Prepare to be punished tomorrow night when ‘6 of the Best’ makes its premier at Akkurat in Stockholm.

Described as a punishingly good English strong ale the first ever pint of this cask conditioned ale will be poured tomorrow night, on Wednesday, October 6^th at exactly – you’ve guessed it – 6pm.

'6 of the Best' - can you take it?

The beer was specially brewed for Akkurat (one of Sweden’s absolute best beer bars) by Shepherd Neame in the UK to celebrate the pub’s 15^th anniversary. Luckily I managed to tag along for the ride and shot this video of our crazy day brewing the beer.

‘6 of the Best’ is a British term once commonly used to describe the number of painful strikes given to schoolchildren who had misbehaved by cane-wielding teachers but it also perfectly describes this beer which contains six of the best English malts and hops and is brewed to 6% ABV.

Hops used were Target for bitterness, Fuggles, First Gold, Challenger, East Kent Goldings and locally grown English Cascade (that’s right, a highly unusual and slightly milder version of the US hop) that was added for aroma and again in the whirlpool for an extra hit of hops .

Classic English Maris Otter Pale Ale malt makes up 80% of the grain bill with the rest comprising Crystal, Amber, Aromatic, Brown and just a pinch of smoked malt.

Only 16 cask of this real ale have been made and when they’re gone they’re gone so be sure to make your way over to Akkurat tomorrow night (and that includes all of you on your way to the Mikkeller dinner too!) to try a pint with me and the gang at Akkurat!

It’s time once again to dig out the suitcase, pack more bubble wrap* than clothes and turn every drawer in the house upside down in a frantic last minute search for my passport because I’m off on yet another beery adventure!

This time I’m headed back to the UK (with the fuzzy memories of the Great British Beer Festival still fresh in my mind) to brew some very special beer with the owner and bar manager of arguably Sweden’s absolute best beer bar – Akkurat in Stockholm.

We’re heading to the Shepherd Neame brewery in Faversham early next week where we’re going to spend a day grinding barley, mashing in and adding hops on our way to brewing 16 40L casks of what we hope is going to be a very British beer indeed.

Exactly what type of beer we’re brewing I’m going to keep secret for a few more days yet but I can reveal it will contain six different types of British barley and six different types of British hops (and rather a lot of them to!)

That’s right. Not a single green leaf of Cascade, Amarillo or any other American hip-hop will be used in the making of this beer!

If everything goes according to plan we’ll all then head home (via a pub or two I know) while the beer is busy fermenting and conditioning and will meet up with it again when it goes on sale at Akkurat some time in October. More details on all that to follow.

Of course I’ll be taking the video camera so you can join me in following the birth of a new beer from the grain all the way to the glass.

This will of course mean I’ll miss the huge release of new beers at the Systembolaget on September 1^st but I’m sure it will be worth it. After all you’ll save me a few bottles won’t you?

Anyway enough talk, I’ve got bubble wrap to pack. Now if only I could remember where I left that bloody passport…………..

*Anyone who takes their beer seriously knows that bubble wrap is on the very top of the list of things to pack when travelling abroad, above clean underwear and just below a new packet of Alvedon. And no, it’s not used for some strange sexual fetish (that I know of anyway) but to wrap bottles of beer up in so they arrive home in one piece.