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23:39 Thursday, 10th May 2012 by Stefan Siverud
Brewer: Gotlands Bryggeri (Visby, Gotland, Sweden)
Alcohol: 6,0 % ABV
Price: 15:90 SEK (48:18 SEK per litre)
Packaging: 33 cl bottle
Malts: Unknown barley malt
Hops: Saazer and Amarillo
Recommended temperature: 12-16 degrees Celsius
Colour: Semi-transparent dark orange with a decent head.
Aroma: Large, worty with definite Amarillo notes. Rather sweetish without being sweet.
Taste: Rather sweet, almost syrupy, with a bready maltiness. Some notes of dark dried fruits (raisins and something else) and an underlying taste of perfectly balanced Saazer/Amarillo hops. Good, smooth mouthfeel.
Aftertaste: Sweet biscuits and some hops.
Afterword: This is an interesting experiment, and no matter what one might think of the communist kitsch marketing, the beer is certainly full of both aroma and taste. It is too sweet for me, but it might make a decent Christmas beer.
I must commend Gotlands Bryggeri for getting the Saazer/Amarillo balance just right, and I hope other beers with that particular hop blend will follow.
Short version: If it had been a bit less sweet, it would have been great.
12:36 Wednesday, 9th May 2012 by Stefan Siverud
Brewer: Pivovary Staropramen A.S. (Leuven, Flemish Brabant, Belgium)
Alcohol: 5,0 % ABV
Price: 13:90 SEK per bottle (42:12 SEK per litre)
Packaging: 33 cl bottle
Malts: Unknown
Hops: Unknown
Recommended temperature: 8-12 degrees Celsius
Appearance: Clear, light yellow. Decent head that dies down to a foam with a mucky texture.
Aroma: Rather vague, made up of bitter cabbage but slightly grainy. Skunkish.
Taste: Better than the smell. Rather vague with a watery mouthfeel. Grainy light malt notes, somewhat on the grassy side, some bitterness. Watery finish.
Aftertaste: Rather vague, slightly buttery and a bit sweet.
Afterword: Not something you’d buy for the taste, but perhaps a good thirst quencher in the summer. There’s little chance I will buy another one.
Short version: Meh.
23:31 Monday, 7th May 2012 by Stefan Siverud
This is the last Fight Club-themed snail– I considered the obvious “I want you to hit me as hard as you can!” but decided that would just be cruel.
It was a rather average-sized snail, so I took a photo with my chewed-up thumb nail for size comparison.
  
20:06 Saturday, 5th May 2012 by Stefan Siverud
Brewer: Pivovary Staropramen A.S. (Prague, Czech Republic)
Alcohol: 5,0 % ABV
Price: 16:90 SEK per bottle (33:80 SEK per litre)
Packaging: 50 cl can
Malts: Czech pilsner malt
Hops: Saazer
Known additives: Maltose syrup
Recommended temperature: 10-14 degrees Celsius
Appearance: Orange yellow, dense head.
Aroma: Fresh, slightly malty with grassy hops.
Taste: Slightly thin initially. Malty, rather bitter and slightly buttery. Some slightly sweet notes and definite fresh hops. Well balanced with hops and none of the bad taste which is common in other mass produced beer. Prickly carbonation, good mouthfeel.
Aftertaste: Good and long with sweet maltiness, butterscotch and a slight bitterness.
Afterword: This is what a decent Czech pilsner should be like. It’s not outstanding, but it’s very good and goes with most food and friends.
If anyone from Staropramen reads this (as if, lol), please simplify your site. It’s horribly corporate, and while flashy animations and videos amuse the bosses and marketing department, it’s useless for the audience. The customer wants facts and easy access, neither of which you currently supply.
Short version: A good Czech pilsner at a decent price.
23:06 Friday, 4th May 2012 by Stefan Siverud
Brewer: Gamla Slottskällans Bryggeri (Uppsala, Uppland, Sweden), recipe by Stefan Gustavsson/AB Mohawk Brewing Company (Mölndal, Västra Götaland, Sweden)
Alcohol: 5,3 % ABV
Price: 26:90 SEK per bottle (53:80 SEK per litre)
Packaging: 50 cl bottle
Malts: Crystal and 20 % rye malt
Hops: “American hops”
Recommended temperature: 8-12 degrees Celsius
Appearance: Copper-brown, semi-viscous with some lacings.
Aroma: Great, fruity like oranges and slightly bready. Slightly sweet (light syrup) with notes of apricots and some hops.
Taste: Fruity, slightly sweet, rye bread. Oranges. Somewhat coarse and malty without being very grainy. Some honey, herbs and hints of apricot. Hops are definitely American (Amarillo?). Well-balanced. Good, slightly buttery mouthfeel.
Aftertaste: Good and long, with strong notes of coarse rye bread.
Afterword: This is most definitely a good lager, and well worth trying. If I would have to find a downside, it would be the price. Still, knowing how much of it is taxes, I guess the brewery can’t be blamed for it, but it does make this beer an occasional treat rather a staple, which is sad.
Short version: Good beer, but slightly expensive.
20:17 Wednesday, 2nd May 2012 by Stefan Siverud
The original idea behind this was making a Kiss (the band) shot featuring four snails painted after the facepaint of the band members. Since I wasn’t sure how to adapt the Gene Simmons’ style to a snail shell and the design of the other two are, to be fair, quite ugly, I was left with the Stanley black-star-on-white.
Getting the white paint I use to cover the snail properly takes three coats, so seeing as I had already strayed quite far from the Kiss idea, I went with the opposite – a white star on a black background. The result was not satisfactory, and the golden edge was added. Good enough.
Incidentally, Stjärna is a popular cow’s name in Sweden.
  
