Falcon

Hmm, it appears I have duped! In an Italian restaurant in Gamla Stan, Stockholm (ie the only place still open late on a Sat night) I ordered the only draught beer on the menu - Falcon. The beer tasted ok, slightly bland and a little soapy. Low and behold I get back to London and start to do a little research for the blog and I find out its a low alcohol beer! Falcon is 2.8% abv... According to the official Carlsberg website (they brew the stuff);

"Falcon beer is Sweden’s second most popular beer sold through groceries and the service sector. It has an alcohol content of just 2.8% ABV, making it an excellent choice for weekday meals. Since 1896, the Falcon Beer family has represented traditional Swedish brewing at its best. Brewed from pure spring water, this bottom fermented lager has a rich, malt taste and a bitter hop aroma. "

I am lost for words - its a boys beer!

Starobrno

Again at the Skybar in Stockholm, Sweden the next beer that I encountered as I drank my way down the row of taps hiding behind the bar was Starbrno (5.0% abv) which is a Czech Pilsner which has been improted from teh town of Brno in the Czech republic. As far as Pilsners go, this is a very good example - more refined than Staropramen which I find really dry, but also not as buttery as Pilsner Urquell. If only I had a nice pork knuckle to enjoy with the beer!

The Starbrno brewery started brewing in 1872 and underwent a major refurbishment in 1995 increasing both its brewing capacity and also upgrading its packaging facility. The brewery buildings themselves are now a major tourist attraction along the lines of the Guinness store house in Dublin. Anyhow you can find our more info if you speak Czech! http://www.starobrno.cz/

Mariestads Export

Once again in the Skybar and the beer of tipple amongst the Stockholm crowd appeared to be Mariestads Export (5.3% abv). This beer is a pale Pilsner style beer with a clean malty taste and a nice bitter aftertaste. The beer is nice and well balanced and is considered one of the leading Swedish beers. I am not going to argue with that, however the dominant style that I noticed was the Vienna Lager style? Maybe this is environmental with the climate providing barley that malts with a lot of mellanoids, whilst hops grown in the area are lower in alpha acids? Anyhow the Mariestads brand is one of several owned by Spendrups, who acquired the former Mariestads brewery in 1967. On an interesting note, and arguably more interesting than the beer is that Sir Richard Branson's Virgin have an interest in the brewery and it is the Swedish licence holder for Virgin cola. http://www.mariestads.se/

Norrlands Guld

The day after my bday, Mrs CB and I went for a walk around the harbours of Stockholm taking in the scenery and admiring the maritime heritage the Swedish capital has to offer. We planned to ultimately visit the Vasa museum to pay tribute to the 15th century warship which was raised and restored 40 odd years ago after sinking in the 16 hundreds. Obviously whilst in Sweden we also needed to have some Swedish meatballs! So we pulled into a little riverside café where the fine Swedish girl behind the bar (all people in Sweden are hot for some reason?) suggested that I go for a Norrlands Guld (5.3% abv). This beer I found to be refreshing, but its in the mould of a standard swilling lager rather than anything interesting. Apparently its the biggest selling brand in Sweden! So I feel a little bit duped into drinking Swedish mega-swill, but then again, the meatballs more than made up for it! http://www.guldsits.se/en/

New Sweden

The final beer I had on my birthday was in a little beer café that I can't find any info about online (or even its name or google maps listing). This place was awesome though, with approx. six or seven international microbrewed beers on tap and a beer fridge that will give any rate beer die hard a boner!

At the recommendation of the bar staff I opted for New Sweden (5.3% abv) which was again in the malty amber Vienna lager style. After reading this and this online, I have come to the conclusion that they are not talking about the same beer!

New Sweden is very similar to Spendrup's Mellanol, with its balance shifted heavily to the malty side with little hop flavour in the overall product. These amber lagers are a refreshing beer and a style I did not really expect to come across whilst in Sweden. My tip is, if you find this beer on draught in Sweden, then give it ago, i probably would not bother with the canned variety after the ratebeer ticker opinions though!

Nils Oscar God Lager

Again at the posh noshery, I decided to explore the beer menu and went for Nils Oscar's God Lager (5.3% abv) which roughly translates to "Good Stocks". Again, like Spendrup's Mellanol, this beer is a Vienna Style lager with strong a really strong malt profile. Slightly darker than your average lager the texture is also thicker as the beer is unpasteurised, which leaves the beer tasting fresh and new.

