Whenever I hit a roadblock with someone I’m trying to convert to beer I normally head for the fridge. Not for another beer though. For some food.

Food really can bring out the best in a beer. Anyone who has experienced the mouth-watering majesty of a chilled Belgium witbier as its light, fresh lemonade and herb flavours wrap themselves around a perfectly poached fillet of plaice will know exactly what I’m talking about.

Food can also calm beer down at times. Take a brash, arrogant US imperial stout and hook it up with a slice of artery-clogging Mississippi Mud Cake and the dessert will help flatten the sharp spikes of bitter chocolate and charred espresso coffee beans.

Food can make a good beer great but it’s not just a one-way relationship. Beer can also turn a good meal into a memorable one.

In Sweden we’re just taking our first tentative steps into the world of beer and food pairing. Sure we drink beer with food at Easter, midsommar, with crayfish and at Christmas but I’m pretty sure many of us don’t know why we do it or that there’s probably better matches to be had with beers other than the lagers we routinely plonk on the table.

To get to know beer better it’s really worth taking a little bit of time to learn the basic principles of beer and food pairings. Notice I didn’t use the word rules because there aren’t any. We’ll leave the dogma of ‘red with meat, white with fish’ to the wine world where it belongs. In our brave new beer world the only thing that matters is that the match works for you. If the food and the beer are better for hanging out with one another then you’ve just made a great match. It’s as simple as that!

I don't think there's ever been a better book written about food and beer pairing. It might not change you life, but it will change your mealtimes!

But hang on you say. Is it really that simple? Well yes…..and no. There are in fact several ‘guidelines’ you can follow, some well tried combos that never let you down, some dishes where you might want to tread a little more carefully.

Fortunately someone’s already written these guidelines down for you in a book that I refer to as the bible of food and beer pairing.

The book is called ‘The Brewmaster’s Table’ and in its 372 pages you’ll find everything you’ll ever need to start creating amazing combos. It is written by Garrett Oliver who is brewmaster at Brooklyn Brewery, a man considered by many to be the world’s leading authority on knowing what to eat with your beer.

This beautifully illustrated book takes you on a journey through beer’s past, explains how it is made and then tours the world’s most popular beer styles giving you suggestions on which foods to match them with.

Garrett’s intelligent prose and infectious enthusiasm for his art (because that is what it is) is guaranteed to inspire you and make your next meal, in some strangely pleasant way, just that bit more complicated.

And now thanks to those nice people at Brooklyn Brewery I’m giving you the chance to win the latest updated edition of ‘The BrewMaster’s Table’.

To stand a chance of winning you’ll need to have liked BeerSweden’s Facebook page (you know we’re big on Facebook right?) and answer the following question:

Q: Garrett Oliver’s Brooklyn Brewery released a ‘sunshine’ beer at the Systembolaget in May. What is it called?

Send your answer to darren@beersweden.se by midnight on Thursday, June 23^rd and I’ll give one lucky BeerSweden follower an extra reason to celebrate midsommar the following day when I announce the winner. This competition is only open to people that live in Sweden.

Good luck everyone!

It’s Friday 13^th today so I’m being extra careful to avoid black cats, dropping or breaking anything, crossing roads, eating peanuts or tying my shoelaces. In fact I’m writing this weekly update from my bed, where I plan to stay until Saturday, with only occasional and very short excursions to the fridge to get a cold beer.

Excuse me for interupting but is this the way to söder?

This week the ‘man on everyone’s lips’ (which was perhaps the most unfortunate thing I said this week) known as Tjinooken was finally unmasked and his beer served to expectant crowds at Oliver Twist and Akkurat.

And following the hype comes the hyperbole for a new lager brewed by Nynäshamns Ångbryggeri that will become a regular feature in both the pubs in Stockholm’s ‘söder’.

Tjockhult Tjinook is a beer that first and foremost is designed to be refreshing and easy to drink, with chinook hops (supported by a dash of citra and centennial) lending their light, citrus flavours. The reaction to its launch this week was overwhelming positive (kegs were drained faster than Ingrid for goodness sake) so if you’re wandering around söder in the near future you might want to pop in and try it. Oh, and if you see a bedraggled looking character snoring under a bridge nearby throw him some spare change – it may just be Tjinooken!

