Today is a very special day for all you romantics out there. A day to celebrate your affection for that ‘special’ one in your life. That’s right – it’s time to show the Systembolaget some serious love for yet another ‘middle-of-the-month’ beer release.

Beer and people’s undying affection for it have followed each other like lovers throughout the passages of history ever since man discovered the magic of fermentation. An ancient Egyptian proverb encourages us not to “cease to drink beer, to eat, to intoxicate thyself, to make love, and to celebrate the good days”.

Benjamin Franklin - statesman, scientist, inventor, visionary and beer lover.

Fast forward a few centuries and Benjamin Franklin, one of the founding fathers of the United States told us that “beer is living proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy”.

So clearly beer and love have an infatuation with each other, but which beers being released today are hoping to tug at our heart (and purse) strings?

First out is Beer Here Vårvit, a Belgium vit (white) beer from Danish ‘phantom brewer’ Christian Skovdal Andersen. Christian is recognised as one of the original leading figures in the Danish craft beer revolution and was one of the founders of Denmark’s acclaimed Ølfabrikken (which he left in 2008).

I’ve tried a few Beer Here beers and have generally been very impressed so I see no reason not to go to first base with this one. Recommended!

If I’m being brutally honest my heart doesn’t start racing at the thought of the next beer, Spendrups Premium Pilsner. My suspicions are instantly aroused by the flowery press release, which informs us: “the role model for this beer are the pilsners brewed in northern Germany” before revealing that the hops used are Spalter Select (German) and Saaz, a noble hop used largely in the brewing of Czech pilsners.

It also says the beer is conditioned “longer than normal, resulting in a perfect ‘ripeness’”. I’ve sent a mail asking what normal is and what longer than normal means in terms of time. If I get a reply I’ll post it here.

But on this day of love and fuzzy feelings perhaps I’m being a bit mean. After all I haven’t tried this beer, and at the very un-premium price of 11.90 SEK it’s not going to break your heart or the bank to buy a bottle, is it?

Like an arrow from Cupid’s bow Jessica Heidrich is hoping to hit the bullseye with the sixth in her St:Eriks range of beers, Vårlager. It’s brewed with a big dose of the classic US Simcoe hop so expect some forceful aromas and flavours of citrus, piny resin and passionfruit.  On past performance alone this is recommended!

I'll have one Vårlager and a pair of underpants please.

Jessica may say vår but no-one says spring quite like Oppigårds. The brewery from Dalarna brewed the most epic Swedish spring beer I’ve ever tasted and now it’s hoping to have another hit with its latest Spring Ale which this time showcases the US Chinook hop.

The feedback from beer drinkers who have tried the draft version of this beer have been overwhelmingly positive, with talk of luscious lychee and tropical fruit aromas and a well balanced bitter finish. Prepare to fall in love again. Recommended!

Mr Mohawk has done a ‘Mikkeller’ and released two single hop beers featuring two of the most popular hops in world brewing – the classic ‘old world’ English Goldings hop and the altogether more ‘new world’ Amarillo hop from the US.

I was lucky enough to get a couple of bottles a little while back and you can see a tasting of both beers here. Recommended!

The coolest beer name I’ve heard in a long time (almost, but not quite, as cool as Ingrid) is Modus Hoparandi from the uber-hip Ska Brewing Company in Durango, Colorado, USA. You just have to check out their infectious comic-book style website and if that doesn’t make you want to rush out and buy some of this hardcore 65 IBU US IPA then you clearly need to lighten up a little. Recommended!

Finally we have a beer that rumour has it is “the sole reason there is a global hop shortage” – Epic Armageddon IPA.

I’ve really been looking forward to trying this cult beer, which is the result of a head-to-head, hop-to-hop smackdown between two New Zealand breweries (Epic Brewing Co and Hallertau Brewbar) competing to brew the country’s most super-charged IPA.

Epic’s Armageddon IPA is fuelled with end-of-the-world levels of cascade, centennial , simcoe and columbus hops. It’s travelled from the other side of the planet to be released today so I’m hoping it will retain plenty of its hop freshness and muscle. And for this price? Recommended!

BeerSweden has managed to get an exclusive first peek at the bottle label of the next in the ‘success series’ of Mohawk beers – an imperial porter named Mohawk Blizzard that the man responsible for brewing it claims contains practically every type of malt there is!

