You Can’t Always Get What You Want

Beer Radar

By John Krüger

(First published by Wine Business Magazine in 2011)

You can’t always get what you want

But if you try sometimes you might find

You get what you need (to drink)

 

Try as I will, I just can’t find a Pomegranate Saison in my local bottle shop. For that matter Berliner Weisse and Lambics are pretty rare as well. There’s a plethora of beers out there and my tongue is dying to meet them. The trouble is, they’re just too obscure to find in even a specialty bottle shop let alone a purveyor of mass marketed generic beers. One old bloke in a drive through bottlo thought I was taking the piss when I asked if he had any Little Creatures, so I probably would have got a punch in the nose if I’d mentioned Buttface Amber Ale.

A search on the internet revealed that Valley Brewing Co in California do make a Pomegranate Saison, but getting my hands on one would be quite a task. The next best option, or maybe the best, is to make one myself. Ah, the joys of home brewing. Not with a can opener and a kettle of boiling water but with malted barley, fresh raw wheat and two bottles of pomegranate molasses. A couple of packs of specialist liquid yeast from the USA complete this unique brew. French Saison yeast contributes peppery, dry spicy characters with a “farmhouse” kind of twang. The resulting beer is weird to say the least. It suggests fruit and sweetness at the start but takes a quick u-turn on the tongue and finishes dry and tart. Refreshing and interesting, it’s being raved about by some of my close friends who happen to have tasted the best of the best in the wine industry and like me, crave alternatives to wine and mainstream beers on occasion.

The good news is, I’m not alone. The home brewing fraternity understand my lust for alternative beers and they’re knocking up some stunning alternatives to the usual offerings. Just have a run through the following selection of highly ranked beers entered in the Specialty Beer class from the recent home brew awards in Adelaide;

Smoked Marzen, Hibiscus Witbier, oak aged IPA, oak-aged Anzac IPA, Russian imperial stout wood-aged beer, pumpkin, ginger & spiced beer, light Grenache grape ale, Christmas spiced ale, sour cherry Saison, Hibiscus Belgian ale, honey & lemon myrtle beer, fruit and spice old ale, cherry beer, stout with cocoa & vanilla, Schwarzbier/Lambic, traditional Bock with blueberries, Christmas spiced star anise coriander & vanilla beer, red & raisons smoked ale, vanilla & maple syrup beer and maple pale ale.

Word is the class was a joy to judge and I’m quite envious of those involved in judging this class. Luckily 110 litres of Pomegranate Saison should keep me happy for a while.

 

 

 

Judgement Day 2012

Beer Radar

By John Krüger

(First published in Wine Business Magazine in 2012)

Judgement Day

So after a heap of phone calls and emails, I’m on my way in for my first stint as an associate beer judge for commercial beers at the first Royal Adelaide Beer Show since the 1800’s and I’m quite excited. I also know that my father is about to go in for the second session of heart surgery sometime that day. I’ve got my phone on silent but the whole day I’m praying that it doesn’t start vibrating with an urgent call from the hospital. I’m also expecting some amazing beers about to be tasted over the next two days, and I’m going be smack bang in the middle of an impressive group of beer professionals. Yes, it was a sausage fest but I’ve been assured that this balance will change. Behind the PR companies and the marketing departments, the message banks and the receptionists were a room full of Australian beer Illuminati; A heap of professional brewing blokes that don’t answer their phones unless they know who’s calling. A steadily reinforced line of Lion Nathan brewers sit on one wing of tables sticking very close together, a few scruffy micro-brewers in patches and then a handful of Coopers brewers, the head judge being Simon Fahey from Coopers in the middle, looking like a greying clean shaven Jesus in the middle of the last supper. I’m sitting nervously right next to Simon, under his wing as an associate judge as the calibration session starts. I know the Lion Nathan guys will be dark horses because I don’t get access to these blokes at all as small time media, so meeting them as a judge will be interesting. I’m standing out like a goth teen at a B&S ball and apart from a handful of people in the room I know well, there’s a heap of people in the room wondering who the hell I am and why the hell I’m there. They seem very relieved when I pick up on some DMS in a lager during the calibration session and nod approvingly, making darting looks for other nods, then bigger nodding before putting noses back into the glasses in unison. These guys are amazing. The attention and detail in the light lager and lager classes are impressive to say the least, seeing how they’re such incredibly hard classes to judge. The Lion Nathan guys brew most of it on the local market and it’s a bloody hard style to do well so they know where every fault is. At the end of those classes I have a headache and mentally exhausted. I feel like I’ve been trying to communicate telepathically with what seems like a hundred XL5 tasting glasses, each containing a splash of almost identical, restrained beer in each. It’s like trying to smell where a fly is in the room.

