Coney Island lagers
I will not go into details about every visit abroad in 2008, but I want to mention some new beer experiences. I have been to all of these cities before, except Riga, but not necessarily with an emphasis on beer. And yes, I’ve been to Italy, England, Ireland and other countries, too, even if they did not make the short list.
- I went with my family to Riga early in the year. It is not a sensational beer destination, but there are very decent lagers to be found, from light session beers with a hint of honey and a full grainy flavour to Baltic porters that have made a revival. Good beery food, too, especially the buffet restaurants.
- I have been to Berlin twice during the year, and I was pleasantly surprised. There is a fine range of brew pubs scattered around the city, but with logical, fast and clean public transport, you can cover quite a few, even if time is limited. One of the natives found the idea of blogging about beer fairly stupid when I explained it in rather rusty German. I particularly enjoyed Südstern, with delicious food and guest beers in addition to their own.
- My last visit to Prague was in the mid Eighties, a gloomy city under the iron heel of their Russian masters. To return on a lovely summer day to the Golden city that has returned to its rightful place among the free nations touched my heart. It is a cosmopolitan place, too, I particularly enjoyed a whirlwind tour of some beer bars with Max the beer philosopher. I can assure you I will not wait decades before returning!
- Copenhagen hosted a major European beer festival in the autumn. Lots of fine beer, remarkably well organized despite an unexpectedly huge turnout. I enjoyed the social side of it, too. Lots of the ratebeer people from Denmark, the UK, Sweden, Norway, the Irish Craft Brewers… A fine opportunity to chat with brewers and other professionals in the industry. All in all a splendid event. I was hoping for a repeat in 2009, but my informers tell me they will probably return to a smaller format festival in May. This is run by volunteers, and having a huge festival every year is stretching it too far.
- It’s been more than two decades since I was in New York, too, ad I enjoyed my return very much. It is a fantastic beer destination, where all types of restaurants having fine lists of draught beers and even modest delis have several dozen craft beers in their fridges. Some outstanding beer bars and specialist bottle shops, too. I’d jump on a plane right away if I had the opportunity . Favourite? The Ginger Man.
Piovasky Klub, Prague
It’s exciting to hear that Baltic porters are making a comeback. We went to Riga years ago, before we were very interested in beer, but we didn’t see anything other than decent if boring pale lagers then.
They are not a huge part of the market – there are possibly more Siberian lagers, but there are a few good ones.
Are Nøgne Ø beers readily available in Oslo? I was thinking of coming over but I get the impression from reading your blog that the advice is ‘don’t’. If I were to come over I could bring you some local beers, ofc.
Hi Paul.
The situation has improved, so if you include grocery stores, state monopoly shops (for stronger beers) and bars, you would find a lot of the beers from Nøgne ø and Haandbryggeriet. What’s really new is that some of them are on tap, I hade their Blond some days ago, and it is a great session beer.
The downside is that the beers here are very expensive. Nøgne ø beers would be a lot cheaper in Denmark, for excample.
Concusion?
If you’d like to visit Oslo for the scenery, for the Munch paintings or to go skiing, come along. If you want to come for the beer alone, I would be more hesitant.
But the local crowd here would be most happy to organize a beer tasting if you come to visit, and there are Norwegian micros worth looking into which are not exported. Get in touch if you want to look further inti the possibilities!
Looks like I’ll be going to Denmark again instead. We could always meet up for a few pints if you visit CPH often.