Paris, please!

Any updated information on the Paris beer scene is very welcome. We will be staying close to Gare de Lyon, but everything in the central areas is of interest. Versailles, too… Not to mention the friendly litte bistro with cheap fixed price menus.

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Second thoughts

I have often criticised the Norwegian alcohol monopoly stores, but my concern is more about the system than the shops themselves. They seem to have good knowledge of everything they sell (except beer, that is), and there is friendly and service minded staff in most shops. They even have a color magazine for their customers, which gives fair [...]

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Festival time

The White Horse on Parson’s Green, London, has a Belgian beer festival starting today. 15 Belgian Cask ales. They promise: • Pure unfiltered lambic in cask from the Oud Beersel and Bockor breweries. • Alvinne Podge Stout, Gouyasse Tradition, Barbar Honey and ten other Belgian beers all in cask • Bellegem Oude Bruin, St.Bernardus Prior, Tripel [...]

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Down on the farm

I have, on occasion, written about the need to liberalize the Norwegian licencing laws, allowing small scale producers to sell a bottle or two of their own produce, be it fruit wine, cider or beer. So far the liberal party, Venstre, is the only one with the issue visibly on the agenda. There is a similar [...]

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Around Oslo in 18 beers – part 10

The other posts in this series have been about permanent shops and bars, today I want to draw attention to an event. Sure, it is linked to the Aku Aku Tiki Bar, but it’s also a sort of one day food and beer festival. One sign that craft beer is coming of age here in [...]

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An alternative to Munich

If you are living in one of the most remote communities on the planet, I don’t blame you for taking every opportunity to make life a bit merrier. Mind you, we are not talking Siberia here. Longyearbyen, Svalbard is a place people volunteer to go, where no one is supposed to be a permanent resident. I’m [...]

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Armchair travel

I can hardly complain. I have done my fair share of travelling over the last five years. I’ve visited most countries in the EU, and most often I’ve had the chance to get to try some of the best beers – in the best bars – of every city. But there is always a craving [...]

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Around Oslo in 18 beers – part 9 – the pinball wizards

The most established music venue in Oslo is Rockefeller, an old public bath which has been staging concerts and other events for a few decades. It comfortably fits in about a thousand, and, if the guy next to you can keep his mouth shut, the sound and light is superb. The question is always where [...]

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Sardinia – a restaurant and a mystery beer

My little black book of beer notes covering the summer months has disappeared, meaning that my last post about Sardinia is a bit shorter than planned. I went to the historical centre of Alghero on my own one evening, looking for pubs and beer bars. There are a few nice places in the small streets [...]

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Beer blogging goes mainstream (in Sweden)

The prize for most beer bloggers per capita must go to Sweden. 15  28 Swedish beer blogs is pretty impressive. There is still room for a Swede to beer blog in English, though!

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