Mohawk Blizzard isn’t due out at the Systembolaget until 15th November but I’ve managed to track down the label artwork and grab a few words with Stefan Gustavsson, the ‘gypsy’ brewer behind the Mohawk family of beers.

”It’s a mix between an English, US and Scandinavian Baltic porter with lots of everything in it”, says Stefan (rather modestly when you discover that he’s played with 10 different types of malt and 8 different types of hops to create this beer).

”Although it’s heavily dry hopped with the hop intensity of a double IPA it has under 40 IBUs (International Bitterness Units) and a lot of residual sweetness to add balance”, reports Stefan.

This 9.7% ABV porter is being brewed at Sigtuna Brygghus and the word is that some bottles might be available to try at the Stockholm Beer and Whisky Festival later this month. Whether we get a Blizzard or not I’ll be there come rain or shine to interview Stefan and ask him more about beer, brewing and whether Blizzard will really be the last of the Mohawk-ans.

More details as I get them.

Here’s an exclusive first look at the latest in one of Sweden’s most successful ever beer franchises – Mohawk Barley Wine!

I’ve been lucky enough to get my hands on a couple of bottles of this eagerly anticipated 10.5% ABV barley wine that boasts a tongue-curling 100 IBUs and is modelled on a recipe for an imperial ale made in Scotland back in 1835.

Now stop, read the previous paragraph one more time and then tell me beer isn’t the most interesting, innovative and just drop-dead-gorgeous drink out there right now – I dare you!

Gypsy brewer Stefan Gustavsson has kept good to every single word he told followers of BeerSweden’s Facebook page back in April by producing two new additions to the Mohawk family – the barley wine you see above and Mohawk Stitch (a brown porter) which both go on sale at the Systembolaget on September 1^st.

I’ll be hunting down a bottle of Stitch over the next few days (so stayed tuned) but what do we already know about this big-arse barley wine?

Well once again it is a beer borne out of the collaboration between Stefan and Swedish drinks importer Wicked Wine and once again it has been brewed by the creative team over at Sigtuna Brygghus.

In a departure from all the US-dominated beers released of late MBW is brewed using ONLY East Kent Goldings hops from Kent for both aroma and bitterness. It’s even been dry-hopped with them too for good measure to ramp it up to the levels of a modern day double IPA.

Now I was born and raised in East Kent, so I’m extra excited about trying this beer!

It is built on a foundation of pale ale and pilsner malts with a sprinkling of Munich and Crystal malt to add more depth of flavour.

Barley wine is a malt-accented beer that benefits hugely from being stored for several years in order to fully develop and express all its complex wine-like layers of flavours. I however can’t wait that long, so expect the first ever blog review of Mohawk Barley Wine in the next 24 hours!

It’s a great headline isn’t it? In fact I can just picture it strapping the front page of the infamous tattle-trading English newspaper The Sun, famous for such unforgettable tabloid headlines like OBAMA LAMA DING DONG (used above a story covering the meeting of President Obama and the Dalai Lama) and I’M ONLY HERE FOR DE BEERS, printed the day after thieves attempted to steal a De Beers diamond from London’s Millennium Dome.

You thought there were only three Mohawks didn't you? You were wrong!

I feel a bit like one of those fanatical Star Wars fans just after they found out that the first three films they had worshipped and committed line-by-line to memory over the last 16 years were not, in fact, the entire story but there was actually quite a lot more Mr Lucas had been holding back. The cheeky little peko-peko.

But in keeping with the tabloid philosophy of never letting facts get in the way of a good story headline I’m using it anyway, as it was generally accepted this was going to be a beer trilogy until the man behind the Mohawks, gypsy brewer Stefan Gustavsson jumped into a debate on BeerSweden’s Facebook page the other day to tell me otherwise.

Lamenting the last of the Mohawk-ans (it’s so good I used it twice) he replied: ”Don’t worry Darren. You will see more Mohawk in September”!

”The second one is … More Mohawk Barley Wine (Ed: oh I like that!!). This one is modelled on a recipe for an Imperial Ale made in Scotland in 1835. It is made with mostly pale malt and huge amounts of classic English hops to an abv of 10,5 % and around 90 IBU. I suspect that it will age well for a few years.