A little beer roundup

There has not been that much updates on this blog lately, and I have many tasting notes laying around. Here is a collection of three of these tasting notes, and this post one consists of my thoughts on various draught beers.

Beer Here Ammestout is of course from the Danish brewery Beer Here. It is supposed to be a traditional milk stout, and it had a lot of coffee in the nose. The beer tasted of cold coffee with a touch of milky cappuccino. It was really an enjoyable beer as served at Henrik in Bergen, Norway.

Also in Bergen I tried out Waldemar Dark Ale at Biskopen. This beer was nearly black and had barely any head, nor carbonation. In the nose I felt sweetness and some raspberry. I felt fruit cocktail and some raspberry in the mouth, but the finish was a bit watery. I liked this beer, which is one of the better ones from Hansa's little craft brewery.

My tasting notes do not tell where I tried Ægir Alt. This Norwegian brewery has many interesting beers in their line-up, but this one felt a bit boring. In the glass this was a copper coloured beer with nearly no carbonation. It had aromas of sourness and leather. In the mouth I felt peaches and caramel before a finish with toffee and cardboard. This was not to my liking, and Ægir has more interesting beer than this.

In-flight beers

When I am a airplane passenger, I usually prefer some wine with the in-flight meals as the beer selection normally consists of one kind of pale lager.

Lufthansa offers complimentary drinks, and beerwise the offer is from the German Warsteiner brewery. Warsteiner Premium Verum is a pale lager with 4.6% alcohol. In the glass it has some carbonation and a medium sized head. The beer has aromas of malts and sweetness, and it tastes of malts and a touch of hops before a partly bitter finish. This is an average pale lager that functions as a nice thirst quencher.

At Scandinavian Airlines (SAS) you need to pay for your drinks unless you are seated in Business Class. The beer on offer is Carlsberg pale lager with an alcohol content of 5%. In the nose I felt some malts, and tastewise there was nothing much to report about. I felt some apples and some yeast in the finish. This Carlsberg beer was another average lager, but the Warsteiner beer was to be preferred by me.

I have read reports saying that foods and drinks have less taste when consumed onboard an airplane. Perhaps airline companies should use that information to offer beers with more taste. I guess a hoppy pale lager like Pilsner Urquell or '77 Lager from BrewDog would be better alternatives to these two pale lagers.

Goose time

Earlier this month, Gaasa opened its doors in Oslo. The location is fine. It is in Storgata street in the city centre close to Oslo Central Station.  Gaasa will both sell beers brewed especially for the pub and selected beers from smaller and larger breweries. The premises looked like an apartment, and on the opening night that gave the place a party feeling. What seemed to be a student crowd looked to have a great evening mostly enjoying their Carlsberg from bottles or playing snooker in a separate room.

The bar was the centre of attention in the main room. Except for draught beers, it looked as if Gaasa had a fine selection in wines. Myself I wanted to try the house beer, and that was Gaasa IPA brewed by Schouskjelleren Mikrobryggeri.

Gaasa IPA was a cloudy beer with a medium sized head and no carbonation. In the nose I felt grapefruit, and the beer tasted of a balanced combination of citrus and grass. The finish was partly bitter, and I felt this was a fine IPA.

Then I decided to try out a Danish beer. Beer Here Kama Citra was a dark beer with nearly no carbonation nor head. In the mouth I felt coffee and some orange. The beeer tasted like a cocktail of coffee, citrus and grapes before a partly bitter finish with apples. This was a good and different beer.

I am not sure if I will be a frequent guest at Gaasa when I am in Oslo, but for the novelty it would be interesting to see how this place will turn out after a few months. So far I prefer other pubs to it, but if I am near the railway station I might take the time for a beer or two.

A Carlsberg disappointment

The monitor told me that there had been a slight delay on my ongoing flight from Copenhagen airport. I decided to use the time to check out the beer selection at O'Learys. O'Learys is a chain of sport themes pubs that often can be found on airports and railway stations around Scandinavia.

From tap there were several choices from Carlsberg. I was not ready for a pale lager, so I would have to choose between Jacobsen Brown Ale and Carl's Special. I had never tried Carl's Special as a draught beer, so it was easy to order a taste of it.

The friendly bartender brought me a half litre of Carl's Special. In the nose there was malts and a touch of coffee. The beer had not that much taste. I felt some malts and burtness before a watery finish. This was a boring version of a beer that I felt was richer in taste when I tried it from bottle in 2010.

