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

I love Bengt Frithiofsson, I really do.

With his gruff enthusiasm and a hairstyle you can normally only ever achieve by sleeping under a bridge for a week he lights up the TV4 studio with his regular drinks reviews, which he delivers with all the drama and spectacle of a big fight ring announcer.

A force majeure, Bengt has blazed a trail for the appreciation of wine in the country, an industry in which he is an incontestable expert.

In recent years Bengt has increasingly diversified into rating beers, and it is here that my troubles with Bengt begin.

Because although Bengt has clearly earned his wine stripes his knowledge of beer is sometimes….questionable.

Take for example his appearance on TV4′s Nyhetsmorgon last week when he shared his beer tips of the week with us. I could point to the rather odd selection of beers – three rather standard British ales and a Belgium Strong Dark Ale – that are hardly representative of the season or his opening statement about exciting beers being produced by microbreweries (Both Ruddles and Scarecrow come from breweries that have been gobbled up by large UK brewing concerns).

But that would be picky.

Let’s concentrate instead on Bengt’s analysis of one beer in particular – Brother Thelonious, a jazzy 9.4% beer from a real microbrewery, North Coast Brewing in California, USA.

Bengt’s only actual comment about the beer itself is that it has too much alcohol in it for his tastes, concluding that because of the booze he can only give it 3 out of 5 (a pretty reasonable score anyway). However if Bengt had done his homework he’d know that the word ‘strong’ in this beer’s style description specifically relates to the presence of alcohol in it.

Belgium Strong Dark Ales like Brother ‘T’ are supposed to be boozy. It goes with the territory. Don’t just take my word for it; a quick check of the BJCP guidelines (the US’s leading beer judge certification organisation) tells us that this type of beer should weigh in between 8-11% ABV and have a ”smooth but noticeable alcohol warmth”.

So it’s a bit of a shame that it gets marked down because of a characteristic that is a vital part of its DNA. It’s like dishing out a poor score for a bottle of champagne because it’s too…..bubbly.

So in a tongue-in-cheek response to Bengt I thought we should have a little competition. Just tell me what you think I am saying to Bengt in the photo above and the wittiest answer will win a beery prize (I’m not actually sure what it will be yet but details to follow).

Send your suggestions to me at darren@beersweden.se by midnight on Wednesday January 26th. You’ve got to be a resident of Sweden to win the prize, although please feel free to enter anyway wherever you live!

Johan Eriksson from Örebro for this cracking beer name! Congratulations Johan – a very exclusive hoodie from Great Divide Brewing Co is on its way to you in the post courtesy of BeerSweden and Great Brands.

Without doubt this is the most successful competition we’ve had on BeerSweden (almost 30 of you sent in suggestions) so I’ll be taking another picture soon and asking you to ‘name that beer’ in return for a beer-related prize.

I can’t finish this post though without mentioning a few notable runners-up:

From Viktor Nyman: Teddy Beer – Smooth as the fur of a Panda, aggressive as a Grizzly robbed of it’s lingonberries (Ed note: What???) and dark as the American Black Bear itself

From Johan Granberg: Ursus Americanus – Big body, big bite!

From Peter Johansson: Sleepy Bear Extra IPA – It´s not dangerous as long as you´re gentle

From Mikael ‘Gonzo’ Porsklint: Björn Skifs Porter ”Hooked On A Feeling!”

Thanks to everyone who entered and watch out for a new competition soon!

The moment I took this picture of a rather angry-looking bear while on a family trip to Lycksele Animal Park over the weekend I knew it would look great on the front label of a bottle of beer.

The question is – and your challenge for this competition – is what would you call the beer?

Just come up with a suitable brand name and preferably a punchy strapline and the best entry will win an exclusive beery prize.

Here’s a rather pathetic example I’ve just made up so you can see where I’m heading with this:

Bear Brown Ale – a grizzly beer worth coming out of hibernation for.

Send your beer name to me at darren@beersweden.se this Friday (September 10th) at noon when I’ll choose a winner and post the finished bottle label on the blog.

But what, I hear you cry, is the prize?

Well bears are rough and tough creatures and so will you be wearing this exclusive hoodie from Great Divide Brewing Company in Dever, USA – courtesy of our good friends at Great Brands!

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Only a handful of these hoodies ever made their way over to Sweden and like our grizzly friend in my picture you’re going to have to be XLarge for it to fit perfectly.

