Budweiser

Name: Budweiser
Manufacturer: Budweiser
Country: Great Britain (...)
Media: bottle
Type: pilsner

Appearance: High, frothy head, fully diminishing, yellow color (looks like apple juice)

Aroma: OK, let's be frank, it smells like a pilsner, no more, no less.

Flavor: I just can't do this. It's a bland pilsner, with a hint of lemon as its (almost) saving grace.

Palate: watery, lively carbonation which dies off quite fast

Overall: No! No! No!

Grade: 3 (OK, so there are things imaginable which might be worse)

Place/date: Björkeberga, in the south of Sweden - 10 August 2009

Grimbergen Double

Name: Grimbergen Double
Manufacturer: Grimbergen
Country: Belgium
Media: bottle
Type: cloister beer

Appearance: average, frothy head, diminishing, dark amber color

Aroma: dark and full aroma

Flavor: a bit alchoholic to start with, followed by a beautiful, full-bodied long lasting flavor

Palate: medium body, oily texture, surprisingly lively carbonation (for an abbey beer...)

Overall: As you have probabaly already gathered, I'm enamoured. A good dark cloister beer, sitting comfortably together withe several of the more aknowledged Trapist beers.

Grade: 16

Place/date: Home on the range - 04 August 2009

Fuller's India Pale Ale

Name: Fuller's India Pale Ale
Manufacturer: Fuller's
Country: Great Britain
Media: bottle
Type: IPA

Appearance: High, frothy head, mostly diminishing, amber color

Aroma: sweet and aromatic, with hints of citrus and hops

Flavor: sweet and gentel, a bit citric initial flavor, followed by a fresh hoppy moderatelly lasting flavor

Palate: medium to full body, oily texture, lively carbonation

Overall: A very nice IPA, bottle-fermented, whose Goldings hops makes it a refreshing beer together with food.

Grade: 13

Place/date: A secret island in the southern parts of Sweden - 18 july 2009

Denmark Micro-tour - day 3

Our third day consisted of visiting the museum of Carlsberg, reading up on the history of one of the world's largest breweries and trying out some of the speciality beers of their smaller brewery Jacobsen (named after the founder of Carlsberg).

After that we headed back for a second try at getting a beer at the micro-brewery Vesterbro, which turned out to be closed on Sundays... Tried finding a pub with their beers, but finally ended up at a (choke) sportsbar at the trainstation... In pure desperation, when eyeing through the beer menue and finding that the only Danish beers were general, for me uninteresting, Carlsberg lagers, I gave up my resolution for this trip and ordered something not brewed in Denmark. As it turned out, they had a Belgian cloister beer, which was way too strong for the occasion but suited my mood after having been looking for the right pub/restaurant for what seemed to my starved body like ages.

After this we gave up, realising that in Denmark, contrary to Sweden nowdays, everything is closed on Sundays, and headed home.

In conclusion: the best Danish beers we tested were from the brewery Indslev, which I will look for in the future. Oh, and of course, we only scratched the surface of Danish micro-breweries, and will have occassion to come back here many times for new discoveries.

St Bernardus Abt 12

Name: St Bernardus Abt 12
Manufaturer: St Bernardus
Country: Belgium
Media: bottle
Type: cloister beer

Appearance: average, frothy head,

Aroma: heavy malty with coffe, caramel and oak

Flavor: moderate sweet initial flavor, followed by a heavy and longlasting sweet flavor

Palate: medium to full body, creamy texture, lively carbonation, moderate alchoholic finish

Overall: An average Belgian cloister beer, which only means that it's better than most other beers in my humble opinion...

Grade: 16

Place/date: O'Leary's Sportsbar, Copenhagen - 5 june 2009

Carlsberg Besøgscenter

Name: Carlsberg Besøgscenter (visiting centre)
Place: Copenhagen, Denmark
Adress: Gamle Carlsberg Vej 11
Type: Museum

A well done, informative and interesting museum. Beautifully situated on easily reached distance from the city center with bus, with horses walking free, a big collection of the brewery's own carts and wagons from the last two centuries and of course a final visit to the smaller inhouse brewery Jacobsen, from which you get to choose two beers for the entrance fee of 40 Dkr.

