Today I am delighted to reveal the winners of the inaugural BeerSweden Forum Awards 2012!

More than 160 BeerSweden Forum members voted for their favourite beers, breweries, bars and beery personalities in eight categories during January. All the finalists had previously been nominated by BSF members, with those attracting the most votes advancing to the final voting round.

So without further ado let’s see who took first place in the country’s biggest online award scheme organised by beer drinkers for beer drinkers!

Best Swedish Brewery

Oppigårds Bryggeri was never in danger of losing this category. Having started out strong the Darlana brewery just got stronger, taking home first place with an impressive 70% of all the votes cast.

Best Swedish Beer

Again it’s Oppigårds in pole position with Drakens DIPA (which was brewed to a recipe created by hardcore homebrewers Tomas Lundqvist, Rick Lindqvist and Magnus Ahlström).

Best International Beer

This category went down to the wire and at the last second it was one vote that meant the category was tied between Great Divide Brewing’s Yeti Imperial Stout and ‘Hello, My Name is Ingrid’ from BrewDog in Scotland. The honours are shared!

Best International Brewery

I know, some of you may ask how can a guy from Denmark called Mikkel Borg Bjergsø be called a brewery? Well he’s a new kind of ‘one-man’ brewery that travels to breweries around the world where he transforms his very active imagination into beer. The so-called ‘Godfather of Gypsy Brewing’ Mikkel is also one of the most prolific brewers out there and is threatening to close in on 100 different Mikkeller beers in a single year. The BSF-ers salute you!

Best Swedish Beer Bar/Pub/Restaurant

Beer emporium Akkurat in Stockholm once again leads the field and underlines its status as a must-visit bar whenever you’re in the capital (particularly if you like cask ales and lambics). Congratulations to Stene, Rille and the whole ‘A-Team’!

Best Swedish Importer/Distributor

Those nice guys at Brill have really spoilt the Swedish beer community with a succession of hard-to-get craft beers from both sides of the Atlantic over the past year and their passion for what they do has clearly paid off, earning them an emphatic pat on the back from BSF members.

Best Swedish Beer Event

Probably no surprise here. The Stockholm Beer and Whisky Festival is not only the largest beer show in Sweden but it’s one of the largest in the world. Ultra-professionally run with the largest gathering of Swedish beer brands and personalities in one place the SBWF continues to set the standard for how a beer show should be run.

Swedish Beer Personality of The Year

I have to confess to feeling more than a little awkward here as I have ended up winning this category myself (I’m putting it down to home advantage). I am obviously incredibly grateful and humbled for all the nominations and votes. I’d like to give a special mention to Magnus and M2 and Magnus Bark who were both also nominated in this category and who all – in their own unique ways – do so much to contribute to the beer community in this country. The fact that three bloggers were nominated says a lot about the role beer blogs are playing right now in spreading knowledge about our favourite drink.

A huge thanks to everyone who took the time to nominate and vote. As the awesome BeerSweden Forum continues to grow (now over 20,000 posts, 575,000 post views and almost 700 members) I’m confident next year’s awards will be even bigger and better!

All winners will shortly be receiving swanky certificates as recognition of their achievement. Once I’ve made them that it…..

Cheers and Beers everyone!

Darren

 (ps: If you’re not a member of the BeerSweden Forum yet then why not sign up right now? It only takes seconds and costs nothing. That’s right – nix! Within minutes you could be chatting to other beer enthusiasts, checking out food and beer pairings, discovering the latest beer scene news and reading honest reviews of beers from fellow BSF-ers. And that’s just for starters! What are you waiting for?!!)

Stone Brewing is without doubt one of the most iconic and sought after US craft breweries on the planet. In Sweden Great Brands has worked tirelessly for years shipping containers of Stone over to Sweden for us to enjoy.

It’s not been without its difficulties though. Whichever way you twist and turn it Stone Brewing is a long way away and the length of time it takes to get their beers over here has caused concern at the brewery (which is famously fanatical for its ‘drink fresh’ policy) and of course with the team at Great Brands.

But those mighty brains at GB have now come up with a nifty new way of ensuring you get your hands on a great selection of Stone beers before the recommended ‘Best Before Date’ with the launch this week of an online pre-ordering service.

