Subjective ramblings about beer, pubs and associated topics

Merry Christmas!

It's time to pick up those last few gifts and to buy a tree, preferably before it gets too dark. I hope you've all been on the nice rather than on the naughty side, that your cellars are well stocked with your favourite ales for the holidays and that you all have a peaceful Christmas with your loved ones.

Posted by: KnutAlbert at 11:15 | link | comments (1)
beer

The day the Bell's beers went away

And a very interesting article on beer legislation in Illionois:

How Illinois beer distribution laws, fiercely protected by a powerful industry, drove away one of Chicago’s favorite small brewers.

Posted by: KnutAlbert at 17:25 | link | comments
beer, brewers

Christmas trees

Here.

And here

We should all start planning for next year!

Posted by: KnutAlbert at 17:10 | link | comments

The Magpie and Crown

Want the real thing? A pub where the sunshine is kept firmly outside, without Swedish pine furniture, where the food on offer at lunchtime is limited to pickled eggs and crisps? A scruffy place, decorated with dried and dusty hops, beer mats from English brewers and bric-a-brac? Where the local drinkers seem as worn out as the carpet - the floor planks shining through at the most busy spots around the bar?

There are pubs like this, outside film noir and novels about sliding into depression, and one of them is the Magpie and Crown in Brentford, West London, not far from Kew Bridge. The walls have old Brentford photos, and the punters are celebrating the last winter of indoor smoking by producing a haze while wheezing their lungs out. There is 70s music in the background, even Radar Love by Golden Earring.

But why should you seek out a place like this? There are well preserved gin palaces, there are magnificent banks turned into glittering pubs, there are gastropubs with inventive menus - and they are centrally located. It's the beer.

When I popped in, they had served 1734 different beers since January 1996. No, we are not talking bottles here, that would be cheating. 1734 different cask ales in a decade or so, all from hand pumps. In addition, there are German and Belgian wheat beers on tap, too, and even a real cider.

I started with a Hanby Shropshire Stout. Dark, with a ruby tone and a small head. It had a fine aroma of roasted malt, and an almost ashy finish. A decent stout.

They had two ales from Buffy's micro brewery. Buffy's Topaz is a amber, clear ale. It has some sweetness, but there are hops that take care of the finish, balancing the ale fairly well. Far better was the Buffy's Norwich Terrier. The beer was a bit hazy, very gently sparkling. Soft and fruity, like a Kölsh with some British hops added. Nice pine bitterness in the finish. Lovely!

I think this pub changes character depending on when you go there. It is probably filled with commuters in the early evening, lapping up the new ales of the week. And at sunny Sundays, you can expect lots of walkers to take a few steps aside from the Thames path for some refreshment. Give it a try if you are in the area, but go before it is gentrified!

Posted by: KnutAlbert at 08:36 | link | comments (4)
london, beer, england, pubs

File under

Even when the weather and season is not the best for visiting the Botanical Gardens, a visit to Kew in South West London can be worthwhile. Read on the Good Beer Blog about my visit to the National Archives.

Posted by: KnutAlbert at 15:01 | link | comments
beer, england

On boring beers from good brewers

It is a temptation, even for craft brewers, to offer an alternative for drinkers who don't really like beer. For brewpubs and British tied houses - pubs own by the brewers - this is a particular challenge. You can stock a number of alcopops and sweet ciders. You can do as the Møllebyen micro in Norway does, stock some bottles of Bud for those who don't like beer with flavour.

Or you can make a hybrid, a Kilkenny type of ale where you avoid all the characteristics of your other beer, use nitrogen to get a firm head and serve it chilled to make sure is slips smoothly down the throat.

Young's of London did this with their Triple A, I have no idea if it sold very well. And Adnams has done the same by launching their Spindrift beer. When I wrote about this product some weeks ago, I got the following feedback on my blog, presumably from someone from the brewery:

Just wanted to make a correction, spindrift is not pasteurised, it is filtered so that it is fresh. It is also not being sold as an Ale, simply as an English beer. People like to put beers into a category of Lager or Ale but actually there is no real definition of either, any definitions that do exist are broken by some brewery somewhere. I hope this beer helps to blur the lines a bit more. Anyway if you ever get to try it let us know what you think.

Well, now I've tried it, and some of their other beers as well. Adnams ales are widely available across London nowadays, usually it is  the draft Broadside that is offered. This is a splendid beer,  with a beautiful amber colour, refreshing  and easy-drinking. Full malt, and hoppy finish, too. Great with food. (Confusingly, the bottled Broadside is much stronger.) Their draft Adnams Bitter is fine, too.

