66,240.

That’s the amount of minutes that have passed since we last had a release of new beers in the Systembolaget. I don’t know about you but I’ve missed the monthly pilgrimage to the monopoly to wait anxiously in line at 10am in the hope of scooping some new brews.

Fortunately normal service is now being resumed following the summer break and this morning 10 beers go on sale, some of them old favourites, one of them a very different take on an DIPA, another a homebrew that’s hit the big-time and one that’s price-tag already has many beer fans up in arms.

So where to start…..why not in alphabetical order with Bitch Please – BrewDog’s collaborative brew with Three Floyds Brewing from the USA. Has to be one of the stand-out beer names of the year so far but what does a 12%ABV barley wine flavoured with Laphroig whisky malt, shortbread, fudge and candy-floss and single hopped with Nelson Sauvin from New Zealand taste like? As crazy as it sounds really, although I think it’s a bit of a car-crash beer with so much going on. Worth a try although it won’t be everyone’s cup of tea.

There’s not too much to say about North Coast Old Stock Ale other than buy it. In fact at 42.80SEK a bottle buy at least three bottles and age the other two because I promise you it will be worth it.

I’m particularly looking forward to Drakens DIPA which was crowned the winning beer at the 2010 Swedish Home Brewing Championships. Co-brewers Tomas Lunqvist, Rick Lindqvist and Magnus Alström are the guys behind the recipe and who now get to see their beer, which has been brewed at the ‘brewery that can do no wrong’, go national as part of their prize.

If the two bottles of Djævlebryg OriginAle Darwinian IPA I’ve tried are anything to go by the theory of evolution clearly applies to this beer. The first bottle of this rare English take on a DIPA I tasted was several months old while the second was only a few weeks young. I much preferred the aged version, which develops a musty, barley wine-like character with earthy, mango chutney flavours. It’s all very different and a must-try for IPA fans.

Avery Brewing Company is offering you Salvation in the form of their 9%ABV Belgium Strong Ale. I haven’t tried this one before and can therefore only be guided by the chatter on the net which says it’s peachy, spicy and has a hint of cinnamon in the finish. On paper I’m not bowled over about this one but of course I’ll still be trying it to find out for myself. Expect a review shortly.

Whoever said good things come in threes was right!

Sierra Nevada isn’t launching one but three beers this morning and they are all HUGE! First out is the hairy, scary multi-award winning Bigfoot, a barley wine at 9.6%ABV. If you don’t buy several bottles of this at its ridiculously cheap asking price of 29.90SEK then you’ll be missing out on one of the best beery deals of the year.

From the sublimely cheap to the ridiculously expensive, Sierra Nevada Hoptimum Whole Cone Imperial IPA is a tough beer to recommend. Not for the beer itself which is awesome but because whichever way I try and twist and turn it 349SEK for a chubby 710ml bottle is a hell of a lot of money and undoubtedly takes away some of the fun of drinking it. If you do buy a bottle (perhaps spilt one with a friend?) I promise you won’t forget Hoptimum in a hurry because you know that feeling on a freezing winter’s day when you step inside and your ears start to burn red-hot even though they’re cold? Now imagine your ears are your tongue. This is what Hoptimum will do to you.

Finally there’s the beer with the longest name of this month’s release, Sierra Nevada Harvest Southern Hemisphere Fresh Hop Ale. Read my review about it here and then go any buy loads of it because it is simply amazing stuff.

Hornbeer is one of my favourite Danish brewers (I still dream about their Black Magic Woman) and although I’ve yet to try my bottle of The Fundamental Blackhorn any beer that has coffee malt, chocolate malt and honey and a whopping 120 IBUs has got to as complex as a blackboard full of long multiplication sums and worth your hard-earned cash.

And to finish off we have Triple Karmeliet, the beer I tried to convert a group of wine-loving Frenchmen with back in 2009 (but then it all went so horribly wrong). On its day this is a stunning example of an Abbey triple and I just love these 1.5L bottles which are perfect for ageing or for stealing all the attention at a dinner party. Big bottle, big investment, big beer.

Happy scooping everyone!

(EDIT): How could I have missed the fact that Sigtuna are also releasing a beer today??! I tried Sigtuna Harvest Ale with my Francophile father (see the video here) but it isn’t listed on the Systembolaget’s website under ‘Små partier 1 augusti‘ – hence the oversight

In America they have one special day of the year that celebrates the preposterous lengths beer geeks and enthusiasts will go to in order get hold of a beer. It’s called Dark Lord Day.