The idea is this: Great Brands transports Stone beers every few months to Sweden. Now they’re giving you the opportunity to pre-book your own cases of beer to come along for the ride.

Just visit their site (Note: you have to opt for the Swedish language selection), choose the PrivatImport tab and click on the ‘Förboka Här’ link. Now you can choose from 5 classic Stone beers and order by the case.  Your beer will be delivered on the next shipment (currently due some time in May) and you pick up and pay for the beer at the Systembolaget store you nominate. The deadline for orders for the next shipment is February 29th.

“By pre-ordering we can minimise the length of time it takes from delivery to Sweden and into your fridge where it belongs”, said Justin from Great Brands.

It’s a little scary to think that just 39 days ago we were watching Kalle Anka, waiting for Santa and excitedly opening our Christmas presents.

The monopoly has given us a mini-break from releases in January (in the case of the BeerSweden community I like to think of it as time off for good behavior) but now it’s time for the beer year to start in earnest.

In the morning 12 new beers will appear on the shelves of around 30 Systembolaget stores and as usual I’m giving you a short (Ed Note: are you having a laugh?) breakdown of what to expect.

An even better list is available over at the BeerSweden Forum that includes clickable links to RateBeer.com for those of you that want dig a little deeper into the beers as well as lots of lively debate among members about the new releases. In fact every month’s releases are listed in detail on the Forum so I can’t recommend highly enough you become a member there just for this useful feature alone.

So, from the top with the two BrewDog beers (normal disclaimer applies here of course). You can read what I think about AB: 08 here (it’s a real mind-buzz of a beer) and although I’ve yet to review the Jura (expect one imminently) the Paradox range has yet to disappoint so this 15% ABV reincarnation aged in Jura whisky casks promises much – Recommended

I’ve enjoyed the Fullers Brewers Reserve series so far and No 3 sounds fascinating – an English Strong Ale that’s been aged in old Auchentoshan whisky barrels for 800 days!  Recommended

The next beer out, Gouden Carolus Cuvée van der Keizer Blauw 2011, brings back special memories for me. Here’s a cut and paste from my tasting notes dating back to early 2007: Served before the stroke of Midnight on New Years Eve 2006/7. My last beer of 2006 was also arguably my best of the year (and ever). A 2002 vintage……the aroma was quite light, with subtle brandy/caramel notes. It somehow doesn’t do justice to what comes next. A sip reveals a deliciously balanced sweetness of figs, melted brown sugar and nutmeg.  It converted a table of non-beer drinkers to the possibilities of great beer, and for me it was the highlight of a great beer year”.  Must Buy! (and age!!)

Can XX Bitter get any more hardcore? Apparently it can with De Ranke’s Hop Harvest 2011 promising a fix for the hop-heads among us. I’m already addicted, so Must Buy!

The most ‘boutique’ beer of tomorrow’s release has to be the Mikkeller/Three Floyds collaborative brew BooGoop. It’s the fourth time these two rock stars of the brewing scene have jammed together – this time producing a buckwheat barely wine- Great label, cool name and a very solid beer, although it’s just a little too ‘kitchen sink’ * for me. Recommended though!

Lets pick up speed here or this release review will last forever! I tried Oppigårds Ekporter at SBWF 2011 and in my somewhat confused notes appear to have liked it. It’s a porter that uses lots of specialty malts and is then introduced to ‘light and dark’ oak chippings which it happily sits on for six months at 11 degrees. As with pretty much everything from this Darlana brewery – Recommended (and check out the 330ml bottle!)

Next out is a concussing one-two combo from Sierra Nevada. No need to say too much more about their Celebration Ale and their Sierra Nevada Northern Hemisphere Harvest Wet Hop Ale (longest beer name of 2012 so far?) is a much anticipated hoppy opposite to this one. Must Buy!

Leave no Stone unturned at the monopoly tomorrow! Stone Double Bastard Ale is as aggressive as it sounds. The evil big brother of Arrogant Bastard Ale this 10.5% American strong ale’s amazing reputation Stateside makes it a clear Must Buy. On the other hand the Vertical Epic concept is, if I’m being honest, a little odd for me. The last version had me all confused. It’s anyone’s guess what this year’s vintage flavoured with Anaheim chiles and cinnamon will taste like….