While the Broadside is easy to find, I had to go to the Adnams pub The Bridge House, close to London Bridge, to try their other beers. It is hard to pinpoint why, but I did not really like this pub, and, believe me, I've seen a few. A cold atmosphere, a rather frosty welcome from the barmaid and crisps at £ 3. None of the after work buzz that you would want in a centrally located pub at six in the afternoon. It was perfectly adequate to sample a few halves, but I would not linger if I wasn't in good company.

The Explorer was on tap, and it was quite all right. Nice flowery taste, the hops are dominating, but more for aroma than for bitterness. Lingering dry finish. Not a great beer, but I would not object to having this available as a steady pint.

So - for the Spindrift. It has a creamy head and fine golden appearance. Served way too cold. Still, there is a little body with the Adnams flavour and a finish that isn’t too bad. Maybe there is a market, but I am not in it.

The best Adnams beer I've tried? The bottled Adnams bitter, which is even available here in Norway. An outstanding bitter, with a full flavour that should be the envy of many stronger beers. Hints of raisins, of straw plus a wonderful flowery bitterness from the hops.

Posted by: KnutAlbert at 12:47 | link | comments
london, beer, england, brewers

From the extreme North

I have managed to lay my hands on a few beers from Iceland and Greenland recently, and I decided to try them at one setting.

They have been brewing in Iceland for many years, but they used to have a rather peculiar system where full strength beers was banned - except the beer being sold at the duty free on arrival in Keflavik airport. This has changed over the last few decades, with beer being more easily available. The Egils Gull (which means gold), was a disappointment. Another standard lager, it smells of malt, and it has a malty taste, too. Thin and watery, there's no need to go to Iceland for this!

More interesting is the new brewery in Greenland, which uses the exotic gimmick for all it is worth. Most of the ingredients have to be shipped in, so the special factor is the crystal clear melting water from the glacier.

Their Brown ale is a dark gold beer with a firm head. It smells sweet, and it tastes of sweet malt, too. Some fruit and nuts in the aroma, and there is grassy hoppiness in the finish, too.

The Pale Ale is amber, and has less head. It has a delicate hoppy smell, and a hoppy aroma, too. More of a well hopped English ale than an extreme American APA.

I have been to a few bars recently, the Porterhouse in both Dublin and London and the Rake in London, where they have some fine brews, but then add very boring lagers from around the globe to boost their range. The Greenland Pale Ale could have been a core of an alternative, with good beers from small beer nations. There are some logistics involved here, but I would not be surprised if Copenhagen boosted a bar focusing on good beer from exotic countries.

Posted by: KnutAlbert at 14:57 | link | comments
beer, brewers, denmark, greenland

The best Norwegian brewpub?

As I mentioned a few weeks ago, I went for an afternoon trip to Moss with Rune. This commuting town, about 45 minutes by train from Oslo, has a brewpub that I have been planning to visit for quite some time.

When we entered, with our note books ready, we were spotted right away by the brewer, David, who was pleased to see two beer pilgrims braving the rain.

( He has a great business card . Brewer . Biologist. Beer Drinker)

We ordered the sample tray, with an interesting range of beers, from a pils and a wheat beer to a Christmas beer and a triple pale ale. In addition, we were treated to samples of two new brews not yet on: Chistine Amber Ale had a concentrated fruity flavour, ending up in a finish of grassy hops, grapefruit and oranges. The American pale ale had a full fruity aroma, too, with a strong hoppy bitterness as appropriate to the style.

They intend to launch new brews continuously, and if they manage to keep up this standard, it will be worth visiting regularly. I hesitate to announce this as the best brewpub in Norway after one visit, but it is certainly one of the two best along with Trondhjem Mikrobryggeri.

The brewpub is located in an old gentrified industrial area with large red brick buildings, and they have made the most of it. Long opening hours at weekends and a riverside spot for outside drinking on sunny days - this is great. It this works out well, they should consider opening a brewpub in Oslo as well...

For more information on the Møllebyen micro, both Lars Marius and Tore have been there.

Posted by: KnutAlbert at 13:05 | link | comments
beer, norway, microbreweries, pubs

The lutefisk problem

"What do you do if you have rats in your house?"

"You throw lutefisk under your porch. In a couple of weeks, you'll be rid of the rats, but you'll have 10 to 12 Norwegians living under your house."

Sure, there is a story behind the joke as well, if you have the time.

Posted by: KnutAlbert at 08:13 | link | comments (1)
norway

A Dublin family

Visits to Ireland and the Low Countries (well, only one low country, but the lowest of them..) meant that I had a bouquet of Guinness varieties to sample and compare, and I invited Per Christian over to do some tasting.

