Testing Westvleteren

I've wanted to try Westvleteren for a long time now. It was the only trappist I haven't tried and one of them is ranked as nr 1 at Ratebeer and another as nr 12. Me, my brother and father shared the three bottles.

But before I present the result I'm gonna give a quick background to the brewery:

Westvleteren Abdij St. Sixtus

It is the smallest of the trappist breweries. They brew three different beers, however they don't use the classic trappist grading system of Dubble, Tripel and Quadrupel. They make a Blonde and two dark strong ales. If I where to but them in the trappist system I would say they are both closest to Quadrupels. The monks brew a very limited quantity of beer and according to their website it's fairly complicated to buy the beer. However if you do happen to pass by the brewery and have requested a purchase by phone, you can buy a crate (24 bottles) for only 25-36 euros. I would call that a bargain.

From left to right: Westvleteren Blonde, 8 and 12.

The caps are the only thing seperating the three beers at a first glance. Can tell you that we where a bit confused when we started pouring the beers in 9 different glasses.

Westvleteren Blonde 5,8% (Bottle)
It poured a hazy golden liquid with a medium sized foam that left no lacing. There was also some yeast in the liquid.

It had a strong smell of citrus, orange, yeast, honey and spices. A fairly promising start.

The first thing I noticed while tasting this beer was that it had some honey in it. Besides that it was very fizzy which hid the flavor. After letting the beer rest for a while some more sides emerged, it had a spicey and dry taste, yet smooth and easy to drink. It had a small body which made it seem a bit watery and boring. But it was still a fairly solid beer even though it couldnt match up to it's bigger brothers.

Total: 3,5

Westvleteren 8 8% (Bottle)
It poured a dark liquid with some tones of red and brown and a small foam that left a little lacing. There was also some yeast in the liquid.

The aroma was strong with chocolate, red berries, coffey and spices. Complex and very nice.

The first sip was very fizzy. So fizzy in fact that I didn't sense any flavor at all. After waiting a bit and let the fizzyness reside a bit I started to get a better grasp of the beer and it improved allot. It had a spicey flavor with some chocolate, red berries, nuts, orange peels and dried fruit. It also had a bite to it that I actually enjoyed, normally that would have been a bad thing but in this beer it really worked.

Total: 4,3/5

Westvleteren 12 10,2% (Bottle)
It poured a dark liquid with some tones of red and brown. The foam was small and left no lacing. After a closer inspection I also noticed that there where some yeast in the liquid.

It had an aroma of chocolate and something fruity, some red berries and something else which I couldn't distinguish. It was also spicey with some alcohol that was fairly well hidden. The aroma wasn't as strong as with Westvleteren 8.

Just as with Westvleteren 8 the first sip was just way to fizzy and it clouded all the nice flavour this beer turned out to have. It had a taste of nuts, chocolate and red berries. It was not as intence as Westvleteren 8, although a bit smoother. But I actually prefered the roughness and spices in the 8. It was all very round and well balanced with a warm alcoholic finish.

Total: 4,2/5

I'm actually a bit dissapointed and I think I had too high expectations on these beers. As you can see from my score they where not bad, but I had expected something better, probably around 4,5-4,9. But at least they had one thing in common, they all improved allot with less fizzyness. However I have a feeling these beers improves over time and that we might have opened them a bit to early.

Testing Hökhålts Sommarale

I don't know why, but this entire week has felt like one big friday. So today I finally capitalized on it and took the liberty of trying a beer I've been drooling over for a while. It is last years winner of the Swedisch Championchip in Homemade Beer. The first prize is that you get to brew it commercially, this years winner brewed at Grebbestads Bryggeri. I ordered a crate (15 beers) through Systembolaget and shared it with my father and Per (see the Frövi race).


Hökhålts Sommarale 5% (Bottle)
It poured a dark clear golden liquid with a medium foam that left a little bit of lacing on the walls of the glass. The foam slowly receded and left a 1 mm foam on the top of the surface.

It had an aroma of grassy hops, most likely English, also some hay and a hint of caramel and malt.

My first reaction when I tested it was that it felt very smooth in my mouth. It also left a tingly sensation in my entire mouth, not sure if this was caused by the beer or the fact that I was thirsty. It tasted of grassy hops, hay and caramel, with a low to medium bitterness, with just a little bit of sting to it. Also a hint of metal, but not so much that it had a negative effect on the beer.

Felt like a well balanced beer and it worked great in the hot weather, I would happily have a couple more. Too bad it’s only Thursday...