Finally a welcome incursion from the Three Amigos from Denmark. The Three Amigos go by the very un-Mexican names of Jesper, Jakob and Lars, all ‘flying brewers’ who created this smoky porter at Fanø Bryghus. Bit pricey perhaps….

Footnote: Cigar City Humidor Series IPA was due to launch tomorrow but due to logistical issues will be turning up next month instead.

* ”Everything But the Kitchen Sink ”

With a little under a week to go before the voting is closed there are some clear favourites emerging in the first ever BeerSweden Forum Awards while it’s an exciting neck and neck race for the title of ‘Best International Beer’.

Members of the BeerSweden Forum – this country’s largest and most active forum dedicated to beer – have spent most of January voting for their favourite beers, breweries and beery people in eight categories.

More than 130 votes have already been registered and as it stands right now:

Oppigårds is romping away with the title ‘Sweden’s Best Brewery’ with 69% of the votes cast. Sigtuna Brygghus is in second place.

Oppigårds is also in pole position for ‘Best Swedish Beer’ with Drakens DIPA (which was actually created by Tomas Lundqvist, Rick Lindqvist and Magnus Ahlström). The brewery’s mesmerizing Amarillo is in second place.

Who's taking the title of 'Best International Beer' during 2011? It's very close. You decide!

Just one vote currently separates Yeti Imperial Stout from Great Divide Brewing and Hello My Name is Ingrid from BrewDog in the ‘Best International Beer’ category. Is the award staying in Europe or heading over the Atlantic?

With just over 43% of the votes cast Mikkeller is a strong contender for ‘Best International Brewer/Brewery’ with the shock jocks from BrewDog giving him a run for his money in second with 25% of the votes.

Stene and Co at Stockholm’s famous beer bar Akkurat have already polled almost half the votes in the ‘Best Swedish Beer Bar/Pub/Restaurant’. Are Oliver Twist or Tre Små Rum ever going to catch them up?

It looks like the team at Brill may as well start writing their acceptance speech as they have what looks like at unassailable lead in the ‘Best Swedish Beer Importer/Distributor’ award with 54% of all the votes counted so far.

In the ‘Best Swedish Beer Event’ the Stockholm Beer and Whisky Festival is powering ahead, while in the ‘Best Swedish Beer Personality’ it’s….erm….me that’s rather awkwardly ahead (a huge thanks for all your support mind you!)

But there’s still time to change things by going into the BeerSweden Forum and casting your vote. Voting is only open to members but it’s totally free to join and just takes seconds. Not only will you join the most amazingly friendly and knowledgeable group of beer fans in Sweden but a recent scientific survey revealed that BSF members are 243% more likely to survive a nuclear holocaust. Allegedly.

So what are you waiting for? Get voting! The polls shut at midnight on January 31^st.

Sound like anyone you know? Seriously though I’m not calling anyone names – just reporting a couple of beery news bites that have just broken.

If you were quick on the draw and put your name on the waiting list for the Bitter and Sour event in Copenhagen on May 10th (the day before the much anticipated – and sold-out -  Copenhagen Beer Celebration kicks off) then you should just have received an email giving all the latest details of what to expect as well as the list of the outstandingly rare beers that are being lined-up. Please click to enlarge!

For those of you who weren’t quite quick enough here’s the details anyway (please click to enlarge) and if it’s any comfort there seem to be a few tickets left and those not collected by people on the list in the next two weeks will also be made available so my advice would be to get in touch with Jeppe at Drikkeriget as soon as possible!

Swedish rockabilly band Fatboy has done an ‘In Flames‘ and put its name to a new beer being brewed by Oppigårds for sale exclusively in Stockholm’s elite beer bar Akkurat.

Here are the details of the new beer published on Fatboy’s website earlier today:

I say, how rude!!!

”Every rockabilly band worth its salt should have its own beer.

