World class

We Norwegians are extremely pleased when we get a moment in the limelight. It’s usually when our fjords and islands are declared among the most beautiful on the planet, when we manage to broker a peace agreement between enemies in foreign lands (which fall apart the next week, but we pretend not to notice) or [...]

Read Full Post »

Just what you want on a rainy afternoon

Read Full Post »

A good place for a pub

I’m sure I’ve used that heading before… The new Westfield shopping centre in Sheperds Bush, West London, has everything you expect of glass and crome, designer bars, fashion shops and a few large supermarkets. I managed to find the M& S to buy some socks and shirts as well as picking up a few of [...]

Read Full Post »

Really Old Ale

A museum in the Åland islands has a new attraction. A bottle of Bass King’s Ale, sealed with wax and lead. Yes, this is what I want for my birthday! Thanks to Johan at Svenska Ölfrämjandet for pointing to this!

Read Full Post »

Big and tastless

An editorial in the New York Times today sums up the problems with the merges of food and drinks companies that are giants to start with. As huge corporations merge and get even huger, we find ourselves yearning for some old-fashioned competition, and maybe a little diversity. They point out that Heineken after the acquisition [...]

Read Full Post »

Belgian beer blockade

Good coverage of the situation in the international version of Der Spiegel, including photos. I hope this leads to many Belgians finding better alternatives to Stella and Jupiler. Even in Belgium most beer drinkers are creatures of habit, drinking their pale lagers even if they have a splendid selection of beer available in cafes and [...]

Read Full Post »

A beer cruise on the Rhine

Beer cruises in the Western hemisphere is nothing new, there are a number of options in various climate zones. Stephen Beaumont offers an alternative, a European beer cruise. It’s on the Rhine, from Amsterdam to Basel. The preliminary programme ranges from a visit to Amsterdam’s  Brouwerij ‘t Ij to tastings at Belgian, German, French, Luxembourg and Swiss [...]

Read Full Post »

Copenhagen Beer Festival 2010

Some updated information about opening hours and tickets, shamelessly stolen from beerticker.dk: Thursday 6 May  16 to 23 Friday 7 May 16 to 23 Saturday 8 May  16 to 23 I don’t know if there are trade sessions in addition to these general opening hours. Tickets will be available from 15 February, with discounts for members of the Danish Beer Enthusiasts. [...]

Read Full Post »

Flying the flag?

Looking into the options for a Easter family break in the Low Countries, I find that one possibility of a discount train ticket Brussels – Bruges is to travel for patriotic reasons. Yes, it’s in the English version of the  pull down menu of the booking site of the Belgian railways. I could understand this category on the [...]

Read Full Post »

AB InBev cuts 800 jobs in Western Europe

The wonderfully named AB InBev has announced a 10 per cent reduction in the 8,000-strong workforce in Belgium, Germany, the UK, the Netherlands and Luxembourg, according to BeverageDaily. Unsurprisingly, this has led to protests.  In Belgium, news of the job cuts prompted union representatives at the Jupiler brewery to hold 10 managers hostage. After 11 [...]

Read Full Post »