As a head judge, Simon Fahey from Coopers is polite, keen on a quick laugh, but ready to get down to business with a good degree of control. He’s a funny guy whom I’ve seen speak before in other official Coopers events but he knows his stuff without being a tosser. There’s no conferring in proper judging, but he’d check on my scoring once or twice during the day and give me a reassuring nod sometimes, letting me know how close I was to his final score on the last beer of a bracket. It was a relief. Previously I had a picture in my mind of someone out the back methodically dropping each of my score sheets into a shredder along with my invite for next year.

Then comes the media session. As soon as the TV crew’s bright lights turned on some of the big brewers retreat like vampires avoiding the sunshine, so the presenter collars Simon Sellick from BrewBoys. Simon’s one of the funniest blokes I’ve ever met and I was expecting an excellent interview from one of the smaller brewers. It turns out that he’s made on the best ales of the year that was in the final taste off. Instead the TV station cuts; a grunt, a serious face and a vowel from Simon Sellick into the interview and the presenter makes a joke about getting pissed and catching a cab at the end. We we’re all hoping the media attention would help the cause and get the beer show off the ground. The last thing we’d want to do is look like a bunch of pissed idiots. I see it on the tiny square TV screen in dad’s little hospital room later that evening and it barely shows more than the side of my arm in a shot so I’m relieved. On the wide screen at home that night I was right smack bang in the background laughing like a doofus at Simon Sellick’s jokes with a glass of beer in my hand… looking like a pissed idiot.

 

 

2013 News

Beer Radar for November 2013 WBM

By John Krüger

A few new beers have popped up on the radar and they’ll certainly get a hammering over the warmer weather.

The first is a new beer from Pikes in Clare. They already have a very drinkable stout and a cracker of a floral hoppy pilsener. Now they’ve added a Sparkling Ale to their line up. It’s a nice middle of the road beer, which could be sipped on a cool night or enjoyed by the pint on a warm day. It has a nice malty dry biscuit flavour and a lingering bitterness. It’s a medium bodied, nicely balanced ale with a clean yeast profile which really adds to the drinkability. It’s already available at multiple venues including the Kings Hotel in Adelaide as well as Leftbank Melbourne and Vic on the Park in Sydney.

The second new beer is from Mismatch Brewing Co. Aptly named Ewan Brewerton is heading up a small proactive group of “gypsy brewers” who have released their first beer, Archie’s Red Ale. It reminds me of a Little Creatures creation, it’s very well balanced while still delivering the goods. It leans slightly on the sweeter side but chock full of citrus hop flavour, complex malt character and mouth feel. It’s quite a big beer on the flavour delivery while still weighing in at only 5% alcohol. I’ve really enjoyed pouring Archie’s Red into a tulip glass and enjoying it as an after dinner beer. Giving credit where credit is due; Ewan insists on transparency to the point of even naming where the beer was brewed and ingredients used in press releases. Archie’s Red Ale isn’t available outside of South Australia just yet, but inside SA they’ve done a great job getting it in all the cool bars like Udaberri and craft beer friendly bottle shops like The Highway hotel.

The third beer to pop up is a new ale from James Squire. The Constable is described as a Copper Ale. I’m not sure if there’s a pun intended there or not but the people at Lion seem pretty happy with it. Samples weren’t available by deadline but an insider has smuggled some info out to me via SMS with the descriptors: English, floral, citrus, earthy, and an AVB of only 3.4%. This could join Little Creatures Rogers and Birbeck’s The Captain as lower alcohol alternatives that still have a decent whack of flavour. Just in time for the office Christmas party where you really should keep your pants on this year.

In other news, a surprising move; Owen Johnston, well known head brewer for MooBrew has taken up a position with HPA (Hop Products Australia) as Sales and Marketing Manager. For such a high profile brewer to take up a non-brewing role was certainly unexpected but Owen seems excited about his new job. “My role is definitely part travelling sales goon, but more importantly I should be able to provide brewers with a conduit to the technical information they need to get the best the character from our hops. Whether that is analytical information or advice on application in the brewery, I will be able to help brewers.” He says. The hop industry seems to be the fastest changing facet of beer at the moment. Although different varieties of barley are slowly being developed, new varieties of hybrid hops are popping up like pimples on a greasy teenager. Owen adds, “In terms of new hop varieties coming from our extensive breeding program, I look forward to sticking my nose into ‘farm business’.  It is definitely an area that generates a lot of interest from brewers as they search for the next point of difference for their beers.” We’re looking forward to hearing more from HPA and hopefully having the chance to brew with some of the latest new-age hybrid hops ourselves. Owen’s hoping he’ll still get a chance to pull on the steel-caps and knock out a batch of beer with brewing friends at some stage in the future.