When the multi-award winning Dala brewery Oppigårds contacted us in Fatboy and offered to brew an exclusive Ale in our name, it took exactly one second before we said yes. With Stockholm’s number one beer hall, Akkurat, in the boat it felt like a match made in heaven!

We are currently working on our fourth album, but will take a short break at work to drink beer. Sunday 4th of March we welcome fans and friends to taste our delicious beer and listen to Fatboy live.

Fatboy Brown Ale is a darker ale with malt flavors and taste of toffee, brown sugar and dark chocolate. The beer also consists of a number of American varieties of hops that gives it a modern touch of citrus.

Where: Akkurat Restaurant & Bar, Hornsgatan 18, Stockholm
When: Sunday, March 4 at 20:00
How: Win tickets to this uniqe evening by e-mailing brownale@fatboy.se

See you there/
Fatboy”

The Swedish alcohol monopoly has today released its figures for 2011 which show a slight rise in overall volumes. However the big news is that Systembolaget customers have never been so satisfied with the monopoly as they are today.

Total sales in the Systembolaget last year were fairly flat compared to 2010.

According to the Systembolaget’s ‘customer satisfaction index’ (nöjd-kund-index) 79 out of 100 customers were happy with the monopoly’s service in 2011 – the highest score ever recorded. The figures also reveal that 68% of customers want the monopoly to remain right where it is.*

“It is encouraging that the Swedish people appreciate the Systembolaget”, says the monopoly’s Managing Director Magdalena Gerger. “It demonstrates that the Systembolaget’s role of selling alcohol responsibly is important as well as that our service and product range is appreciated”.

Despite a tiny hike in total sales of alcohol at the monopoly in 2011 (0.3% on 2010 measured in terms of pure alcohol) it was the brands with little or no alcohol in them that fared best in 2011, with sales of alcohol-free products rocketing by 26% on the previous year.

Another big mover was the ecological segment with demand for eco-friendly products rising by 23% compared to 2010, prompting the monopoly to increase its green range to around 150 items by the end of the year.

Sales of beer were pretty static at 0.6% (although this doesn’t tell us much about, for instance, how the craft beer segment performed) while total wine sales rose slightly by 1.7%.

In addition the number of customer visits to the monopoly rose in 2011 by 1.4% to circa 117 million (of which a vast majority of these visits were from the BeerSweden community – allegedly**)

*Source –  TNS Sifo:s mätningar

**Source – my overactive imagination

I’m kicking off the week by breaking the exciting news that Swedish flying brewer Henok Fentie – the man behind the Omnipollo beer concept - is teaming up with ultra hip Danish brewer Jeppe Jarnit-Bjergsø of Evil Twin Brewing to produce a beer together.

The two flying brewers (Ed Note: flying brewers don’t own breweries but rather hire the services of other breweries instead) are scheduled to meet up later this month at Amager Bryghus in Denmark to mash in together. The exact style of beer is still hush hush but I can reveal the beer’s working title is Russian Roulette and that, according to Henok, it is a collaboration ”with a twist”.

Henok's first commercial beer, Leon, was one of the big beer hits of 2011.

‘Collab’ beers (collaborative beers created by two – or more – breweries together) are a hot trend in the international beer scene but still rather rare here in Sweden.

As Henok explains: ”Truth is, compared to other brewing scenes, the Swedish brewing scene is quite individualistic. There are of course exceptions  but you would probably be hard pressed to find more Swedish brewery collaborations than the fingers on your one hand released last year”.

When asked whether he was excited to be working with Jeppe from Evil Twin Brewing Henok replied: ”For me this is like playing lead guitar with your favorite band. It’s a dream come true really”.

What an awesome start to 2012! Do you want to see more collab brews with Swedish breweries? If you do what would be your ideal brewery tag-team and what type of beer would you want to see them brew together?

As a few Swedish beer blogs reported yesterday* (I’m giving the nod here to Dempa who I think was first out with the news) we’ve already got a lot to look forward to in 2012 as details of the beer releases at the Systembolaget over the next few months emerged online.

Rather than cut and paste the lists here you can check out just how much beer money you need to set aside in February, March and April by paying Dempabeer a visit or going here.

Fantastic to see that the momentum for great beers at the monopoly has carried over from 2011 (the best beer year this country has ever seen?) and well into the New Year!