The can of the standard stuff they are pushing across the globe wasn't very interesting, so we went fairly quick for the bottles. The Guinness Extra Stout has much more character than the standard draft version. It looks the same, but it has a fine aroma of roasted malt. The Foreign Extra Stout was my favourite. Even more robust, this has elements of coffee and liquorice. It has a smoky and almost sour finish and a warming aftertaste. IMHO they should push this as their premium product, not the Extra Cold!

The Special Export, a version brewed for the Belgian/Dutch market, is rounder than the Foreign Extra, more like an English old ale. The various elements are smoothed out, and I miss the complexity, the coffee and the smoke do not stand out as clearly. It is on the sweet side, too. Note: This beer is registered at ratebeer as brewed in Belgium by Anthony Martin, but the label clearly states that it is brewed in Ireland for Anthony Martin.

Posted by: KnutAlbert at 07:27 | link | comments (6)
beer, ireland, stout

It's all Welsh to me

Pubs in Wales will be forced to carry no-smoking signs using an old-fashioned Welsh word that health minister Brian Gibbons admits people won't understand, according to the Morning Advertiser.

The signs must say "It is against the law to smoke on these premises" in both English and Welsh.

Under the latest plans, "fangre" will be used for the word "premises" on the Welsh signs.

Gibbons admitted that this is a word of which people "would not know the meaning". A civil servant's report to the Welsh Assembly also said fangre is "an old-fashioned term no longer in common use and the people would not know its meaning".

But lawyers advised the Assembly that only the word fangre would encompass all locations that needed to be covered.

Wells Jones, licensee of the Angel in Cardigan, said: "People who speak Welsh as a second-language would have difficulty in knowing what fangre means - and perhaps even some of the first-language speakers after a few pints."

Maybe they could use some illustrations, like on his baggage trolley poster?

But of course, this could be problematic, when you add this to the fact that there are both beers and breweries which are impossible to pronounce for outsiders, as all the wowels have been replaces by w's.

Posted by: KnutAlbert at 13:14 | link | comments
pubs, wales

Keeping the taxis dry

Here in Norway, some blind people have been refused transport in taxis because the taxi drivers doen't want their guide dogs inside. That's outside the scope of a beer blog, but there is a related case across the Atlantic. Some Somali taxi drivers at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport are refusing to drive passengers who carry alcohol. This is from the Star-Tribune:

Many Somali drivers at the airport are refusing to carry passengers with alcohol. When I asked Patrick Hogan, Metropolitan Airports Commission spokesman, for his explanation, he forwarded a fatwa, or religious edict, that the MAC had received. The fatwa proclaims that "Islamic jurisprudence" prohibits taxi drivers from carrying passengers with alcohol, "because it involves cooperating in sin according to the Islam."

The fatwa, dated June 6, 2006, was issued by the "fatwa department" of the Muslim American Society, Minnesota chapter, and signed by society officials.

I have a feeling some of those guys will have to look for another job soon. But not in Cardiff, where you can find beer advertising on high-tech rickshaws!

Posted by: KnutAlbert at 13:03 | link | comments
beer, usa, wales

Back from the dead

When London pubs are closed, they are most often turning into luxury flats, convenience stores, American style coffee bars etc. With the astronomical rents in  Central London, I suppose it is difficult to make a profit from selling booze during a few hour's rush time.

One of the pubs boarded up nearly twenty years ago was St Stephens Tavern. I do not know if they sold beers from Hall and Woodhouse in Dorset before the pub was closed. The location is one that any landlord would dream of - in the shadow of the Houses of Parliament in the heart of , and on the front steps of Westminster tube station. I would imagine the pub was missed by both the civil servants of Whitehall and on the apparatus surrounding the MPs.

Well, there are good news. The pub reopened a few years ago, and I doubt that it ever had the splendour it now has of old fashioned carved glass and light. And they have four real ales from Hall and Woodhouse on the hand pumps, I am sure they have bottled beers as well, but I was not able to take a closer look.

The downside is, you see, that it is packed with people in the early evening. If you are lucky you can squeeze into a corner, I imagine the drinkers spill onto the sidewalk when the weather is warm. Speedy and professional service - just what is needed in a few rush hours before everyone is heading home or continue for their dinners, evening votes or other diversions.

The beer was excellent, the place was splendid. But I shall return in the early afternoon or later in the evening, and not at six o'clock.

Posted by: KnutAlbert at 15:18 | link | comments
london, beer, england, pubs

Cheers to Norway!

