“Because it’s there”.

These are the three words immortalised by English mountaineer George Mallory when he was once asked: “why do you want to climb Mount Everest”?

George Mallory June 1886-June 1924

George went on to attempt the first ever ascent of the world’s highest mountain and although he ultimately lost his life in the savage snow storms that lash the mountain’s infamous North-East ridge his simple yet deeply philosophical answer lives on.

For me it’s a reminder that we should sometimes do things purely because we can.

I often think of George’s words and they came back to me again a few days ago when I was speaking to an industry colleague about the World Beer Cup taking place in the US next May.

We were discussing the lukewarm response to attempts to encourage Swedish breweries to enter their beers. I get the feeling (I may be wrong) that a common view is ”what’s the point” of spending a couple of thousand SEKs sending beer to the US when many Swedish microbreweries are already working flat-out to meet domenstic demand. It’s a very valid question too and from an economic point of view I agree it might make little sense to send beers to the world’s largest commercial beer competition.

Because it's there.

But economics and craft beer have always been uncomfortable bedfellows, haven’t they?

For me craft brewing is a lot about paying little regard to rules, of daring to be different, of following dreams rather than being shackled by spreadsheets. I know some people will think this is a romanticised and unrealistic view of the craft beer industry but it’s mine and for now I’m clinging tightly to it.

The World Beer Cup is widely recognised as one of the most prestigious beer competitions on the planet and is being held next year in the backyard of the country that justifiably claims to be the most exciting place on earth to enjoy craft beer right now.

For a Swedish brewery to send their beer into that level of competition and then to be able to sit in San Diego come May 5^th next year as the 90 category winners are announced and hear the name of that Swedish brewery being called out would really be something, wouldn’t it?

And not because it would result in a huge leap in sales back home nor because it might lead in a lucrative new US export deal but because regardless of whether they won or lost that Swedish brewery rose to the challenge of measuring their beers against some of the very best the world has to offer.

Because they took the challenge to see how high they could climb.

Because they realised that sometimes that climb is more important than reaching the summit.

And because it’s there.

Note: In case you are a Swedish brewer interested in the climb the closing dates for entries to the World Beer Cup 2012 is December 6^th (so you haven’t got long!) Full details on how to enter are here. I wrote this post not because I am a media endorser of this event (which I am) or because I’m going to San Diego next year (which I am) but because I honestly believe there are competition categories which Swedish beers can excel in.  

(but mainly because it would just be so damn cool!)

When Lotta Engberg gave a shotgun start to Christmas on November 20th I immediately started to panic. With a mere 33 shopping days to go, lussebullar to bake, meatballs to roll and advent decorations to put up how, I wondered, was I ever going to get everything done in time?

I’ve been experiencing the same sense of mild hysteria with this blog recently. The run-in to Christmas means only one thing here – BeerSweden’s now obligatory Advent Beer Calendar, a sort of grown-up version of Julkalendern in which Trev and I reveal one new seasonal beer each day throughout December until the big day itself.*

However with 25 Christmasy beers to film and review there’s little time for anything else so I thought I’d get straight to the point and tell you:

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Stockholm-based beer emporium Akkurat has hooked up with The Avenue Pub in New Orleans to put on the biggest ever Swedish Beer Festival in the United States.

The Swedish breweries and their beers that will be available on tap when the festival takes place on Saturday, January 21st are:

Nils Oscar
Kalasöl
Julöl
Hop Yard IPA
Coffee Stout

Närke
Slättöl
Skvattgalen
InternationALE
Pannknektarns Porter
Tanngnjost & Tanngrisir
Stormaktsporter Konjaks

Nynäshamns Ångbryggeri
Tjockhult Tjinook
Bötet Barley Wine
Bedarö Bitter
Sotholmen Extra Stout
Mysingen Midvinter brygd

Skebobruk
Sovereign Golden Ale

Oppigårds
To be confirmed.

