Paris: Return to La cave à bulles

Just time for a visit to la cave à bulles to fill my suitcase before going to the airport. I had e-mailed Simon beforehand, so he knew I was coming. I remembered his request from last year, so I had even brought along an Imperial Brown Ale from Nøgne Ø for him. It is very [...]

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Lunch in Paris – Hall’s Beer Tavern

I have stopped by Hall’s Beer tavern before, very centrally located in rue Saint Denis if you are in the Centre Pompiodou or Les Halles area. (Add accents at your pleasure). It is also very convenient for the most interesting Parisian beer shop, La cave a bulles, so I thought I would have lunch there. Alsatian fare [...]

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Is this what they call abbey beer around here?

A can of Davelghem Blonde from a Paris supermarket. Biere d’abbaye, they claim on the can. Nice dark blond, I’d call it amber, fluffy head. I’m trying hard to find some positive notes here, right? Dishwater aroma, boiled vegetables. Malty beer base, flat, no dryness, no sourness, no monkiness. Drain pour.

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Invasion of the fruit flies

So, I ordered a box of 16 beers from beermerchants.com. They arrived at some customs warehouse, I gave the post office my blessing to do the customs clearance, and a week later I got a slip in my mailbox that for the princely sum of  100 Euros or so, I was welcome to pick it [...]

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Paris: O’Neil brewpub

Paris. I was here last year in the beginning of October, and it has the same lovely weather. The problem is that this time I’m not here as a tourist, I am stuck in a subterranean meeting room for most of the day. Still a few evening hours left after the official proceedings, though, so [...]

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On the intellectual capacities of the UK chief executive of Molson Coors

I read, gaping, the piece in the Morning Advertiser. I was nursing a cold, trying to make the kids do their homework and I had family coming over, so I decided to write about this tomorrow, which is today. Martyn Cornell, the Zythophile, had the same gut reaction. And, being both awake and articulate, he wrote [...]

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Grünerløkka Brygghus – the other new kid on the block

New place at Grünerløkka, Oslo. Might have too high ambitions when it comes to food, too low ambitions when it comes to beer.

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Schouskjelleren, Oslo

So, I was invited to the launch of the place some weeks ago. Now it’s been open to the public for two weeks – time to check it out. It is still early afternoon on a Friday, perhaps a dozen customers, the beer list a mix of their own brews and guests. Their Amarillo beer [...]

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Göteborg VII – what I’m missing

It is fairly obvious that I went to Göteborg a few weeks too early. According to local bloggers Schnille och Schmak, there will be a Dugges week at Ôlrepubliken next week, with 13 Dugges beers on tap. At the same time there is a porter festival at Bishops Arms Järntorget, with the following beers available: [...]

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Göteborg VI – Flying Barrel

If you want just one more beer after 3 små rum has closed, there is always the pub across the street. They have some Icelandic beers which I’ve never seen outside Iceland, and I’m sure there is other stuff in the fridge, too. On the other hand, it is probably wiser to go straight to [...]

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