I should also spend some time describing the restaurant! Fem Sma Hus (five little houses) is located in Gamla Stan on Nygrand, a narrow alley just off Skeppsbron. It occupies a series of arched brick cellars which get lower and more atmospheric as you go deeper - some are well below water level.
The restaurant is very popular, is mentioned in the 2008 Michelin guide. The food is traditional Swedish, with dishes such as Gravadlax and reindeer (which was awesome, although it had a slightly putrescent odor!), in reasonable-sized portions. The cooking was perfectly competent and the service helpful - as you would expect at the fairly high prices. Our waiter was a surprisingly camp bloke who should go into comedy!
In summary, worth a visit for traditional Swedish food and a romantic setting!

If you want to find out more about Nils Oscar beers, and you can speak Swedish the try the following website: http://www.nilsoscar.se/se/nilsoscar/

UPDATE 27/08/08: This beer is now available in the UK from Waitrose supermarkets.

Abro Sigill III

Abro Sigill III (5.2% abv) is a little known microbrewed lager which I tracked down in posh noshery "Fem Små Hus" which translates to - "Five small houses". The beer is a crisp general lager, not exploding with flavour but far from bleak either. I can't seem to find a great deal of information on the beer, obviously as it has a limited distribution. It surprises me that micro's bother producing beers in this style as it forces them to compete directly with megaswill producing mainstreams. Anyhow, a nice beer if a little bit plain. Website: http://www.abro.se/

Spendrups Mellanol

Continuing with the theme of my birthday, we cruised on downtown where I grabbed a quick schooner of Spendrups Mellanol (4.2% abv) which is a nice Vienna style lager complete with a strong Munich malt/ melanoid flavour that works quite nice. The initial taste is malty upfront, but there is a nice grassy hop aftertaste with a lingering bitterness which is surprising for such a malty beer. The pub I was in on the other hand was quite dull and uninspiring, with staff who obviously didn't want to be there. Anyhow, you only turn 30 once so I was making the most of the evening! If you can read Swedish, then you can find more info here.

Spendrups

Whilst in Stockholm I went a little bit more upmarket than I usually do when traveling and stayed at the five star Radisson Viking, smack in the center of town near central station. Now the best part about staying here was the magnificent Skybar on the top floor, which offered awesome views over the harbour and the old town (Gamla Stan). To kick off drinking festivities I was told by the barman that I should go for a Swedish classic and he offered me a pint (well a schooner ~400ml) of Spendrups (5.0%). The beer was pretty ordinary really and did not have a lot to offer besides being cold. It is vaguely pilsner like in taste but more along the lines of a North German pils than a Bavarian or Czech one. Anyhow, the view more than made up for the shortcomings of the beer. And as a bonus, the sun even came out! More info is available via the Spendrups website: http://www.spendrups.se/ (if you can read Swedish) otherwise enjoy the attached clip.

Krusovice Dark

Some of the more observant readers may have noticed that my age has risen from 29 to 30. To mark this occasion, my wonderful wife decided to take me to the exotic/cold and expensive town of Stockholm in Sweden. The day was as usual to be a boozy affair and much to my delight SWMBO wanted to grab a coffee at around 10.30 am. I took full advantage of this situation to have my first beer of the day!

Krusovice Dark (3.8% abv) is a Czech dark lager which probably falls into the category of Schwarzbier. The beer is spritzly carbonated and has a long sour aftertaste which is pretty refreshing. I can recall the first time I had this particular beer in Prague at a little beer garden down by the river - and whilst drinking this in the rain on my bday in Gamla Stan, Stockholm I was solely reminded that good beer is rare find, and that this is defiantly a good beer! A good way to kick off my 30's!

More info is provided on the official website.

Chiswick Bitter 2

While at the Victoria recently introducing my dad to the wonders of Fullers ESB, I also sampled some of their well kept Chiswick Bitter. I won't harp on too much today as I have described this one before. Chiswick bitter is a full flavoured session ale, hopped with locally sourced East Kent Golding hops. I can't believe that this is only 3.5% abv!

Fullers ESB 2

Fullers ESB is a top class ale. It's famous for its awesome taste and even for its yeast strain (White labs WLP002 for all you brewers, Wyeast also have it as 1962). I had the pleasure of introducing my Dad who is a hardcore VB or Guinness man to the delights of ESB recently at one of my favourite pubs in London - The Victoria, W2.