Without doubt one of the most successful international craft breweries in Sweden during 2011 was BrewDog, which is starting 2012 in outrageous style with no less than four listings at the monopoly in the next three months.

James Watt from BrewDog gives us the low-down on what's to come in early 2012

I managed to grab a few words with the brewery’s Head of Stuff James Watt to ask him for his thoughts on what Swedish beer drinkers can expect from the Scottish craft beer revolutionists in the year ahead.

James:

”Sweden was our first ever export market and 3 years on is our biggest overseas market. Yes, we send more beer to Sweden than anywhere else in the world. It has been great to send the limited release beers to Sweden over 2011 and this looks set to continue with some great releases at SystemB to complement our regular line up which includes our flagship Punk IPA and our west coast inspired double IPA Hardcore IPA.

A sneak peak at the packaging artwork for the new BrewDog mixed 4-pack coming in March.

2012 will see a BrewDog mixed pack launching giving you guys the chance to get your paws on 5am Saint, Chaos Theory, Alice Porter and Dogma – all beers which have never made it to Sweden on any major scale before. 5am Saint is actually our 2nd best selling beer overall after Punk IPA.

Abstrakt AB:08 is a blonde imperial stout. A deconstruction which does not make too much sense, will definitely mess with your head and tastes amazing, more on how we made it here.

In addition Hops Kill will also be making a guest appearance – a 7.8% Imperial Red Ale loaded with the brutal Chinook hops.

2012 promises to be an exciting year for us. We sold all of the Equity for Punks shares (hello to all you Swedish investors). In doing so we welcomed 6,000 new shareholders to our company and this has given us the money to build the world’s first fan-funded brewery. Building should start in February with the new brewery hopefully online by November giving us much needed capacity. We are also opening some more BrewDog craft beer bars with Leeds, Newcastle and Nottingham all opening in early 2012. Maybe 2013 will even see a BrewDog bar in Sweden?

Anyway, thanks for all the support – without you guys drinking our beer we would not even have a brewery!

Keep on rocking in the free world!”

Transparency statement: I am BrewDog’s Top Dog for Scandinavia (yes, that’s really my job title) and although I am committed to reviewing their beers like all others as objectively as possible I think you really should know this.

*It’s great to see the Swedish beer blogging scene getting sharper and quicker out with the news with every month that passes! I’m going to have to be on my toes in 2012 if I’m going to keep up!

Today over at our ‘sister site’ the BeerSweden Forum we’re launching the first ever BSF Awards to recognise passion, skill and general awesomeness in the beer scene here in Sweden in the past year!

Which Swedish brewery knocked it out of the park in 2011? What was your favourite beer of the year? Who should be crowned the Swedish Beer Personality of the Year? Right now we’re collecting nominations and we really need your vote!

Full details of the Awards scheme can be found here. If you’re already a BSF member it’s quick and simple to nominate your favourites. If you’re not a BSF member then it only takes seconds to register (it’s totally free!) so why not jump in and join us at Sweden’s most active online beery hang-out?

Nominations for the BeerSweden Forum Awards 2012 are being invited in the following categories:

1 Best Swedish Beer
(What was your favourite Swedish beer of 2011?)

2 Best Swedish Brewery
(Which brewery really stepped up in 2011?)

3 Best International Beer
(Doesn’t matter where it came from, as long as it’s not Sweden)

4 Best International Brewery
(Your favourite foreign brewery of 2011!)

5 Best Swedish Beer Bar/Pub/Restaurant
(Exceptional service, great beer selection, beer bar smarts – just some of the qualities your favourite beer hangout in 2011 should have)

6 Best Swedish Importer/Distributor
(They don’t often get the recognition they deserve but without them we wouldn’t be drinking so much great beer. But which one excelled in 2011?)

7 Best Swedish Beer Event
(Festivals, BMDs, Beer talks – any event that celebrates and communicates our favourite drink. What was your favourite Swedish beer event of 2011?)

