lots of nice food and drink lots of good beer ;)

The plan is to be at Nacka strand at 11:30-11:40 to get a decent spot in the que. I will most likely be meeting up with Per at Slussen before that and we have set a plan for what we will drink. The focus is on beer we haven't tried before, but we have narrowed it down to hop juice, spicey stouts and heavy belgians. To make sure we get the focused beers first we have printed the beer list and used coloured pens to mark the more interesting beers. I know we won't get to try them all, but if we get a decent amount I will be more then happy.

It looks like we will be a big group this year, my father, Chrille and Erika are driving up from Örebro. My brother has some friends over for a visit this weekend and they are most likely joining up later on. Per also had some friends that will join us later in the evening. I also hope to spot some other beer bloggers at the festival.

Time for some breakfast...

Enköpings Open Championship, part 2

When we got to the festival I was suprised that it was so big, I expected about 50-100 visitors but my guess is it was closer to 300, but Im probably way of on that one. 41 beers had entered the competition and they where divided into three classes just as at the Swedish Championship: Bottom fermented (class 1), top fermented (class 2) and special beer (class 3).

Lots of people.....

...in all directions.

Finally enjoying the first beer at the festival. We started on class 1 and worked our way up.

They guys that brewed Karlssons Klister had put some time into marketing their beer. Everybody that tried their beer got a sticker on their glass. I suggested some bikini girls for next years competition.

This time I managed to try all of the classes and vote in good time. It might be because they had different deadlines for each class. The first class had a deadline at 15:30, then class 2 at 16:00 and class 3 at 16:30. This is definitely a system that is worth testing at the next SC.

Alfie and his nicer "twin".

The guy in the blue shirt had his son with him who had entered the competition with his first ever brew. I hope to see him again at the next SC.

They had a barbeque going outside and you could get some hot dogs and beer sausage. Which was really nice and I hope to see in some more festivals. Looks like the hot dogs where really popular as they ran out of them at the end.

The quality of the beers where good and very even. I graded them all around 2,6-3,4 which I think is a very good result. However I didn't find any favorites this time.

After a couple of beers some people where getting a bit to "friendly".

After 4 hours of drinking beer it was time to take the train home. Felt nice to get home to some barbeque.

This was a really nice festival with lots of friendly people. It's so much fun to talk to both the brewers and the visitors. I hope to see all of them next year.

Enköpings Open Championship part 1

Yesterday me, Per, Nicklas, Åke (my father) and Alfie the pop-up-man went to Enköping to attend the Open Championship. Me, Nicklas and Per took the train from Stockholm and Alfie and Åke took the train from Arboga. During the train ride we tried two different beers which I will grade later on.

Nicklas and Per on the train from Stockholm to Enköping.

Since we arrived about an hour before the festival started we decided to hunt for some beer. I hoped we could visit the Corner Inn but it was closed. So instead we ended up at Masouds and had a Mariestads. To bad we didn't know they have an O'Learys in Enköping now.

Apparently Massouds also lets anybody into their restaurant. Took the old guys some time to find us, but they where rewarded with some beer when they did.

"Stayin' alive, stayin' alive ha ha ha ha stayin' aaaaalaaaaaaive". Yepp, looking good on our way to the festival.

The walk to the festival was a nice one with the sun warming us as we walked in the otherwise windy and cool weather.

I will publish a report on the festival and some more pictures shortly.