MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!!!

Last week I broke the news that BeerSweden is teaming up with none other than BrewDog to brew a special limited edition beer exclusively for this blog. A week on and a wacky series of emails between Scotland and Umeå later we’re finally ready to reveal just what type of beer we’re ready to brew.

Next week (volcanoes and freakish winter weather permitting) I’m flying over to Scotland to visit the BrewDog team, check out their brewery, visit their new bar and brew a beer designed by and for you – the amazing BeerSweden community.

When it’s ready some of this beer will be shipped back to Sweden by BrewDog’s Swedish importer Cask Sweden and we’ll post details exclusively here about how you can get your hands on some of it.

Only rather than the 50 litres of beer we were originally going to brew the BrewDog team liked your ideas so much they decided to think a little bit bigger. About 1,950 litres bigger in fact, with lots of it planned to go on sale at the brewery’s bar in Aberdeen!

In the past week BrewDog’s Head of Stuff James Watt and I have read through all your comments posted over on BeerSweden’s Facebook page (if you haven’t yet ‘liked’ it then where have you been?) and been amazed at the creativity – sometimes bordering on madness – behind the beers you wanted us to brew.

After careful consideration we’ve decided to create a Cloudberry Double IPA which will be hopped with the total lack of restraint BrewDog are famed for and THEN dry hopped and aged on cloudberries for a few weeks.

Exactly what types of hops and malts we’re using and what strength the beer will finally be are thing we’ll work on when we’re over at the brewery, so be sure to check the blog regularly to see how things develop.

Sounds pretty awesome, don’t you think?

Now we need to name the beer and once again we’re asking you to get involved!

Just send me your suggestion for a fitting name for this Swedish-inspired beer and I will take all your ideas over to Scotland with me where together with the BrewDog crew we’ll decide a winner who will be announced on this blog live from Scotland next week!

The person who comes up with the best beer name will get the beery honour of having their own name printed on the bottle labels as lasting proof of their involvement in this little bit of Swedish blogging/Scottish brewing history.

To enter just send your name idea to me at darren@beersweden.se before midnight on Monday, December 13^th and then check the blog throughout the rest of the week to see the beer being brewed and whether you’re the lucky winner.

Good luck everyone!

I’ve thought about sugar-coating this announcement but there’s really no need. BeerSweden is teaming up with Scottish brewery BrewDog to create a brand new beer exclusively for this blog!

It’s worth taking a couple of seconds to re-read that first paragraph isn’t it.

BrewDog, the maverick Scottish craft brewers of global fame responsible for such revolutionary, ground-breaking (occasionally politically incorrect) beers has agreed to brew and bottle a beer exclusively for this blog!

As if this news (which is my beery world is the equivalent to Elvis coming back from the dead, ringing me up and asking me to join him down the pub for a pint and a spot of karaoke) isn’t awesome enough here’s where things get REALLY interesting.

In a competition I’ll be running right here on this blog in the next week or so you’ll get the chance to name this one-off collaborative brew. Should your entry be chosen by myself and the BrewDog team your name will be printed for all to see on the bottle labels themselves.

Just imagine what will happen to your beer ‘cred’ if you owned a bottle of BrewDog beer with your name on it! You would truly walk as a beery god amongst men.

Only 50 litres (around 150 bottles) of this exclusive beer will ever be made. I will fly over to BrewDog in Scotland in the middle of December to help brew it (which probably means I’ll just sit there in quiet awe while Mr Dickie and Co do their thing) and then sometime in January/February those nice chaps at Cask Sweden will ship the bottles over to this country.

Then (and we’re still finalising this bit) you will hopefully be able to order the beer through ‘privat import’ on a first come, first served basis. This is assuming of course I haven’t bought it all up first!

Stay tuned to BeerSweden over the next few days for more exact details on how you can join me in creating a little bit of beery Swedish blogging history.

Exciting, isn’t it!

BeerSweden Trev and I are making our last technical tweaks (this means we’re actually just reading the instruction manuals) in preparation for the Örebro Beer and Whisky Festival that kicks off at the city’s Conventum Arena this Friday afternoon.

If you see this man in Örebro you have two choices: try his beers (they're mostly fantastic) or run!