 

Sour Beer is Here!

Beer Radar for WBM Nov 2012

(First published in Wine Business Magazine in 2012)

By John Krüger

Sour beer is here!

Hey hop jerks and beer hipsters, your out-of-balance hop heavy day in the sun is over. Over hopped beers are so passé. Prepare to have your senses blown away by a new beer sensation and it’s a favourite of mine; sour beers!

I’ll preface with a note; I love acidity. I love fresh Watervale and Eden Valley Rieslings. I love the way it sizzles on the tongue and almost feels like a light carbonation even though there isn’t any. A commercial brewer I know says “I’ve tried heaps of sour beers, they’re called home brews!” but in this instance, I’m talking deliberately soured, refreshing beers. I’m still yet to brew my sour beer collection, which will involve quarantining an outside bathroom for the soul purpose of brewing funky beers. Inoculating them (deliberately) with a blend of yeast, lactic bacteria and Brettanomyces. One brewer said to me “Don’t bring of that shit anywhere near my brewery. I wouldn’t be comfortable with someone drinking one of those in the car park!” another said “Bloody hell, you’d want to wash your hands with petrol before you touch anything else.”

Even though I’ve been researching sour and turbid mashing techniques, I still tried a few experiments adding increasing amounts of food grade lactic acid into my own wheat beers just to get a feel for ideal acid levels. Not surprisingly, the textbooks are right; the broad range of flavours in a real sour beer are soft and complex, not just sharp and one-dimensional from just adding lactic acid.

My most memorable commercial sour beer moment was in a little pub, in the middle of the day. It was almost empty and quiet. I asked the bartender for a bottle of Cantillon Geuze. He leaned forward and looked around the room asking, “Is it just for you?” as if I needed help in drinking the 375ml bottle.

“Bloody hell, how strong is it?” I asked.

He smiled and in a very thick accent explained, “Ah it’s not strong in alcohol but in flavour. It’s…. different.”

The Geuze smelled faintly of a blend of white vinegar and sour milk. It was intense, amazing and enjoyable, but the barman was right, it was a bottle for two people. It was more intense with each sip and I struggled to finish the bottle. This was no entry level sour beer, this was hard work but worth every bizarre sip. It was a thing of beauty and complexity.

My Australian made sour beer epiphany was the Watermelon Warhead from Feral brewing. I wanted a Berliner Weisse but was disappointed that it had fruit in it until I tasted it. It’s my 2012 beer of the year. Sensational. Can’t wait for a revisit. Bring me a keg of that over summer & I’ll be a happy man. It’s low alcohol, full of flavour and amazingly refreshing.

Another Aussie offering is Tasmania’s Van Dieman Brewing 2012 Hedgerow Autumn Ale. The beer has been matured for 6 weeks on a blend of rose hips, hawthorn and sloe berries with some of the blend having been aged in old Pinot barrels. It’s only got a hint of sourness on the nose and isn’t offensive. There’s a smell of oak and the first taste is earthy, spicy and dry. That’s the beauty of sours, the residual sugar that the yeast has missed is consumed by the bacteria. They tend to be sharp, very dry and refreshing.

There’s plenty of other Aussie offerings out there being brewed all the time so expect to see more. These beers need more time for the bacteria to do its work and sometimes involves blending soured and non-soured beers to achieve the right acidity levels, so don’t expect every brewery to knock one out in a hurry. For the artisan brewers, there’s an opportunity to show off unique regional yeasts and bacteria with the scary world of spontaneous ferments. When they’re bad, they’re really bad, but when they’re great, they’re absolutely wonderful.