Fuller's launched ESB in 1971 as a winter replacement for Old Burton Extra and added it to the regular lineup due to its great success and an overwhelming demand. the beer is quite strong for a draught beer, weighing in at an impressive 5,5% abv, but then this malt monster needs a high gravity to balance the level of bitterness and flavour. The beer is one of the most awarded brews in history, winning its first CAMRA gong in 1978 and pretty much every other mantle possible since. I am going to make a confession that I actually prefer the bottled version of the beer as its slightly more carbonated, but the pint they serve at the Victoria has me guessing again.

The volume of ale they dispense over the bar at The Victoria has to be seen to believed. I don't think the beer remains in the cellar long enough to spoil and the bar staff are friendly and encouraging in the ways of the ale! the food there is pretty good too! definitely check out The Victoria if you are around Paddington way, and have a pint of ESB for me. You can read my previous ESB inspired ramblings here. You can also find some Fuller's ticker like tasting notes at their website here.

Young's Bitter 2

Whilst revisiting the Brook Green hotel I also got into a pint of Young's Ordinary, just to see if they have improved their cask handling practices. I have to report that they have indeed improved things, although this pint was certainly still not at its best.

Does anybody think that its a fair call that Young's Ordinary is better now that they have moved the brewery from Wandsworth out to the Well's site? It just seems to be fresher these days with more hop flavour where before it was so bland it could have been nitrokeg John Smith's being served up on pump. Anyhow, you can read my past thoughts here.

Young's Double Chocolate Stout

As I have stated a few times recently, my parents have been in town visiting. After eating in nearly all the restaurants and pubs near us I took them down to my old local - The Brook Green hotel. Now its not that I have anything against the Brook green, its just that since the renovations after the smoking ban the place has become a bit pretentious. OK not just a bit pretentious, very pretentious! First of all, they insist on table service... It's a Young's tied pub for crying out loud! They have also become quite expensive and the ale is usually not kept very well.

Anyhow rant over - I opted for a Double Chocolate stout (5.2% abv), a bottled ale (so it will be in OK condition) and a fair whack cheaper than a pint of draught (£2.60 as opposed to £3.40).

The beer delivers what Meantime Chocolate attempts - and fails to do. A strong intense chocolate flavour and aroma, chocolaty bitterness and a smooth mellow lingering bitter aftertaste. The beer is also quite thick and oily, which I am assuming comes from the chocolate used in brewing. For some reason, I think Young's may have discontinued this beer - and my thoughts were suspiciously confirmed when I failed to find any mention of the beer on the Young's website.

Innis & Gunn

After watching a recent episode of Gordon Ramsey's "The F Word" where he served up his own beer, I was curious about the beer that inspired his brew: Innis & Gunn (6.6% abv). After tasting the beer I was seriously questioning Gordon's taste buds! The stuff is b.l.a.n.d! I can understand how he liked the fact that it has no aftertaste, the problem is it is not really well balanced. It has oodles of oak flavour, however it has no bitterness, no malt flavours and a slight alcohol warmth. Overall a pretty boring beer which tastes like someone has just fermented out some unhopped malt extract and stuffed it in an oak barrel for a month. I suppose it has the kinds of flavours that whiskey connoisseurs can detect which leaves the everyday folk baffled to what all the fuss is about.

Apparently there is a Limited Edition version available as well which is 7.2% abv. I wouldn't bother hunting it down based upon the regular offering! Website: http://www.innisandgunn.com/

Meantime Chocolate

Meantime Chocolate (6.5% abv) is a strong chocolate infused porter style ale which was on the desert menu at Brown's Bar and Restaurant, Covent Garden. Whilst this beer claims to be chocolate falvoured, it actually doesn't taste like chocolate at all - well maybe a little bit in the aftertaste which has a dark chocolate bitterness, but certainly not the velvet smooth chocolate flavour of Young's Double Chocolate Stout. The beer feels gimmicky and certainly not something that should be taken seriously. My thoughts are out on this one, I am note sure if I love it or loathe it. On one hand its a nice robust porter with enough roastiness to give it the oomph that most porters lack, however it also has a horrid dark chocolate (or even burnt chocolate) aftertaste which really off putting. It also weighs in at double strength compared to most ales, therefore session-ability is out of the question. Maybe it falls into a similar category as dessert wines? You wouldn't necessarily go for it, but sometimes its a nice way to round out an evening?