Total: 3,4/5

Going to Oslo

I'm gonna visit a couple of friends in Oslo this weekend. At first I thought I wouldn't be able to make the trip due to difficulties in getting time off and the price on airtickets. But all of a sudden the prices at Norwegian Airlines dipped 500 sek so I imidiately bought a ticket. One hour later the prices went up 1000 sek. Very odd so my tip is to keep checking prices if you want to visit Norway. I found the cheapest tickets at Norwegian Airlines.

I don't expect to drink allot of good beers in my stay. But I got a good feeling there will be allot of beer drinking anyway ;)

Barbecue and beer

My brother brought his girlfriend along to the barbecue and it was fun to meet her. Seems like a nice and friendly girl.

The evening was so warm and nice that we sat outside until late in the night drinking beer and talking. We tried a couple of Harviestoun beers but Im gonna present them later on.

Herslev Midsommer Bryg 5,5% (Bottle)

It poured a hazy pale yellow liquid with a medium sized foam. It smelled fresh and sweet with some banana. The first sip was fresh and very fizzy. Had a sweet flavor of citrus and banana. I wrote down belgian wit, which turned out correct.

Total: 3,3/5

BFM Abbaye de Saint Bon-Chien 2008 11% (Bottle)

It poured hazy red-brown liquid without foam. It also had some yeast floating around in the bottle. It had a strong sour smell with something chemical in the background. Similar to how it smells inside a barn full of cows that has pissed and shit all over. I honestly didn't look forward to the first taste. It tasted sour with a strong chemical bitterness at the end. Which ones again reminded me of old cow piss, not that I've ever had any to drink but I recon this is what it would taste like. Overall this beer got the same reaction to all four testers. Did I finish it? Sure, it's still beer. But two of them just sipped it and then gave up, considered it undrinkable. I got the feeling this needs 1-2 years to settle and age a bit.

Note: Apparently my score is below what is average for the beer and therefore not acceptible. How odd, I guess that is why it has such a high score.

Total: 0,9/5

Stone/Nøgne Ø/Jolly Pumpkin Special Holiday Ale 9% (Bottle)

It poured a dark brown liquid with red tones and a small foam that left just a little lacing. It smelled spicey and christmasy also something that I related to pumpkin seeds. Now that I see the name at ratebeer I realise that must be it. It had a complex spicey flavor that I had a hard time placing and a hint of nuts and a warm alcoholic finish. Very nice!

Total: 3,9/5

Jolly Pumpkin Calabaza Blanca 4,8% (Bottle)

It poured a hazy pale yellow liquid with a small foam. It had a fresh and sour aroma with some citrus. It had allot of fizzyness with a sour flavor of oranges, citrus and some spices that I couldn't place.

Total: 3,4/5

A trip to Fjäderholmarna

On saturday me, Karin, my brother and parents took a boat to Fjäderholmarna. It's a small island in the Stockholm archipelago, very easily accesible by boat from Slussen or Nybrokajen. The trip takes somewhere between 15 and 25 minutes.

Once on the island we walked around for a bit and looked at the different stores and restaurants. Then we sat down in the grass and had some white wine and just soaked up the sun.

We had lunch at Rökeriet, which serves different kinds of smoked fish and shrimps. Me and Karin who had been there before went for our favorites: smoke shrimp and salmon. Unfortunately I forgot to take pictures of this but I will make up with a couple of random pictures.

Me and Karin in front of one of the harbors.

Me and my mother at the same harbor.

Karin and my mom in line for some icecream

The island was packed with people enjoying the fantastic weather. We actually had to que to get on and off the island. But since they had put in extra boats it wasn't much of a hastle.

One of the boats ferrying people back and forth to Slussen.

After a couple of hours we decided it was time to head home for some beer and bbq. More about that in the next article.

A couple of beers at Akkurat, part 2

After a couple of beers we decided it was time to for some food. Me and my brother had the bacon and cheese burger which was very nice. My father wasn't that hungry and settled for some clams. I don't think I have ever been dissapointed of the food at Akkurat and this one wasn't an exception. The burger was very juicy and nice.

Närke Huvill 7,8% (Tap)

It poured a clear golden liquid with a medium sized foam that left a nice lacing. The aroma was filled with grassy hops. The flavor was fresh, with allot of grassy hops, a medium bitternes and some grapefruit.

Total: 3,5/5

Petrus 5,5% (Tap)

It poured a dark liquid with some reddish tones, with a small foam that left a nice lacing. The aroma was fruity, sweet and sour. The flavor was similar, sour, fruity and sweet with some red berries.

