This is Part 2 of my review of 2011. Part 1 can be found here.

As the nights grew longer and the summer mosquitoes lost their sting I went over to Scotland with the guys from Akkurat to brew an upcoming Abstrakt beer based on a traditional Scottish dessert. While we were there I had ‘The Best Beer Tasting of 2011’ – a truly epic affair I named The Day of Many Beers.

September was also the month we had the first ever BSF meet-up in Stockholm (a night so awesome one Forum member broke his foot!) and the Stockholm Beer and Whisky Festival rolled into town bigger and better than ever before. It crowned a great year for beer shows in Sweden that included  fests in Linköping and Örebro (where bloggers got their very own studio for the first time!)

During the SBWF I managed to sit down with a bunch of amazing brewers which lead to me write my ‘Favourite Post(s) of 2012’ which in fact was a series of posts entitled ‘The Beer Geek Brunch Interviews’.

They had this on draft at my hotel in San Fran, earning it my 'Best Hotel of 2011' Award.

Finally winding up the year we once again gave beer lovers yet another reason to celebrate Christmas with their very own Advent Beer Calendar (this year with pimped Ho’s) that ended with Trev making a rare appearance in front of the camera.

I tried a lot of beers in 2011, some of which I recorded on this blog and many which never made it past my glass and into my laptop. Highlights include Thisted Limfjordsporter, Old Tom The Original Strong Ale, Pliney the Elder on draft in the USA, Sierra Nevada’s Southern Hemisphere Harvest Fresh Hop Ale (Longest Beer Name of 2011?) and Oppigårds Drakens DIPA but there were more.

Many, many more in fact. Too many to mention here.

Looking back I have the distinct feeling 2011 was the year craft beer really broke through in Sweden. Sure it’s been here a while for those of us who knew about it but I think during the past 12 months the word’s really got out and the ‘average’ beer drinker has started to pay a little more attention to all those funny looking bottles on the shelves at the monopoly.

The fact that sales of locally produced ‘micro’ brands at the Systembolaget have doubled in the past two years seems to support this. The monopoly’s increasing focus on quality beer releases and its recent rule change that will allow us to order Swedish craft breweries to our local stores by the bottle in a couple of weeks will make sure the craft beer revolution rages on well into 2012 and far beyond.

Add to that the number of exciting new craft breweries that opened in 2011 (and which plan to open in 2012) and I think it’s fair to say in the spirit of former British Prime Minister Harold Macmillan that as beer drinkers we’ve never had it this good.

Pang Pang in Stockholm was one of several microbreweries that opened up for business during 2011.

Before I stop looking back and start looking forward to what 2012 holds I want to pause for a moment and thank a few people.

Firstly I’d like to thank all the sponsors of BeerSweden. I appreciate it’s a bold move to advertise on a beer blog but your support really does makes it possible for me to carrying on posting, so thanks!

Secondly I’d like to thank my family for cutting me the slack to travel around the world discovering stuff about beer and meeting amazing beer people. I promise to try harder in 2012 to bring back things from abroad that don’t come in bottles…..

Thirdly I’d like to say a big thanks to the beer blogging community in both Sweden and the rest of the world for your passion and energy in spreading the knowledge and joy of our favourite drink. 2011 was something of a breakthrough year (we got our our conference!) and I know great things are just over the horizon in 2012. Watch this space!

And lastly (but not leastly) I’d like to thank you for following this blog. BeerSweden would be a very lonely place without your feedback, enthusiasm and comments so a huge thanks to you!

Now as a fresh year lies ahead just waiting to be unwrapped it’s time to start making some plans. Mine include a bit of news that might change my life forever but that’s the stuff of another post right here next week.

Until then I would like to wish you all a very Happy New Year. If you can make sure you share the moments around midnight with people you love and that you see in 2012 with a glass of great beer in your hand.

After all, you should really start as you mean to go on…..

As the last few hours of 2011 drain away it’s customary to glance back over your shoulder and recall the highs and lows of the past 12 months.