With some 50 breweries, importers, distilleries and others taking part the 3^rd Örebro Beer and Whisky Festival promises to be the largest yet and BeerSweden is going to be right smack in the middle of all the action with our very own stand streaming lots of the action to you live via this blog!

I’ll be hoping to grab some of the brewers, importers and beery characters behind some of your favourite beers to interview them on camera. I’ll also be hunting down some of the best and most exciting beers of the show and will be giving them a whirl live and direct.

(BeerSweden Trev: that’s assuming we can make all the bloody technology work mush!)

The festival itself runs from 15:00-23:00 on Friday and Saturday (November 19-20^th) and we’re planning to stream the event live on both days between 16:00-17:00 and again from 20:00 to 21:00.*

Of course in between live broadcasts we’ll be running around filming too and will upload additional content as quickly as we can.

So if you’re one of the expected 6,000+ people coming to the Örebro Beer and Whisky Festival this weekend make sure you drop by the BeerSweden stand and say hi. And remember, it will be the first time ever you’ll be able to see BeerSweden Trev face to face. Now if that isn’t worth the price of admission I don’t know what is!

*subject to hardware/software/connection/upload speeds/acts of God and technical tantrums. For those of you wanting to watch from outside Sweden remember all times mentioned are GMT + 1 hour.

Ps: I’ll be bringing a very limited number of BeerSweden T-shirts if anyone’s interested.

PPs: Here’s some useful tips on how to survive a beer festival for any of you ‘first-timers’.

PPPs: Check out the festival organisor’s homepage here for full details on when, where, who and who much.

PPPPs: Here’s a look back at last year’s festival!

Holidays are an important opportunity to take a time-out, a chance to break routine and to catch your breath. By flying away from the daily chaos of life you win a bit of time to reflect on where you’ve been and more importantly, where you want to end up.

I think I've just had a beery revelation!

Over the past week I’ve spent many hours sat in a poolside bar nursing an ice-cold glass of Dorada (does the fact that I can now detect a noticeable honey note to Dorada when compared to San Miguel mean I’ve been here too long?) just contemplating.

Mainly contemplating about BeerSweden and what I feel about it.

In the past week I’ve deliberately tried to take a break from writing about beer. Like a lot of bloggers (whether they like to admit it or not) I’ve recently started feeling the twangs of ‘blogging fatigue’ – a gnawing sense of guilt every day you don’t post and a very real world sense of anxiety (often totally unjustified) that people will abandon the blog in droves should you fail to update daily.

It is certainly not a feeling I want to associate with beer because as I’ve said many times on this blog and to the hundreds of people I talk with every year beer should always, always be enjoyable. You should drink it, talk and write about it, get geeky with it, tweet it and blog it because you want to – not just because you feel obliged to.

So I’ve used the past few days to go ‘cold turkey’ to see if I’d miss the blog more than I’d miss the pressure of trying to feed and grow it. I wanted to sit on the fence for a while and look at the grass on the other side to see if it really was any greener.

What I’ve discovered has been something of a revelation.

Although I haven’t exactly missed the blog over the past week (it is, I confess, only three days since my last post) I now know that I really miss writing. Writing has always played a huge part in my life, both as a child and then, in my early career as a journalist. I lost my way with writing in my 30s, succumbing to Excel spreadsheets and board reports but BeerSweden has helped me re-ignite my passion. I want to spend more time writing. I want to become a better writer.

I also know that, like writing, beer has been a constant throughout my life. Many of the people I know, the friendships I have made, the places that I’ve been to and the unforgettable things I’ve experienced (some of them probably best forgotten) have all revolved around beer.

So like the final few chapters of a Dan Brown novel the answer has finally revealed itself. And like most answers it’s been staring at me in the face all along.

I want to spend the rest of my career writing about beer.

There. That wasn’t too difficult was it?

What this means specifically for BeerSweden is going to take a bit more figuring out but I already know it means I’ll be working harder to bring you more in-depth and hopefully better written articles about the beer scene in Sweden.

It also means I’ll need to make several fundamental changes to this blog in order to ensure the sense of fun, humour and passion that I believe beer writing should be about is reflected in everything this blog does. I hope you’ll like the changes I’m planning to introduce!

