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.

A surprise from Waldemars

After trying some of this season's Norwegian Christmas beers, I wanted to find out if there were more seasonal beers from Bergen. Hansa's various Christmas beers were not among my favourites this year, but perhaps Hansa's microbrewery Waldemars had something interesting on offer?

I went to Jacobs to see if a Christmas beer from Waldemars was available. I was happy to see it was, so I ordered a glass of this seasonal special. The price was 92 NOK for 0.4 litres of beer. In the glass Waldemars Juleøl had a nearly black colour, a medium sized head and nearly no carbonation. I felt malts and cherries in the nose. The beer tasted of cherries and some yeast before a delicious finish with a touch of cold coffee. I would not call this a typical Norwegian Christmas beer, but it was an very good beer. I do not know the alcohol strength of Waldemars Juleøl, but I believe it to be stronger than 5% due to the price.

Waldemars Juleøl was a really good experience, and it is one of the better Norwegian Christmas beers I have tasted this season. It is probably only available as a draught beer just like the microbrewery's very good wheat beer. If that is the case, it is a shame. This is is a beer I would really like to enjoy at home as well.

Overshadowed?

Biskopen is situated in the beer district of Bergen. On the other side of the street you can find Naboen, and within a minute's walk you can find either Baran or Henrik.

The bottle selection is very nice at Biskopen, and there are also more draught beers than in most pubs in Bergen. Hansa takes care of the pale lagers together with Heineken, while Murphy's delivers both stout and red ale. It is also interesting to note that Biskopen also sells the local Waldemar beers. On tap you can find both the wheat beer and the brown ale at the moment.

I was not looking for something special, so I settled down with a pint of Murphy's stout. As always, it is a good stout. The beer has been reviewed here earlier, so I did not make any tasting notes. Instead I enjoyed the beer and the pub.

Biskopen is an excellent taproom, but the draught beer selection could have been more interesting. When it is crowded at Naboen, I sometimes think that the two pubs should have swapped beer taps. Biskopen often has a better atmosphere, while Naboen has the better draught beer selection. To have a tap dedicated to an IPA from for instance Ægir or Nøgne Ø could be a wise move from Biskopen's management, or perhaps a rotating tap could be a good idea?

A taste of Waldemar's

Waldemar's is Hansa brewery's microbrewery label. The microbrewery is based in Hansa's old brewery buildings near the city centre of Bergen. There is also a restaurant at the premises that specializes in pairing food and beer, but it has never been open when I have been in the area.

Some of Waldemar's beers can be found in selected pubs in Bergen and other Norwegian cities. I am fond of the wheat beer, that unfortunately is not sold in bottles nor cans. But here and there you can find it as a draught beer.

For Waldemar's Brown Ale it is a different story. This beer is widely available in Norwegian supermarkets. It is a copper coloured beer with some carbonation and a medium sized head. I feel aromas of caramel and a touch of yeast. In the mouth there is some toffee and hoppy bitterness before a watery finish. This is a beer that can be described as inoffensive. It is nice, but not among the better beers of its style.

Jacob and Waldemar

Jacobs Bar & Kjøkken calls itself Bergen's only gastro pub. This combined restaurant and bar is situated in the Kong Oscars Gate street, and is known to have an excellent kitchen. The bar looks nice, and it is placed in a room with good space and nice, high bar stools.

There are many bottled beers available at Jacobs, but as always I was looking for draught beer. Jacobs Bar & Kjøkken offers three beers on tap: Hansa pale lager, Waldemar brown ale and Waldemar wheat beer.

Waldemar is Hansa's micro brewery based in the old brewery at Kalfaret near Bergen's city gate. Hansa also produces some Waldemar beers to be sold in cans in Norwegian supermarkets. These beers are brewed in Hansa's new brewery at Kokstad south of the city centre.

I started with trying Waldemar brown ale. I have tried the canned version earlier and I was not impressed. The draught beer version was better, but it looked more like a Czech golden lager than a brown ale in the glass. There was some carbonation and a medium sized head. The nose was sweet with caramel, while the taste was fruity with some lemon and toffee before a bitter and watery finish with a touch of grapes. I liked it. It is an average brown ale, and it was much better than what I feared.

Then it was time for the wheat beer, Waldemar hveteøl. This was another cloudy weizen with banana aromas. In the mouth the bananas took the lead with some bread and a hint of mint. This was a lovely wheat beer, and it is one I would love to try head to head with a Paulaner or Weihenstephaner weissbier. It is much better than Erdinger's efforts and worth while checking out.

I will be back at Jacobs Bar & Kjøkken. The Waldemar beers are not that easy to find on tap, and this wheat beer is a gem. I hope Hansa will market it in bottles soon. In the meantime it can be found at Jacobs at 74 NOK for 0.4 litres of beer. That is nearly 8 GBP.