By the time you read this letter I’ll be gone. I’ve left to travel to Scotland for a few days to brew some beer with those guys again. Rumour has it I may even get a chance to mash in on an upcoming Abstrakt beer! I hear it could be black, extremely imperial, involve whisky casks and some sort of fruit, so I’ve taken my video camera with me and will try and capture some exclusive footage for you.

I’ll promise to try and keep in touch while I’m over there but you know how it is sometimes. Luckily BeerSweden Trev has one of those ‘live’ episodes of BSTV lined up featuring none other that Black Tokyo Horizon (which, you’ll be pleased to hear, is probably the first ever video review of this amazing beer), so make sure you watch out for that.

I'm taking to the open road later this month!

I also wanted to tell you about a few other things that are coming up in what promises to be the craziest month of my beery career ever. Any of your followers who live in or around Umeå are in for a real treat between now and Christmas with my monthly beer club at Duå kicking off again in September after the summer recess. The first tasting (two sittings) takes place on Friday September 16^th and the theme is ‘No Monks Allowed – An Alternative Belgium Beer Tasting’. Pretty much speaks for itself doesn’t it! You’re supposed to get in touch with Duå in Umeå on 090-7800303 to book your place.

Before that on Tuesday 13^th September I’ll be in Stockholm for the first ever BeerSweden Forum meet-up.  The fun starts at Akkurat at 8pm and finishes up at Oliver Twist. It promises to be a night of great beer and the chance for BSF members to get to know each other IRL (In Real Life). Your followers who use Facebook can let me know if they’re coming here.

After that things really start picking up speed. I’m hitting the road for a four day road trip through southern Sweden between September 20-23^rd, starting with a BrewDog food and beer pairing event at De Klomp in Linköping, before cruising by some great beer bars on our way to Gothenburg, where we’ll round things off on the night of the 22^nd September with a huge BrewDog total tap takeover party at the Bishops Arms Plaza.  It’s going to be epic – sort of like Thelma and Louise with penguins. 

The following week the Stockholm Beer and Whisky Festival 2011 kicks off but that, as they say, is a whole new story….

Look after yourself while I’m away (and keep an eye on Ingrid and that BeerSweden Forum for me). Missing you already!

Darren