Copenhagen Airport is beerwise not that interesting. There used to be a bar selling Danish craft beers, but from what I hear it has been closed for some time. That is a pity, as there is more to Danish beers than what is produced by Carlsberg.

Another Easter beer

As I was walking around Copenhagen Airport, I found The Bar in terminal 3. The round shaped watering hole had two sets of beer taps, and the yellow chicken on one of the taps' plackards made me interested. As I took a closer look, I saw that the beer offered on that tap was Tuborg Påskebryg, an Easter beer.

Tuborg Påskebryg was a pale lager with a lot of carbonation and a medium sized head. In the nose I felt malts and sweetness with a touch of mints. The beer was fullbodied with some citrus and malts. The finish was malty with a touch of butterscotch. The beer was not that bad, actually, but I guess that the butterscotch tones might be a result of diacetyl infection.

It was time to find the gate where my flight was waiting. I left The Bar having ticked off a beer, but without having had the greatest beer experience.

Copenhagen stopover

There was time for at least one beer during my stopover at Copenhagen airport. As I went from one part of the airport to another, I saw that Eyecon bar in terminal 2 had Jacobsen draught beer. Jacobsen is Carlsberg's socalled craft beer label with several interesting beers. As I sat down on a bar stool I saw that Jacobsen Brown Ale was on offer from tap. As I had never tried that beer before, I ordered half a litre of it.

In the glass this was a nearly black beer with barely any carbonation nor head. In the nose I felt burnt malts and some caramel. The beer tasted of caramel, some sweetness and roasted nuts. The finish had hints of toffee and cold coffee. This was a very nice brown ale!

There was time for another beer, so I picked up my luggage and went on to see if there was another draught beer for me in the area. None of the Tuborg lagers available at Eyecon tempted me at that moment.

Back at the office

Kontoret's name is just clever. In English it means "the office", and they have a slogan that can be translated as the office being open for overtime work. As a beer bar, Kontoret is one of the better ones in Bergen. There are six beer taps, and some of them always offer beers from Ægir and other craft breweries.

Kontoret is part of a restaurant house that has a anniversary this Spring. To commemorate the anniversary, Kontoret offers a house beer at the moment. This is a kölsch brewed by Ægir.

Kontoret Jubileumsbrygg had a cloudy, pale colour. There was no carbonation and a small head. In the nose I felt some fruit, yeast and sourness. The taste was fruity with a touch of citrus before a finish with some grass and yeast. This was a nice beer, but I prefer beers in other styles than this.

At an earlier visit to Kontoret, I also tasted Mikkeler Cream Ale. This was a cloudy beer with no carbonation and barely a head. In the nose citrus took the lead, while the beer had lemon to the fore. The finish was watery and boring. I did not enjoy this beer.

Bergen now has three pubs serving house beers. That is a nice development. Although Henrik Imperial Amber is the best of the house beers, Kontoret Jubileumsbrygg is a fine beer. At Naboen you can drink Naboen Bayer and Naboen Bitter. The tasty bitter is brewed by Kinn, while the Bavarian styled beer is rumoured to be brewed by Aass. The waiters at Naboen do not want to disclose the brewery site, and that is stupid. Therefore I give my kudos to Kontoret and Henrik for being up front offering relevant consumer information.

A Belgian Dane

I found a bottle of Nørrebro Bryghus' Stuykman Wit at a local Vinmonopolet outlet and had to try it out.


In the glass it was cloudy with some carbonation. The nose was rather boring. I felt no aromas except for a touch of bananas. In the mouth bread and bananas had a dance with spices and Belgian yeast. The finish was fruity. I liked Stuykman Wit, but I prefer other wheat beers. For instance a Paulaner would have been great right then, and a bottle of Hoegaarden is usually a nice treat.

Two different beers

Sol is a beer I have encountered several times, but it must have been at least ten years since I tasted it last time around. Recently, Sol was given an excellent distribution in Norwegian supermarkets, and the Mexican pale lager is to be found more or less everywhere.

In the glass, this was a very pale beer. Sol had some carbonation and a large head. The beer had aromas of sweetness, malts and cardboard. There was not much flavour from this beer. I felt some cardboard and grass before a watery finish. This was a boring beer.