Semper Ardens Blonde Bier

Name: Semper Ardens Blonde Bier
Manufaturer: Carlsberg
Country: Denmark
Media: Tap
Type: speciality brew

Appearance: small white head, mostly diminishing lacing, clear body, amber hue

Aroma: light hoppy, some grain, coriander and banana

Flavor: light sweet initial flavor, sweet and light bitter flavor, short duration

Palate: medium body, oily/watery texture, fizzy carbonation

Overall: Strange combination of top-fermented Belgian-style yeast and bottom-fermented German-style. Sounds more interesting than it is, though...

Grade: 8

Place/date: Jacobsen Husbryggeri, Copenhagen - 5 june 2009

Carlsberg Classic

Name: Carlsberg Classic
Manufacturer: Carlsberg
Country: Denmark
Media: Tap
Type: Lager

Appearance: small white head, mostly diminishing lacing, clear body, amber hue

Aroma: light hoppy, but almost no aroma

Flavor: light sweet initial flavor, swee and light bitter flavor, with short duration

Palate: medium body, oily/watery texture, fizzy carbonation

Overall: One of the best of Carlsberg's standard beers, with a beautiful colour and lively carbonation. Perfect for a hot summer's day, but a bit uninteresting in flavor when compared to many of Denmark's micro-brewery beers.

Grade: 10

Place/date: Jacobsen Husbryggeri, Copenhagen - 5 juli 2009

Denmark Micro-tour - day 2

The second day didn't work as planned either, but on a more positive note. We woke late (....) and went directly to BrewPub (se review earlier), which turned out to be such a great place that we almost stayed there all day. We managed to walk to the pub Lord Nelson for a quick beer, but that was about it. We soon headed back to our secluded back-yard and stayed there until closing-time. A good day, without yesterday's allergic reaction that made it difficult to assess the beers. Anyway, BrewPub was a gem, and we are definitely coming back here. As for the beers of today, they have all been good, some even impressive, but none have made a truly lasting impression. For the trip, the best beer is still yesterday's Indslev Wheet Bock.

BrewPub Trippel

Name: BrewPub Trippel
Manufacturer: BrewPub
Country: Denmark
Media: Tap
Type: cloister beer

Appearance: average creamy white head, mostly diminishing lacing, clear body, amber hue

Aroma: moderate hoppy, with a fruity aroma

Flavor: heavy sweet
and moderately acidic initial flavor, with average duration

Palate: medium body, oily texture, soft carbonation, alchoholic finish

Overall: Sweet hoppy aroma and aconsistent flavor. Compared to, say, Westmalle Trippel, lacking in body and roundness, but for a non-belgian trippel this is a very good effort.

Grade: 13

Place/date: BrewPub, Copenhagen - 4 june 2009

HopFix

Name: HopFix
Manufacturer: BeerHere
Country: Denmark
Media: Tap
Type: IPA

Appearance: small white head, mostly diminishing lacing, clear body, amber hue

Aroma: very hoppy, with hints of citrus

Flavor: no initial flavor (...), with a heavy hoppy/bitter flavor, average duration

Palate: medium body, oily/creamy texture, soft carbonation, astringent finish

Overall: Very much like the Swedish Bedarö bitter, but even more hoppy. Extremely ugly bottle label...

Grade: 10

Place/date: Lord Nelson, Copenhagen - 4 june 2009

Lord Nelson

Name: Lord Nelson
Place: Copenhagen, Denmark
Adress: Hyskenstraede 9
Type: Pub

Overall: A very small pub in a low-roof cellar location, run by an Englishman and specialising in beers from Danish micro-breweries. Cozy and friendly, but not for a hot summers day...