Meantime Pale Ale 2

I am not sure if the Meantime Pale Ale I had recently at swish chain bar, Brown's in Covent Garden is the same as the London Pale Ale I had earlier in the year, but I have to say what a refreshing drink! There are some subtle differences, mainly being the hopping, with the draft version I had at Brown's lending more toward a bitter hop flavour than a strong aroma hop flavour which I found in the bottled version. But still it's the kind of beer that jumps out of the glass and shouts "FRESH FLAVOUR" in your face. Browns itself is a pretty classy joint which you should probably check out if you are in the west end. Their beer list is actually quite good for a franchised chain.

Anyhow the most recent tickers opinion on ratebeer is as follows;

"Jun 7, 2007 Updated: Oct 15, 2007 Alongside the decorated Meantime Porter sat the Meantime Pale Ale. It was somewhat diminished in comparison to its red flared cousin, but the outstanding merits of the latter recommended a purchase of the former. It begins with a thin, white wall head lazily atop a red-honey body. The nose is confounding – my notes leave no hints as to what it was like at all. I can only guess that it was so subtle that I couldn't’t venture to evaluate its qualities. The taste, however, was more memorable and measurable. The Meantime Pale Ale plays host to a variety of flavors like honey, apple and lemon in a dedication to Spring. However, these are muted by an overbearing, bulky bitterness. The cause is a slip shod hop flavor balance; the bane of many well intentioned pale ales. The brewers simply flexed the hop character too much. Despite the brutal bitter quality, the palate maintains an elegant feel to it. The carbonation, gravity and flavors, even if they’re a bit off, align beautifully to produce the ideal pale ale tongue texture. All the more pity that the hops had to strong arm the better qualities. I’ll be anxious to try another batch of this in the future, with the hope that somebody has gotten around to tweaking the sweet and bitter."

I couldn't find honey, apple and lemon flavours in mine, but then maybe my palette is not refined enough!

Red Car Summer Ale

Also at The Castle was Red Car Summer Ale (4.5% abv) a summer version of Red Car Best which I have covered previously. Once again this beer was a little underwhelming and in a back to back blind taste test against Red Car best, I and my colleagues failed to find any difference between the two beers.
Summer beer my ass - summer marketing more like it!
BTW - Red Car beers are brewed under licence by teh Nethergate Brewery. The Castle is owned by Red Car.

Clarke's No Angel

A colleague of mine was promoted and has to leave to another office far away from the pub enriched area of Clerkenwell. Due to other commitments, I missed the leaving drinks and decided to meet up with him for one final session at The Castle. Once again The Castle didn't disappoint, however the selection of beers on was limited to standard bitters which was not very exciting. Anyhow I opted for Clarkes No Angel (4.0% abv) , a fruity, light brown bitter which was a little underwhelming. Therefore I will not harp on too much about the beer. If you are interested you can find out more at the website here.

Taddington Moravka Lager

The Jeruselum Tavern, a St Peters owned pub just a stones throw from my office recently put on a new lager to much fanfare from other bloggers. Well anyway I needed to meet up with a fellow partner in crime so we decided to check it out. Moravka Lager (4.4% abv) is a flavoursome pilsner style lager which has a heavy Czech influence. Whilst not as bitter or buttery (ie diacetyl) as your usual Czech pils, this beer certainly does hit the spot, and is one of the best lagers I have necked this year! I think it may be unpasteurized as it remains quite fresh, and rich in both hop bitterness and that classic Saaz grassy aroma.

The Taddington Brewery is located in the Peak District. It is a relative newcomer to the scene and started brewing in 2007.

Slaters Premium

Greenwich is the 'official' center of the earth - where east meets west and where the most famous British maritime heroes received their training. Located just down the Thames from the City of London, Greenwich plays host to an observatory, the meridian line, the O2 dome, the British maritime museum and most important of all - The Trafalgar Tavern.

This pub is a bit of a London landmark and I wont go into too much detail although I will say that in general its always heaving and packed and also there is a cool bronze statue of Nelson out the front (even minus the hand!).