A Swedish Beer Dinner is also being planned at the famous Boucherie so (as if you really need one) there’s even more reason to travel to the City of Dreams next year!

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Chris from the Blues Pub is crazy about craft beer!

Is The Blues Pub in Sundbyberg Sweden’s smallest watering hole? I recently popped in for a drink and to meet the man behind the bar (quite literally) Chris Westfahl and was amazed at his big beer ambitions for such a small place. Chris has packed his fridge with cutting-edge craft beers from the likes of Brill and Great Brands and spends lots of his spare time hunting down rare brews to share with his regulars. If you think there’s enough room to swing a cat in this place make sure it’s a small one. Intimate atmosphere, regular live music, great beers  – what are you waiting for?

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Those jolly nice people at Elixir Wine have announced they are bringing yet another Danish craft brewery’s beers to Sweden. This time it’s the ultra new Stronzo Brewing that promises to deliver ‘beer with an attitude’. Stronzo  is planning to open a new brewpub in Copenhagen next year but right now is travelling around brewing a little here and there. Keep up to date here. One more for Elixir Wine’s Danish Christmas Beer Box next year perhaps?

 * Kort & Gott means ‘short and good’ in English. A bit like Kylie Minogue.

Click to enlarge

In today’s fast-moving beer world the recent Stockholm Beer and Whisky Festival already feels like something of a distant memory to me.

At this year’s show I confess I got things a bit wrong, electing to come down for just one week in an attempt to combine my blogging with my BrewDog activities. I totally underestimated how crazy things would get with James and Co in town, with Master Classes every day and after-show events every night, leaving me practically no time at all to record any coherent thoughts about the festival itself.

However there was a stand-out highlight of this year’s show that I simply refuse to let slip through my hippocampus without taking the trouble to record it. It’s something that didn’t even happen at the show itself, but rather over a couple of hours at the Bishops Arms in Stockholm’s Folkungagatan.

The event was called Beer Geek Brunch and was organised by those extremely nice chaps from Swedish drinks importer Brill. In what turned out to be a sort of brunchy brewer speed dating session I sat down and recorded interviews with several of the most visionary, fearless (and in some cases slightly mad) brewing minds on the planet.

What I learnt was enlightening, entertaining and inspirational and I want to share it with you. Which is why, starting next week, I’m going to be posting a complete series of Beer Geek Brunch Interviews in which I share beers, laughs and ask questions to:

Scott Williams from Williams Brothers

Henok Fentie från Omnipollo

Jeppe Jarnit-Bjergsø från Evil Twin Brewing

Mikkel Borg Bjergsø from Mikkeller

Christian Skovdal Andersen from Beer Here

Tore Gynther och Tobias Jensen from To Øl

I’m sorry if this all seems a bit ‘after the event’ but with more than two hours of conversation to transcribe it’s turned into something of a monumental task but one I ultimately think will be worth it and hope you’re going to enjoy.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Cheers and beers!

Darren

Ok so you might think it’s a little bit too early to start thinking about Christmas trees, fairy lights that never seem to work, impossibly crowded shops, advent calendars and slightly inebriated friends and neighbours dressed as Santa handing out presents to your bemused children but stop the press because I think I’ve already got the answer to that tricky annual dilemma: ”What can I buy for the beer lover in my life this Christmas?”

(Ed Note: You do ask that question every year, right?)

Buy one of these and you'll honestly be able to say you've got a little sumpin' sumpin' in your pocket.

The answer can be found here at one of the coolest beer gear stores I’ve ever come across on the net. The idea is brilliantly simple – to take craft beer six-pack boxes and labels and ‘upcycle’ them into everything from trendy wrist cuffs and wallets to luggage tags and wrist watches.

The woman putting her own spin on the term craft beer is artist Mindy Humphrey from Vancouver in the United States, a self-confessed craft beer fanatic that is encouraging people not just to drink their favourite beer but to wear it to!

