Friday night beer sampling 2

So my first year at university is finally coming to an end. Exams and essays have taken all my time lately so the blog has been put on hold, but now it's time to kick start the blogging again for our upcoming road trip! On monday the adventure begins and hopefully you will be able to follow our adventure right here. For today I'm sampling a never tried before summer ale and an old favorite.

Brooklyn Summer Ale 4,5%


Earlier today while sorting last minute details for our trip I swung by Systembolaget(the only legal place to buy strong alcohol in Sweden)to pick up some wine for the weekend. I was pleasantly surprised to see a new product from the Brooklyn Brewery, the Brooklyn Summer Ale. Seeing that in the next week we will visit the brewery I thought it would be fitting to try it out. I really like some of their other products like the Brooklyn Lager and the Brooklyn East India Pale Ale so expectations were high. It has a nice pale amber color however the taste proves to be a big disappointment. It is really bland. I believe summer ales should have a nice hoppy bitterness to them but there's nothing here. I get a vague bready flavor that disappears before i can try to describe it, almost like someone took a good tasting beer and mixed it ot with water. I think the only nice thing I can say about this beer is that it comes in a neat bottle.

7 Giraffes Extraordinary Ale 5,1%


We sold this gem in the bar i work at awhile ago and we could hardly keep it in stock before it sold out. An exciting concoction of 7 types of malted barley, various hops, elderberry flowers and lemon zest brewed at Williams Bros Brewery in Scotland. I really like this beer even though i remembered it of packing more of a punch. Might be my taste buds aren't working as they should today and if so maybe I misjudged the earlier beer but even so the difference in taste between these two is astronomical. Rather low in alcohol it still carries the flavors and the elderberry flowers bring a wonderful subtle bitterness that stays for long in your mouth. Cant say that I can taste the lemon zest but there is a crispness in the taste that might derive from that. This is what you want in a summer ale. Refreshing and weak enough so you can drink a few without getting to round under your feet(my favorite swedish expression that translates really bad).

With that I leave you for now and hopefully some of you will follow our journey the next month. Our route can be found in an earlier entry in this blog.

“Adventure is a path. Real adventure – self-determined, self-motivated, often risky – forces you to have firsthand encounters with the world. The world the way it is, not the way you imagine it. Your body will collide with the earth and you will bear witness. In this way you will be compelled to grapple with the limitless kindness and bottomless cruelty of humankind – and perhaps realize that you yourself are capable of both. This will change you. Nothing will ever again be black-and-white.” – Mark Jenkins

Friday night beer sampling

OK i know this is supposed to be a blog about traveling but at the rate i'm posting entries at the time, I need to write about other stuff as well or this will be a short lived blog. I have a huge interest in beer! I work in a bar that usually have 50 - 80 different sorts of beer from all over the world and its my job to keep updated. It's a hard job but someones gotta do it. For tonights sample i've chosen 3 different beer. 2 swedes and a Scot.

Oppigårds Spring Ale, 4,9 %
Oppigårds is a swedish brewery from the swedish province Dalarna. They've won a lot of market lately and have some exciting products. This is the first time I try their spring ale and I have high hopes since we're bringing in some of their beer to my work place soon. I pour it up and right away I smell birch tree and a hint of fresh cut grass. I take a zip and close my eyes to try to pick up on the flavors and right away I have a Marcel Proust kind of moment. In a novel he describes how while having a piece of madeleine cake it brings him straight back to childhood memories. In the same way I get that essence of Swedish spring. For a country that experience winter for most of the year spring in Sweden is a wonderful thing. I start thinking of those childhood springs. The sun in your face and the world in bloom. I almost forget what I'm doing so one more zip and what first hits me is bitter hops. Not in excess but a well balanced flavor. It is rather weak in alcohol so it is a rather mild taste. I'm guessing American hops like cascade so I read the label to see what i can find out and it is as suspected an American hop, but not cascade as I first thought, it's Chinook. A hop described to have a distinct grapefruit flavor which after another zip becomes rather obvious as always when something is pointed out to you. All in all a great beer for a warm spring night rather mild in it's taste and I look forward to having it again.

Brew Dog Punk I.P.A, 6 %
This is not the first time i try this Scottish I.P.A. I.P.A's or India pale ales as they are called are really popular in Sweden at the time and American I.P.A's in particular. On the label they make a bold statement that this is not for the average consumer and they don't care if you like it or not and that you can go back to drinking your bland lagers. So with this rather threatening challenge I pour away. It has a nice bright amber color but as I lean in for the aroma I'm a bit disappointed. I smell barely nothing at all maybe a hint of citrus and apricots. The taste however is aggressive. Strong hoppy flavors with a good amount of alcohol to help them out. A rather long finish with hints of pine-needle. I can see that they have gone with the American concepts but in a typical British way it's still well balanced and not to out there. This is a good beer but it doesn't really live up to it's reputation. If aggressive I.P.A's are what you desire there are better alternatives on the market but having said that it is still worth trying out.

Spendrups Bright Brew, 5,0%
Spendrup is one of Sweden's biggest Breweries and up to about ten years ago Swedish lagers like the ones Spendrup market was pretty much what everyone drank. The bright brew is marketed as a GI beer as it is low in Carbons. Most beer lovers would probably look at this beer in discontent but i tell you this is a great beer! In the same way that Corona and Sol are the perfect vacation beers, this is a cheap alternative. It's light and fresh in aroma and taste with hints of citrus. This beer is not for a great taste experience but is a great refresher that works perfect with spicy food. Like it's mexican buddies this baby goes great with a slice of lime. For me and M this beer is synonymous with our trip planning nights and give us that feeling of being pool side Las Vegas with a Bud Lime in hand.