So what are you waiting for? Make me grin and ‘bear’ it! (Ed Note: I’m so so sorry).

ps: entering the name Bjørnebryg will result in instant disqualification!

The smell of wet grass after a cleansing thunderstorm, the feeling of warm wind on your face as you bike to the beach or the pleasurable pain of hot sand between your toes when you finally get there are just some of the things that make summer my favourite season of the year.

Not only is summer a time for relaxing and disconnecting from the internet while reconnecting with family and friends but it also provides us with the opportunity to savour one of life’s most pleasurable moments – the act of drinking a cold beer on a hot summer’s day.

Beer is not only deliciously refreshing it is unquestionably the most sociable summer drink there is. How many beers have you already cracked open standing in the garden with your Crocs on surrounded by good friends? How many times have you already had a chilled beer bottle in one hand and a pair of BBQ tongs in the other flipping burgers while jokingly moaning that the weather is too hot and you’re looking forward to winter? How many beers glasses have you already ‘chinked’ with a mate while sitting outside your favourite pub as the last rays of evening sun fade over the rooftops and you chat about life while staring at passers-by from behind your sunglasses?

Capturing that moment when beer and summer come together was the challenge I issued for last week’s ‘Give Me a Sign’ competition in which two stylish metal beer signs from a couple of America’s most popular ‘craft’ breweries were up for grabs.

After sifting through the pictures sent in to BeerSweden HQ over the weekend I have picked a stand-out winner that I think really evokes the joy of drinking a beer on a summer’s day.

So a big beery congratulations to Carl Ljungberg for this great shot. I’ll let Carl tell you the story behind it in his own words:

”Cyklade iväg en sväng här på lördagskvällen, utåt Uppsala högar. Vad passar då bättre än en utmärkt öl, dessutom bryggd i Uppsala? Det var varmt, men svalkan kom när man kände historiens vingslag både från den klassiska Imperial stouten och platsen i fråga. En iskall lager i all ära, men en trevlig Imperial Stout kan verkligen sätta guldkant på en het dag som denna!”

I loved the bike resting against the wooden fence in the background Carl as it really captured the mood of your moment with the beer.

An honourable runners-up spot has to go to Anders Thomas for this picture which could be entitled ”The Summer Beer Blues”.

As Anders himself wrote: ”It´s hot, I’m off work, the Mrs is away, the beer is cold and plentiful. I just can´t play the blues.”

I don’t know if coming second is going to make you feel any better Anders but I’m sure a cold beer will quickly cheer you up!

Thanks to everyone who took the time to enter and look out for another BeerSweden competition coming your way soon.

It’s been a while since we last had a competition here at BeerSweden so we’re getting back on track by giving you the chance to win these stylish metal signs from two of America’s most iconic breweries.

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If you’re a fan of US beers (and lets be honest who isn’t these days) then all you have to do to win these two stylish signs is to send me your favourite summer beer photo. A tip would be to not just take a snapshot of a bottle beside your kitchen sink – the winning photo is more likely going to be the one that really captures the mood of summer (and makes me thirsty at the same time).

Send your picture to me at darren@beersweden.se before the stroke of midnight this Sunday (July 11th) and please try to keep the file size to under 300K to avoid mailbox meltdown.

I’ll announce the winner on Monday 12th July and publish their photo right here on the blog. Good luck everyone and I hope you’re all having a great beery summer!

Last week I announced a competition in which I asked you to mix the best bits of two of your favourite beers to produce one awesome brew.

Some very creative entries have been sent in over the past few days (and some downright bizarre ones too) but after sifting carefully through them all I’ve finally chosen a very worthy winner

Fredric Sandell’s beer mash-up is not only inspired it’s also the perfect name for BrewDog’s next experimental beer (remember you saw it here first people).

Here’s Fredric’s description:

”I would mix 95% of Jolly Pumpkins Bam Bière with 5% of Founder’s Oatmeal Stout. This way I would have a nice farmhouse ale with some extra body added to it, and based on the combined labels I would call it Dog’s Dinner, which incidentally is what I will be fed tonight by my wife for spending too much time submitting stuff to BeerSweden competitions”.

I hope your prize of a set of 6 stylish lager glasses from those jolly nice people at Galatea might just be enough to get you out of the dog house with the missus Fredric!

