Have you ever heard of a supermarket trolley dash prize? You’re given a few minutes and an empty trolley which you can fill with whatever you can grab from the shelves before your time is up.

Sometimes beer festivals can feel like that.

With so many beers, so many happenings and so little time it’s sometimes difficult to know where to begin.

I’m not a huge fan of lists (I am, after all, the World’s Worst Ticker) but I do have a personal checklist of things I want to try at this year’s show and thought I would share it with you:

Eskilstuna Ölkultur, Pang Pang Brewery, Södra Maltfabriken and World’s Smallest Brewery (world’s coolest brewery name?) are among those making their first appearances at the festival this year so go along and give them all a big hug (and try their beers).

Oppigårds’ stand is always a must-visit, not just because of the Klassisk IPA they’re serving up (Ed note: this is not the only ‘old-world’ IPA coming to the show this year. Do I detect the start of a new beery trend?) but because they’ll actually be brewing beer on their stand on the first Thursday of the show. Cool initiative!

Last year's powerhouse Ace of Spades was a big hit. And this year....?

Who can forget Sigtuna’s Ace of Spades when it was released to huge critical acclaim last year? Well this year’s version promises to be different but equally outrageous and you’ll be able to try it first at Sigtuna’s stand.

Pilsner Urquell are rolling out their 2,700 litre barrel once again offering you a rare chance to try the original golden beer in all its unpasteurised and unfiltered glory.

Cask Sweden are letting the dogs out this year with a huge selection of BrewDog beers, including the läskigt and läskande Ghost Deer, which at 28% is the world’s strongest (non freeze distilled) beer. Oh. I should also mention for those of you brave enough to try it that it is poured from the mouth of a deer. BrewDog James will be at the festival during all days of the second week of the show and will be giving Master Classes every day (together with yours truly).

If you wear one of these badges at this year's show you are 615.2% more likely to find romance. Allegedly.

Brill’s stand is one of the first you encounter when you enter the hall and one of the hardest to leave, with the beery pulling power of a black hole (rather appropriate really).  It’s also the place to go and pick up your free and exclusive BSF badge if you’re a BeerSweden Forum member. That way you can not only walk around the festival knowing you’re cooler than a polar bear’s toenails but fellow BSF-ers will be able to pick you out among the crowd. Who knows, it may be the start of an amazing beer friendship!

The Oliver Twist/Brewers Association stand is another place I guarantee you will happily lose a few hours. THE place to try your way through some of the very best US beers out there today in friendly sample measures, including, I note, some of the increasingly hard-to-get Dogfish Head beers. Go there. Nuff said.

One of my highlights of last year’s show was the Danish section and this year the invasion continues with Elixir Wines once again bringing over no fewer than 7 Danish breweries (and this one from Norway), including Amager, Raasted and Djævlebryg.

Carnegie Porter is an underestimated Swedish beer classic in my book (I’ve been lucky to taste delicious vintages as far back as 1988) but if you ever needed an excuse to discover it again this is the year to do it with the special limited release of Carnegie Porter Jubileumsbryggd brewed together with Brooklyn Brewery to celebrate the beer’s 175^th anniversary. Grab a sample from Carlsberg’s stand at the show.

Lastly if a day at the beer festival isn’t quite enough there’s the ‘efterfest’ every night after the show at the Bishops Arms in Vasagatan. Here you’re pretty likely to bump into some of your favourite brewers and can grab a midnight snack with the kitchen staying open extra late and the bar serving some pretty amazing beers until 3am.

I realise I’ve missed out a lot of great stuff trying to keep this list ‘short’ (like these ones, or the Black IPA from this lot) but I hope you get a sense of how epic this show promises to be. So dive in, ask questions, explore beer styles you’ve never tried before and most of all have loads of fun. 

And if you see a guy in glasses wearing a BeerSweden T-shirt and a thirsty look on his face come up and say hi. It might just be me

Sigtuna Brygghus has become the latest member of Sveriges Bryggerier, a Swedish drinks industry organisation that counts 12 independent breweries as members who collectively produce more than 97% of the beer brewed annually in Sweden.

“For us it’s great to welcome yet another member”, said Sveriges Bryggerier’s CEO Cecilia Giertta.

