Yes it’s true. Sweden’s most ‘Get Up and Go’ beer blog is packing its bags and is on its way to Scotland later this week to spend a bit of quality time with those maverick brewing chaps at BrewDog.

As you already know BeerSweden likes to be at the centre of all things beery and there’s little doubt that the epicentre of alternative beer brewing in Europe (and arguably the world) right now is focused on the small fishing town of Fraserburgh situated a little way north of Aberdeen in Scotland.

That’s because it’s here that James Watt and fellow BrewDog founder and Brewmaster Martin Dickie hatch plans for world domination and create some of the most avant garde beers coming out of Europe right now. Their role call of brands makes for more extreme reading that the beer list at Akkurat in Stockholm, including the already classic Punk IPA, Trashy Blonde, Hardcore IPA (which just picked up a gold medal at the World Beer Cup) and the two alcoholic monsters Tactical Nuclear Penguin and Sink the Bismarck.

When they’re not brewing beer here they’re often flying off somewhere else to do it, recently to the US to collaborate in the brewing of the first ever black pilsner.

I’ll be meeting up with James when he headlines a BrewDog event in Stockholm this Saturday night organised by their importer Cask Sweden. Check out their FaceBook page for more details and if you’re in the capital be sure to come along as there will be the largest selection of BrewDog beers ever seen in one place in Sweden available to try at reasonable prices.

I’ll then be flying back with James to Scotland the next day for 48 hours of hanging out with the BrewDog pack. Rest assured I’ll be taking my camcorder (Sorry Trev – you’re going to have to stay at home this time) and plan to record a very special episode of BSTV from within the brewery itself. I’ll also be live blogging while sniffing out all the news about what other BrewDog beers might be making their way over here to Sweden, including (hopefully) an advance tasting of the new Abstrakt range I wrote about a little while back.

One thing’s for sure – it’s going to be an extreme brewery trip so make sure you come along for the ride!

Beers and Cheers!

BeerSweden Darren

*I’m bumping up this article that I posted yesterday as I can see from Google Analytics that a lot of BS readers spend more time drinking beer (or recovering from the effects of it!) than reading about it on a Sunday.*

They say a picture says a thousand words. I’d like to think a picture can also tell the story of a beer.

Earlier this week in a moment of creativity (which don’t come along that often) I took a couple of pictures of the beers I was going to be reviewing. It seems a lot of you BS readers liked them, which started me off thinking “why not combine our mutual love of beer with photography to create an entirely new way of wasting our spare time – beertography!

To kick things off BeerSweden is launching what I confidently suggest is the world’s first beertography competition.

The rules are pretty simple. Just whip out your lens and take a photograph of the beer you are currently drinking. It can be a bottle or a pint/glass shot but try and get the beer brand name in the frame as I’ll be sending the winning picture to the brewery in question.

It doesn’t matter if you have the latest DSLR camera and a studio in your basement or take the picture in a pub using your mobile camera. It’s not the quality of the picture that necessarily counts – it’s the story it tells us about your special moment with beer.

As an example here’s a picture I took this morning. I had to lay down on the ice surrounded by bemused youngsters hurtling at great speeds on sharp blades of steel just inches from my ears to get it. It struck me then that this wasn’t normal behaviour for a grown man on a Sunday morning. Isn’t it great what you’ll do in the name of beer?

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So here’s how it works. Send your best original beertography picture to me at darren@beersweden.se as a JPEG around 250 KB in size by Sunday, March 21st. I’ll promise to post every single picture here on BeerSweden (assuming they’re legal) and will decide and announce a winner and one runner-up on Monday, March 22^nd.

And the prizes? Well I’m going to have to get back to you on that one. I’m currently arm wrestling with a couple of the major beer importers here in Sweden for some pretty special items, but one thing is certain – they will be the best prizes ever given away on this website

(Ed note: That shouldn’t be too difficult. The last prize we gave away was a T-shirt).

So happy snapping everyone. Good luck!