I apologise if this post is overly personal and maudlin but I felt like sharing this with you. I’ll now retire again for a couple more days to the cooling shadows of the poolside bar with my chilled glasses of Dorada and draw up plans for my return to Sweden, to beer and to the blog.

I can honestly say I can’t wait to get back and get started.

Cheer and Beers (but not Dorada)

Darren

Ps: Cliffard T Ward was right, it really is a beautiful poem.

I can scarcely believe it but my little baby BeerSweden celebrates its first birthday today!

This is me at one year old. My blog is much cuter and I don't cut its hair at home to save money (thanks mum!)

It’s hard to grasp the fact that on this day exactly one year ago I posted my first article and this blog spluttered into life. Since then, like every new parent will know, it’s been a blur of constant feeding, sleepless nights and early mornings it order to keep up.

Although my blog has at times driven me to the edge of sleep-deprived madness my sense of pride in how it has grown more than compensates for any teething troubles we may have shared over the past 12 months.

Thanks to all of you popping by to say hi we’ve come a long way my blog and I but as excited as I am about what we’ve already achieved it pales into insignificance when I think about how far we can go from here.

Watching this blog grow has genuinely been the most exciting and rewarding thing I’ve ever done. It even beats the time I was a teenage backpacker and kept deliberately tripping the electrical circuits of a beach bar on the west coast of France at night so I could help myself to free beer in all the confusion. *

So please, fill your glass today with beer (and that’s good beer OK, not any of that stor stark crap) and toast my baby blog BeerSweden!

”Ja må du leva uti hundrade år”!

*The beach bar in question was called ‘l’Horizon’ in Cap Ferret. It has since been reclaimed by the shifting sands of the Atlantic beach and is no longer there. I had nothing to do with that – honestly.

We did it!

Last night, shortly before the stroke of midnight, BeerSweden’s FaceBook page recruited its 1,000^th follower!

This is a massive milestone for me. When I sat down at the end of last year and sketched out my ideas for a beer blog one of my biggest goals was to connect it to Facebook. At that time I couldn’t find one Swedish beer blog on FB and I wondered why, as FB offers a more ‘instant’ way of interacting with people that blogs alone can’t do.

So I became (I think) the first Swedish beer blog to set up shop and regularly post on the world’s biggest online social network. Over the past few months we’ve had a lot of fun there too – with spontaneous ‘live sessions” and the country’s first simultaneous tasting with other beer fanatics from all over Sweden.

To reach 1,000 followers is all the proof I need that the decision to start BeerSweden was the right one. It means a great deal to me we got there so quickly and I want to thank every single one of you who has taken the time to show your support. Thanks!!

I’m giving myself and the rest of you the day off today to celebrate, but remember I want you all back at work here tomorrow as we raise the bar to 1,500!

This milestone coincides nicely with a question somebody asked me earlier this week, which was “Why do you write BeerSweden?” It was a perfectly sensible and straightforward question so it’s rather strange I’ve had so much difficulty answering it.

I spend a lot of time (and I’m talking a World of Warcraft* amount of time here) scanning beer blogs and news sites in an attempt to keep up to date with beery goings-on, be inspired, learn stuff or simply fish around to steal good post ideas.

But I could do all that without having to get up in the early hours when all I really want to do is bury my head under the pillow for another hour to write a post about brewing technicalities, a beer review or the latest goofy PR-stunt from BrewDog.

I could do all that and not feel a constant sense of anxiety that I haven’t posted enough and that in this modern era of instant gratification my readers will suddenly collectively say “that’s it, we’re fed up waiting” and all bugger off to another beer blog that is better written/funnier/better looking than mine.

I could do all that and not be addicted to checking Google f%€king Analytics 20 times a day (even though I tried to convince myself that statistics aren’t important and promised myself, hell even swore on one of my relative’s eyes I wouldn’t peek more than once a week).

And I could certainly do all that without experiencing the dull ache of apprehension I always get after posting a review about a beer that I didn’t like, even though I was only calling it as I saw it, yet knowing that there are good people behind that beer that care about it and work with it every day that will probably read my post and be disappointed in me.

So why do I write BeerSweden?

