Everywhere it’s Christmas

… at the end of every year.
This was the title of one of the few Beatles songs that never had any official re-release. (Since you asked, it’s on their Christmas album, distributed to their fan club members only.)
Well, one country where they have started celebrating is Sweden, with an impressive list of Christmas beers at the [...]

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Great expectations

According to the newsletter from Oppigårds Bryggeri, next year is worth looking forwards to. Systembolaget will launch more beers from Swedish micros during spring and summer 2010 than they have ever done. They predict that 2010 will be the most interesting year for Swedish beers at Systembolaget ever. And that’s good news for those of us [...]

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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 and 12 on [...]

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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 discussion [...]

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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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Beer treasure hunt – every town should have one!

A beer blogger in Gothenburg, Sweden, has come up with a great idea.
He has hidden a beer somewhere in town. Every day or so he blogs about a new clue to where it can be found. Photos, text, whatever.
The first person to find the beer is free to enjoy it.
But there is a catch. If [...]

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Beer destinations

Amsterdam: A highlight of my visit to Amsterdam three years ago was ‘tArendsnest, a bar focusing on the best Dutch beers, served in a civilized setting with staff who are both service minded and has the required beer knowledge.
Well, the owner, Peter van der Arend, is not content with this. In September, he is opening de [...]

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19 small Swedes and 50 big beers

The Swedish small brewers joined forces last year, setting up Föreningen Sveriges Småbryggerier. They are having their first annual meeting this Saturday – and at the same time they are organizing a festival named Big Beers – Small Breweries – offering 50 beers from the 19 micros.
The events are taking place in Eskilstuna. More information [...]

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Border trade again

Norwegian newspaper Aftenposten tries a new angle – this time it is not Norwegians stocking up on beer, wine and stronger stuff in Sweden. It’s Swedes doing the same in Germany.
Expensive toll bridges, petrol and ferries means they have to buy quite a lot for this to be profitable. But they do. Legally.
The European Union [...]

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Social media at its best

Swedish beer blogger dempabeerwrote about a new batch of High Five! beer from Dugges some days ago, as he was did not feel that the quality was up to previous batches. A number of his readers added their comments, and then brewer Dugge himself entered the discussion, giving his point of view. (In short, the quality of [...]

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