Another opportunity to spark domestic unrest will present itself soon when I give away some pretty darn cool beer signs from the US of A. Stayed tuned for more details over the next few days!

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!

I’ve spent the morning sifting though tasting notes sent in to me by BeerSweden readers all wanting to be a part of a Swedish beer blogging first by joining me for a ‘live’ Facebook tasting of two beers especially released just for us by those nice chaps at Sigtuna Brygghus.

After much deliberation and plenty of laughs I have finally managed to whittle it down to the final five. Three of the chosen ‘jury’ run and write their own Swedish beer blogs (so I suppose you could claim they had an unfair advantage….) and the other two are die-hard BeerSweden fans and regular commenters over at BeerSweden’s Facebook page.

So here, without further ado, are the five chosen panellists for the first ever BeerSweden Facebook Live Tasting:

Pelle Stridh – long-time (and I mean long-time) beer activist and evangelist and the man behind the Allt om Öl and Humulus Lupulus websites

Carl Ralph – one half of the dynamic duo from the respected Swedish beer blog Schnille och Schmak.

Johan Lenner – a relative newcomer to the Swedish beer blogging scene (can I say that as someone who has only been blogging for half a year…..?) with his food and beer-orientated site Portersteken.

Anders Thomas – A loyal BeerSweden fan who submitted his entry within 15 seconds of me posting details of this tasting on Facebook. Such lightening reactions deserve recognition!

Carl Ljungberg – Another BeerSweden follower whose tasting notes of Sailor Premium Lager had me in stitches (”an after-taste that left me feeling sea-sick” being a highlight).

Congratulations to those of you who are going to get the opportunity to try some pretty special Sigtuna beers very soon and a big thank you to all of you who took the time to send in your entries.

As an aside I note that I didn’t receive a single entry written by a woman. This is a shame because not only do I happen to know that over 20% of BeerSweden’s Facebook fans are from the fairer sex but it’s also a pretty well known fact that women generally have a better sense of taste than men. Remember that beer is an equal opportunities drink ladies so please get involved next time!

I’ll be posting details of the exact date and time of this unique Facebook live tasting a little closer to the time – so watch this space!

By now you know that BeerSweden loves to try doing things a little……..differently.

Here we like doing things fast and we like doing them first, which is why I’m really excited (and I mean jumping up and down can barely control my bodily functions excited) to announce yet another game-changing premier – Sweden’s first ever national live Facebook beer tasting!

Huh?? I can almost hear some of you saying? Here’s a little background.

Those of you who are regular followers of BeerSweden’s fanpage over at Facebook (and if you’re not, what’s keeping you?) will know that I have held a couple of completely spontaneous ‘live’ beer tastings there, updating the page as I go along and posting my initial thoughts and feelings live, raw and uncut.

It’s always great fun to do and the feedback from doing these tastings has been so positive that we’re now going to take the concept to a whole new level.

BeerSweden can reveal today that it is hooking up with one of Sweden’s most exciting microbreweries Sigtuna Brygghus to conduct the country’s first national simultaneous beer tasting via Facebook. Here’s how it’s going to work.

Sigtuna has agreed to send out 2 exclusive bottles of beer to five people nominated by BeerSweden to take part in this ground-breaking tasting. These beers are totally different from each other and are not due for release until after the SUMMER! That’s right people, you could be tasting these two beers MONTHS before anyone else can get hold of them. This is without doubt the beery scoop of 2010!

I’m going to keep you guessing as to what these two beers are for now but the idea is that on a date towards the end of May (as yet to be decided) the five lucky five beer tasters and myself will simultaneously open these bottles and conduct a live tasting via BeerSweden’s Facebook fanpage.

Sound amazing? Want to be a part of Swedish beer blogging history?

To stand a chance of being one of the lucky five tasters just write some tastings notes about your favourite beer in 50 words or less and send it to me at darren@beersweden.se. You can write in either English or Swedish and it can be as straightforward or as amusing as you like. Bear in mind though that what I’m looking for are creative ways to describe beer rather than the normal ”it’s brown with a white head” stuff.

The five most imaginative entries will be chosen and have the beers sent to them in the next couple of weeks.

This competition is open until midnight this Sunday (26th April) and the judges decision (that’s basically me) is final.

Good luck everyone!

BeerSweden Darren

(ps: this competition is only open to people living in Sweden)