“We represent the entire branch both big and small and with Sigtuna Brygghus now among our members we have even more depth and interest. And that’s what is so exciting with the Swedish brewing industry today, that there’s such a range in both tastes and size. Making beer is a craft, whether you are big or small”.

Sigtuna’s founder Peter Forss said: “We’re growing all the time and investing right now in our brewery in order to be able to brew 800,000 litres of beer a year.

“We are and will remain a ‘rock and roll’ craft brewery. It’s cool to be a part of Sveriges Bryggerier and I believe we can learn a lot from our colleagues.

“Perhaps we can also inspire them too”, he said.

*The above post is a translation of a press release issued by Sveriges Bryggerier today.

Right this second I know exactly how that crazy Microsoft founder felt.*

After three days at the first ever European Beer Bloggers Conference 2011 in London I feel so pumped I could run up to complete strangers and shout things like “THE FUTURE OF BEER MEDIA IS ONLINE!” and “BLOGGERS ROCK!” right into their startled faces.

But I won’t because quite frankly that would be a little silly (although both statements are true I don’t think people are really ready for that just yet).

So instead I’ll try and climb out of the bloggers bubble I’ve been inflating around myselft over the past few days, exercise restraint and say that I believe I have just witnessed the genre of beer blogging come of age in London and stake its claim as a credible and indispensable media source of the future.

Over 70 delegates attended this inaugural event with the vast majority from the UK blogging scene as well as representatives from Belgium, Italy, the Netherlands and of course me waving the flag for Sweden.

*It might not look cool when learning how to detect faults in beer but it was a fascinating experiment to sample beers spiked with off-flavours. Food and beer pairings were a major theme throughout the conference and some of the leading UK bloggers (and an international panel of bloggers with me in it) gave a series of talks on where we see the future of online media heading.

Over three days of fascinating sessions and passionate debate (fuelled by some amazing beers) we took a long hard look at ourselves as a community, talked about how far we’d already come and more importantly how far we’ve still got left to go in establishing beer blogs as a respected and trusted source of beer content.

What I learnt has left me in no doubt bloggers are the vanguard of modern beer media. As conference organiser Allan Wright put it: “You (bloggers) have an opportunity to become the leading source of information about beer on the planet. You just have to take it”.

The people I met at #bbc11 (just twitter search that for an entertaining timeline rundown of what happened in London) were possibly the most passionate, engaged, driven and inspiring bunch I’ve ever met. The vast majority spend hundreds, even thousands of hours each year blogging about beer without a thought for reward.

They do it simply because they love beer and because they want more people to feel the same way about it as they do.

*Some random images from the conference, which attracted some big beer names, a goblin and the opportunity to try some amazing beers from all over Europe. Oh and if anyone from Camden Town Brewery has seen the other half of my glasses I’d be grateful if you’d get in touch

But blogging aside the European Beer Bloggers Conference was a breakthrough for an entirely different reason as four Swedish breweries took their first tentative steps into the world of export.

Sigtuna Brygghus, Jessica Heidrich (with her S:t Eriks beers), Nynäshmans and Oppigårds all had their beers represented at the conference’s headline event ‘The Night of Many Beers’ and I think it’s fair to say we grabbed more than our fair share of attention.

It was amazing to see beers from 4 Swedish craft brewers being poured in London. Here's Mattias and Jessica getting ready to greet the bloggers.

To see Swedish beers being poured up in the UK capital was pretty special and to witness the smiles on the faces of hardened beer bloggers as they tried them (in-between furiously scribbling down notes) confirmed something I’ve been saying for some time now.

Swedish craft beer is world class. **

There’s a lot of people I’d like to thank for the last few days. Firstly the four Swedish breweries that took the time and the initiative to be a part of this amazing event. It was important to showcase just how far the Swedish beer scene has come and in my opinion we did all that and more.

I’d also like to thank the conference organisers Zephyr Adventures for staging an amazing event that far exceeded any expectations I had and Mark Dredge for helping pull everything together.

Then there’s the sponsors, headed by MolsonCoors, whose financial contributions made the event happen but more importantly made us bloggers feel valued. I’ve also got to pick out Pilsner Urquell for cleverly transforming a room in a London conference centre into a little bit of Pilsen and serving us their beer in all its unfiltered and unpasteurised greatness.