19:52 Sunday, 29th April 2012 by Stefan Siverud
Brewer: Paulaner Brauerei (Munich, Bavaria, Germany)
Alcohol: 6,0 % ABV
Price: 19:90 SEK per bottle (39:80 SEK per litre)
Packaging: 50 cl bottle
Malts: Unknown
Hops: Unknown
Recommended temperature: 10-14 degrees Celsius
Colour: Clear yellow. Somewhat viscous. Good, puffy head that dies down slowly.
Aroma: Bready with hoppy notes.
Taste: Balanced, fruity and full of sweet, bready malt with a touch of grassy hops. Perfect carbonation and mouthfeel, a smooth, lovely mouthfeel with some butteriness.
Aftertaste: Almost nothing. Hints of white flour and some sweetness.
Afterword: As for the beer, it’s absolutely wonderful, and incredibly drinkable. The only bad thing about it is that it’s seasonal, but on the other hand I guess it’s perfect for the season and it wouldn’t be the same if it was sold all year around.
Short version: Great beer!
Additional story: I picked this fine brew up in Lübeck while on a staff travel. I figured I’d go into a store and pick up a few different kinds to try, but sadly that particular store didn’t carry any of the local brands and I had tried all the others they sold, so I bought about ten of this. At 0,90 Euro a bottle, it was a very fair price in my (Swedish) mind.
When I got home and had the first, I loved it. Naturally, I immediately wanted to buy more before they ran out and checked if they were carried by Systembolaget, the Swedish alcohol monopoly. They were, but the price was 20:90 SEK, or equal to 2,15 Euro – a 140 % increase, and all of it taxes.
I think this is a very telling example of what Swedish beer drinkers have to put up with. Anyone who hasn’t grown up in and embraced the (quite socialist) nanny state will agree that this is simply bizarre. In Sweden, we who see it as bizarre are the minority, and it’s not even considered an issue.
7:04 Saturday, 28th April 2012 by Stefan Siverud
Brewer: Spaten-Franziskaner-Bräu (Munich, Bavaria, Germany)
Alcohol: 5,9 % ABV
Price: 19:90 SEK per bottle (39:80 SEK per litre)
Packaging: 50 cl bottle
Malts: Unknown
Hops: Unknown
Recommended temperature: 10-14 degrees Celsius
Colour: Rather transparent yellow with a hint of green. Pours pretty thick. Head is decent, but nothing special and dies down fast.
Aroma: Rather malty with some bitter notes. Hints of burnt rubber.
Taste: Quite interesting initially, with a sweet, bready and somewhat earthen vibe and some hints of citrus fruit and grass, but quickly fading to leave room for a taste of white flour with hints of wet paper towels as the dominating flavour.
Aftertaste: Almost nothing. Hints of white flour and some sweetness.
Afterword: It’s very drinkable, and not exactly bad despite the flour and wet paper towel taste, but still leaves a lot to be desired. Good enough, but hardly the best Oktoberfest beer if you care about the taste.
Short version: Drinkable, but there are better options.
1:03 Thursday, 26th April 2012 by Stefan Siverud
Mine was a snail.
  
Also, this.
21:57 Tuesday, 24th April 2012 by Stefan Siverud
Brewer: Avery Brewing Company (Boulder, Colorado, USA)
Alcohol: 10,0 % ABV
Price: 79:90 SEK per bottle (122:92 SEK per litre)
Packaging: 65 cl bottle
Malts: Two-row barley, Cara 8, Cara 20, Caramel 15L, Caramel 40L, Belgian Special B
Hops: Styrian Goldings
Recommended temperature: 10-14 degrees Celsius
Colour: Deep copper-brown with very vague lacing.
Aroma: Sweet malts, brown sugar, toffee. Vague hint of alcohol (no surprise).
Taste: Exceedingly sweet with some maltiness. Far too much candisugar. Notes of dried fruit, slightly nutty overall. Some hints of straw. Rather watery, somewhat buttery mouthfeel.
Aftertaste: Tastebuds are very numb, but the sweetness is still there, as is some toffee and a small bit of maltiness.
Afterword: Yet another supposedly “Belgian” ale that is absolutely ruined by vast amounts of candisugar, just like the local Ängöl brewery’s Diabolisk. What makes Belgian beer so fantastic is the balance. While Belgian brewers certainly use candisugar, I have yet to taste a Belgian brew where it is the dominant flavour.
Short version: Far too sweet (unless you usually take your half-pint with five lumps of sugar).
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