8 Swedish Beer Personality of The Year
(To be awarded to an individual who you consider has done the most for beer in Sweden in the past year. This person can be from any part of the beer scene, including brewers, importers and the media)

You need to be a BSF member to vote so I urge you to take part and have your say. Remember that there are a hell of a lot of people involved in getting great beer into our glasses and this is our own way as beer enthusiasts of saying thanks and ”keep up the good work!”

Happy voting!

This is Part 2 of my review of 2011. Part 1 can be found here.

As the nights grew longer and the summer mosquitoes lost their sting I went over to Scotland with the guys from Akkurat to brew an upcoming Abstrakt beer based on a traditional Scottish dessert. While we were there I had ‘The Best Beer Tasting of 2011’ – a truly epic affair I named The Day of Many Beers.

September was also the month we had the first ever BSF meet-up in Stockholm (a night so awesome one Forum member broke his foot!) and the Stockholm Beer and Whisky Festival rolled into town bigger and better than ever before. It crowned a great year for beer shows in Sweden that included  fests in Linköping and Örebro (where bloggers got their very own studio for the first time!)

During the SBWF I managed to sit down with a bunch of amazing brewers which lead to me write my ‘Favourite Post(s) of 2012’ which in fact was a series of posts entitled ‘The Beer Geek Brunch Interviews’.

They had this on draft at my hotel in San Fran, earning it my 'Best Hotel of 2011' Award.

Finally winding up the year we once again gave beer lovers yet another reason to celebrate Christmas with their very own Advent Beer Calendar (this year with pimped Ho’s) that ended with Trev making a rare appearance in front of the camera.

I tried a lot of beers in 2011, some of which I recorded on this blog and many which never made it past my glass and into my laptop. Highlights include Thisted Limfjordsporter, Old Tom The Original Strong Ale, Pliney the Elder on draft in the USA, Sierra Nevada’s Southern Hemisphere Harvest Fresh Hop Ale (Longest Beer Name of 2011?) and Oppigårds Drakens DIPA but there were more.

Many, many more in fact. Too many to mention here.

Looking back I have the distinct feeling 2011 was the year craft beer really broke through in Sweden. Sure it’s been here a while for those of us who knew about it but I think during the past 12 months the word’s really got out and the ‘average’ beer drinker has started to pay a little more attention to all those funny looking bottles on the shelves at the monopoly.

The fact that sales of locally produced ‘micro’ brands at the Systembolaget have doubled in the past two years seems to support this. The monopoly’s increasing focus on quality beer releases and its recent rule change that will allow us to order Swedish craft breweries to our local stores by the bottle in a couple of weeks will make sure the craft beer revolution rages on well into 2012 and far beyond.

Add to that the number of exciting new craft breweries that opened in 2011 (and which plan to open in 2012) and I think it’s fair to say in the spirit of former British Prime Minister Harold Macmillan that as beer drinkers we’ve never had it this good.

Pang Pang in Stockholm was one of several microbreweries that opened up for business during 2011.

Before I stop looking back and start looking forward to what 2012 holds I want to pause for a moment and thank a few people.

Firstly I’d like to thank all the sponsors of BeerSweden. I appreciate it’s a bold move to advertise on a beer blog but your support really does makes it possible for me to carrying on posting, so thanks!

Secondly I’d like to thank my family for cutting me the slack to travel around the world discovering stuff about beer and meeting amazing beer people. I promise to try harder in 2012 to bring back things from abroad that don’t come in bottles…..

Thirdly I’d like to say a big thanks to the beer blogging community in both Sweden and the rest of the world for your passion and energy in spreading the knowledge and joy of our favourite drink. 2011 was something of a breakthrough year (we got our our conference!) and I know great things are just over the horizon in 2012. Watch this space!

And lastly (but not leastly) I’d like to thank you for following this blog. BeerSweden would be a very lonely place without your feedback, enthusiasm and comments so a huge thanks to you!

Now as a fresh year lies ahead just waiting to be unwrapped it’s time to start making some plans. Mine include a bit of news that might change my life forever but that’s the stuff of another post right here next week.

Until then I would like to wish you all a very Happy New Year. If you can make sure you share the moments around midnight with people you love and that you see in 2012 with a glass of great beer in your hand.

After all, you should really start as you mean to go on…..