While the organization Friends of Nøgne ø are having problems with their web service provider, there are good new from Sweden. God Jul from Nøgne ø tops the list of imported Christmas beers, according to the panel in Dagens Nyheter.

The beer is quality all the way, from the detailed description on the label on how to store and how to pour it, to the chocolatey taste with distinct tones of orange. Cheers to Norway!.

We don't have much beer to be patriotic about around here, so we cherish it when someone appreciates quality!

Posted by: KnutAlbert at 12:01 | link | comments
beer, sweden, norway, nøgne ø

In the dragon's lair

I got up bright and early to get he 09:45 to Cardiff from Paddington, and it was almost on time, in spite of the autumn storms having taken the British by surprise (as usual). The train was crammed, but with a jolly atmosphere, many of my fellow travellers were obviously out for some sort of sports event. We were told that the train could not go via Bristol, as part of the line was flooded, so we were rerouted via Gloucester. Gloucester, someone cried out, that’s way up North! Isn’t that in Scotland? Yeah, we get three countries for the price of two!

I found my way through the Saturday shopping crowd to the majestetic City Hall, home of the Welsh Beer and Cider Festival. There was a fair crowd there, but it was not packed. The rugby match (and Saturday soccer, too, probably) combined with it being the final day of the festival made it possible to find even a chair and a corner of a table to sit down.

Most of the beers in the programme were still on as I arrived, apart for the ones from the Bryncelyn brewery, of which there was only one left, but as the day progressed, many of the beers were marked as sold out, which means that their estimate of how much beer to order was spot on. The programme has tasting notes for most of the beers, which was rather helpful, particularly for a foreigner unable to pronounce the name of many of their beers and brewers.

My top three of the ales sampled were the Dark Side of the Moose (!) from the Purple Moose brewery, the Cwmbran Plum Porter and Ottey brewery’s o-no-no.

The train was on time,  I had a good book with me, and there was enough space to stretch out a bit more on the way back to London. We didn’t even have to go via Gloucester!

Posted by: KnutAlbert at 10:30 | link | comments
beer, pubs, wales

A London crawl

I'll try to give you some glimpses of my London visit before they disappear in the mists of memory, and I'll start with my last evening in the Metropolis, when I had arranged to meet up with a few of my fellow drinkers at ratebeer to visit some of the pubs in the Borough/Southwark area. If you haven't been there for a while, it is well worth a visit, even if you're not going for the beer, with the Tate Modern and the Millennium bridge as the flagships of the revived area.

I arrived slightly late to a warm welcome by harrisoni, chris_o and phil_L ,(Phil's mother, too, sorry I didn't note down her name!), and we tried a few beers from the Harvey's range before moving on to the Market Porter. The market refers to the splendid Borough Market, one of my favourite spots to visit when in London, a pity it is only open Thursday-Saturday. The pub is open every day though, and it was quite packed. It had a very impressive range of beers from various British micros, but we decided to move on to somewhere quieter after a few pints. By this time we were also joined by duff and SilkTork and his wife. Yes, it sounds like a secret brotherhood, and, in a way, it is!

The Brew Wharf was the next stop, which had a new beer on their own on tap, the Rebel, and I got to taste the range of draft beers from the Meantime brewery in Greenwich as well. We were sitting outside, which is probably very nice in the summer, but it was very warm for late November, too. The brewer came out and had a chat; and it turned out that he had actually not been brewing before he got his present job. Well, he has had a good start; his Rebel was probably the best beer of the evening. The pub is very post-industrial with lots of brick and glass, though, probably not to every one's liking.

We moved on to the newest pub in the area, the Rake. This is a very small pub, with two changing micros in the hand pumps and a splendid list of beers from around the world. This is not a traditional pub either, being rather minimalist with bare walls and pine furniture. We tried the cask ales they had to offer, but we wanted more cask beer, going back  to the Market Porter again (we are talking short distances here!) to finish off the evening, and at this stage there was even seating available.

My favourite pubs in London have always been the Young's ones, but as they are sliding downhill, at least if you look at the beer range. It may be me keeping my eyes more open, but thee seems to be a better range of real ale available in London at the moment than there has ever been, with regional brewers trying to get a piece of the action by various arrangements, as well as a more positive attitude to guest beers, including micros. I would not be surprised to see outlets dedicated to more of the regionals in the years to come - Brain's of Cardiff and Cain's of Liverpool, for example.

But I digress. Good pubs and fine ales aside, I had a great time drinking and chatting with these people. Thanks a lot for a great evening. I hope to see you again on my next visit!