From a news perspective it has been a year in which natural disasters occurred with such disturbingly regularity that I almost became inoculated to them but it’s important we shouldn’t forget the mudslides in Brasil, the tsunami that struck Japan, the famine in Somalia, the earthquake in Turkey or the recent flash floods that struck while people slept in the Philippines.

2011 was also the year the world of sport lost a legend when Seve moved onto the 19^th hole while the pressures of fame claimed another 27 year old with the death of Amy Winehouse, the financial markets wobbled more than a unicylist with a puncture and in what for me was the most chilling recollection of the year we grieved with our neighbours in Norway.

There was, of course, plenty of good news too! 2011 was the year one royal couple got hitched, another got pregnant and the England football team finally got the Swedish monkey off its back by beating Sweden 1-0 at Wembley after 43 years of trying.

But what about the beer I hear you ask? Was it a year of boom or bust? Let’s attempt to recap.

She came. she saw, she kicked arse and then she left. Typical....

Things started off with a bang and the launch in February of 1720 bottles of ‘Hello, My Name is Ingrid’ at the Systembolaget. Demand for the cloudberry-infused Double IPA was so great the monopoly failed to keep up with it and many of you were left empty-handed and more than a little peeved.

The good news is that Ingrid made a return in September and this time she was ‘single’! Despite 10,000 bottles making their way over the North Sea from BrewDog Ingrid was sold out in just a couple of days, making it the fastest selling craft beer in the monopoly’s history. While running the risk of sounding partisan I’m naming Ingrid my Beer of 2011.

February was also the month the Systembolaget website got a new makeover, one of a series of improvements which in my opinion made it a very good year for the monopoly.

Not the best moment for Swedish beer or the monopoly in 2011.

In March I wrote about a new ‘micro brewery’ in the Swedish beer scene – Brutal Brewing. Turns out they weren’t so micro after all (and not even a brewery) and their launch of Cheap Thrills is my undoubted Lowlight of 2011. Having said that the Brutal Brewing Krew (that’s right, isn’t it BB?) has shifted up a few gears as the year’s gone by, finishing on something of a high.

Talking about high it took me quiet a long time to get my head out of the clouds after finding out I had been awarded the Svenska Ölfrämjandets Guldpin for 2011 for this blog’s contribution to raising awareness of beer culture in Sweden along with fellow blogger Magnus from Ofiltrerat.

March was also the month I packed my bags and flew west to attend the Craft Brewers Conference in San Francisco. It was without question my Best Beer Event of 2012 – and that’s saying something (See Part 2).

In April I announced my collaboration with BrewDog and took delivery of the coolest business cards ever and had a fascinating Skype interview with Greg from Stone Brewing.

Home brew and didgerdoos - Wierdest Moment of 2011?

May saw Trev and I become one of the cool crowd (almost) when we brewed our own beer with a Coopers DIY Beer kit to earn our kitchen alchemy badges (which is my BSTV Highlight of 2012) and I flew over to London to attend the first ever European Beer Bloggers Conference, where my talk on Swedish beer (and porn) gave the tweeters something to do.

The summer was relatively hot and quiet until July when we launched the BeerSweden Forum and in doing so created what has rapidly become one of the most active and friendly beery hangouts on the web.  It has already spawned two BSF meet-ups (with more planned for 2012) and is my personal Beery Online Moment of 2012!

Coming up in part 2; I get to help brew a beer with wild heather honey, oats and raspberries, declare 2011 the ‘Year of Craft Beer’ and say thanks to lots and lots of people……

To clarify: BrewDog Rip Tide is currently available to buy in cases of 24 x 330ml bottles from the beställningssortimentet of the Systembolaget. It will however be available to buy by the bottle in the ordinary assortment from October 1st 2011.

*Transparency Statement* As many of you know I spend some of my time travelling around Scandinavia tasting and talking about BrewDog beers. It’s no secret I think they are all generally amazing but I still strive to keep all my reviews objective, regardless of where the beer comes from.