Thursday, January 8, 2009

Neighbours

There are many pubs in the centre of Bergen. One of them is Naboen. Naboen is a restaurant with a pub in the cellar. It is possible to order food from the restaurant menu in the pub, so this is a place to stop both your hunger and your thirst. The name means neighbour in English, and it has to do with the menu. There are many Swedish courses on it, and as Sweden is Norway's neighbouring country the name is good.

On tap you can find several beers. If you fancy Heineken brewed on licence in Norway, it is available here. Among others you can also find Hansa Pilsener, Murphy's stout, Newcastle Brown Ale and Naboen's own Bayer.The waitress did not know that much about the Bayer, but she could tell me it was not brewed at the premises. Instead a brewer makes it for Naboen from Naboen's own recipe.
Naboen's Bayer is a good beer of the Bavarian style. It is dark amber of colour and with very little carbonation. It tastes much like Hansa's Bayer, but feels somewhat sweeter. The watery aftertaste of Hansa is not to be found, but it feels somewhat thin. At 52 NOK it is not that expensive compared to other Norwegian beers, and it is one of Naboen's better offers.

5 comments:

  1. Certainly looks like a decent beer there, just out of interest how much is 52 NOK?

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  2. In Norway 52 NOK is an OK price for a beer at a bar. In other countries it is not. Right now 52 NOK can be converted to 7.45 USD, 5.40 EUR, 4.88 GBP or 142 CZK.

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  3. GBP 4.88 isn't a million miles off what a pint in London costs now. Typically a 'premium; lager will be at least GBP3.30 in Covent Garden.

    'Hansa Lager' used to be available in the UK, presumably brewed under licence. It was advertised with the slogan "You Have The Thirst, We Have The Hansa". It doesn't seem to be available here any more.

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  4. I would call GBP 4.88 moderately cheap here in Norway. There are more than enough of expensive bars over here. Last week I was at Oslo airport. There 0.6 litre of Carlsberg costed 88 NOK. This is a half litre price of 73.3 NOK, which is somewhat more expensive than usual over here. 73.3 NOK can be converted to 10.59 USD, 8.15 EUR or 7.76 GBP. (Or 227 CZK for our Czech based readers).

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  5. There is also a German Hansa brewery. It is based in Dortmund:

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dortmunder_Actien_Brauerei

    It could be that beer that has been marketed in the UK, as I have not heard of the Norwegian Hansa sold over there.

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