You’re sitting at the bar and in the corner of your eye you see her there, stealing glances at you.

She’s sending signals. Your heart quickens and you suddenly start to feel uncomfortably warm. There’s a glow spreading across your stomach, an almost palpable vibration.

You take a shallow breath, clench your jaw and face her now. Slowly your hand reaches into your pocket and you pull it out. You’ll later tell people that she let out a tiny squeal of delight when you put it to your ear.

She’s seen your iPhone. More than that she’s seen it Punked.*

(ED note: OK, ok this was not the way I intended to write the intro of this competition post when I got up this morning. It was supposed to be far more standard “look cool, amaze your friends” but then I went and got all Mils and Boon. I can’t explain why. Maybe it’s the lack of sunlight up here, mixed with a bit of restless boredom and the need to write a novel. I’ll get back on track now).

Let’s face it – iPhones are sexy and anyone who has one, by association, is better looking than an Android user. Big statement I know but it’s true because Stevie once said so (allegedly).

Android users will hate you. Everyone else will love you.

So how can you make the world’s sexiest phone even sexier? That’s impossible – it’s like trying to make Magnus Uggla’s hair more curly, right?

Well BrewDog** have managed to pull it off with this ultra exclusive iPunk cover for your favourite mobile device.

So exclusive is this iPhone cover (fits all iPhone 4 models) that not even BrewDog’s founder James Watts himself has one yet nor are they available to buy in the BrewDog online shop.

But I have managed to get my hands on one to give away, so to be the first person in Sweden to Punk your iPhone here’s what you’ve got to do:

BrewDog’s Hardcore IPA has recently qualified from the ‘ordering assortment’ and onto the shelves of the Systembolaget, which means you can now order single bottles to your local store.

So to win the iPunk cover grab a bottle and your camera and capture an awesome Hardcore IPA moment (please note the use of IPA in that last statement). It can be funny, cool, natural, processed – anything as long as it has something to do with BrewDog Hardcore IPA.

Then send you photo (max resolution 500kb) to me at darren@beersweden.se . I will then post it right here under this post for everyone to see. You have until midnight on Friday, 10^th February to submit your photo, after which I will get the team at BrewDog to pick their favourite. The winner will be announced on Monday, February 13^th.  

This competition is open to anyone living in Scandinavia.

Any questions just mail me. Good luck everyone!

 *I appreciate that a few ladies follow this blog so just switch genders in the bar story if you feel the need to (although under closer scrutiny the penis innuendo falls down a bit……)

**Actually it was those nice people at Cask Sweden that first came up with the concept of these iPhone covers. Kudos!

———————————————————————————–

Here’s the first entry from Jens. Can you do better?

 Emmanuel has gone all Pop Arty!

Hans simply can’t wait and has made his own attempt at iPunk-ing his phone….

Something a little fishy from Jonas….

In one of this blog’s most popular competitions to date (hardly surprising given the prizes) I’m delighted to reveal the names of the 5 BeerSweden followers who have won shares in one of the world’s most talked about craft breweries – BrewDog from Scotland.

The five lucky winners will now get an invite to BrewDog's legendary AGM.

To win participants had to search my posts over at the new BeerSweden Forum (which now has almost 350 registered members and over 4,200 posts!) to find the secret ingredient that is found in every single BrewDog beer (other than the ‘normal’ ones like water, malt, hops etc).

The answer was, of course, Punkitude, which currently isn’t a word in the English language but I humbly suggest should be.*

The five BeerSweden faithful to find the hidden word and email it to me and who are now the winners of a bundle of 4 shares each in BrewDog worth £95 (around 1,000 SEK) are:

Johan Eriksson from Örebro

Kristoffer Krogerus

Jonas Nyblom

Hannes Gruber

Joel Blom

Congratulations to all five of you! Details of what you need to do next to register your details and claim your shares will be sent to you in the next few days.

I’m not really sure how I’m going to top this competition but rest assured I’ll be giving away something magnificently beery right here on BeerSweden very soon.

Thanks to everyone who took the time to enter and if you didn’t win then better luck next time

*Look, if the word ‘Muggle’ from the Harry Potter novels/films can crack the Oxford English Dictionary then Punkitude stands a chance, doesn’t it?