I spoke via Twitter with Mindy this week and she’s delighted to send orders over to Sweden (postage rates will of course apply) so if you want to stand a shot at getting any of these insanely cool items before Christmas I’d recommend checking out her online store or FaceBook page right away. Personally as someone who travels a lot I’m going for a set of Rouge Dead Ale luggage tags so I can spot my bag a mile away on the next airport luggage belt.

Forget diamonds and rings this Christmas and give the lady in your life a craft beer handbag instead!

Mindy also creates new designs to order so if you’re a Swedish brewery that would like to add some excitement to your merchandise range (or even start one) then you should really get in touch with her. I’d happily dig into my pockets for a Nils Oscar wallet, an Ace of Spades cuff or a Bedarö Bitter wrist watch, wouldn’t you?

The last time Umeå in northern Sweden was invaded it was by the Russians during the particularly bloody battle of Sävar on the 19^th August, 1809.

Last Friday evening, a little over 202 years later, another foreign force entered the City of Birches, although this time it was an assault of the more sensory kind as I tasted an army of Danish beers at Duå’s monthly beer club.

Almost 20 Danish beers made the long journey up to Umeå

The idea was to demonstrate that although we often talk (quite correctly) about the craft beer revolution starting on the west coast of the United States we should not forget that we’ve since had a beer revolution much closer to home.

As we wage our own beer revolution across Europe today it’s sometimes easy to overlook the fact that many of Denmark’s craft breweries and brewing personalities are already battle-hardened veterans. They’ve lived through an explosion of new Danish breweries at the turn of the millennium (from 19 in 2002 to over 100 in 2008), followed by the inevitable culling of many of them as they struggled to compete in such a small home market.

Thankfully the majority of them emerged, slimmer, fitter and more hungry than ever, turning the Danish beer market into one of the most vibrant, experimental and fearless brewing scenes in the world right now.

When I wrote last year that the best thing about Sweden’s best beer show is Denmark it might have sounded a little controversial but if the beers we tasted last Friday are any indication then we’ve still got plenty we can learn from our Nordic neighbours:

Amager Summer Fusion: A rare ‘Californian Common’, a style of beer that uses a lager yeast and then ‘stresses’ it by brewing at higher temperatures, resulting in a beer that displays the crispness of a lager and the fruity notes of an ale. Beautiful tropical fruit aromas courtesy of the considerable amount of US hop varities and a beer I’d love to see on the shelves of my local supermarket. Rating: 3.5 out of 5

Hornbeer DryHop: Described as a premium lager but if you’d served this to me blind I’d have pegged it for an APA or even an IPA. As the name suggests a beer aggressively dry-hopped with only Amarillo. Reminded me of Oppigårds’ classic pale ale but doesn’t really come close. Won a silver at the recent SBWF. Rating: 3.6 out of 5

Raasted Rug IPA: Raasted head brewer Martin Jensen is a man who (just like the beer bottle labels that depict him) always seems to have a smile on his face and he’ll get me doing it too if he keep producing beers as great as this one. It’s the Nelson Sauvin nose that shines through for me, adding a layer of mango smoothie to a biting hoppy finale. If this beer doesn’t make you smile you should really consider drinking wine. Rating: 4.6 out of 5

Djävlebrygg Son of Nekron: This 6.5% porter made a brief appearance at the Systembolaget last November and it was fun to revisit it again. The distinctly smoky character from the peat smoked malts used is still there, together with some dark fruit (raisins and prunes), some E4 (tarmac) and burnt brown sugar. The sort of beer made for cold winter evenings. Rating: 3.9 out of 5

Amager Lust: This horny, hoppy beer is the first in Amager’s Sinner Series and a beer I was particularly looking forward to trying, having missed out on sinning (at the Danish stand at least) at the SBWF this year. The provocative label shows plenty of cleavage but the beer itself was a bit of a bust for me with an overpoweringly sweet taste and rather forgetful Belgium nose. At best I was mildly aroused. Rating: 2.9 out of 5.

