In yet another exclusive BeerSweden is the first blog to get it’s hands on a review bottle of this insane beer that will be released at the Systembolaget later this month. Check back a little later today to see my full review on what promises to be a very interesting drinking experience indeed.

Can it really be 127 IBUs? Is that possible? Is it legal? Find out right here on BeerSweden in the next few hours………….

UPDATE – an impromptu ‘live’ tasting of this beer is currently taking place over at the BeerSweden fanpage at Facebook. See the minute-by-minute tasting here!

I just got this email from Ocean’s head brewer Thomas Bingebo with news on what’s coming out of his brewery over the next few weeks and thought I would share it with you all:

Says Thomas: ”One brew of Ocean Vienna Lager, 5,4% ABV, is coming out next week to pubs and restaurants on keg. Vienna malt and 12% Caramalt. Amber colour, the Vienna malt from Thomas Fawcett is quite pale. Slightly sweeter than 12 Plato Lager. Bittering hops are Pilgrim (25%), Perle (25%) and Galena (50%). The Galena makes the sweetness come through nicely (just tried some from the cooled fermenter). 30 minute hop is Saphir and 0 minute hop is Tettnanger. I think ít´s going to be a very drinkable lager. BU: 25 + the 30 minute hop so about 30 I would reckon.”

They say a picture says a thousand words. I’d like to think a picture can also tell the story of a beer.

Earlier this week in a moment of creativity (which don’t come along that often) I took a couple of pictures of the beers I was going to be reviewing. It seems a lot of you BS readers liked them, which started me off thinking “why not combine our mutual love of beer with photography to create an entirely new way of wasting our spare time – beertography!

To kick things off BeerSweden is launching what I confidently suggest is the world’s first beertography competition.

The rules are pretty simple. Just whip out your lens and take a photograph of the beer you are currently drinking. It can be a bottle or a pint/glass shot but try and get the beer brand name in the frame as I’ll be sending the winning picture to the brewery in question.

It doesn’t matter if you have the latest DSLR camera and a studio in your basement or take the picture in a pub using your mobile camera. It’s not the quality of the picture that necessarily counts – it’s the story it tells us about your special moment with beer.

As an example here’s a picture I took this morning. I had to lay down on the ice surrounded by bemused youngsters hurtling at great speeds on sharp blades of steel just inches from my ears to get it. It struck me then that this wasn’t normal behaviour for a grown man on a Sunday morning. Isn’t it great what you’ll do in the name of beer?

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So here’s how it works. Send your best original beertography picture to me at darren@beersweden.se as a JPEG around 250 KB in size by Sunday, March 21st. I’ll promise to post every single picture here on BeerSweden (assuming they’re legal) and will decide and announce a winner and one runner-up on Monday, March 22^nd.

And the prizes? Well I’m going to have to get back to you on that one. I’m currently arm wrestling with a couple of the major beer importers here in Sweden for some pretty special items, but one thing is certain – they will be the best prizes ever given away on this website

(Ed note: That shouldn’t be too difficult. The last prize we gave away was a T-shirt).

So happy snapping everyone. Good luck!

BASHAH – which stands for Black As S@#t Hoppy As Hell – is the deviant offspring of two of the world’s most experimental mad brewing scientists; Stone Brewing in the US and BrewDog from Scotland.

Stone has put together a fantastic two-part video that records their journey across the Atlantic in which they meet the BrewDog boys, flirt with romance, eat haggis rolls and oh yes, brew some BASHAH.

BeerSweden contacted Fuller’s to ask for their side of the story and the brewery’s Export Controller Michael Campbell-Lamerton issued the following statement:

”Fuller’s first launched ESB in 1971 and the beer has become a classic both in the UK and in our export markets. Fuller’s has owned this trademark in both the UK and Europe for many years and naturally, the company will seek to protect it.

”We are grateful to Sigtuna Brygghus for their co-operation in this matter and wish them luck with the beer, whatever alternative name they choose to use.”

Check back later today for details of an exciting new BeerSweden competition which involves beer, cameras and beery prizes. More soon!