Total: 3,4/5

Nynäshamns Bedarö Bitter 4,5% (Tap)

This is a beer that I usually buy when Im at Systembolaget and don't have any particular beers to buy (read: when there are no new beers to buy). But I have never really looked at it closely. So I thought this was a good time.

It poured a clear golden liquid with a medium sized icecream foam. Which made it look very appealing. It had an aroma of malt, hops and some caramell. The flavor was very similar with just a hint of caramell. Overall I was a bit dissapointed by this beer and would have expected it to get a higher score.

Total: 2,7/5

Hopslam 10 % (Bottle)

It poured a clear golden liquid with a medium sized foam that left a nice lacing. The aroma was very strong with lots of hops, both fruity and grassy hops. Which made it smell great and almost made me drool. The first sip delivered what the smell had promised, it was filled with hops, both fruity and grassy and a high bitterness. A very nice beer and one of the best DIPAs I've had.

Total: 4/5

Hopslam was our last beer before deciding to head back to my appartment. My mother was coming by and we where going to have some grilled sandwhiches. But if it wheren't for the fact that I had a fridge full of interesting beers I might have never been able to drag us out of Akkurat ;)

Shipyard Barley Wine Style Ale (Pugsley Signature Series) 8,5% (Bottle)

It poured a dark black liquid with a small foam. It had a strong smell, spicey, sweet, burned, smoey and some alcohol. The taste was similar with some burned and smokey, toasty and spicey yet smooth with a warm alcoholic finish.

Total: 3,6/5

Rogue Chocolate Stout 6,3% (Bottle)

It poured a dark black liquid with a small foam. It smelled sweet with allot of chocolate. The flavor was similar with chocolate and some sweetness. But it was also a bit watery and short, which draws the points down a bit.

Total: 3,5/5

We decided that this was our last beer for the evening and made it an early night. Since we planned to take a boat to Fjäderholmarna the next day. More about that in a future article.

A couple of beers at Akkurat, part 1

Me, my father and brother went to Akkurat on friday to have dinner and drink a couple of beers. We started out strong with a Westvleteren testing, which I will write about in my next article. After Westvleteren we tried a bunch of interesting beers, Akkurat had a sale on bottled beer so we took advantage of that but they also had a couple of interesting beers on tap.

After a while my brothers friend Kalle showed up. I think he really enjoyed the beers.

Bière Darbyste 5,8% (Bottled)

When I arrived at Akkurat my father and brother where already seated and where bussy drinking this beer.

It poured a hazy brown-orange liquid with a small foam that stayed. It also had allot of yeast floating around. It smelled a bit like wine, with some yeast and alcohol. The flavor was similar with wine, yeast and some fruit. It also had some sourness but not that much. All in all it was bland and a bit boring.

Total: 2,5/5

(I forgot to take a picture)

Beck-Bräu Zoigl 5,8% (Tap)

It poured a hazy golden liquid with a medium sized icecream looking foam that left some lacing. At first I thought this beer smelled like some kind of cleaning liquid. But after a while the chemical parts dissapeared and left a more hoppy presence. It also smelled fresh with citrus. It also tasted very fresh with citrus, but also malt and hops. It worked great in the warm weather.

Total: 3,1/5

Bink Blond 5,5% (Tap)

It poured a hazy dark golden liquid with an icecream foam that left allot of lacing. It smelled of yeast, wine, dried orange peels and some other spices which I could define. I really enjoyed the smell. The flavor was similar, very fresh with citrus, some wine and yeast, but also spicey. It was smooth in my mouth but the body was a bit weak which made it seem a bit to bland. It smelled better then it tasted, but still a nice beer.

Total: 3,4/5

Pizza Port Shark Attack Double/Triple Red Ale 9,2% (Bottle)

It said Double Red Ale on the bottle but at ratebeer it seems like it's also named Triple.

It pured a hazy brown with reddish tones, with a small foam. It had a strong scent with allot of caramell and warm alcohol. The aroma was also very strong with caramell and a warm alcoholic finnish. After a while some hops came through, but the caramell was very dominant. Was this a barley wine? It sure reminded me of one. The beer got smoother at the end but overall it was a bit to 1-dimensional for me.

Total: 3,1/5

Ocean Single Hop Amber 4,8% (Tap)

This is one of the real ales Akkurat had this evening.

It was filled to the brim with a clear golden liquid with a very small foam that left a nice lacing. The aroma had a hint of something burned, reminding me of toast. It had a flavor of hops and some burned toast. Very easy to drink but a bit watery. Nice in the hot weather though a real thirst quencher.

Total: 2,4