Posted on 09 mars 2010. Tags: Mohawk Extra IPA, Review, Stefan Gustavsson, Wicked Wine
An India Pale Ale (IPA)
A collaboration between Wicked Wine, Stefan Gustavsson and Sigtuna Brygghus
7.5% ABV. Systembolaget Article Number: 1419-01
A crystal clear orange/amber body with a thick, creamy puck of white head.
For a beer with 7 - that's right 7 - hop varieties the leafy nose on this beer is predictably huge but not as 'green' and fresh as in Amarillo Spring (another Swedish hop fav of mine). They're more thick, more musty and heavy hitting. Put it this way, if I was to put Mohawk in the ring with Amarillo Spring Mohawk would be George Foreman and AS would be Ali. Loads of spicy orange marmalade and a dash of that lime chutney you get with your popodoms at Indian restaurants. Surprisingly sweet malt smells coming through too.
There's not as much lemon/pineapple vibes as I would expect considering the abundance of US hop varieties. It's more spicy marmalade, some tropical fruit juice and then the hops, oh boy those hops come crashing in. I'm not talking fresh hop cones here but more intense, acidic, bitter hop pellets. Anyone who's chewed on one of these on a brewery tour will know exactly what I mean. This really needed every decimal point of its 7.5% ABV to carry off such a wild level of hop intensity.
With such an intense IPA you're going to need a dish with intense flavours to stand up to it. I mentioned some Indian spice and think this would meld perfectly with a spicy Indian meal.
Nerd note
IBUs (International Bitterness Units) are measured on a scale from 1-100, after which your tongue normally raises the white flag. That's what makes this beer so intriguing, because on paper it just shouldn't work but somehow the guys behind it have managed to make a 127 IBU beer smooth and drinkable. If you think you can handle your hops then you're going to love this!
Posted in Beer Reviews
Posted on 08 mars 2010. Tags: Belgium, Flanders, Flemish Red, Ichtegems Grand Cru, Review
A Flemish Red/Sour Ale
Brouwerij Strubbe in Belgium
6.5% ABV. Systembolaget Article Number 11719. 59.50 SEK (750ml bottle)
A 'rummy' looking colour with a cloudy body and red tinge under a thin tan head.
OMG (Oak My God)! There's so much toasted oak nose on this beer I could swear someone's slipped some New World Chardonnay into it. Underneath the wine there's more than a splash of vinegar, some light berry and red onion aromas and old leather. This beer's smell is all over the place!
There's a lovely level of carbonation to this beer. It's a little spritzy and fizzy, just like very young wine. Up the front end there's some malty, raisiny sweetness that quickly makes way in the middle for some sharp acidity that reminds me of tart freshly picked lingonberries. There's load of wood throughout and the finish is tannic, dry and long.
As you can see from the picture I paired it together with some French onion soup, using yellow rather than red onions (although I suspect the sweeter red onions could work even better). When pairing acid with acid the result is often sweet, as was the case here with the soup making the beer slightly sweeter. A great match! Flemish reds also work with rich fish dishes, preferably with a lemon-based sauce. Why not try it with prawns dipped in home-made lime aioli?
Nerd note
Flemish red ales come from west Flanders and are sometimes referred to as the Burgundies of Belgium. I wouldn't go that far but there are certainly more than a few similarities to wine in this beer. The dominant flavour here is wood from the use of unlined oak vats that are home to dozens of wild yeast and bacterial strains that add a certain 'funk' to the flavour. If you're new to the style you may wince at first but stick with it as this sweet and sour beer can be wonderfully refreshing and uplifting.
Posted in Beer Reviews
Posted on 07 mars 2010. Tags: BASHAH, brewdog, Review, Stone Brewing
A Black Belgium-style Double IPA. Yes, you read that right.
Stone Brewing from the US and BrewDog from Scotland
8.6% ABV. Systembolget Article Number 11726. 38.40 SEK (330ml bottle)
For those of you that don't know BASHAH is an acronym that stands for Black As S@*t Hoppy As Hell. Couldn't really have put it better myself. Pitch black body under a frothy yeasty tan head.
Odd. There's the familiar waft of American hops with their pine and citrus smells. So far so good. But then comes chocolate, weak coffee and earth.