 

Aussie Winter Warmers

Beer Radar for WBM June 2013

(First published in Wine Business Magazine in 2013)

By John Krüger

Aussie Winter Warmers

A big Shiraz or a shot of whiskey certainly help make a chilly night better, but a cold beer still rocks on a cold night. The beers don’t have to be icy cold, just lightly chilled is fine. A mate of mine Tony Yale runs a Real Ale pub called the Prince Rupert in Newark, Nottinghamshire in the UK. They only serve real ale at a cellar temperature of 12C and they’ve won a CAMRA award for their diligence at serving the perfect pint. The wonderful flavours in beer are muted by serving a beer too cold. Knocking back icy cold beers will always have an important place in Australians hearts but it’s not a blanket rule for everything beery. This month I’ve dug out some great Aussie dark beers that are beautiful drinking at any time of the year but especially warm the heart in cold weather. Pour them into a big glass like a tulip or Nonic and let them warm up for a little while to really enjoy them.

Moo Brew – Dark What a great beer. It’s based on a American Brown Ale but it’s a beautiful dark ruby red with more roasty flavours. It’s so balanced and smooth that it’ll take a few sips to lock on to the generous hop flavour. It’s nice to see a clean finished beer without secondary fermentation yeast floating in the beer. Easy and very enjoyable drinking with a dark roast finish.

Stone and Wood – 2013 Stone Beer This years version is darker. Going from last year’s rich red ale to a black beer. The extra chocolate wheat malt in the grist has added dry cocoa and coffee layer of flavour and made this beer a definite addition to the winter list. It’s still got a good whack of hops which turns a black ale into something interesting. You can also buy this year’s Stone Beer in their popular 500ml ceramic swing-top bottle from their online store www.stoneandwood.com.au

Prancing Pony – Black Ale It’s turning into a very popular beer. De-husked roasted malt avoids some of the acrid character associated with really dark beers. This is smooth and sweet with loads of coffee, a hint of liquorice, dry chocolate and a sweet malty body. It’s not too alcoholic so it’s still nice easy drinking. I prefer a dryer finish but the Pony range tend to lean towards sweeter maltier style of beers, which might explain why their Black Ale is so popular.

Murray’s – Heart of Darkness Now it gets weird, this is a Belgian Imperial Stout. It’s hard to miss the cool 1950’s horror movie style label artwork. Spicy Belgian yeast esters explode out of the glass before you even try to smell it. It’s a thick Chinotto tasting stout weighing in at 9.6%abv. It has a load of weight in the mouth but still finishes surprisingly dry with a lingering spicy chocolate finish. Give one a try. It’s a meal in a glass.

Kooinda – Black IPA Black Rock n’ Roll IPA in a glass. It’s a well balanced, yet resinous hoppy India Pale Ale (well, not pale) hidden in a smooth black stout. The two styles meld beautifully. The hops are added late in the boil and dry hopped as well, so there’s no doubt it’ll make hop heads happy. The hop flavours range from earthy and spicy to pine resin and grassy. There’s a hint of dry chocolate and coffee coming from the roasted malts and an enjoyable medium body.

Southwark – Old Stout  Such an under-the-radar stout but everyone should try it. I think it’s the finest beer to come out of Lion’s Thebarton brewery. It’s rich, balanced, still traditional with a hint of smoke and sweet dark toffee. Drink it wearing a beanie and think of home. At a recent beer dinner, Technical Brewer Karli Small from Lion’s West End brewery portrayed the subtle smokey character as akin to Barossa Mettwurst, which nails the description perfectly.

Christmas 2013

Beer Radar for WBM Dec2013/Jan2014

(First published in Wine Business Magazine in 2014)

By John Krüger

This summer’s the perfect time to skip the usual beer you buy every time and branch out a little. Head into your favourite bottle shop and grab a few stubbies of each of the following beers and do some research. Find out what you like best before you lash out on a few cartons. This year I’ve put together a list of summer guzzlers. Chill these beers down icy cold or even better, keep a separate esky full of beers on ice. You’ll have more room in the fridge for ham and Pavlova, which makes everyone in the house happy. Whichever beers you ultimately choose, try to find fresh stock, chill them down well ahead of time, and rejoice in the finest hot weather beverage known to man (if you don’t count Clare Riesling).

Pikes – Pilsener

A floral light bodied Pilsener that has a wonderful restrained floral hoppy character. It has a really nice malt/bitterness balance and a light easy drinking body. The carbonation is spot on, so this kind of beer is perfect served icy cold and guzzled out of the bottle on a hot day. A great fresh Aussie made pilsner.