I opted to go for a pint of Slaters Premium (4.4% abv) a smooth and easy drinking special bitter. This beer is pretty boring really. It was served too cold, it is not really bitter enough and it tastes mass produced like nitrokeg bitter. I would probably go for it again, but would certainly not seek it out. Website: http://www.slatersales.co.uk/ourbeers.html

Becks

Recently I had the opportunity to attend a Beck's promotion where they sponsor an emerging artist and allow them to design an artwork to be displayed as the label on bottled Becks. Due to a number of circumstances, I had to decline the offer. However , I did notice that the bottles that were supplied for our work function did in fact feature the work of some young artist. This is the point where my appreciation in art reaches its crescendo and I loose interest fast and focus on consuming what is inside the bottle rather than looking at what is on it. I find it fascinating from a marketing perspective as I see no logical reason for running such a promotion. Not only are you removing visual branding, but you are also supporting a cost which is not going to increase your market presence or sales penetration. Anyhow, I feel that the beer is very similar in taste to Beck's Vier which I commented on a couple of weeks ago. Maybe the hop flavour is masked slightly by the stronger alcohol concentration, but overall it is very similar and is a good example of a Helles style beer. Website: http://www.becks.co.uk/

Peroni Nastro Azzuro

Ok, Another short post. The mish-mash of beer continued , and this time I was served up Peroni Nastro Azzuro, which was certainly a step up from that US Budweiser stuff. You may recall I encountered this stuff in Italy recently. An Italian colleague of mine says that drinking this stuff is the fastest way to the grave. I had to disagree and I showed him my empty bottle of Budweiser! He nodded in agreement and then said 'maybe the second fastest way!'

Budweiser 2

A picture says a thousand words. from the high point of Budvar, to the US crap all in the space of half an hour! This stuff was actually brewed in Mortlake in West London and did not taste anywhere near as bland as the stuff brewed under licence in Irelend. This stuff was worse and tasted like rotton cabbage and mouthwash - yuuhhk! Anyhow let me just say that it always tastes better when its free!
King of Beers - my ass....

Budvar 2

A step up from Tiger, the next beer that was served up at the Zoo party was Budvar - the Czech one. All I can say is, I was pleased at this point!

The link above will navigate you to a pint I had earlier in the year! I suspect that the top shelf stuff came out as our CEO was cruisingh past the bar. Anyhow it was all downhill from here!

Tiger

Its summer, which means its the silly season here in the UK. Silly season brings about the annual office summer party which this year was held at London Zoo in Regents Park. Now the bar here was not especially organised, and everytime I opted for a new drink I was given a different beer!

The first beer I received though was a Tiger (5.0%), a pale bottled lager and the flagship brand of Asia Pacific Breweries. The beer was standard lager fare so I won't harp on too much. I initially thought I had covered this already, however I had not! Cheers.... http://www.tigerbeer.co.uk

Michelob Ultra

Regular readers may have noticed that I have a tendency to dislike low carb beers, and on this front Michelob Ultra (4.2%) is no exception. Recommended to me by my personal trainer due to its minimal 32 calories per 100 grams I thought I would give it a go. The nuts and bolts of the beer is that its tasteless and best avoided. I am going to push the point that if I really wanted to loose weight, I would probably prefer to just not drink than consume this piss. Also of frustration is that the bottle is only 275 ml. WTF??

Michelob is the 'Premium' brand of the former Anheuser-Busch brewing empire (now Anheuser-Busch InBev). Besides this, I don't really care to comment! Website: http://www.michelobultra.co.uk/

Guinness 5

Earlier this year, well ok way back in January I relayed "I’m really looking forward to getting over to Ireland sometime soon and tasting some hand pumped Guinness in an authentic Dublin Boozer" and The Beer Nut left a rather sarcastic comment about cask conditioned coors..l. Basically I was a little out of touch! Well anyway I finally got my Guinness in Ireland (well I actually had a fair bit at the Gresham in Dublin, but the location was not worthy of a post) and the pint that I thought most worthy of getting this title was in a little Irish music bar called Dolans. Whilst the pint tasted similar to the uber cold swill you get in the UK, the atmosphere more than made up for the shortcomings in the beer!

Beamish Stout

After a leaving the Blarney area we decided to head into Cork to have a look around. Putting it bluntly, Cork is a little bit dull, very grey and not worth getting out of the car for! we headed down for the coast then and pulled into a little town with nothing but a caravan park and a pub called The Speckled Door. A quick glance over the taps at the bar showed all the usual suspects and one I had yet to come across - Beamish Stout. The initial taste is a dry, but hop laden stout - more in tune with a London porter than other Irish dry stouts and the beer is also more 'real' and not so 'creamy' even though the beer was dispensed through a nitrokeg system. Overall it is probably one of my favourite Irish stouts as it has a fresh, roasty, but still hoppy taste.

Beamish has been brewed in County Cork since 1792 and has produced their stout ever since. The brewery was acquired by Scottish and Newcastle earlier this year, and now produces Beamish Red, Fosters, Miller and Kronenbourg in addition to its flagship stout. Website: http://www.beamish.ie