Schizophrenic tastes of chocolate, liquorice, tar, smoke and grapefruit. Nice sweetness in the middle that's quickly and brutally replaced with a whiplash bitter finish that leaves an unsettling salt and electrical sensation in the mouth. I get the black, I get the double IPA but I get very little of the Belgium element in this beer.
I don't know. Your guess is as good as mine.
Nerd note
This is a Burtonesque beer and I'm not talking Burton-on-Trent here, I mean Tim Burton. It's modern day gothic, an anti-hero, twisted, conflicted and dark. The result of a collaboration between the original bad boys of US brewing Stone and the UK poster boys for experimental beer BrewDog it was always going to be different. The problem is as a beer drinker somewhere among all the conflicting tastes and smells I lost my way, emerging at the end of the glass dazed and confused. BASHAH is a fun ride everyone should take at least once.
Posted in Beer Reviews
Posted on 05 mars 2010. Tags: Eisbock, Review, Schneider Aventinus Weizen-Eisbock, Weizen
An Eisbock (Ice beer) / wheat beer mash-up
Weissbierbrauerei G. Schneider & Sohn, Germany
12% ABV. Systembolaget Article Number 11725. 31.90 SEK (330ml bottle)
This is a wheat beer where the yeast remains in the bottle suspended in the beer itself. This means it's going to be cloudy so don't worry - you haven't got a dud one! Having said that Aventinus Weizen-Eisbock is particularly murky and muddy looking, with a thick puck of foam that dissipates to almost nothing, leaving the beer looking like the washing up water after you've scrubbed your frying pans.
As with most wheat beers you're expecting bananas, cloves and coriander on the nose, and sure enough they are there, along with some band-aid and peppery alcohol. What I liked was that it smelt of fresh bananas and not the more artificial 'skumbananer' aromas of some other wheats out there.
Pleasantly surprised to note the banana and herb tones in the aroma don't take over too much in the mouth. They're there of course but wrapped up in a thick malty envelope of sweet vanilla and cream. Big spirituous finish - as though someone's tipped a vodka in your beer while you were looking the other way.
Tough call this one, as the distinctive banana and herb flavours coupled with this eisbock's concentrated alcoholic onslaught don't make it, in my opinion, an obvious partner to food. Of course a tropical fruit salad and bananas and cream would work, as would an ultra rich banoffee pie.
Nerd note
Taking a German wheat beer and crossing it with an ice beer (eisbock) is a little like taking a vindaloo and adding more curry powder. What you're left with is an intensely flavourful, insanely boozy beer that will almost certainly polarise drinking opinions. For me it was the drinking equivalent of watching Let's Dance. I shouldn't like it but I still found it strangely enjoyable.
Posted in Beer Reviews
Posted on 04 mars 2010. Tags: Brooklyn Black Chocolate Stout, Brooklyn Brewery, Catherine the Great, Imperial Stout, Review
An Imperial Stout
Brooklyn Brewery, Brooklyn, New York, USA
10.0% ABV. Systembolaget Article Number 11727. 19.90 SEK (335ml bottle)
You'd be hard pressed to find a better looking stout than this one. Engine oil black body with a huge fluffy dark tan head. It looks like a milkshake for grown-ups. The head melts largely away but stubbornly refuses to surrender completely, clinging to the sides of the glass until the bitter end.
Considering the name it's not surprising that dark chocolate is the signature smell, supported by liquorice, estery notes of dried plums, burnt wood and a lot of raw booze. Sniffing it reminded me of standing too close to the petrol pump when filling up the car. Boozy woozy!
This beer hits you hard and just keeps on hitting, assaulting your palate with flavours of dark bitter chocolate, dry charred malts, vanilla oak and coffee. There's also a shot of bourbon in there too. The 10% of alcohol definitely makes itself known at the back end.
Imperial stouts are huge beers both in terms of flavour and ABV and therefore need dishes with bold flavours to avoid dominating completely. Chocolate desserts are a classic match (the sweeter the chocolate dessert the better the match with imperial stouts).
