Carlsberg's advertising slogan in Denmark is "this calls for a Carlsberg". What does? Being told you have to take poison? Finding out you have no mouth? Being hired by Meat Loaf as his personal trainer?
In response to the growing availability and quality of Danish craft beer, the fat slobs at Carlsberg decided they'd get in on the game, and so in 2005 was launched "Jacobsen", named after Carlsberg's founder, Jacobsen Jacobsensen. You can get these in Netto, but I passed on them until they were the only serious beer option on the menu of a Chinese restaurant.
The Pale Ale is a creditable attempt and, like the whole range, come in whopping 75cl bottles. It's not overly hopped and doesn't drown you in grapefruit; their "Saaz Blonde" though is better.
This is a serious brew; it's nice to have a heavily hopped beer which is not of the cirtus variety for a change. Suggestion to Carlsberg - stop making your revolting urine based drink for which you are best known, and make some more of this instead.
A Mikkeller beer which really 'stands out' is their "Sleep Over Coffee IPA". If you ever tried mixing tea with crème de menthe, or brandy with lemonade, or red wine with hot chocolate, then you'll have some idea of what this is like. The coffee and the hops in this don't remotely go together, and I imagine that's what the point is. It's Mikkeller.
"Ørsted Ølbar" is a fine pub near the centre of Copenhagen. They have a good selection of craft brews on tap, and hundreds of bottles including lots of Belgian classics. Several of the tap beers were from the local "Amager Bryghus".
"Showdown in Tourpes" is a fine Saison, but the star of the show was their incredible stout "Pride".
At 10% it has a lot of muscle, but it doesn't use it to beat up people who listen to Coldplay; instead it uses it to provide a whopping aroma that almost knocks you out, with a flavour so full of stout type stuff that you have to spend at least an hour or so on one glass.
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Showing posts with label Denmark. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Denmark. Show all posts
Friday, 21 June 2013
Sunday, 9 June 2013
Copenhagen Supermarket beers
"Netto" isn't really a shop you would go to to get your beers unless you had to. They arrived in Britain when I was a student, and boy did I make good use of them. They did 'Saxon Bitter' and 'Viking Lager' for what I seem to remember was around 20p a tin; nowadays that doesn't seem unusual but back then it was.
Of course the quality wasn't up to much; they were around 2-3% and, to be honest, if I was a Saxon or a Viking and found myself in Valhalla, and was given either of them to drink, I would probably cleave off the head of the serving wench and think that dying with a sword in your hand really wasn't worth the effort.
They sprang to mind when I checked out a Netto on its own turf in Copenhagen, and saw a 'Viking IPA'.
It's brewed by Danish brewery Braunstein, and I'm sure it is not remotely related to either of the beers I downed by the sackful back then.
It's a very fine IPA as it happens; the hops noticeable but not overwhelming, and pleasantly florally like Copenhagen itself. Netto also do a couple of decent brown ales by local brewers. At 20-25 Krowns, they clock in at about the £2.50 to £3 mark, which would have had me fainting back then but is about par for the course in Copenhagen.
They also stock beers from the celebrity brewers Norrebro Bryghaus. These come in a bottle which sort of looks like it's just trying to be different; at first I mistook them for vinegar.
They claim their red ale is rund and fyldig and who would argue with that? It's certainly decent but not up to the standard of most Mikkellers I've had.
Moving from one extreme to the other, we proceed to the pompously named 'Magasin Du Nord', one of Copenhagen's le-pomp-du-pomp department stores.
For anyone into their Scandinavian craft beers, the beer selection here will have you sweating out of 11 different orifices at once; a good selection of Mikkellers and other top Danish craft brewers, along with some Norwegian bods. Arrive with well stocked pockets though.
The Mikkeller 'Saison' was about the cheapest there at around £4 for a small bottle, but was sufficiently superb to make it worth it. The Skands Porter was regularly priced and a good example of the style. When I find a misplaced suitcase on a train stuffed with 1000K notes then I might try some of Mikkeller's 'barrel aged' stuff.
"Irma" is a sort of midrange place a bit like Rewe in Germany. It seems just about every supermarket in Denmark is well stocked with fine examples of Danish craft brews.
The Didrick Luxusbryg was thick, syrupy and treacly (if any of those are possible) and tasted like a Christmas pudding; I wish I'd bought 10 of them. The Herslev Økologisk Landøl on the other hand was a bit flat and lifeless; maybe I got a dodgy bottle.
Of course the quality wasn't up to much; they were around 2-3% and, to be honest, if I was a Saxon or a Viking and found myself in Valhalla, and was given either of them to drink, I would probably cleave off the head of the serving wench and think that dying with a sword in your hand really wasn't worth the effort.
They sprang to mind when I checked out a Netto on its own turf in Copenhagen, and saw a 'Viking IPA'.
It's brewed by Danish brewery Braunstein, and I'm sure it is not remotely related to either of the beers I downed by the sackful back then.
It's a very fine IPA as it happens; the hops noticeable but not overwhelming, and pleasantly florally like Copenhagen itself. Netto also do a couple of decent brown ales by local brewers. At 20-25 Krowns, they clock in at about the £2.50 to £3 mark, which would have had me fainting back then but is about par for the course in Copenhagen.
They also stock beers from the celebrity brewers Norrebro Bryghaus. These come in a bottle which sort of looks like it's just trying to be different; at first I mistook them for vinegar.
They claim their red ale is rund and fyldig and who would argue with that? It's certainly decent but not up to the standard of most Mikkellers I've had.
Moving from one extreme to the other, we proceed to the pompously named 'Magasin Du Nord', one of Copenhagen's le-pomp-du-pomp department stores.
For anyone into their Scandinavian craft beers, the beer selection here will have you sweating out of 11 different orifices at once; a good selection of Mikkellers and other top Danish craft brewers, along with some Norwegian bods. Arrive with well stocked pockets though.
The Mikkeller 'Saison' was about the cheapest there at around £4 for a small bottle, but was sufficiently superb to make it worth it. The Skands Porter was regularly priced and a good example of the style. When I find a misplaced suitcase on a train stuffed with 1000K notes then I might try some of Mikkeller's 'barrel aged' stuff.
"Irma" is a sort of midrange place a bit like Rewe in Germany. It seems just about every supermarket in Denmark is well stocked with fine examples of Danish craft brews.
The Didrick Luxusbryg was thick, syrupy and treacly (if any of those are possible) and tasted like a Christmas pudding; I wish I'd bought 10 of them. The Herslev Økologisk Landøl on the other hand was a bit flat and lifeless; maybe I got a dodgy bottle.
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