Finally I want to say thanks to all the amazing bloggers I met, who shared their passion for beer with me and made me realise that I am a part of something incredibly big and exciting.

The talk is the European Beer Bloggers Conference 2012 will be held in either the UK or the Czech Republic. Wherever it’s held BeerSweden will be there and I urge as many of the other Swedish beer bloggers who can make it to join me there.***

*minus the horrendous level of personal sweat of course.

** I know a big statement like this will inevitably get some of you rolling your eyes up to the heavens and itching to post a comment telling me to get a grip on reality but our beers were poured up together with some amazing beers from the US, France, the UK and Italy and they more than held their own. So say what you want but we were there and we owned it!

***I apologise if this post is a little too much blog and not enough beer but hope you’ll humour me just this once.

Next weekend it’s ”all London Baby!” as I pack my bags and head over to the UK capital for the first ever European Beer Bloggers Conference!

Now I can practically hear the sniggering in some quarters already. A conference for beer bloggers? Are you serious? Whatever next? A conference for hundreds of fans of a particular make of American BBQ that like to call themselves Eggheads? (actually there already is one of those).

The serious truth is that beer blogging as a genre has developed in recent years to such an extent it now feels grown up enough to stage its own conference. In fact the first North American Beer Bloggers Conference was held back in November last year in Boulder, Colarado , where over 100 delegates participated.

The first European sister event runs over a packed two days and has attracted some of the most influential beer bloggers, food and drink writers and drinks industry figures, mainly from the UK but also Italy, the Netherlands and yes me representing Sweden!

And the good news is I won’t be all by myself as I’ve managed to talk Sigtuna Brygghus’s Head Brewer Mattias Hammenlind and flying brewer Jessica Heidrich (the creator of the S:t Eriks series of beers) into joining me in London to spread the buzz about Swedish beers among conference-goers.

Not only that but both Oppigårds Bryggeri and Nynäshamns Ångbryggeri are also sending over cases of their beers which will contribute to a formidable Swedish table that we are jointly hosting at the main ‘Night of Many Beers’ event being held at the Camden Town Brewery.

I’ll also be joining an international panel of bloggers to share experiences with delegates about the pitfalls and pleasures of writing and running blogs and to explore the possibilities of cooperating on an international scale.

I’m unbelievably excited to be a part of this inaugural conference and have high hopes it will underline what I have been saying for years now about the increasingly import role of blogs in spreading the word about great beer to a growing community of ‘on-line drinkers’.

To borrow a line from an article I wrote for Maltsen a few months back: “The responsibility to improve the status of beer blogging, is, of course, largely that of the bloggers themselves. As a group we need to take ourselves seriously first before we can expect anybody else to”.

This conference is a giant step towards this goal. The fact that four of Sweden’s most ambitious craft breweries will be represented at the conference in London next week also tells its own story.

I’ll of course be blogging the whole trip (you can’t attend a bloggers conference and not blog it now, can you) so remember to check back to see how we get on!

(ps: It’s still not too late to join us if you fancy a few days drinking world class beer in one of the most exciting cities in the world!)

Within the last few minutes BeerSweden has received confirmation that Sigtuna Brygghus has left the Swedish Association of Small Breweries (Föreningen Sveriges Småbryggerier).

The move comes after members of the FSS voted by a majority of 12 to 6 to alter its membership criteria to state that no member brewery should be in whole or partly owned or in any other way financed by another party with a significant interest in the Swedish beer industry.

Sigtuna Brygghus received a 4.3 million SEK investment from Swedish drinks importer Galatea in November 2010 to finance the construction of a brand new brewery, making Galatea a minority owner with 35% of the shares in the brewery.