This annual event held in the last week of April each year attracts thousands of crazed beer fans from around the world to the Three Floyds Brewing Company’s brewpub, located on a rather unglamorous industrial estate in the hard-to-get-to town of Munster, Indiana.

Thousands of beer lovers queue for hours to get a taste of the fabled Dark Lord.

Such is its fearsome reputation that grown men are known to happily abandon their families and head off on a thousand mile road-trip just to taste it. Those who can’t attend will gladly bid for bottles that unscrupulous profiteers always put up for sale on eBay, with the asking price of the $15 bottle fetching up to eight times that amount.

In Sweden we don’t have a beer that would generate such blind devotion and hype (in fact we do, this one, but I doubt if Närke will be launching a Kaggen Day anytime soon).

However if I was to nominate one day of the year for us to get ridiculously excited about the release of a beer, tomorrow would be that day.

That’s because tomorrow marks the annual return of one of the biggest, tastiest and best value-for-money beers you can buy in Sweden – Brooklyn Black Chocolate Stout.

This huge stout is one of just five beers being released in around 30 selected Systembolaget stores from tomorrow. It is utterly intoxicating stuff, both in terms of the 10% of alcohol it carries and for its rich, heady, decadent flavours of the darkest chocolate, dried plums, vanilla and oak.

I was lucky enough to taste a bottle of 2010 Dark Lord at BrewDog Aberdeen recently.

Although it seems a little ‘cheap’ to mention the price I’m going to do it anyway, because at 19,90SEK a bottle this has to be one of the biggest steals since The Great Train Robbery.

I therefore don’t recommend you buy a bottle of it tomorrow. I recommend you buy 5. Drink one or two now before the snow melts and then store the rest away for between 2-10 years, during which time I promise you they will evolve into formidable beer experiences.

And lets not forget the other four beers going on sale tomorrow because they too are worthy of our attention and paychecks.

Two of them come from the world’s smallest and least known Trappist brewery, Achel, located in north-east corner of Belgium. Achel doesn’t covert attention (see if you can spot a single reference to beer on its website!) nor does it get the attention of its bigger ‘brothers’ like Chimay or Westmalle but its Bruin (brown) and Blond (blonde) ales both have a noted hop aromas and bitterness not often associated with Trappist beers and I highly recommend you try them both.

Sierra Nevada Celebration Ale is another annual beer release that may not attract the fanaticism of Dark Lord but is still something a lot of beer fans dutifully pencil into their diaries. This very American tasting ale is dry hopped using fresh whole US hop cones to deliver an intensely  ‘green’ and invigoratingly bitter beer. Another must try!

Lastly we have Three Philosophers from Ommegang Brewery in New York, a US Belgium beer speciality brewery that likes to put a new world spin on old world beer styles .

The recipe for this limited 9.8% edition beer is based on a home brewer’s winning description of his dream beer in an international online beer competition. It is a rare blend of the brewery’s strong, malty quadruple and some cherry-infused lambic from Lindemans in Belgium.

Think of one of those luxury bars of dark Swiss chocolate with a soft cherry liquor centre and you’ll be getting close. This is a perfect beer to serve to die-hard wine lovers who look down their noses at beer’s supposed lack of complexity and in its corked 75cl bottle is another keeper. While running the risk of repeating myself it’s another must-buy!

I’ve always been a fan of the Sierra Nevada brewery, not just for its excellent range of beers but for its commitment to brewing with 100% whole-cone hops and the fact it’s pretty much the greenest brewery on the planet.

Did you know for instance that Ken Grossman, the founder of SN, owns the most solar panels of any private individual in the world?

Staying eco-friendly while growing out of a garage to become the 6^th largest brewery in the USA is no mean feat, but SN has somehow managed to do it without comprimising on the quality of its beers.

Torpedo Extra IPA is no exception. This is the brewery’s first ever IPA and is named after a device called a hop torpedo developed at the brewery for use when dry hopping. The ‘Extra’ is the brewery’s own stab at positioning the beer slightly above a standard IPA but below a DIPA (Double IPA)

Torpedo pours a clear amber colour with a firm cream head. Despite heaps of Magnum, Crystal and Citra hops the nose is pleasantly restrained with the expected grapefruit and pine aromas from the US hops mixed with fresh herbs and black pepper.

Rich smooth malts give the beer a pleasantly full mouth feel before the bitter hops detonate on the tongue for a dry lingering finish.

Sierra Nevada Torpedo Extra IPA

A US-style IPA from Sierra Nevada

7.2% ABV

Article Number 11528