BrewPub Zeus

Name: BrewPub Zeus (single hop)
Country: Denmark
Media: Tap
Type: American lager

Appearance: frothy white head, mostly diminishing lacing, clear body, amber hue

Aroma: moderate malty and very hoppy, with hints of caramel, citrus and brown sugar

Flavor: slightly sweet initial flavor, which then hits you with a heavy bitter, long duration

Palate: medium body, oily/creamy texture, soft carbonation, astringent finish

Overall: Not really a lager, no matter what the brewer says.... More a very bitter ale, but a good one.

Grade: 14

Place/date: BrewPub, Copenhagen - 4 june 2009

BrewPub Atlantic

Name: BrewPub Atlantic
Country: Denmark
Media: Tap
Type: IPA

Appearance: average off-white head, good lacing, clear body, red hue

Aroma: heavy hoppy with some citrus and a flowery scent

Flavor: moderatelly bitter initial flavor, heavy bitter flavor, average duration

Palate: medium body, oily/creamy texture, soft carbonation, light astringent finish

Overall: A very bitter IPA, clearly something I will want to drink again

Grade: 14

Place/date: BrewPub, Copenhagen - 4 june 2009

BrewPub SummerWeisse

Name: BrewPub
Country: Denmark
Media: Tap
Type: Weissbier

Appearance: small white head, virtually no lacing, cloudy body, yellow hue

Aroma: moderatelly hoppy with a lot of citrus, some grappe/raisin

Flavor: moderatelly acidic initial flavor, heavy bitter flavor, average duration

Palate: medium body, oily texture, soft carbonation, some astringent finish

Overall: more acidic than Hoegaarden, but a very nice wheatbeer, perfect for a hot summer's day

Grade: 13

Place/date: BrewPub, Copenhagen - 3
4 june 2009

Brewpub

Name: BrewPub
Place: Copenhagen, Denmark
Adress: Västergaede 29
Type: Brewery and restaurant/pub

Another beautiful brewpub in Denmark, situated in a quiet courtyard just a stones throw from the very central Rådhustorget. You can buy a sample of five of their beers, but for a full taste I recommend to atleast to try a smaller glas of the most interesting ones. Problem is that most beers in this brewery are interesting...

Denmark Micro-tour - day 1

We're finally on our way. We (me, Jakob and Johan) have been talking about a new beer-trip since we drove to Belgium two years ago, and arrived home with the car so loaded with beer that it constantly scraped the asphalt... Anyway, we had a plan and that didn't work... We started out for Copenhagen, aiming to go to Vesterbro Brygghus, but they had changed opening-hours whch prompted us to change our route to Bryggeriet Apollo. Not bad, but I'm not very enamoured with this touristy brewery.

Then we took the train to Hilleröd to visit the brewery Broeckhouse, which turned out to be closed... Luckily I travel with positive and seasoned traveller so we simply walked to the town square, sat down at pub with local Danish micro-brewery beers. This turned out to be a really good thing, as we here for the first time got aquainted with the beers from the brewery Indslev. Beautiful, well-rounded beers which I will definitely come back to.

After this we took a new train to Vaerum to visit the brewery Skovlyst. This I called ahead and checked our table reservation for... Jumping off the train one stop ahead of schedule on the advice of some locals, we found ourselves walking through what turned out to be the oldest forest in Denmark, using Jakob's iPhone to direct us. After having been pleasently lost in this wilderness we found the brewery and sat down in the sun to their expansive grill-buffe. Tried their sampling of beers but I wasn't impressed, maybe because I had suffered a heavy allergic reaction all day and was by now pretty clogged up in the nasal department... Anyway, we finally headed back to Copenhagen for our hotel and I quickly got to bed, hoping for a non-allergic second day...