In an official statement that has been posted in the last few minutes on Sigtuna’s Facebook page Peter Forss, founder of Sigtuna Brygghus, states:

”Sigtuna Brygghus har begärt utträde ur Föreningen Sveriges Småbryggerier, Peter Forss kommer även lämna föreningens styrelse, sedan föreningen på helgens årsmöte med 12 röster mot 6 beslutade att på betydande sätt ändra stadgarna. Den paragraf som tvingar oss att lämna föreningen lyder. ”Medlem i Föreningen Sveriges Småbryggerier är ett oberoende bryggeri, med en årsproduktion understigande 5 miljoner liter öl, och som varken helt eller delvis ägs eller på annat sätt finansieras av annan fysisk eller juridisk person med betydande intressen i den svenska ölbranschen. Undantaget är om ägaren är ett annat medlemsbryggeri.
Vi anser att de nya stadgarna på betydande sätt är direkt motstridig mot föreningens grundsyfte att främja utvecklingen av svensk ölkultur.
Årsmötet beslutade att bara föreningens ordförande Berith Karlsson får stå för kommunikationen i denna fråga. Sigtuna Brygghus kommer inte kommentera denna fråga ytterligare.”

FFS’s chairperson Berith Karlsson has released the following statement:

“Föreningen Sveriges Småbryggerier bildades i november 2008 av tolv bryggerier med gemensam syn på ölkultur och samarbete mellan kollegor. Föreningens ändamål är att främja Sveriges småbryggerier och att utveckla svensk ölkultur.

”På årsmötet, som hölls på Gamla Slottskällans Bryggeri i Uppsala i lördags (16/4) röstades det i demokratisk ordning med stor majoritet för tillägg i stadgan, så att den överensstämmer med den andemening som låg till grund för föreningens bildande, nämligen att medlemsbryggerierna ska vara oberoende bryggerier och att föreningens namn ska vara Föreningen Sveriges Oberoende Småbryggerier.

”Ytterligare information kommer att förmedlas till intresserade när årsmötesprotokollet är utskrivet och justerat”.

More to follow…………

While at the recent Beer Expo in Linköping I managed to get a few words with Peter Forss, founder of Sigtuna Brygghus and ask him about the fast-moving developments at the brewery, including their ambitious expansion plans, how three brewers can share the same brewery and what’s in store for fans of Sigtuna’s beers over the coming months

I got a little ‘hop-headed’ in this episode and neglected to mention that Mr Mohawk Stefan Gustavsson brewed both these beers at Sigtuna Brygghus. If you really want to know the levels of Alpha Acid in each hop variety (the stuff that makes hops bitter) in Goldings it is typically around 4-6% while in US Amarillo hops it is up around 8-11%.

Sigtuna Brygghus, one of the Sweden’s most popular craft breweries, is to receive a 4.3 million SEK investment from Swedish drinks importer Galatea to finance the construction of a brand new brewery, BeerSweden can exclusively report.

The investment by Galatea, already considered the largest importer of beer into Sweden and the company behind brands such as TT and the St Erik’s series of beers, will see it become a minority owner in Sigtuna after buying 35% of the brewery’s shares.

Peter Forss, Sigtuna’s founder and Senior Partner, has just issued the following statement to BeerSweden:

“Sigtuna Brygghus has enjoyed a lot of success over the last year and a half. We sell everything we brew and our customers want to have more and more of our beer.

“Two years ago we brewed 30,000 litres of beer, 90,000 litres last year, 210,000 litres this year and we already have inquiries to produce 500,000 litres next year.

“Out ambition from the very start has been to be one of the larger craft breweries in Sweden. We want to be in the same class as Oppigårds and Nils Oscar. In order to do that requires investment, a sales operation and logistics solutions that work and that are cost effective.

“We have had talks with several possible partners and have come to an agreement with Galatea Spirits AB. Galatea will become a minority owner in Sigtuna Brygghus. For us this means a number of advantages. In part in means we can finance the construction of a whole new brewery and new fermentation vessel capacity. Together with the additional investments we have already done during 2010 we are now committing around 5 million SEK. The new brewery will be ready in March of 2011.

“Galatea will sell our products and offer us sound logistical solutions via their logistics company.

“The company (read Sigtuna) will be headed by the current Managing Director Kenneth Sköld and the Head Brewer will be Mattias Hammenlind.

“Galatea will be an active force on the board, with two out of 5 members.

“We will continue to work with others, for example Wicked Wine and they will also be able to sell our products.

“Our ambition is to be a craft brewer that has innovation and quality at its core. It’s that ambition and attitude that attracted Galatea to us”.

BeerSweden has contacted Galatea for a comment and will post their response on the blog shortly.

Stay tuned for updates!