It may only be a few hours ago that it went ‘live’ but I’m already prepared to throw my hat into the ring and say that the new S:t Eriks website is the best branded Swedish beer site on the net.

Followers of this blog will of course know that I am a huge advocate of putting beer online. It’s the axis around which this blog spins because although no-one can confidently predict the future of craft beer what we do know for certain is that it will be somewhere online.

Which is why I have always been more than a little frustrated that the majority of the Swedish beer industry has yet to totally grasp the importance of providing good-looking, engaging and updated content to us, the growing legion of virtual beer drinkers.

And which is also why I almost jumped off my chair with excitement when I clicked into the new S:t Eriks website. Finally here’s a site with back stories, character, an elegant and sophisticated design and usable content in the form of in-depth product details (it even has handy tasting spider graphs). Throw in an in-built blog, a picture library and much more and this isn’t just a home-run for Jessica and the team – they’ve gone and knocked it out of the park!

Other beer brand owners and importers take note. This is the kind of way we want to see our beers look online. This is more like how we want to be informed, educated and (this is important) entertained about our favourite drink.

Congratulations to Jessica and everyone else behind putting this great-looking website together. Today you’ve just raised the beer bar a little bit higher.

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!)

Please note: Tasting beer in temperatures than can induce hypothermia is not recommended as it a) it hurts and b) you don’t get the very best out of the beer. Please bear this in mind when considering my ratings

It was only 9 days ago that we were bombarded with 12 Easter Beers and five rather special ‘middle of the month’ brews at the Systembolaget and the hits just keep on coming!

In just a few hours an additional 16 new beers will go on sale at the Swedish alcohol monopoly stores, among them some exciting brews from Europe, a couple of old campaigners from the UK as well as two Swedish brands that have practically been brought back from the dead (and maybe one or two that should have been left there).

Here’s a nuts and bolts linked-up list of the new beers being stacked on the shelves of the Systembolaget from 10am this morning:

Adnams The Bitter 500ml 19.90SEK Systembolaget Article Number 1686
Belhaven Wee Heavy  355ml 17.90SEK Systembolaget Article Number 1562
Bjørnebryg can 330ml 7.90SEK Systembolaget Article Number 1204
BrewDog Trashy Blond 330ml 15.90SEK Systembolaget Article Number 11581
Bryggmästarens Premium Guld  500ml 12.90SEK Systembolaget Article Number 1445
Carlsberg Hof PET bottle 500ml 15.10SEK Systembolaget Article Number 1365
Früli Strawberry Beer 250ml 14.90SEK Systembolaget Article Number 1586
Guldkällan 500ml 14.50SEK Systembolaget Article Number 1472
Jenlain Blonde 330ml (can) 12.90SEK Systembolaget Article Number 1387
Lager No 1 500ml 24.90SEK Systembolaget Article Number 1413
Mikkeller Jackie Brown 500ml 34.90SEK Systembolaget Article Number 1312
Mohawk Extra India Pale Ale 500ml 36.10SEK Systembolaget Article Number 1419
Pripps Blå  330ml 10.50SEK Systembolaget Article Number 11451
St Eriks Pilsner 330ml 15.90SEK Systembolaget Article Number 1453
Sailor PET bottle 330ml 12.90SEK Systembolaget Article Number 1431
TT Green Lager can 330ml 8.90SEK Systembolaget Article Number 1495

.

Followers of this blog will already know what I think about Mohawk Extra IPA so if you like your beers hoppy get out there and buy it!. Mikkeller’s Jackie Brown from Denmark is also a given, as is BrewDog’s Trashy Blonde which I previously wrote briefly about in the very early days of this blog.

Adnams the Bitter and Belhaven Wee Heavy are two beers from the British Isles that are well made examples of their respective styles. Maybe not mould-breaking but then not every beer needs to be does it?

I’m looking forward to trying Lager No 1 from Dugges Ale & Porterbryggeri and seeing whether this innovative Swedish micro can make a beer with a bottom-fermenting yeast that is as interesting as the edgy ales and porters it is well known for.

The sight of Früli Strawberry Beer brings back horrible flashbacks of last year’s Hoegaarden Rosé but the word is that this Belgium wheat beer uses only real strawberry juice and no artificial essence. Let’s give it a chance!

Finally it’s a story of two bottles – the elegant and eye-catching St Eriks Pilsner – a resuscitated Swedish brand given the kiss of life by acclaimed Swedish brewer Jessica Heidrich and the downright tacky looking Sailor in a PET bottle, a sort of ”Carlsberg of the Caribbean” in all its mock plastic porcelain glory.