Posted by: KnutAlbert at 11:41 | link | comments
london, beer, youngs, pubs

Swedish webcast on Christmas beers

The Swedish daily Dagens Nyheter has a farly good beer coverage, and this week they have a web TV broadcast on the season's Christmas beers. The focus is on Swedish beers, but God Jul from Norwegian Nøgne ø is also on the list of recommendations.  Go to http://www.dn.se/DNet/jsp/polopoly.jsp?d=117 and click on Öl med touch av jul.

Posted by: KnutAlbert at 08:24 | link | comments
beer, sweden

Czechs stop EU alcohol tax

I have written about the proposals to set minimum tax rates on beer and spirit drinks across the EU earkier. The chance of reaching an agreement were hanging by a thread Wednesday, after opposition from the Czech Republic killed off hopes of agreement.

Czech delegates turned down a deal in the European Council of Ministers on Tuesday, fearing political repercussions at home from potential price rises on beer.

Posted by: KnutAlbert at 20:28 | link | comments
beer, czech republic

24.000 bottles on their way

North American readers should be happy to know that Norwegian premium brewers Nøgne ø have just shipped 24 000 bottles of their ales to the US. This shipment even includes some bottles of Porter from Ølfabrikken in Denmark, which have been contract brewed by Nøgne ø.

The US distributors to pester for more information? Shelton Brothers. You probably won't have the beer available for Christmas, but it's a nice way to start off the new year, too!

The domestic sales in Norway are taking off nicely, too, as are exports to the rest of Scandinavia. Nøgne ø moved into new and bigger premises this year, but it semms like they need to expand again soon!

Posted by: KnutAlbert at 12:03 | link | comments
beer, norway, nøgne ø

Axing the fags

According to the Morning Advertiser,  the British Government has announced that the smoking ban in England will come into effect on July 1, next year. Good news for some of us non-smokers, this.

Rob Hayward, chief executive of the British Beer and Pub Association, said: This is a welcome announcement and a critical milestone in the progress towards implementing the smoking ban. We now have greater clarity around precisely how and when it will come into force.

And prophets of doom predicting that this will mean an end to civilization as we know it, should look to countries like Ireland, Finland and Norway, which have not seen any increase in bankruptcies in the pub sector. Even in Italy, whose citizens are not particularly famous for complying with laws old or new, seem to be happy with the smoking ban.

And the pubs who have seen this coming already have the outdoor heaters in place.

Posted by: KnutAlbert at 11:55 | link | comments
beer, england, smoking, pubs

Danish Christmas beers reviewed

By no means a complete list, but Danish daily Politiken has tasted some of the Danish craft Christmas beers. Berlingske Tidende has done the same. No reason to go thirsty in Copenhagen!

Posted by: KnutAlbert at 08:56 | link | comments
beer, denmark

Czech beer welcome in China.

Czech brewer Budejovicky Budvar will remain in the growing Chinese beer market after successfully defending its copyright against an appeal by American rival Anheuser-Busch – brewer of Budweiser, according to the Beverage Daily.

The decision by the The High People's Court in Beijing safeguards the company's position in the growing Chinese market, where until recently the product had been prohibited.

The company entered China in 1997, though exports of Budejovicky Budvar had been threatened by complaints from Anheuser-Busch over potential similarities in their brand names.

Of course this is welcome news, but what fascinated me was the term The High People's Court . Maybe it's a synonym for The Tall People's Court? At last somewhere where we will be judged by our peers and not by the gnomes surrounding us. But in Beijing?

Posted by: KnutAlbert at 08:51 | link | comments
china, beer

Back to London

It is good to be back in London, but sometimes I fell like one of the two grumpy old men in the Muppet Show. Some of the good things are fading. The Young's brewery is no more, and their beers, despite all reassurances, are disappearing. Some of the bottled beers are already gone, their draft beers are being replaced by Well's Bombardier, the only beer you can be sure to find in all Young's pubs!  The posters in the Tube are trying to sell me a greatest hits collection of David Cassidy, and the Gordon Ramsey is using a language on prime time television that makes me cringe. The security control at Heathrow, which has gone from bad to an absolute nightmare!

But there are fine things still, and new ones arriving. Having good meals and good pints with old and new friends. Walking along the Thames during all times of the day. Finding a b&b at £33 per night, with bright and airy rooms, daily cleaning, hot water in the shower and free wireless Internet.

Finding new pubs, both new for me and newly built. Meeting the great people from London and Kent who are active on ratebeer.

And I managed to get my suitcase home again without anything broken.

There will be more here during the coming days.

Posted by: KnutAlbert at 12:00 | link | comments
london, beer, england, youngs