The Danish Skand brewery has several interesting beers in its line-up. I found Esrum Kloster at a Vinmonopolet outlet. This is a beer with 7.5% alcohol, and it is supposed to be from a classic monastery beer recipe. In the glass, Esrum Kloster had a dark copper colour. It was nearly black. The beer had some carbonation and a small head. In the nose I felt cold coffee and some sweetness. The beer tasted of caramel and lots of spices and herbs. The spices and herbs were difficult to pinpoint. Some were sweet, and some felt a bit bitter. I liked the beer in the beginning, as I felt it was different. In the end I got bored of it, and I guess this is not a beer I will buy very often.

A round of IPAs

Suddenly Vinmonopolet had several new India Pale Ales available, so I bought some of them and had an IPA session.

From Denmark, Herslev Bryghus IPA is probably the palest IPA I have tasted. It looked like a pale lager in the glass, and there was some carbonation and a medium sized head. I felt some grapefruit and apples in the nose, while the beer tasted of apples, citrus and some pine before a partly bitter finish. This was a nice beer, but I was a bit disappointed that I did not feel the grapefruit promised from the aromas when I tasted it.

Skands Elvegade IPA is also from Denmark. This is a cloudy beer with some carbonation and a small head. In the nose I felt apples and some sour citrus. In the mouth there was lemon and some bitter hops. The beer was quite alright, but it was not what I expected from an IPA.

Southern Tier IPA is an American beer. This cloudy beer had a small head and nearly no carbonation. In the nose there was some assertive grapefruit, and the grapefruit also dominated in the mouth. The finish was bitter with a touch of grass. This was a great India Pale Ale and my favourite of these three.

To finish the session I went for a wheat beer with a hoppy twist. Schneider Weisse TAP 5 was a cloudy beer with a nice, white and large head. There was some carbonation, and the aromas were very hoppy. I felt grapefruit and some banana. In the mouth this was a beer with an assertive fruit cocktail in the lead. Some bubble gum and sweetness danced along before a finish with a touch of sweet pear and a touch of hoppy bitterness. This was a very good beer, but I felt that a half litre bottle was too much. As a Weizendoppelbock with an alcohol content of 8.2%, this is a strong beer.

A taste of IPA or three

India Pale Ale is one of my favourite beer styles. I was therefore happy to find a new IPA acquaintance at a Vinmonopolet outlet. Scottish Joker IPA is brewed by the British Williams Brothers brewery, and of course it was given a test run.

In the glass Scottish Joker IPA is a cloudy beer. There is barely any carbonation, and it has a very small head. In the nose I feel grapefruit and some pines. In the mouth grapefruit takes the lead before a watery finish with some orange. I felt this was a boring IPA that left a lot to be desired.

Ægir Ratatosk Double IPA is named after the squirrel in the Norse god sagas. In the glass this is another cloudy beer with a coppery colour. It has some carbonation and a small head. I feel toffee, flowers, apricot and some grapefruit in the nose. The beer has a fine, full body. There are tastes of citrus, pineapple, caramel, tutti frutti bubble gium and some sugar. I also feel some alcohol touches before a partly bitter finish with some lovely hops. This is a fine beer, but I prefer Ægir's normal IPA. And after a few sips, Ratatosk also gets too sweet. Unfortunately.

Mikkeller Green Gold is a beer I have tasted as a draught beer earlier. From bottle this IPA is a cloudy beer with a medium sized head and barely any carbonation. I feel grapefruit in the nose, while the beer tastes of more grapefruit combined with some blood orange. The finish is bitter with a lot of hops. This is the best beer of these three, but it is somewhat more bitter than what I would prefer.

Start of a tap race?

Henrik in Bergen has for years been one of the better places to enjoy beers in that city. The bottle selection is very good, and there have been nine taps with draught beers for a very long time. Three of these taps have been exclusive for Nøgne Ø or beers imported by the Norwegian cult brewery.

A few weeks ago I posted on the Beer Sagas Facebook page that 15 new taps had been installed at Henrik. At that time the new taps were not in use, but that had changed at my visit last week. Nearly all of the 15 taps were now in use, and my first beer from one of them was a Danish red ale from Beer Here brewery.

Beer Here Fat Cat was a cloudy beer with nearly no carbonation and a small head. In the nose I felt grapefruit and grass, while the beer tasted some citrus I could not pinpoint with a touch of sweetness and wood. The finish was lovely with a nice taste of grapefruit that never became bitter. A delicious beer!

According to the beer menu, there might be 40 draught beers to choose from in the near future. I guess this from the special numbering on the menu. In that case Henrik will be the bar in Norway with the most beer taps. Cudos to Henrik, but will other bars follow up?

