Finding wheat beer in Norway is easy if you go for bottles. There are few brands available, but both Paulaner and Erdinger wheat beers are sold at most Vinmonopolet outlets. Finding wheat beers as draught beers is another case, but recently I found two places in Bergen selling Erdinger weissbier from tap.
Across the road from
Henrik in the Vaskerelven street of Bergen, you can find Elefanten. Elefanten is a trendy, little cafebar with many students frequently enjoying their drinks there. From tap there is the local macro's Hansa pils at 52 NOK for 0.4 litres of beer, which is slightly more than 5 GBP or around 6 EUR. There is also Erdinger weissbier at 71 NOK for a half litre.
I was served a cloudy, golden beer with a large head. There seemed to be more aroma in the nose from this draugted beer than from the
Erdinger bottled wheat beers that I have tried earlier. The nose had both yeast and some sweetness. In the mouth there was little taste, but the yeast was still present with hints of banana. I enjoyed this draught beer more than the bottled beers from Erdinger, but wheat beers from the German breweries Paulaner and Franziskaner are better and more tasty offers than this beer. The same goes for the Czech weizen from Primator.
In one of the side streets from Vaskerelven,
my favourite Norwegian bar of 2009,
Naboen, is located. Across the street from Naboen you can find Biskopen. I have only been to Biskopen once. On my way to Naboen I stepped in to see what Biskopen was like. There were few people in the bar, so I took a look to find out what beers that were for sale. Bingo! This was another place for draughted wheat beers, and just like Elefanten, they sold Erdinger weissbier at Biskopen.
The Erdinger looked a little bit more cloudy in the glass, but otherwise it was the same beer. It was also served with more beer in the glass and less foam.
I prefer Naboen and Henrik as beer drinking places to both Biskopen and Naboen, but I like being able to drink draughted wheat beers in Bergen. Erdinger is not my favourite, but an OK wheat beer is better than no wheat beer when I want to taste the beer style.
I was not recommending the pub Elefanten in Bergen after my first visit in 2009. This week I was back, and I had a much more positive experience. That also means beerwise. On the other side of the street you can find Henrik, and very near excellent beer destinations like Naboen and Baran can be found. Why should Elefanten be an alternative?
The answer is draught beer from Kinn brewery in Florø. These days Elefanten has two Kinn taps in addition to draught beers like Hansa Pils, Hansa Bayer and Erdinger weizen. There are also some interesting bottled beers available. This means that a beer interested person should also take a look at Elefanten during a pub crawl in Bergen. If for instance the Kinn beers at Naboen are not to your liking, it is worth to check out the available draught beers at Elefanten.
On my visit I had a 0.33 litre glass of Vestkyst, which is Kinn's IPA. The price was 82 NOK, which is about 9 GBP. Vestkyst was a cloudy, nearly golden beer with nearly no head no carbonation. I felt apples and yeast in the nose. In the mouth there was grapefruit and pepper before a hoppy and bitter finish. I liked it a lot, but I felt it was way too bitter compared to a bottled version I enjoyed at home a few days earlier.
I wish Elefanten good luck with the venture into craft beers from draught. Suddenly the elephant pub has become a dark horse!