Skovlyst's ölsymfoni

At Skovlyst I tried their Ölsymfonie (Beer symphonie), which is the name of a sampling of their beers. There's two different, and I tried the one with the Pilsner, the Brown Ale, the Tripple Blonde and the Fruit beer. Of these, surprisingly, I liked the pilsner, BirkeBryg, best, as it was well rounded and had a full body, for a pilsner. The tripple blonde was a bit harsh and not as balanced as it's Belgian counterparts, and the same can be said about the brown ale. And the seasonal fruit beer was also too harsh and tasted more like a British cider. All in all I was, sadly, not impressed.

Bryggeri Skovlyst

Name: Bryggeri Skovlyst
Place: Hareskovby, Denmark
Adress: Skovlystevej 2
Type: Brewery and restaurant

Beautifully situated on the edge of an untouched woodland. Established in 2004 and built in a rustic style, it is a cosy place with a large outside . Perfect for a summer's evening when they serve a large grille buffe. You can order two different sample trays with four beers in each, which makes up the brewerie's total amount of beers.

Indslev Hvede Bock

Name: Indslev Hvede Bock
Country: Denmark
Media: Tap
Type: Wiessbier Bock

Appearance: small off-white head, ecellent lacing, murky body, dark brown hue

Aroma: heavy malty, dark bread, soap, smoke, toffee

Flavor: moderatelly sweet and acidic initial flavor, moderate to heavy bitter flavor, long duration

Palate: medium body, watery and oily texture, soft carbonation, heavy alchoholic finish

Overall: beautiful combination of wheat and bock, a bit meak in the palate

Grade: 15

Bryggeri Apollo

Name: Bryggeri Apollo
Place: Copenhagen, Denmark
Adress: Vesterbrogade 3
Type: Micro-brewery and restaurant/pub

Copenhagen's oldest micro-brewery. A bit pricy and very much geared towards tourists visiting Tivoli (which is just next door). I have yet to get a really interesting beer here... They are all acomplished, but a bit uninspired for my taste.

Apollo Mørk Weissbier

Name: Apollo Mørk Weissbier
Country: Denmark
Media: Tap
Type: Weissbier

Appearance: small off-white head, cloudy with small particles, amber-coloured

Aroma: moderatelly malty and yeasty, grapefruit and apple

Flavor: light acidic initial flavor, light bitter finish

Palate: medium body, dry and watery texture, soft carbonation and metallic finish

Overall: slightly winy, fresh but not enough body

Grade: 10

Place/date: Bryggeriet Appllo, Copenhagen - 3 june 2009

Testing, testing

Here's the system I will use when reviewing beer. Sent via my phone as a test before the trip:

Name:
Country:
Type:

Appearance:

Aroma:

Flavor:

Palate:

Overall:

Grade:

Place and date:

Lindeman Apple

I was at the restaurant Möllan in my hometown, the southern Swedish town of Malmö, and found that they had added the above pictured Belgian beer to their menu. Being inherently suspicious of lambic(having had some really bad experiences in this area) I nevertheless jumped at the opportunity to try something new, as I (almost always) do. And to my surprise, this was an interesting new acquaintance. Maybe it was the sun and the warm summer temperature, but I really enjoyed the coolness of this beer. Well, it really tastes more like a soda, maybe with a more adult theme to it. Anyway, it was really refreshing, with a clear taste of apple mixed with the sour theme of a lambic. Not really a beer as far as I am concerned, but a refreshing drink for a summer's night.

Oh, and I was at this restaurant in order to plan a tryp to several micro breweries in Denmark this weekend. I will try to get everything to work by then, so that I can send reports here frequently.

The Beer Gourmet?

Well, here goes. A brand spanking new blogg about beer. We'll see what happens here since this is a project based only on my love for world's oldest alchoholic beverage. How regularly I will uppdate and what I will write about will quite frankly depend on my intake of the theme of the blogg...

Oh, and the image above is from a brewery in Brussles that I visited a few years ago on a beer trip. More on that later.

Cheers!