More than a wee dram

The BrewDog guys have been messing up the beer scene again – this time not even on their own turf. They sent a few used whisky barrels across the North Sea to their colleagues in Grimstad, Norway. And it looks like they inspired them to be a bit bold and boasting on their label, too.
The beers used [...]

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Small world

Someone has used Google to translate my blog into Vietnamese. Wow.

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A wasted opportunity

Vifilfell is an Icelandic brewery, with a range of beers boasting of viking heritage and pure Icelandic water. They have made a gift box of five of their canned beers, sensibly available in the Keflavik Duty Free shop, presumably doing a brisk trade with jet lagged customers in transit from North America.
I found a similar box [...]

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Going blind II

Mystery glasses

Don’t worry, it was mostly to get your attention.
As I told you, I was invited to be a part of a beer tasting panel for the biggest Norwegian newspaper, VG.
The results, a ranking of all the Norwegian Christmas beers, will be published later this month, and I will not reveal any of the results.
I [...]

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A remarkable lineup

Well, not the participants, being the usual graying suspects, most of us. But the beers..
Some of us beer geeks were invited back to Haandbryggeriet in Drammen recently, as thye had a few new beers as well as some adjustements to old ones they wanted feedback on. We were probably a bit too polite the last [...]

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Zlý Časy once more

Shortly before five, a text message told me Max had arrived at my hotel. I handed over the beers from the Norwegian micros, and we set off for Zlý Časy. Half an hour and two tram rides later, we arrived.
The first time I visited, last year, this pub has some sort of festival going on, [...]

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Travel

Two more trips this year.
Prague.
And London.
 
I can live with that.

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Lillehammer memorablia

The Lillehammer brewery also functions as a museum with lots of items relating to the history of the town. They also have lots of stuff from the old brewery, closed down by Ringnes in 1983, even including a driver’s uniform. They have scrapbooks of vintage newspaper ads, too. I won’t try to translate the following, for [...]

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Autumn

Crisp air, solid boots – and the woods are full of treasures!
 

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Pub crawl – all expenses paid

VisitBritain is exploring new ways of attracting Norwegian tourists. There used to be a ferry connection between Norway and Newcastle, but this closed down a few years ago. They seem to miss the Norwegian visitors to NewcastleGateshead (do they actually write it like that?), and they hope that a better promotion of Northern pub culture [...]

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