Amager Gluttony: The second ‘sin beer’ of the night and here I guzzled and gorged on an orgy of grapey, citrusy hop flavours squeezed into this remarkable 9.4% ABV DIPA. If drinking this is a sin then I confess I’m heading downstairs with a smile on my face. Sensational stuff and just pips Raasted for the beer of the night. Rating: 4.7 out of 5

Black Rooster Oak ‘n’ Islay Edition: This 6.7% Imperial Stout was specially brewed for last year’s SBWF and has made a welcome return. Aged in Caol Ila Whisky casks it draws the toast and vanilla from the oak into the beer. Not too overpowering but a disturbing saltiness bothered me. Rating: 3.3 out of 5.

Next month’s BeerTalk at Duå is on Friday November 25th under the theme ”Who Needs a Brewery Anyway?”.

A new iPhone App that tells you more about a beer by scanning its barcode has just been launched and if you download it today before tomorrow (Monday) it’s absolutely free.

BeerScanner is an App that developer Midius says connects you to a database of more than 1,000 different beers. It enables you to comment on them, mark them as favourites, rate them and share your rating with other BeerScanner users. For Scandinavian users there’s also a link to the beer’s information page on the Systembolaget‘s website.

To scan a beer you simply aim your iPhone at the Barcode and the App does the rest. If the beer doesn’t exist in the database you have the option to add it for fellow BeerScanner users.

I’ve been busy scanning the contents of my fridge and beer cupboard over the weekend to test the App and the results have been mixed. Out of 10 beers I scanned only 4 registered with the database (this may say more about my beer collection than this App though…..). I noticed some strange irregularities, such as that Mahou Negra (which was launched at the Systembolaget earlier this month) is included while BrewDog Rip Tide, which was launched on the very same day, is not.

I would have liked to have seen more content comeback for every beer other than the normal basic stats. For example what foods the beer could be paired with, what temperature it should be served at and maybe a snapshot of information explaining the style and links to other highly rated examples of it.

However there’s getting away from the fact it’s cool (for a while at least) to go around scanning beer with your iPhone. BeerScanner is compatible with iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S and requires iOS 4.0 or later. If you download it today it’s free but from Monday it will cost a few SEK (the exact figure is unknown as of posting but Midius do have a WineScanner that costs 15 SEK to download).

UPDATE: BeerScanner now costs 15SEK to download.

No I don’t mean emigrating to the beautiful south eastern coast of Norway to spend time with Nøgne Ø’s bearded giant of a head brewer and his amazing team. I mean brew Nøgne Ø-like beers at home, right here in Sweden!

In what I believe is something of a craft brewing first (please correct me someone if I’m wrong) it looks like Norway’s leading craft beer force is to become the first major player in the beer revolution to produce a brewing kit complete with most of the equipment and ingredients you’ll need to brew some of their award-winning beers in the comfort of your own home.

It is unclear if the new kit comes with a beard. I suspect it will not.

According to a post on their Facebook page uploaded just a couple of days ago the brewery is calling for more people to try brewing beer themselves.

”It has puzzled us for a while how very few individuals it is that make their own beer. We now think that the reason is that you need to have lots of space to home brew, or lots of tools and crafty ideas”, reads the post.

”What a shame for all those people who live in apartments or students quarters, we think. But soon we will have the fix for all those obstacles”!

The brewery plans to launch a ‘reasonably priced’ kit containing all the basic equipment you’ll need to make quality beer. All you have to have is a stove, a sink, a sieve, a funnel and a sense of adventure.

Nøgne Ø will also be producing a portfolio of ingredient kits containing the same authentic ingredients it uses to produce its own beers, albeit on the much smaller scale of 4 litres at a time, which is really putting the micro into micro-brewing! The brewery hints that the styles of beer ingredient kits will be British in origin, which I translate as ales, porters and stouts, all of which are all generally easier to make at home than lagers.

So when can we get hold of these new kits?

”Real soon!” the brewery tells us.

Personally I can’t wait. Do I feel a new series of Darren and Trev Brew Beer episodes coming on?