In the past on this blog I’ve given away T-shirts, books and pub dinners but I’ve never given away a bit of an internationally acclaimed brewery – until now!

In what must be one of the most awesome competitions ever held on a beer blog I’m now giving you the chance to win a bundle of 4 shares in the brewery everyone’s talking about these days – BrewDog.

Soon you could be BrewDog's Head Brewer Stewart Bowman's new boss. Sort of.

The shares, currently being sold as part of the brewery’s newly launched Equity for Punks scheme, are worth £95 (around 1000 SEK).

But perhaps even more important than the value of the prize is the fact the winner will be able to brag that they own a part of the brewery to their friends, get a 20% discount in BrewDog’s on-line shop, a 5% discount in their rapidly growing chain of bars and be invited to their notorious AGM where members get to brew a special share-holders beer.

Did I say winner? Actually I meant winners, because when I rang BrewDog James up to ask him if he would donate the first prize he said “why not make the competition really epic?” and promptly offered 5 bundles of shares to give away!

So not just one but five lucky BeerSweden followers are about to book their front row ticket to the craft beer revolution. Here’s what do you need to do to stand a chance of winning a share of the dog house.

All BrewDog beers are made using the five following ingredients (and very often a few more ):

• Water
• Hops
• Yeast
• Malt
• ??????

To enter all you have to do is tell me what the 5^th special ingredient found in all BrewDog’s beers is. The ingredient is hidden in one of my posts over at the new BeerSweden Forum, so if you haven’t already done so you’ll have to get over there and register to take part and find it.

The special ingredient is a single word that I’ve made up myself so if you had any thoughts of taking a shortcut by randomly searching for words in the forum then you might want to think again. All I’ll say is that as soon as you see the word you’ll know

Once you have discovered the special ingredient send the word to me at darren@beersweden.se. This competition will run until midnight on Sunday 24^th July and the winners will be picked at random by a representative of the brewery and announced right here on the blog on Tuesday, July 26^th.

This competition is open to anyone living in Sweden, Finland, Norway or Denmark. The judges decision is final. If anyone posts a thread or comment either here, on the Forum or anywhere else revealing the winning word then obviously not only will it ruin the fun for everyone else but that person will automatically be disqualified.

Good luck everyone!

Beers and Shares!

Darren

Disclaimer: I represent BrewDog in Scandinavia. This may have helped a bit when getting the prizes.

Due to rain, mosquitoes, a shockingly poor internet connection and the company of many great friends I was unable to post the winner of ‘The Brewmaster’s Table’ competition yesterday.

Whatever the weather I hope you, like me, had a fantastic midsommar!

So without further ado the randomly selected winner of the competition and a brand new copy of the ‘bible’ of beer and food pairing is…………Per Gunnar Eriksson from Umeå! Congratulations P-G – I know mealtimes around your house are about to get very interesting over the coming months!

A big thanks to everyone who entered (there were a lot of you!) and remember to check back soon for another beery BeerSweden competition.

Whenever I hit a roadblock with someone I’m trying to convert to beer I normally head for the fridge. Not for another beer though. For some food.

Food really can bring out the best in a beer. Anyone who has experienced the mouth-watering majesty of a chilled Belgium witbier as its light, fresh lemonade and herb flavours wrap themselves around a perfectly poached fillet of plaice will know exactly what I’m talking about.

Food can also calm beer down at times. Take a brash, arrogant US imperial stout and hook it up with a slice of artery-clogging Mississippi Mud Cake and the dessert will help flatten the sharp spikes of bitter chocolate and charred espresso coffee beans.

Food can make a good beer great but it’s not just a one-way relationship. Beer can also turn a good meal into a memorable one.

In Sweden we’re just taking our first tentative steps into the world of beer and food pairing. Sure we drink beer with food at Easter, midsommar, with crayfish and at Christmas but I’m pretty sure many of us don’t know why we do it or that there’s probably better matches to be had with beers other than the lagers we routinely plonk on the table.

To get to know beer better it’s really worth taking a little bit of time to learn the basic principles of beer and food pairings. Notice I didn’t use the word rules because there aren’t any. We’ll leave the dogma of ‘red with meat, white with fish’ to the wine world where it belongs. In our brave new beer world the only thing that matters is that the match works for you. If the food and the beer are better for hanging out with one another then you’ve just made a great match. It’s as simple as that!

