A few hours ago I posted a review of BASHAH – a beer with so many personality disorders if it were a person I’d insist it lay down on a couch.

BASHAH – which stands for Black As S@#t Hoppy As Hell – is the deviant offspring of two of the world’s most experimental mad brewing scientists; Stone Brewing in the US and BrewDog from Scotland.

Stone has put together a fantastic two-part video that records their journey across the Atlantic in which they meet the BrewDog boys, flirt with romance, eat haggis rolls and oh yes, brew some BASHAH.

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Thought I’d experiment a bit by giving you the chance to directly influence the sorts of beers I review here at BeerSweden. So get involved by popping over to my Facebook page at www.facebook.com/beersweden and cast your vote! You’ve only got until 15:00 today so hurry!!

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As part of some pretty ambitious plans for this blog I’m hoping to start a series of Virtual Beer Tastings in which I taste and talk about some of the most interesting beers available in Sweden right now.

I love the idea of virtual tastings as being able to actually see the beer being poured into a glass has some obvious advantages over the written word. On top of that I’m planning to invite brewers, importers and brand ambassadors as well as other beery friends from the drinks industry to join me in many of these virtual tastings. That way you’ll get first-hand information from the people closest to the beer.

A couple of days ago I persuaded a couple of beer fanatic friends to film me talking about Pilsner Urquell. The results were far from perfect, but I’m posting a heavily cut version of them anyway to give you an idea of where I’m trying to go with this.

So what do you think? Good idea, waste of time, self-publicising nonsense or a useful way to get a more in-depth understanding of beer?

As you can imagine there’s quite a lot of work behind putting these films together so I’m proposing cutting you a deal. If I reach 500 fans on BeerSweden.se’s Facebook fan page I’ll start posting virtual tastings. The simple truth is that the more people that visit this site the more time I can devote to it. So please, get out there and bang the drum for BeerSweden by telling all your beery friends to sign up to my Facebook page.

And please give me your feedback on the idea of virtual tastings. What sort of beers would you like reviewed, which breweries would you like to take a behind-the-scenes look at, what beer styles do you want to learn more about? Remember it’s your comments that shape the content on this site!

Have a great weekend everyone.

BeerSweden Darren

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You don’t have to like the beer to love the ads!

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As its Monday morning I thought you might be in need of a bit of inspiration to start this very important week off.

The video above is a collaborative effort by some of the leading craft beer brewers in the USA and is a battle cry in the ongoing fight against mainstream beer.

Like that last sentence is it overly dramatic? Yes. Unnecessarily theatrical and emotional? Of course. But this is the kind of motivational film that only the yanks can do and credit where credit is due they’re the best in the world at doing it.

When I first watched this video I rushed to the fridge to grab a craft beer. I wanted to swear my allegiance to the cause, to play my part in the revolution. I was totally swept away by the emotion, the chest-beating and an enormous sense of pride in being part of the beer industry.

It may be all a little bit ‘Braveheart’ but this video captures perfectly the passion and spirit of the craft beer movement in the US. We should look at it, study it and learn from it here in Sweden.

Now that might be a little bit uncomfortable for some of you. After all we’re not used to sticking out from the crowd, preferring to seek comfort in conformity.

But that’s not what craft beer in this country should ever be about. Craft beer is about passion, creativity, fun, a willingness to be different, a Screw-You-Jante-law attitude, individuality and a burning and endless sense of curiosity.

To the Swedish breweries that make craft beer never stop daring to be different. Brew the beers you want to brew, that mean something to you. Chances are they’ll mean something to us too.

And to the growing legions of craft beer drinkers in this country continue your rebellion against the ‘stor stark state’. Choose to drink beer that has been hand-crafted by people, not suits. Feel proud that your choice of beer is important and that in a very real way it supports this country’s beer community.

Are you motivated now? Is that a tear I see in your eye? Good, now get out there and start drinking craft beer people. But before you do, check out Day 21 of BeerSweden’s Advent Beer Calendar 2009 to see exactly what I’m not talking about……….

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Breaking news……. You either love em or you hate em but there’s no questioning those guys over at BrewDog love their beer and breaking the rules.

Today they’ve even broken a world record with the announcement within the last hour that they’ve managed to brew the world’s strongest ever beer, which weighs in at a jaw-dropping 32% ABV.

Tactical Nuclear Penguin (TNP) is an imperial stout that was aged in two different whiskey for 16 months before being stored at -20 degrees in a Scottish ice cream factory for three weeks to get it down to 32%..

See how the two BrewDog owners (yes, they’re the ones dressed up as penguins) did it by clicking on play.

More details to follow shortly………..

Sorry for shouting but this is just too good to miss!

A fan of Sigtuna Brewery has ‘tweaked’ a TV ad in honour of his favourite Swedish microbrewery.

Check it out at:

http://www.tackfilm.se/?id=1258475325541RA57

This is exactly what I’m talking about when I go on and on about presenting beer in a new, fun and edgy way. Brilliant stuff!

(and if you’re a jealous brewery you too can go in to www.tackfilm.se and make your own blockbuster!)

This is not funny. I can’t condone the sexist, offensive and medically highly inaccurate nature of this video. I’m amazed it actually found its way onto this blog. I recommend you don’t watch it.

If you thought pouring beer into a glass was easy then think again! Participants in the Pilsner Urquell International Master Bartender Competition had to have steady minds as well as steady hands when they recently competed for the honour of being crowned the world’s best pilsner pourer.

Majsan Johansson, a bartender from Björns Bar in Gothenburg was at the final in Berlin representing Sweden where she competed against bar colleagues from 16 other countries chosen from an original field of 4,000 entrants worldwide.

Majsan had to answer a series of questions incorporating brewing chemistry, beer history and the theory behind how to pour the perfect glass of Pilsner Urquell. She then had to hold her nerves in check to pull a PU in a single pour with a perfect head (which I’m told should be exactly 35mm high!)

Although Majsan didn’t quite make it into the final top three she had a blast in Berlin anyway. Here’s how she got there…..