Yesterday on BeerSweden’s Facebook page I asked people to decide which beer should be the next reviewed here – the critcially acclaimed 1/2 idjit! imperial porter from Swedish micro Dugges in Gothenburg or a relatively unknown (and rather more difficult to get) amber ale produced by a Norwegian brewpub from Flåm that looks like it comes straight from the set of The Fellowship of the Ring.

The people voted (well about 5 of you actually) and asked for the Rallar – which meant I got to try my first ever beer from the Ægir Brewery, which has the distinction of being named Norway’s Brewpub of the Year in 2008.

The story behind this brewery’s name is wonderful. I’ll let their website explain:

”In Norse mythology, Ægir is described as a giant, the brother of Kári (Wind) and Logi (Fire) and the master of the ocean. Ægir’s hall is lit not by fire but instead by bright gold. Every year he invites the Norse gods to a great feast in his hall, Brime, where the beer and the food are magically transported to the guests and the drinking-horns fill themselves (editor’s note – got to get me one of those). According to Odin, Ægir brews the best ale. He has the world’s biggest brewing kettle, a mile deep, which Tor stole from the giant Hyme and gave to him. In Ægir’s hall the gods were never allowed to fight, and anyone making trouble was banished for all eternity (editor’s note – gulp…better be careful what I say then).”

All of Ægir’s beers are unpasteurised and unfiltered, which became pretty obviously the moment this beer hit my glass, pouring a murky chestnut brown with a noticeable yeast ‘throw’ as I reached the bottom of the bottle.

I wasn’t expecting a lot of hop character from this beer as amber ales tend to display a distinctively malty nature. Ægir uses no less than six different kinds of malts in Rallar. However I also wasn’t expecting the strong smells of yeasty bread dough it threw up. It was as though most of the freshness had already left this beer. It reminded me of the smell in the darkest parts of the woods in autumn, when mushrooms push through the wet fallen leaves and cover the roots of moss-covered trees.

To taste Rallar delivered a little more. The malts of course were there, giving the beer a nourishing, quite heavy feel with some brown syrup sweetness and faint chocolate. The hops were almost non-existent which made Rallar anything but refreshing.

Without wanting to incur the wrath of any gods I wasn’t that sold on Rallar Amber Ale. I understand that Norwegians are the butt of jokes here in Sweden very much like the Irish are to the English and the Canadians are to the Americans but Rallar Amber Ale could never be called a joke of a beer.

It’s completely missing a punchline.

(Editor’s note: 1/2 idjit next up!)

Dugges Ale & Porterbryggeri from Gothenburg is arguably the coolest of the new generation of Swedish microbreweries. With their eye-catching ‘Miami’ coloured bottle labels and tongue-in-cheek brand names Dugges have always succeeded in making their beers look good as well as taste great.

I’ve personally had more than one enjoyable session at the Stockholm Beer Festival propped up against their stand, when it was all High Fives, me talking a lot of bollox and then leaving feeling a bit of an idjit.

Dugges was early to embrace American hops in its beers, creating a succession of innovative and generally well received beers. They’re largely responsible for making Swedish beers fun again, creating a buzz based on humour but with very serious beers to back their micro-message up.

I say all this as a precursor to what’s coming next because I really like Dugges. Really I do.

But I don’t like their Spring Beer Lager.

It wasn’t that long before things started going wrong. When I poured the beer into the glass I noticed it was a rather cloudy pale copper colour with a thin slightly yellow head – strange for a premium lager I thought. The first line in my notebook reads: ”Is this beer ok?”

I was partially reassured by mild hoppy smells of grass and orange but they were muted by something else unpleasant and yeasty.  In the mouth things went from bad to worse. The body is quite thin, with some initial malty sweetness followed by a short-lived bitter finish. The third line of my notebook reads: ”where are the hops?”

It all culminated with the strong taste impression of wet paper, a classic tell-tale sign of oxidized beer, which leads me to wonder if I stumbled upon a dud bottle. I hope it was, because this beer was stale and dull and Dugges is normally anything but.

So take this review at face value with a disclaimer that I may not have experienced Dugges Spring Beer at its best. I’d be very interested to hear what you all thought of it and will revisit it again to see whether I was just unlucky this time. If I was then forget all of the above, or as Dugges themselves would probably say, Never Mind the Bollox!