Nerd note
Catherine the Great of Russia fell in love with stouts while visiting England in the 18th Century. When she got home she ordered some stout to be sent over (she normally got what she wanted) but it turned stale on the long sea voyage. An enterprising British brewery produced a more robust stout that arrived at the Russian court in tip-top condition. Brooklyn's spin on Imperial stout is very bitter, dry and laced with spirit. Despite the name there is no actual chocolate added to the beer. The cocoa tones come from the use of six different kinds of black, chocolate and roasted US malts. At under 20 SEK a bottle it's a steal!
Posted in Beer Reviews
Posted on 03 mars 2010. Tags: Bötet, Bötet Barley Wine, Nynäshamns Ångbryggeri, Review
A Barley Wine
Nynäshamns Ångbryggeri, Nynäshamn, Sweden
9.1% ABV. Systembolaget Article Number 11724. 33.50 SEK (250ml bottle)
Impressive coppery 'fox fur' colour with a fine light beige head that quickly collapses (not unexpected for a beer of this strength).
WOW! Oh this is a real sniffer people! Take you time with this one, jam your nose down your glass to suck up smells of fresh pineapple chunks soaked in cognac, honey. apricots and whiffs of spicy alcohol notes
As you'd expect from a barley wine Bötet is a bit like singing diva Maria Carey - on the surface it's nothing but sweet but beware - it carries a nasty bite! Treacle and silk mouthfeel with more honey and pineapple but watch out because here comes the alcohol punch. A bit too much booze in the finish?
As well as making a great digestif, Barley wine beers are intense enough to partner strong cheeses, including classic cheddars, Gruyeres and my absolute favourite – a mature stilton. Because young barely wines are often ’sticky sweet’ they melt nicely into caramelized desserts like creme brulee. Remember that as barley wines age they become less sweet and more madeira-like in flavour.
Nerd note
As with all Nynäshamn's beers this little cracker is unpasteurised, which combined with its style and high ABV means its a potential 'keeper'. I recommend buying a few bottles, drinking some now and ageing some bottles for a year or two. By then the raw alcohol tones may have softened and if that happens you've got yourself a stunning barley wine for just over 30 SEK!
Posted in Beer Reviews
Posted on 02 mars 2010. Tags: Ocean Eko Pale Ale, Oceanbryggeriet, Review
An ecological pale ale
Oceanbryggeriet, Gothenburg, Sweden
4.5% ABV. Systembolaget Article Number 1408. 28.40 SEK (500ml bottle)
If you're expecting this pale ale to be, well, pale in colour you'd be wrong. Oceanbryggeriet is known for creating British beer styles and in line with other British idiosyncrasies like imperial measurements and driving on the wrong side of the road the Brits like their pale ales coppery brown in colour.
Perhaps the best thing about this beer is its strong aroma of cassis and malty toffee. There's a suggestion of damp earth and (in a good way) a waft of manure too.
Berries and sweetness up the front and to be honest not a lot at the back end of this beer. It has a little nut and fudge character and a very mild bitter finish.
Pair with tradiitional British meat dishes such as roast beef, lamb, duck and goose. Great burger beer too!
Nerd note
The strength of this beer is in its drinkability. I can easily see this being necked by the pint in an English pub. It's classic session beer with a very sociable ABV. The fact you're doing your bit to save the planet by drinking this eco-beer is an added bonus.
Posted in Beer Reviews
Posted on 01 mars 2010. Tags: Mohawk Rye IPA, Rye, Wicked Wine
A Rye Beer/IPA mash-up
A collaboration between Wicked Wine and Stefan Gustavsson
7.5% ABV. Systembolaget Article Number: 11736. 35.80 SEK (500ml bottle)
Pours a crystal clear chestnut brown with a solid, sticky white head with tight beading.
Classic US hop aromas of pine needles and fresh garden mint. I was searching for the 'rye effect' but to be honest couldn't find anything obvious.
Creamy smooth mouth feel that smothers the high ABV nicely. Somewhat sticky sweet upfront and a medium hop buzz finish.
Spicy Asian food. Cheese and cheese-based dishes. Salmon.
Nerd note
So what does the 20% of rye do to this IPA? Most noticeable is the silky smooth mouth feel which seems to mute a lot of the hop bite and makes this a rather tame IPA. Overall a great looking beer with a fresh hoppy nose that is just a little too smooth and filling to leave me wanting much more.