Croucher – Pilsner

The Kiwi’s do craft beer really well and although this one can be hard to find in mainstream bottle shops, it’s worth tracking down. This is a true Pilsner style beer with sharper more intense bitterness while still being refreshing and totally enjoyable. Nice big 500ml bottles to pour into a chilled glass. Once you find them, it’ll be hard to go past. A favourite Kiwi.

Cascade – Bright Ale

You know if it’s from Cascade, it’s going to be clean and crisp. Their revamped line of beers includes a Bright Ale which is mouth-wateringly refreshing, crisp and clean. The Bright Ale utilises one of my favourite finishing combinations of Galaxy and Cascade hops, which give it a great waft of fresh tropical fruit aromas. Kudos for the redesigned, yet still value-for-money 375ml bottle, so it still feels like a big stubbie of beer in your hand. Thankfully lacking a screw-cap. Classy.

Budĕjovický Budvar

A perfect lager from the Czech Republic. Classic Czech flavours of clean straw malt characters with spicy noble Saaz hops. When this is fresh, it’s the essence of what clean lagers are all about. It’s like pouring chilled crisp liquid gold down your neck. This is where it all started and it still stands as a classic example of the beer style. Green bottles aren’t a great defence against sunlight so try to buy a fresh sealed carton. Little green bottles of pure joy.

McLaren Vale Beer Co – Vale Lager

A “new world” lager, it’s got more guts than the typical Aussie lager. More floral and citrus hop characters and a hint of light Munich malt to give it some malt flavour and backbone. It’s a gutsy, full-bodied lager with the flavour cranked up, but still only 4.5%. Gutsy and crafty.

Stone and Wood – Pacific Ale

It’s light in body with only a subtle sweetness. As soon as you remove the cap it’s got passionfruit and citrus hop aromas leaping out of the bottle. There’s that beautiful Galaxy hop again. This beer is turning into an Aussie icon that some are starting to imitate. Such clean easy drinking with abundant hop joy, without feeling like you’re chewing through the contents of the grass catcher from the lawn mower. Summer drinking so good, I wish I could ride a surfboard properly. Drink it wearing board shorts.

Brooklyn Brewery – Summer Ale

Made with 100% British malts, they’ve toned the hops down and made a classic UK style summer ale ale, but it’s still 5% alcohol. It’s got a hint of caramel, a slight refreshing wheaty twang, and the classic UK generous real malt flavour. If you’re not after US hop explosions or crisp lagers, Brooklyn Brewery’s Summer Ale might be what you’re looking for.  An easy-going ale without any sediment.

North Coast Brewing Co – Blue Star Wheat Beer

This is a very non-offensive American Wheat beer. It’s soft and nice. It’s smooth sailing with a laid back slightly sweet wheat flavour and minimal bitterness. Try it with a slice of lemon, which is perfectly acceptable behaviour with wheat beers. It’s very refreshing and the lemon accentuates the hint of wheat tartness. The soft yet tasty option, without having to resort to watered down low-carb or low-alc alternatives. Knock a few of these down with lemon while you battle the BBQ.

 

Wet The Whistle

Beer Radar for WBM – May 2012

By John Krüger

New beers to wet the whistle

Over the last month we’ve been trying out some absolutely cracking beers from some well renowned small brewers around the world. We wouldn’t recommend them if we weren’t buying them regularly and loving every last drop.

Our first selection are fine examples of why the Kiwi’s are ringing our hop loving bells. We haven’t chosen the more offensive IPA’s and brutally hoppy beers, but hop freaks will still enjoy these pilsners with a difference.

 

Tuatara – Pilsner

It’s a pilsner with the volume turned up to NZ craft beer levels. It’s clean, bitingly hoppy yet not too crazy. Saaz hops would make the Czech’s proud of this one. Traditional roots and techniques keep this beer in the right place. So easy to drink but nowhere near the typical commercial bland pilsners.

 

Croucher – Pilsner

Just when you thought that fizzy lagers had died a bland flavourless death in a dark hole somewhere, Croucher come out with this beauty. Sharp like a whip crack, fresh and bright. Fresh hops add a load of flavour but the biscuity malts balance out the NZ Motueka and Riwaka hops perfectly. It well and truly passes the session test, and we’re happy to keep testing it.

 

Vale – IPA

A new release with a bright red label. It’s not a brutal beer but it ticks all of the IPA boxes. It’s rich and malty with some darker malt complexity. There’s still a well thought out selection of hops; Citra, Galaxy and Nelson Sauvin, providing a nice range of flavours without being too harsh and resiny. It’s big, but it’s not too hard to down a few. The Vale IPA has been available on tap for a little while now, but the bottled version is now out there and becoming quite a popular beer.