This was also the week I announced that it’s London Baby! for BeerSweden next weekend as I travel to the UK as the only Swedish representative at the first ever European Beer Bloggers Conference. I won’t be alone however, with Mattias and Jessica to keep me company and also beers from NYAB and Oppigårds to pour out among the delegates.

Romeo and Juliet, Bonnie and Clyde, Simon and Garfunkel, Bamse and Skalman – they’re practically inseparable and better as a pair than by themselves don’t you think? The same could be said for burgers and beer, which is the theme of the latest awesome BeerSweden competition I launched this week to celebrate the opening next month of the Bishops Arms ambitious gastro-pub in Linnégatan in Stockholm. Remember to send me your ideal burger and beer combo before June 1^st for a chance to win some VIP prizes!

So how am I going to kick the weekend of this week? Well I’ll be popping open a bottle of Brooklyn Summer Ale as my After Work Friday! beer that Brooklyn’s charismatic BrewMaster himself Garret Oliver recently told BeerSweden all about.

The beer is being launched at the Systembolaget on Monday and I can already reveal it’s as summer as Crocs and mosquito repellent.

Have a safe and lucky weekend everyone and don’t forget it’s Småbryggeriernas Dag tomorrow so if you’re lucky enough to live near a Swedish craft brewery then show them your support and drink local!

Cheers and beers!

Darren

From the back label:

”Brooklyn Black Ops does not exist. However, if it did exist it would be a robust stout …..aged for four months in bourbon barrels, bottled flat and re-fermented with Champagne yeast, creating big chocolate and coffee flavours with a rich underpinning of vanilla-like oak”.

Black Ops is a fun beer idea with a very serious side to it. Although Brooklyn Brewery jokingly deny all knowledge of it ever being made it they’ve obviously gone through a lot of trouble to create it, using time-consuming and unconventional techniques such as cask aging and bottle re-fermentation.

The result is a stealthy stout that is as hard to decipher as the Enigma code. It pours from a stylish corked champagne-like bottle an oily black with a stupendously thick and resilient cappuccino-frothy head.

There’s a definite double agent quality to the aroma, with the expected and welcome bitter chocolate, oak and coffee tones slightly double-crossed by subversive smells of contact glue and unripe green pears.

The stealthy part of this beer becomes evident in the mouth. For a stout (one of the more powerful beer styles out there) which has then been aged in Bourbon casks its body is incredibly light. Like a spy whose identity has been compromised it simply seems to vanish into thin air, leaving behind a trail of fruit snaps, rich bitter chocolate and molasses.

It’s this beer’s most remarkable achievement that it manages to camouflage its 11.6% of alcohol so well. The level of bourbon is perfect – just enough to complement the other flavours rather than detracting from them.

If you need a stout, if no one else can help, and if you can find a bottle then perhaps you can buy Black Ops.

We are now one week into the BeerSweden Beertography competition and already I’ve had lots of photos submitted from budding beertographers (bottles of beer and snow seems to be a clear theme developing here….)

Please keep them coming in and remember you’ve still got until midnight this Sunday, March 21st to send in your entries, so get your camera out and start taking more beery pictures people!

They make your beer taste better - that's a promise!

As if being crowned the country’s best beertographer here at BeerSweden isn’t enough the overall winner will get a parcel of cool glassware from those very nice chaps over at Wicked Wine. They represent some of the most exciting beer brands you can find in Sweden right now, including the sometimes controversial but always memorable Flying Dog range of beers from the US. These beers with their quirky, eye-catching labels can often be found in the fridges at many of the best beer bars and pubs in the country, so look out for them next time you’re out and about.

As well as x2 Flying Dog In-Heat Wheat glasses the winner will also take home x4 stylish Einbecker Brauhaus glasses which are perfect for pouring Einbecker Ur-bock Hell into. Doing this will raise your beer geek factor by x10 when you next have your friends around for drinks. I’ll probably be throwing in a mystery beer T-shirt or two as well for good luck (and to stop the glasses breaking in transit).

Are you ready to get out their and capture your best beery moments? Need a bit more inspiration (it is after all a Monday)? Well then here’s a picture I took yesterday while out on the slopes trying to disprove the myth that Englishmen can’t ski (unsuccessfully as it turned out). We can, however, take pictures of beer and drink it afterwards.

Good luck!

(ps: Send your photos to me at darren@beersweden.se no later than midnight on Sunday, March 21st! This particular competition is only open to people living in Sweden – I can’t afford the postage you see).