Something rather significant happened to this blog about a week ago. Something that somehow got lost in all the confusion and craziness in the aftermath of this year’s Stockholm Beer & Whisky Festival.

One week ago, on October 11^th, without candles, cards, or presents BeerSweden quietly became two years old.

When BeerSweden celebrated its first birthday last year I wrote that the first twelve months had felt like bringing up a baby. A blur of constant feeding, sleepless nights and early mornings it order to keep up with it.

Well now, in blogging time, my blog has matured into a gawky teenager. It has stopped constantly screaming for attention like a hungry baby (most of the time anyway) and has developed a quirky personality all of its own.

Like any teenager it has its ups and downs (my host provider has seen to that) and can keep me up late at night worrying who it’s hanging out with and whether it is liked.

But it’s all totally worth it because this blog continues to be the most exciting and rewarding thing I’ve ever done in the beer world.

In the past year alone we’ve said Hello to Ingrid, won an award, skipped across the Atlantic, launched an amazing online beery hangout, talked up blogs in London and watched as BeerSweden Trev hopped about and almost choked on rotten herring for our 100^th BSTV episode.

Looking forward the next year is going to be a defining one for this blog. It’s the year it has to take that important and inevitable step into adulthood. Exactly what these major changes are going to be I’m keeping to myself for just a little longer but I hope you’ll be here with me following BeerSweden as it finally grows up.

So, better late than never, I’d ask you to once again fill your glass later on today with beer (and that’s great beer OK, not any of that stor stark nonsense) and give a little toast to BeerSweden!

”Ja må du leva uti hundrade år”!

One of the annoying things about Ryanair (along with that bugle fanfare every time a plane lands ahead of schedule) is that you are forced to stay somewhere overnight near a remote airport in order to catch the ridiculously early first flight out.

Which is why I found myself a couple of nights ago strolling thirstily through the streets of Biarritz, gazing into the windows of high end fashion stores and at the menus of trendy cafes searching for somewhere that didn’t just sell Amstel, Heineken or Pelforth.

As all hope seemed lost and I began to retrace my steps through the maze of cliff-hugging side-streets towards my cheap hotel I suddenly spotted a sign which even with my rudimentary French made my cœur miss a beat.

”20 bières à la pression”

Upside down beer anyone?

Within seconds I was sitting at the counter waving my Euros at the barman of La Tireuse, a Belgium ‘craft’ beer bar located on the busy pedestrian Rue Mazagran that somewhat novelly serves its beers upside down from a row of shiny swan-neck beer taps.

I was initially ecstatic to see Poperings Hommel on draft. After all, the beer’s flowery hops, orange peel notes and cumin seed dry finish would be the perfect way to chill me down after hours of walking the streets of this fascinating Basque city, which somehow manages to mix together the ultra rich with the ultra-cool surfing community. But then I spied the Saison Dupont – a personal favourite of mine and surely the ideal beer to sip while watching the hot sun dip lazily over the Atlantic horizon?

And it was. In fact it was the best glass of Saison Dupont I have ever tasted. The aroma of freshly grated lemon zest was so intense you would be forgiven for thinking someone washed the glass with Yes Lemon washing-up liquid beforehand and didn’t rinse it properly. It was practically unrecognizable from the bottles I regularly buy at my local Systembolaget, which will now, unfortunately, always fall short of the several glasses I managed to dispatch at La Tireuse.

In fact the beer was so good I’m prepared to turn a blind eye to the rather cocky barman who didn’t really know his beers (zee BrewDog, ezz iet fhroom Belchique, non?) and the annoyingly centrally located pool table which,  should you sit in the wrong chair close to it, meant you were frequently in danger of getting a pool cue up your left nostril.

So although I often curse you on this occasion I want to thank you Ryanair for introducing me to this amazing beer place. If I owned a bugle I’d be blowing a beery fanfare in your general direction.

(* sorry, but I just had to didn’t I?)