I don't think there's ever been a better book written about food and beer pairing. It might not change you life, but it will change your mealtimes!

But hang on you say. Is it really that simple? Well yes…..and no. There are in fact several ‘guidelines’ you can follow, some well tried combos that never let you down, some dishes where you might want to tread a little more carefully.

Fortunately someone’s already written these guidelines down for you in a book that I refer to as the bible of food and beer pairing.

The book is called ‘The Brewmaster’s Table’ and in its 372 pages you’ll find everything you’ll ever need to start creating amazing combos. It is written by Garrett Oliver who is brewmaster at Brooklyn Brewery, a man considered by many to be the world’s leading authority on knowing what to eat with your beer.

This beautifully illustrated book takes you on a journey through beer’s past, explains how it is made and then tours the world’s most popular beer styles giving you suggestions on which foods to match them with.

Garrett’s intelligent prose and infectious enthusiasm for his art (because that is what it is) is guaranteed to inspire you and make your next meal, in some strangely pleasant way, just that bit more complicated.

And now thanks to those nice people at Brooklyn Brewery I’m giving you the chance to win the latest updated edition of ‘The BrewMaster’s Table’.

To stand a chance of winning you’ll need to have liked BeerSweden’s Facebook page (you know we’re big on Facebook right?) and answer the following question:

Q: Garrett Oliver’s Brooklyn Brewery released a ‘sunshine’ beer at the Systembolaget in May. What is it called?

Send your answer to darren@beersweden.se by midnight on Thursday, June 23^rd and I’ll give one lucky BeerSweden follower an extra reason to celebrate midsommar the following day when I announce the winner. This competition is only open to people that live in Sweden.

Good luck everyone!

In a little over one month from now the Bishops Arms’ latest pub will open its doors for business in Stockholm’s trendy Linnégatan.

The new pub promises to be the most gastro to date in the ever-expanding Bishops Arms pub chain that has increasingly focused on food in combination with its huge range of beers in recent years.

Tops chefs Danyel and Melker will be the creative force in the kitchen at the new Bishops Arms pub in Linnégatan

And it’s no idle promise either, with none other than Danyel Couet and Melker Andersson’s acclaimed catering powerhouse Grupp F12 responsible for designing the menu and running the kitchen.

Exactly what dishes these award-winning chefs will conjure up is being kept top secret for now. However one thing is certain – the name of one BeerSweden follower will be printed on the new menu!

In an exclusive competition sponsored by those nice people at Bishops Arms I want you to describe your perfect burger and beer combo.

(A world-class hamburger is the only dish we know that will be on the menu when the pub opens on June 15th, although the exact ingredients are still very hush-hush).

You’ve got just 60 words to play with and should use them to describe your perfect world-class hamburger and the ideal beer to pair with it. Remember to explain why you believe the two elements work so well together. Your description can be in either English or Swedish.

A sneak preview of how the 9-metre long bar at BA Linnégatan will look.

All suggestions will be judged by the new Bishops Arms Linnégatan crew and representatives from Grupp F12 who will also choose the winner.

The prize will be a dinner for two at the new pub – but that’s not all! The beer and the name of the person who suggested it will be printed on the menu alongside the hamburger description as a recommendation for everyone to see.

And as if that wasn’t enough a branded glass with the winner’s name on it will be given a special place behind the bar for whenever he or she pops in for a drink!

You’ve got until June 1st to submit your entries to me at darren@beersweden.se. To enter you must also get yourself over to the Bishops Arms Linnégatan’s brand spanking new Facebook page and click LIKE to keep up-to-date with all the latest pub news. You’ll also need to LIKE BeerSweden’s Facebook page too (but you’ve already done that ages ago, right?)

The judges’ decision, as always, is final. A picture of the winner’s name engraved on their own special glass will be posted on BeerSweden on June 15th. This competition is open to everyone aged 23 and over (that’s the minimum age limit at all Bishops Arms pubs and they will check if in doubt), although you will probably want to live somewhere near Sweden in order to claim your prize.

Lots of gastro-luck everyone!

There was a record number of entries for the first BeerSweden Tag-a-T competition run last month – over 160 of you threw your email addresses into the ring in the hope of winning a statement-making Punk IPA T-shirt from those nice chaps at BrewDog.