Dugges Spring Beer Lager

A Premium Lager

4.7% ABV

Systembolaget Article Number: 1479

I’m often asked what I think about the ‘evil twins’ of brewing here in Sweden, Spendrups and Carlsberg.

The question is normally followed by a comment such as: “I bet you wouldn’t touch the stuff would you. After all you know what fish do in water (etc etc)”.

Well guess what? I do touch the stuff now and again, and you know what, I don’t think it’s that bad at all.

It’s very easy to put the hate on S&G (and any other brewery for that matter perceived to have exceeded the ever-shifting definition of ‘microbrewery’). Like gangs forming in the playground during a school break it’s tempting to side with the beer bullies who dismiss any brewery that doesn’t oak-age, over-hop, triple ferment, double, imperial or Americanize their beers.

Spendrup's brewery and head offices in Vårby

I suspect just like being at school peer pressure leads some people to unilaterally bash the bigger breweries, often labeling them nothing more than factories and the nemesis of all that craft beer stands for.

But as with most things in life I don’t think things are that black or white. I think we need big breweries like Spendrups and Carlsberg. Whether you like it or not they are responsible for switching millions of people onto drinking beer every year. They have the means and the muscle to create huge demand for beer in a way micros, by their very nature, never can.

We need them to help swell the ranks of beer drinkers, because its from them that we recruit drinkers of craft beer.

And lets be honest here. Are their beers really that bad? There’s a very interesting book I recommend you read (not only to underline this particular point, but because of its fascinating coverage of beer contra wine in general) called Grape vs Grain by Charles Bamforth.

Now Charles really knows his beers. He’s the Chair of the Department of Food Science, Editor in Chef of the Journal of the American Society of Brewing Chemists among a long list of other professional merits. In short he’s considered one of the top three brewing scientists of his generation.

He’s also an Anheuser-Busch Endowed Professor of Malting and Brewing Sciences at the University of California (I can almost hear the hissing from here) and explores in depth the attitudes of beer drinkers towards the major breweries in the US.

He writes that it is the micros that “have captured the consumers’ imagination by touting a perceived sophistication that belongs in the same class at that engendered by wines”.

The famous entrance to Carlsberg's original brewery

He goes on to defend the big breweries, calling them “places of sophistication and excellence….hygienic, airy, busy and highly productive…..often highly automated but always using time-honoured brewing techniques”.

His point is that it’s no mean feat to consistently produce a beverage at thousands of bottles an hour to the same level of quality 24 hours a day, day in, day out. It may not conjure up romantic images of beer being brewed say, in a barn, but it’s an impressive accomplishment none the less.

Mr Bamforth presents a strong case from a refreshingly different perspective.

Personally I know several people who work for both Spendrups and Carlsberg and they are as professional, engaged, proud and passionate about their brands as anyone I’ve met in the trade.

So coming back to the question I was posed in the opening paragraph on this now rather long-winded blog post, my answer is that I believe the big brewers are every bit as important to the future success of craft beer in this country as the microbreweries themselves.

After all every story needs a villain – it makes the tale of craft beer all the better in the telling, don’t you think?

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As its Monday morning I thought you might be in need of a bit of inspiration to start this very important week off.

The video above is a collaborative effort by some of the leading craft beer brewers in the USA and is a battle cry in the ongoing fight against mainstream beer.

Like that last sentence is it overly dramatic? Yes. Unnecessarily theatrical and emotional? Of course. But this is the kind of motivational film that only the yanks can do and credit where credit is due they’re the best in the world at doing it.

When I first watched this video I rushed to the fridge to grab a craft beer. I wanted to swear my allegiance to the cause, to play my part in the revolution. I was totally swept away by the emotion, the chest-beating and an enormous sense of pride in being part of the beer industry.

It may be all a little bit ‘Braveheart’ but this video captures perfectly the passion and spirit of the craft beer movement in the US. We should look at it, study it and learn from it here in Sweden.

Now that might be a little bit uncomfortable for some of you. After all we’re not used to sticking out from the crowd, preferring to seek comfort in conformity.

But that’s not what craft beer in this country should ever be about. Craft beer is about passion, creativity, fun, a willingness to be different, a Screw-You-Jante-law attitude, individuality and a burning and endless sense of curiosity.

To the Swedish breweries that make craft beer never stop daring to be different. Brew the beers you want to brew, that mean something to you. Chances are they’ll mean something to us too.

