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.

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?

Draughted wheat

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.