Ego? Well I’d be lying if I said it didn’t give me a bit of a buzz. Writing one of the most visited blogs in any country is a real rush. It’s not only the stats and number of FaceBook followers that feeds my self-esteem but the newspaper, magazine and radio interviews that come with it. Every writer has a certain reason to be read – to be heard. Ask 50 writers what that reason is and you’ll probably get 50 different answers. For me I find a deep-rooted satisfaction in writing a well-crafted article. The sensation of writing when your fingers dance over the keyboard and the words flow effortlessly is a high I constantly crave.

Money? Again I’d be lying if I said at the beginning I had ambitions to turn BeerSweden into a self-financing blog. I had hoped advertising revenue might cover the hundreds of hours I spend on writing it but it quickly became clear it never would.  Blogs, I have discovered, are often about as financially rewarding as selling VHS video players.

Beery status? Well yes, quite a bit. This is where BeerSweden has been so incredibly successful for me. Before it I knew quite a lot about beer in this country but I didn’t know the people that actually brewed it. The blog has been my ‘in’, my invitation to the beer party in this country.

But above all this there’s one remarkable thing this blog has done for me. In it’s short virtual life BeerSweden has brought me closer to the drink I love and the people that love it than in all the previous 16 years I’ve worked in the beer business put together.

I always thought I was the most passionate person I knew when it came to beer. This blog has shown me I’m not even close. I expected the industry people to be crazy about the stuff but what I didn’t see coming was the seemingly limitless enthusiasm and endless curiosity of the hundreds of followers of BeerSweden who simply like great beer and want to learn more about it.

And so, in a very round-a-bout way I think you’ve managed to answer that question for me. I write BeerSweden because I love great beer and want to learn more about it.

The fact that so many of you feel the same way is the reason why I’m sitting at my keyboard right now writing this with a contented smile on my face, and while I’ll be back here tomorrow morning while everyone else in the house is still tucked up in bed fast asleep.

*I have never played World of Warcraft but used to have a friend that does. I say used to because I haven’t seen him in around 4 years as he’s too busy slaying Ragnarok, The Ice Elemental or gathering embalming Ichor to come outdoors these days. If any subset of society really needs a beer, and I mean REALLY needs one it’s people that play World of Warcraft).

**I’m unusually nervous about posting this article. My intention was to give an honest balls-and-all account of why I write this blog but reading it back now I see that parts of it could come across as being self-congratulatory and pompous at the same time as making me sound like a bit of a whinger. This is not my intention at all. I love writing this blog and am amazingly proud of it..

***There’s one other person that deserves a mention and that’s BeerSweden Trev for his brutally honest opinions about beers (smells like piss) that keep me from getting too carried away and for his energy and enthusiasm in editing BSTV. Trev – you’re a diamond geezer!

**** The next post will be about beer. I promise!

It’s been almost exactly one month to the day that we launched BeerSweden’s Ultimate Guide to Sweden’s Best Beer Bars & Pubs and the great news is that over 4,000 people have already visited the site to have a look at it!

Many of you searching for tips on where to get some great tasting craft beer in this country have come from overseas, with the USA leading the way behind the UK and our neighbours in Scandinavia.

If you now ‘google’ the words beer, pubs and Sweden this map comes in at 7th place and at this rate is set to rise even higher. Therefore I’d like to say a big thanks to those of you who have already contributed to the map by entering the location and details of your favourite beer bars & pubs.

I have recently been contacted by the Svenska Ölfrämjandet (the Swedish Beer Consumers Association) who have also compiled an excellent Google map of the country with over 140 locations that have all been vetted by members to ensure they serve a great selection of beers. Over the next few weeks I will (with the Association’s kind permission) be adding even more locations to the map on this blog so please check back again soon.

Remember that if you have some favourite places where you like to go to drink beer or if you own or manage a beer-friendly bar you can also play a part in helping this guide grow. I’ve granted open access to the map so if you have a Google account you can actually go in and add your own recommendations. All I ask is that you write in English and that you give an honest account of your experiences.

Footnote:

The Swedish Beer Consumers Association Pub Map compiled by Svenska Ölfrämjandet is licensed under a Creative Commons Erkännande-Ickekommersiell-Dela Lika 2.5 Sverige License.