Three tastes of Christmas

There are many Christmas beers on the Norwegian market. One of them, Tuborg Juleøl, is brewed on licence by Ringnes. In Denmark the original Tuborg Juleøl is a traditional beer, and the release day every year is marked with big festivities.

The Norwegian version of Tuborg Juleøl looks nice in the glass with a coppery colour, some carbonation and a medium sized head. In the nose I feel caramel and figs. The taste is malty with some sweetness, caramel and a touch of dates before a watery finish. This was a nice Christmas beer for its alcohol strength. It has 4.6% alcohol and is available in supermarkets.

Also available in supermarkets is Ringnes Juleøl. This is a beer with 4.6% alcohol with a coppery colour as well. There is not much carbonation, but the beer builds a medium sized head. I feel caramel and malts in the nose. In the mouth I feel toffee, sweetness and some coffee. The finish is watery. This is an average beer, and I would prefer the Tuborg Juleøl.

From Vinmonopolet you can get Kinn Julefred. This is a Christmas beer with a darker colour than the other two. In the glass this is a beer with some carbonation and a medium sized head. I feel caramel and cold coffee in the nose. The beer is full of tastes. I feel both toffee, various spices like cloves and cinnamon and a touch of gingerbread. The finish is sweet with some dates. This is a very good Christmas beer, and it is among the better ones I have tried this season.

A Dane and a Christmas beer

Back in Norway it was time to try out some of the local watering holes. One afternoon I was walking the streets of Bergen, I ended up once again at Kontoret. As mentioned in an earlier post, Kontoret now offers six draught beer taps. I chose a Christmas beer from Nøgne Ø.

Nøgne Ø Julesnadder has 4.5% alcohol. In the glass this was a brownish beer with a small head and nearly no carbonation. I felt some caramel and yeast in the nose. The beer tasted of dates, variuos spices, yeast and some coffee in a watery finish. I liked this beer, and it is one of the better Norwegian Christmas beers with less than 4.7% alcohol.

From Kontoret I went to the nearby Henrik pub. As usual the beer selection is great for a Norwegian pub in both draught beers and bottled beers. This time around I found a new beer available on tap from the Danish brewery Beer Here.

Beer Here Executioner IPA was a somewhat cloudy beer with a nearly golden colour. The beer had nearly no head nor carbonation. In the nose I felt grapefruit and some grass. The beer was lovely. It tasted of grapefruit and blood orange before a bitter finish with some grains. I really liked this IPA, and I hope to find it when I visit Denmark next Autumn.

First Christmas beer and three more

Christmas Day is less than two months away. As usual shops and supermarkets have started selling Christmas goods, and here and there you will even find Christmas decorations. This week I also found the first Norwegian juleøl (Christmas beers), and next week the stronger juleøl beers are to be found at the state owned Vinmonopolet outlets.

This year's first Norwegian Christmas beer for me was from Grans. Grans uses the Lade Gaards Brygghus label to promote beers that are supposed to be craft brewed. The Lade Gaards Brygghus bottles are among the prettier ones in Norway, and I really like the retro look. I have not been quite satisfied with the beers from Lade Gaards Brygghus, so I was not expecting much from the Juleøl.

In the glass the Lade Gaards Brygghus Juleøl had a dark, coppery colour. There was some carbonation and a large head. In the nose I felt some toffee, while the beer had a taste of caramel and some malts before a watery finish. This Juleøl was a decent, average beer that I probably will try again before Christmas.

Chang lager is a new beer in Norwegian supermarkets this Autumn. This pale lager from Thailand is a fizzy beer. In the glass it built a medium sized head, and I felt a malty aroma. The beer had a sweet, malty taste and felt a bit watery. In all Chang is a boring lager that needs a hoppy bite to become somewhat interesting. The way this beer is right now, it has no appeal to me at all.

Ravnsborg Rød is an amber ale from the Denmark based brewery Nørrebro Bryghus. This is a copper coloured beer with some carbonation and a medium sized head. In the nose I felt chewing gum and banana and got a suspicious feeling that it was a wheat beer I was having. In the nose I felt a tutti frutti taste combined with bread and banana that gave me more wheat beer connotations. The finish was watery and not exciting at all. Ravnsborg Rød is just another average beer, and I would rather buy a Paulaner weizen than this to have a wheat beer kick.