And to the growing legions of craft beer drinkers in this country continue your rebellion against the ‘stor stark state’. Choose to drink beer that has been hand-crafted by people, not suits. Feel proud that your choice of beer is important and that in a very real way it supports this country’s beer community.

Are you motivated now? Is that a tear I see in your eye? Good, now get out there and start drinking craft beer people. But before you do, check out Day 21 of BeerSweden’s Advent Beer Calendar 2009 to see exactly what I’m not talking about……….

Despite a haul of medals at recent Swedish beer festivals it can’t really be said that success came to Dalarna’s Oppigårds Bryggeri overnight. In fact it took a whole 8 years for the first proper batch of beer to be brewed!

But as the saying goes ‘good things come to those who wait’ and Oppigårds’ hand-crafted range of beers are now firmly established favourites in the Systembolaget and at pubs throughout the country.

Björn is delighted his beers are getting recognition.

BeerSweden has spoken to founder, brewer, Managing Director and ‘handyman’ Björn Falkeström about how he built a brewery practially from scratch and what he’s doing to try and keep up with demand for his award-winning beers.

BeerSweden: First of all congratulations on your success at the recent Stockholm Beer and Whisky Festival where you took home six medals, including 3 golds. How did it feel to get such a positive reaction from the judges and what does it mean to you to win medals at the festival?

Björn:We´re always pleased when we get acceptance for our beers. The competition this year was harder than ever. We see more and more good beers from small Swedish brewers. This is good for the beer consumer and the beer culture in this country. However I doubt that the medals will make any big change in our sales figures but if you do not get any medals your beer is not good enough to compete in the market.

BeerSweden: Oppigårds has grown from a small operation making just 8,000 litres of beer in 2004 to an established name in Swedish brewing producing almost 250,000 litres last year. How have you managed to keep up with demand?

Björn: I started the brewery project on my own with the goal to be able to produce 400.000 per annum. The brewhouse has a capacity of 2.350 litres. The problem in the first year was when the demand was small but the batches were too large. Today it is the brewhouse that is the bottle neck, but you always have the possibility to work around the clock! It took 8 years from starting up the project until I brewed the first batch. During the construction phase I did most of the work myself and I also managed to finance the investment with my own money. So when we expand the business today we are not forced to pay old loans.  Instead we can pay the new investments mostly with the cash-flow from the brewery business. There are never any quick fixes. You just have to work.

BeerSweden: Since you first experimented making your own beer in a saucepan you borrowed from your mother back in 1984 what are the biggest changes you’ve seen in the Swedish brewery scene?

Oppigårds' Winter Ale won gold for Best Christmas Beer at the Örebro Beer Festival last weekend.

Björn: Well, during that time in the 80′s I was not very aware of what was happening in the brewery scene. But in the last five years a lot of new small breweries have started up in Sweden. Some are in the bottling business but many are still only distributing their beers in kegs. You can also see more types of beer in the market, both domestic and imported beers. The competition with imported beers is good as it makes the Swedish beers better and the influences and ideas makes the beers available more diverse.

BeerSweden: What is your philosophy regarding the beers Oppigårds brews?

Björn: We have no hidden agenda. We make all our beers in Ingvallsbenning. We can never blame someone else for doing a bad job. I think it is important when producing food and beverages to be honest. Much of the supply in this market is something quite different.  The problem is that the consumer is not aware and the big market players do not take the responsibility.

We believe the formula to great beer is that the recipe is about 25%, the soul is 75% and the water and brewing process goes on top of that!

BeerSweden: And finally what do you think the future holds for Swedish microbreweries in general and Oppigårds in particular?

Björn: The pub market is controlled by the big market players. I would like to see a law as England has with ”guest taps”. I think that is important for very small breweries and for the Swedish beer and pub culture. We are growing in the pub and restaurant markets due to the cooperation with TOMP Beer & Spirits. This is good for our volumes and for our brands. The retail market is not designed for very small-scale breweries yet but I think that we will see a development during the next few years that will be good for the Swedish small-scale breweries.

Oppigårds’ goal is to make our product portfolio more complete. We are finishing our largest investment ever this winter which will make it possible to grow in capacity and also make some stronger beers in smaller batches. Our new visitor centre will be able to hold up to 50 visitors. This is important for us when developing our brand and it is also fun to be able to develop the Swedish beer culture.

See all of Oppigårds’ beers available at the Systembolaget here.