A winning combination

Once it was a one of Norway's better record store with a terrific vinyl selection. Now Apollon is also a pub. With several draught beers on tap, it is an interesting addition to the beer scene of Bergen.

Most beers available are pale lagers, but Apollon also offers other beers including selections from Haandbryggeriet. At my recent visit Norwegian Wood was available, and I chose to check out this copper coloured smoked beer.

Norwegian Wood had a medium sized head and no carbonation. In the nose I felt burnt bacon and malts. The beer tasted of smoke, wood and some smoked mackerel with a touch of sweetness. It was nice, but I felt that one glass was enough.

Apollon is a fine attraction. It is an great place for music lovers and a good place for beer lovers. If you like beer and music, Apollon should be close to heaven.

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.

Henrik's house beer

With 44 beer taps, Henrik in Bergen is the leading beer bar in Norway at the moment. In addition to all these draught beers, Henrik also offers bottled beers. But there is a new treat at Henrik. The pub now offers a house beer. Henrik Imperial Amber is brewed by Lervig in Stavanger, and it is only sold at Henrik.

In the glass Henrik Imperial Amber is a copper coloured beer with a medium sized head and barely any carbonation. In the nose I feel burnt malts and some caramel. The beer tastes of toffee, some fruits I can not specify and a touch of coffee. The finish is partly bitter with a touch of raisins. This is a very good and balanced beer, and it hides its 8% alcohol very nicely. If you are in Bergen, I advice you to visit Henrik just to try this house beer.

Another IPA

Drinking beer in Bergen is enjoyable these days. There are several good beer bars, and most of them can offer interesting draught beers. Henrik is now the leader of the crowd with 44 beer taps. Baran used to be the local tap race leader, but the current 18 taps are not that bad. Among them you can find beers from Norwegian craft breweries and exciting import beers.

I recently visited Baran and found that they had Crooked Tree IPA from the American Dark Horse brewery. As I am fond of IPAs and Crooked Tree was a new acquaintance, I chose that beer. In the nose I felt some grapefruit and pineapple. The beer tasted of fruit coctail with assertive pineapple and a touch of pine. The finish was partly bitter, and in all I felt this was just an average IPA. I would prefer Norwegian IPAs like Kinn Vestkyst, Ægir IPA or one of Nøgne Ø's IPAs compared to Dark Horse Crooked Tree.

Nevertheless, Baran is always worth a visit while in Bergen for a beer enthusiast. And there is more to come! It is rumoured that Baran will start brewing their own beers soon. That will be interesting, as the management show great knowledge in beers and beer styles.

Lervig's best

My favourite beer from Lervig brewery is Rye IPA. This is one of the best Norwegian beers at the moment, and lately I have been drinking it frequently both from bottle and from tap.

Recently, Henrik in Bergen expanded its selection of draught beers. There are now more than 40 taps at the bar, and this means that Henrik probably has the best offer of draught beers in Norway. It is difficult to choose what to drink at Henrik, but during the visit I had this week I chose the Rye IPA from Lervig.

In the glass the Rye IPA was cloudy with a brownish colour. It had some carbonation and a medium sized head. The beer had a hoppy nose with loads of grapefruit. In the mouth grapefruit ruled with some grass. The finish was bitter and fruity with an assertive touch of citrus. A lovely beer!

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?

Report from a near beer desert

I have visited some Norwegian airports during the last few weeks. I am not satisfied of the draught beer selection I have seen. The restaurants and bars are tied to the Ringnes brewery group in beverages. This means that Ringnes pale lager is found on tap more or less everywhere. In addition to Ringnes, you will often find Carlsberg pale lager, Kilkenny and Guinness and here and there a local pale lager from the Ringnes sortiment or a seasonal special.

There are also bottles available. Ringnes distributes Brooklyn brewery in Norway, and where available these are usually the most interesting offers. Otherwise there are bottled pale lagers like Ringnes, Carlsberg and Stella Artois on offer together with even more Guinness. Unfortunately no Norwegian craft beers are to be found on any of the airports I have been to, and that is really a shame. A tourist ought to find a Norwegian speciality also in an airport bar.

I recently had a 0.6 litre of Ringnes Pilsner at Bergen's airport Flesland. The pale lager had nearly no head and a lot of carbonation. In the nose there was sweetness and malts. I felt sweet malts and a touch of yeast in the mouth before a bitter finish with some wort and a touch of grains. This is a boring, average pale lager. The price was 94 NOK, which is nearly 11 GBP.

At Oslo's airport Gardermoen I tried Ringnes' Christmas beer. Ringnes Juleøl was a coppery beer with nearly no carbonation nor head. In the nose there was some caramel and cold coffee, and the beer tasted the same. I have tasted several better Christmas beers from Norway this year, and Ringnes Juleøl must be considered another boring beer.

I want to appeal to the bar and restaurant owners at Norwegian airports: If you have to sell beers from the Ringnes group, use your imagination and find some more interesting beers. A selection from Brooklyn brewery on tap would be a great beginning.

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.

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.

A Rye IPA

During my visit to the city centre of Bergen this week, I ended up at Kontoret. There has been some changes in the draught beer department. Now you can find two new taps there in addition to the ones dedicated to Hansa, Old Speckeled Hen and Ægir. One of the new taps is for Erdinger wheat beer. I would say that is a boring choice. There are better wheat beers around, and I would have liked the bar to have chosen for instance Paulaner or Weihenstephaner weizen instead. The other new one is a rotating tap, and the coming week it will be used for Nøgne Ø's Julesnadder. This is one of the Norwegian brewery's Christmas beers.