The Goose Island brewery from the United States makes a fine India Pale Ale. Honker's Ale is another beer from the brewery, and the label calls it an English style bitter. This is a copper coloured beer with some carbonation and a medium sized head. In the nose there is some grapefruit. The beer is a disappointment compared to the aroma. There is not much taste in Honker's Ale. I feel some grapefruit before a partly bitter finish with a touch of grapes. The beer is another average beer, but I had much more expectations for this beer that what it could deliver.

In the Danish Alps

Not far from Copenhagen's City Hall Square (and across the street from Brewpub), you can find Heidi's Bier Bar. Heidi's Bier Bar is a cellar pub with a German bierstube theme. Inside the walls have Alpine motives, and the pub's focus is on beers and schnaps. The bar looks like a place for students, but it also has a good selection of beers both from tap and in bottles.

Heidi's Bier Bar offers 17 different draught beers. From tap can drink several Erdinger and Franziskaner wheat beers, Pilsner Urquell, Grolsch, Puur, Grøn Tuborg, Tuborg Classic and Carl Special to name a few.

I wanted to try the Belgian beer Puur, but unfortunately the keg was more or less empty. Instead I ordered a half litre of Hoegaarden from tap. This is a beer I have not tried for about two years. Earlier it was easy to get hold of in Norway, but lately I have not seen the beer in any Vinmonopolet outlets. I was therefore happy to find Hoegaarden at Heidi's Bier Bar. The friendly waitress was kind enough to fill the glass nearly to the top. The original beer glass was large and heavy, so she had a challenge serving me the beer. I was also offered some complimentary beer snacks with the beer, but I turned the offer down. This is what I call great service!

The Hoegaarden beer was cloudy as usual. The beer had very little carbonation and a small head. In the nose I felt orange peels. The beer had a fruity taste. I felt some yeast, spices and a touch of bread. It was very good and a fine drink in the warm, Danish Summer weather.

I left Heidi's Bier Bar in a very good mood. This was a nice place, and I liked visiting it in the afternoon. I do not know how the pub is at midnight, but I can imagine it is more of a party place than a cozy beer bar at that hour.

The Session: Sour beer

It has been a while since I have contributed to The Session. This month I am back, and this time the topic is "Sour beer" and it is hosted by Jon Abernathy at The Brew Site. Thanks for hosting, Jon!

The Session is the beer writing project where beer writers and bloggers from around the globe write on a single beer-related topic on the same day.

I have never tried a sour beer before, so this month's The Session was a great starting point. My local supermarkets do not sell sour beers, so I had to check out the nearest Vinmonopolet outlet.

There were not that many beers to be found there. I found some Belgian triples and several IPAs and porters together with the occational pale lagers that are too strong to be found in Norwegian supermarkets. But there were no sour beers in the beer section.

By chance I went to the shelf with the newest products from Vinmonopolet. Among wine bottles and liquor I found one beer bottle. And guess what! It was a sour beer. I had hoped to find a Belgian lambic or gueuze. Instead I found Mikkeler Spontanale. The Danish brewery calls it a geubic, by the way.

Mikkeler Spontanale was a fizzy, pale beer with a tiny head. In the nose I found some fruit and a touch of yeast. The taste was very different to what I expected. I felt lemon, some spices and a touch of vinegar. It was not a favourite, and I believe this beer to be an acquired taste.

I will try other sour beers in the future, but there are other beers that suits my palate better at the moment. For instance is a can of Pilsner Urquell waiting for me in the refridgerator right now.

Back at Copenhagen's Brewpub

July takes me back to Copenhagen. I have a few hours to spend before I move on, and I choose to use them on something beer related. Nørrebro Bryghus is closed, and some Danish friends tell me that Bryggeriet Apollo is not the best beer place in town. In retrospect I should have taken the trip to the Mikkeller bar or Kihoskh, but instead I ended up at Brewpub.

Brewpub is not a bad choice if you go to Copenhagen. The pub brews its own beers, and at my visit eight draught beers of various beer styles were available.

I had a visit to Brewpub last December, and I had a great time then. This time the cellar bar was closed, so I had to sit down in the backyard. That was great, as the weather was warm. I used some time to choose which beer to drink.

The warm weather chose in a way the beer for me. I needed an IPA!

Brewpub's Atlantic IPA was a cloudy, brown beer. In the glass it had some carbonation and a medium sized head. I felt some grapefruit and grass in the nose. The beer had a delicious taste with some grapefruit and apples before a partly bitter finish with oranges. Lovely!

I did not feel that it was a shame to have visited Brewpub after tasting the excellent Atlantic IPA. Brewpub is to be recommended for Copenhagen tourists.