 

Little Creatures – The Quiet American

An unusual hybrid from the superstars of beer in Western Australia. We’ve never seen one before, which might explain the name. Simply put, it’s a hoppy Belgian strong ale, but this isn’t a simple beer. The Belgian yeast gives this beer estery, spicy characters. Belgian candied sugar additions top the alcohol up to 7.2%abv which gives a hint of hot alcohol. New season US Cascade and Chinook hops bound out of the glass with citrus peel and pine resin flavours and aromas. It’s challenging, it’s weird, and it’s certainly worth trying.

 

Lobethal – Double Hopped IPA

Alistair Turnbull, owner and brewer at Lobethal Bierhaus has tweaked his IPA to new levels. He’s doubled the hops to double the fun. This is a big hoppy beer that’s still very drinkable. Crystal malts give it quite a dark rich colour and flavour but there’s plenty of hops to balance out the malt sweetness. An extra addition of hops to the bright tank give an extra layer of resiny hop character with a bucketload of hop aroma wafting from the beer. This is the kind of beer that you can taste the next morning if you have more than one pint. It’s becoming a very popular beer with the beer nerds, which might explain why we keep seeing the little Lobethal ute delivering kegs all the time.

Red Relief #1

Beer Radar for TWTW 2011

By John Krüger

Aussie brewers are showing their support for the folk of Queensland by doing what they do best; brewing great beer. Stone & Wood in Byron Bay have brewed a “Red Relief” ale. Jamie Cook from Stone & Wood Brewing Co. says “As craft brewers, we’re not exactly a big corporate with a big balance, but we do know that Aussies treat beer like currency, and we can brew beer. We’ve decided to work together with other good craft beer people to offer craft beer drinkers the opportunity to donate to the cause by simply buying and enjoying a beer. “

This special brew will be first available at the GAB SpecTAPular on the 12th of Feb and local Byron Bay pubs, and other good craft beer venues around the country the following weekend.

Proceeds from every keg sold across the bar will be donated to the Queensland Flood Appeal.

Mildura sign writer and graphic artist Carlie Rees decided to do something positive and knock up some simple stubbie holders to raise some money for the flood relief. Expecting to sell 20 or so, she asked her friends on Facebook if anyone was interested. She’s now inundated with over 200 orders and Adelaide venue, the Highway hotel is reported to have ordered 100 stubbie holders from her to sell across the bar. She’s unfortunately unable to produce many more without having to register as a charity.

Rogue Lobethal

Beer Radar for TWTW 2010

By John Krüger

The beer scene here in South Australia is starting to heat up a bit. Amazing beers like Rogue from USA are starting to show up in some of the hotels, like the Wheatsheaf in Thebarton and The Lion in North Adelaide. A few of the Beer Radar staff tried two Rogue beers on tap at the Wheatie the other night and they’re certainly not for the feint hearted. The Morimoto Imperial Pilsner is an intense beer that has an unusual miso soup flavour, while their Yellow Snow IPA is a brutal beer with 70 IBU’s of hop nastyness. A beer you can still taste the next day.

Kudos to the staff at the Lobethal Bierhaus. We stopped in for lunch a few weeks ago and Alistair gave us a sneak preview of their new dry hopped IPA, which is also a ball-tearer of a beer. We think it’s more drinkable than the Rogue beers and we’re hoping it’ll stay as one of their regular beers on tap. Our lunch, by the way was nothing less than spectacular. We opted for the specials of the day, chorizo and lemon stuffed poussin and a marinated fillet steak. Sensational!

 

 

Viking Beers

Beer Radar for TWTW Thursday 28th March 2013

By John Krüger

Ah Vikings. What’s not to like? Swords, feasts, and pretty yet sturdy blond women with platted hair, wearing skimpy deerskin clothing. OK, I’ll admit it; other than a few Conan the Barbarian comic books, I know nothing about Vikings or Iceland. What I do know is, they don’t mind the occasional beer and there’s an Icelandic beer called “Viking” now available at Dan Murphy’s. Viking is brewed and bottled in Akureyri, Iceland in a Pilsner style and it’s much nicer than eating ammonia flavoured fermented shark. It’s got a nice light malt flavour with a crisp finish, and while we’ve got a bee’s dick of warm weather left, I’d get into it. Viking is a good weekend session beer with a cool Nordic label featuring Odin, the god of fermented sharks.