Recently I tried two Swedish summer beers, S:t Eriks Sommarlager and Sleepy Bulldog Summer Pale Ale that I thought were both very drinkable but couldn’t shake the feeling that each one was missing that little ‘something’.
I won't win any Photoshop awards with this masterpiece will I?
In the case of S:t Eriks Sommarlager I really enjoyed the sandpaper rough hoppy finish but to get there had to go through a rather tame malt and citrus beer that didn’t have the freshness and vitality of summer fruits that I was searching for.
As for Sleepy Bulldog Summer Pale Ale the complete opposite was true. A sit-up-and-take-notice burst of peach and lychee aromas followed by a juicy smack of fruit and pine flavours…..but then this bulldog whimpered with its tail between its legs towards a disappointingly mild bitter finish.
But after a while these frustrating beer moments got me thinking. What if you could take the front bit of Bulldog and graft it onto the back bit of S:t Eriks? Imagine what an amazing summer beer that would be!
After that I just couldn’t stop.
What if I could take the drinkability of a 4% English session ale and match it with the hop intensity of an American Double IPA? Or how about the roasted chocolate and coffee dryness of a great stout mixed up with a complex spontaneously fermented fruit beer?
Sounds like the perfect idea for a BeerSweden competition right?(Ed note: it’s been a while hasn’t it!)
So here’s the deal – send me an email to darren@beersweden.se telling me which two beers you would mix and match to create an awesome beer and most importantly why?
The person with the most imaginative answer will get this rather stylish set of six Three Towns lager glasses (which are beautifully etched at the bottom with landmarks from Stockholm, Malmö and Gothenburg) – courtesy of those jolly nice people at Galatea.
They’d be perfect for pouring my S:t Sleepy Sommarlager into………
The competition is only open to people living in Sweden and will run until the stroke of midnight on Tuesday, May 25th. The judge’s decision (that’s me) is final and the winner will be announced the next day.
So get mixing beers people and good luck!
Fun competition. I just sent you my response.
Great idea for a competition, Darren!
”Or how about the roasted chocolate and coffee dryness of a great stout mixed up with a complex spontaneously fermented fruit beer?”
Something similar to this has actually been ”commercially” made. Brasserie de la Senne and Cantillon joined forces to make a mix of the stout Stouterik from the former and the Gueuze from the latter. The mix have been bottled under the name De la Senne Zwarte Piet, but I guess it’s hard to find. Moeder Lambic in Brussels have it though. I guess it’s a bit reminiscent of Black Velvet, a cocktail of champagne mixed stout.