Posted in Beer Reviews
Posted on 28 februari 2010. Tags: Leo Lager, Thai, Thailand
I remember walking along a beach in Koi Samui in Thailand with my wife-to-be many years ago, the feeling of cool white sand pushing up between our toes and the late evening sun warming our backs.
We stopped at one of the beach-side bars, under the shade of a palm leaf roof and ordered a cold Thai beer. I recall it being delicious, fitting just perfectly into that moment. It was, right then, one of the best beers I had ever had.
Now I don’t recall if that beer was a bottle of Leo, Thailand’s best selling beer. I suspect it was a Singha but to be honest it doesn’t really matter. What made it so special had everything to do with the circumstances and hardly anything to do with the beer.
Which is why when I got the chance to try Leo recently my expectations were not sky high. The white sands have after all long been replaced by white snow, the beach-side bars with cheap pizza restaurants and the warming evening sun has been a stranger in this part of northern Sweden for several months now.
So in fairness to my bottle of Leo I decided to cook a Thai red chicken curry, seasoned with lemongrass, coconut milk and lime in an attempt to help it fit a little better into the moment.
And guess what? It succeeded! Leo describes itself as having a “smooth and great taste”. Well I’d dispute the latter adjective but Leo is indeed pretty smooth. It has a classic pale lager look to it, all watery yellow with bleached white head.
Up front it has a pleasant sweetness that smothered the heat of the curry rather nicely. After that to be honest there is very little there – but then with beers like Leo that’s largely the point isn’t it?
I would probably never drink a bottle of Leo on its own when all its weaknesses are brutally exposed, but put it together with spicy Asian food and it becomes as good as it can be.
Leo Lager will be available from the Systembolaget’s beställningssortiment from April 1st in both 33cl and 63cl bottles.
Posted in Beer Reviews, Sips & Tips
Posted on 26 februari 2010. Tags: Czech, dark lager, lager, Pivovar Nachod, Primator Premium Dark
Isn’t it funny how you can overlook something that’s right there under your nose?
I do it all the time. Like snow for example. There’s lots of it up here in the north of Sweden but it took several years before I realised you could actually use it to ski on.
Primator Premium Dark is the first of three Primator beers I'm reviewing.
The same thing regularly happens to me when I visit my local Systembolaget store. I tread the same well-worn path through the isles, instinctively searching out the small orange markers that denote a new beer is in town. Failing that I tend to switch into autopilot, heaping bottles of beers I am on familiar terms with into my shopping basket.
I rarely seem to stray from this regime, and therein lies my problem because there’s no doubt I am guilty of overlooking beers that deserve some space in my fridge back home.
Primator Premium Dark is one such beer. This dark lager from the Pivovar Nachod in the Czech Republic is a multi-award winning brew, having been voted the World’s Best Dark Lager in 2008 by the British ‘Beers of the World’ magazine.
The Pivovar Nachod brewery dates back to 1872 and first registered the Nachodsky Primator brand name (the predecessor of the current dark beer) in 1935. Since 2006 the brewery has undergone some radical modernisation but still uses only Czech ingredients in all is beers, including South Moravian malts and spring water from an underground lake in the Adrpach National Park.
All very interesting stuff for a beer I’ve overlooked for months and months. So what’s it like then?
Primator Premium Dark pours a, well, dark russet brown with a slightly off-white head. The smell is all malts, with freshly baked brown bread, treacle, muscovado sugar and raisin juice.
It is naturally quite sweet to taste, but there’s just enough hop bite to avoid it becoming too sticky sweet. There’s also an underlying mineral taste – I assume from the water – that increases the drinkability factor considerably.
This is great beer and for me (a die-hard ale drinker) it’s altogether more interesting than its paler lager cousins. I can imagine it would pair really well with shellfish and practically any meat from the BBQ, as well as Asian dishes with some spicy heat that require a little sweetness to lift the flavours.
Primator Premium Dark
A Dark Lager from Pivovar Nachod, Czech Republic
4.8% ABV
Systembolaget Article Number: 1615
Posted in Beer Reviews, Sips & Tips