The April Tag-a-T competition was sponsored by Punk IPA. Who's it going to be this month? Stay tuned!

But of course there can only be one winner and the name of the person picked at random who’s taking home the swag this month is……….(drum roll)………Susanna Mathiesen! Congratulations Susanna: wearing this T-shirt may just change your life!

Because the Tag-a-T format was so popular I’m going to be putting another cool beery T-shirt up for grabs over the next few days and every month from now on so remember to check back often so you don’t miss out on your chance of bagging some free stuff.

Exclusively here at BeerSweden, where we’ve be making beery people look better and drink better since 2010!

ps: (Are you a brewery that sells your beers in Sweden? Do you have a trendy T-shirt you’d like to put up for this monthly competition? If you do then send an email to me at darren@beersweden.se).

What do Betamax, hydrogen-filled blimps, making the Titanic too….titanic, George Lazenby as James Bond and leisure suits have in common?

They were all pretty bad ideas, weren’t they?

Not really such a good idea, was it.......

I had one of those last week when I tried to launch a new monthly Facebook competition concept over at BeerSweden’s FB page I’d been working on called ‘Tag-a-T’ in which all you had to do was tag your name to a picture of a beery T-shirt, ‘LIKE’ BeerSweden’s FB page and the page of the brewery supplying the swag in order to win it.

Simple. I thought.

Until that is until I started getting emails about 15 seconds later after it went live from concerned BeerSweden followers telling me that my Facebook account could be closed down unless I removed the competition immediately.

Some frantic online research later and it turns out it’s true. Buried in Facebook’s Terms and Conditions in small print so small it would make estate agents and divorce lawyers giggle with glee it states that your account can be frozen and your toenails turn black and fall out for improper use of Facebook’s native features. (I may have made the bit about your toenails up).

Which led to one of the shortest T-shirt giveaways in the history of the Internet as I was forced to remove ‘Tag-a-T’ from Facebook and migrate it over here where it’s me rather than Mr Zuckerberg that makes the rules up.

So here it is, slightly re-tweaked but in essence still a simple chance to get a free beery T-shirt every month. Remember you have to be a LIKER of both BeerSweden and BrewDog Scandinavia to stand a chance of winning.

Just post a comment with your preferred T-shirt size (S/M/L/XL) under this post to enter. I’ll pick a winner at random at the end of the month and inform the winner by responding to the mail address registered when you comment.

Happy tagging everyone!

(PS: if you run a cool brewery with great looking T-shirts and want it to feature in next month’s ‘Tag-a-T’ competition just mail me at darren@beersweden.se).

Capturing over half of the 103 votes cast the winner of the ‘Hello Beer Lovershhh’ picture caption competition is Robert Hermansson with this cheeky suggestion for what I’m saying to TV4′s drinks pundit Bengt Frithiofsson.

Congratulations Robert (who will be receiving an all expenses paid trip to North Coast Brewing in the US item of beery merchandise) and tough luck to Stefan, Daniel and Fabian this time around.

Another BeerSweden competition coming soon!

Thanks to everyone that sent in entries to this tongue-in-cheek competition I ran after watching TV4′s wine (and apparently beer) pundit Bengt Frithiofsson perform yet another rather ‘erratic’ beer review on Nyhetsmorgon

If you missed the episode you can watch it here. Highlights include calling the first beer a ‘typical scarecrow’ as though it was a style of beer rather than the brand name and pronouncing Ruddles ‘Riddles’* Country [sic] Ale (yet another new style Bengt has discovered).

Last but certainly not least was Bengt’s poorly researched assessment of Brother Thelonious, claiming it had far too much alcohol for a high rating when in fact it’s a Belgium Strong Dark Ale with the ‘strong’ referring to the alcohol strength. Get it Bengt?

Lots of you sent in your suggestions for what I was saying in the picture to Mr Frithiofsson. All of them were very funny, some of them would probably land me in court and as always I’m struggling to pick a winner.

So therefore I’m going to ask you to do it for me!

Choose your favourite caption from the four entries below and enter your vote in the panel at the bottom of the page. I’ll leave voting open until tomorrow night (Friday, January 28th at 8pm) and the person with the most votes will win something fabulously beer-related.

1. Vote for Stefan

2. Vote for Robert

3. Vote for Daniel

4. Vote for Fabian