I chose to try out Ægir's Rye India Pale Ale on this visit. This was a copper coloured beer with nearly no carbonation and a medium sized head. I felt grapefruit and caramel in the nose. In the mouth there was toffee and some grapefruit before a grainy finish. I liked this beer, but the ordinary Ægir IPA is a better beer - especially as a draught beer brewed in Norway. The bottled Ægir IPA brewed on licence in Belgium is a fine beer, but the Norwegian draught version is a nicer drinking experience.

Kollaborator and more

During the lasts weeks I have been to Kontoret in Bergen twice. On my first visit I had Ægir Harvest Ale from tap. The beer was very cold, and due to this it felt not as tasty as from bottle.

Harvest Ale was a coppery beer with some carbonation and a medium sized head. There was fruit in the nose. In the mouth I felt fruit cocktail and malts before a finish with some toffee and grains. It is a fine beer, but I prefer it served at a higher temperature.

At my visit last week the Kollaborator beers were available. These are Doppelbock beers brewed from the same recipe by Ægir and Nøgne Ø respectively. I had a large glass of Ægir's version and a taster sample of Nøgne Ø's version. The two dark beers looked more or less the same, and I felt it was difficult to distinguish the two beers' noses. There was some chocolate in both.

I liked the Ægir version of Kollaborator the best. In the mouth there was chocolate and a lot of sweetness before a partly bitter finish with a touch of nuts. The Nøgne Ø version was not so assertive in taste. It was less sweet as well, but there was some plums in the finish I did not pick up in the Ægir beer.

Kollaborator is a fine example of cooperation brewing. I know there are more brewing projects like this coming up from several Norwegian breweries, and I hope they will be interesting.

Boat beer

During my stay in Bergen, I went back to Hanne på Høyden. The cozy restaurant can also be called a brewpub, as beers are being brewed on the premises. At the moment there are four beers available at Hanne på Høyden: A wheat beer, a brown ale, an IPA and a stout. All beers are brewed in cooperation with Kristiania Haandbryggerlaug in Oslo.

I tried the wit during my last stay, so this time around I chose the IPA. The Hanne på Høyden beers are served in 0.33 litre bottles with labels printed out on an inkjet printer. That is a charming touch, but I still prefer drinking draught beer on pub and restaurant visits.

The IPA is called Lehmkuhls last and has its name from Bergen's sailship, Statsraad Lehmkuhl. In the glass the Lehmkuhls last IPA had a copper colour. It was cloudy with some carbonation and a large head. In the nose I felt citrus scents dominated by grapefruit and some spices. The beer tasted bitter, but far from the fruity touch I felt in the nose. Actually, I found the taste rather boring. The finish had grapefruit and apricot. In all, Lehmkuhls last is an average IPA. There are better IPAs out there from Norwegian breweries, and the price tag of 119 NOK for 0.33 litre of beer is much too high. But still I am looking forward to trying more beers from Hanne på Høyden.

A citizen's pub

Skostredet street in Bergen has had a renaissance during the last few years. Shops and cafes have popped up, and now and then there are markets days offering buyers everything from jumble sale goods to modern art.

Folk og røvere is among the newer establishments in the street. This is a pub owned by a group of 46 friends who have tried to make a pub concept that the owners believe that the city of Bergen needs.

I liked the atmosphere at Folk og røvere. The music played was quality rock from the seventies and eighties, and the cute waitress was both charming and nice talking to. But what about the draught beer in the pub? Folk og røvere only sells Hansa pale lager from tap. I have had my share of Hansa during my years as a beer drinker, and these days I usually buy other brands when I want a pale lager.

Hansa Pils was with the usual pale colour, a lot of carbonation and a small head. The nose was malty and sweet with a touch of flowers. In the mouth I felt more malts, some sweetness and a malty finish with a hoppy twist. It was better than I expected, but Hansa Pils is still among the average lager beers.

Folk og røvere also sells bottled beers from various breweries, but it would be great if some of them also were offered on tap. Nowadays a good pub should be able to have more than one draught beer. That also goes for Folk og røvere.

Another taste of Cantillion

Lately I have often found a sour beer on tap at Henrik in Bergen. Earlier this month the pub offered Cantillion Gueuze. This Belgian sour beer is a blend of several lambics. In the glass there was a small head, but the beer had some carbonation. The beer was cloudy, and I felt some sour cherries in the nose. In the mouth there was cherries and not yet ripe gooseberries. I liked it, and I felt it was refreshing even though it had a sour taste.

After having tried some sour beers this year, I feel these beer styles are both different and exciting. I also like Henrik's rotating tap system, where there is always at least one surprising draught beer available from Nøgne Ø or imported by the Norwegian craft brewery. Henrik is one of Bergen's best beer bars, and beer interested visitors to Bergen should make a visit a must.

Liquid fruit

Now and then I go to Baran in Bergen. This is the pub with the most beer taps in the West Norwegian city, and there are always some interesting draught beers available.

On my last visit I tried Fyr & Flamme from Haandbryggeriet. The name is an idiomatic expression meaning fire, so I was expecting a rauchbier. What I was served was something different. Fyr & Flamme was actually an IPA.

In the glass this was a cloudy beer with some carbonation. I felt grapefruit and mango in the nose. The beer was very fruity. I felt peaches and mango before a partly bitter finish. The beer was enjoyable, but one half litre was enough.

Baran is a great place for beers in Bergen, and it is more than worth a visit.

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?

Elephant's secret

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!