Mikkeller - Copenhagen - Beer Bar

I would leave all my possessions behind and move to Copenhagen if I only had the balls to do it.  Are there jobs for a guy like me in this absolute gem of a town?  What about the immigration policies?  Do they take rabble that cannot speak a word of Danish other than Øl?  

I may be outta luck, but at least I have the one weekend I spent there.  I would say that my favorite place in Copenhagen was the Mikkeller beer bar.  Beer-geek-a-licous. 

So I walked for what seemed like an hour from my hotel into the Vesterbro district.  This part of the city was originally a slum of sorts.  Prostitutes, poverty and violence; the Hamburg special.  These days Vesterbro is a hipster Mecca with lots of trendy hangouts and a somewhat unwashed (but in an intentional way) sort of vibe.  I secretly dig it.

The Mikkeller beer bar fits into this neighborhood perfectly.  Literally a hole in the wall.  I actually walked past it on my way there.  Below ground, very little signage.  If you are coming to this place you are coming with purpose.  No fucking pop-ins. 

Inside is like no other beer bar I have ever seen.  Where are the signs?  The derelict old couch?  The damn place looks like it was designed by Sara “lets use barn board” Richardson. OK.  I’m game.  Nice big chalkboard with all the on-tap offerings.  Very nice contraband; less than half Mikkeller beers and some really nice random stuff.  Even a couple DDC beers from Montreal.  Should I feel proud to be Canadian?

The bottle menu is simply ridiculous.  It’s not really a serious effort to make money.  Simply a “hey, can’t buy this hooch everywhere” selection.  It was my birthday so I went for what I would want to drink on my birthday as 30 is approaching way too quick.  

First up, I go for one of Mikkeller’s “yeast series”.  The concept is that the exactly same wort was fermented by several different yeast strains separately so that the effect of the particular yeast could be isolated and compared with the others.  I believe they did one with hefeweissen, Brettanomyces, US Ale, Belgian Ale and a lager yeast strains (correct me if I am wrong).  I’m into funk, so I hit the Brett.

Tastes / smells almost exactly the same as the It’s Alive I had a year or so ago.  Nice and funky but the malts are coming through on the nose.  Nice mix of funk and residual sweetness.  Could be drier but perhaps it’s a bit young still.  The beer looks, tastes and smells like a perfect all Brett beer.  I like this very much.  

           

Next up was a beer that is for all purposes impossible to get your hands on.  Cantillon’s Blåbær Lambik.  Basically, these crazy Danes send a truckload of blueberries to Brussels where Cantillon brew an authentic lambic fruit beer and then ship 100% of the bottles back to Copenhagen.  As far as I know, it is only sold at Ølbutikken  (a seriously kick-ass beer store just a block or two from Mikkeller) and at the Mikkeller beer bar.  

Wow.  Blueberries are really hard to pull off in a beer and I think this one does it.  Mad funk and sour citrus on the nose.  Not much blueberry.  The taste is tart and sour but the berry comes through quite strong.  Head is pretty good for a sour and the color is very deep.  I felt like I was betraying my girlfriend for drinking this without her but I have subsequently been assured that there is no resentment.

Lastly, I chose something that I would only really indulge in on my B-Day.  Dark Lord.  It is a bit weird drinking a beer from Indiana when in Copenhagen but the price was less than the black market price in my much closer home of Ontario.  WTF, EH?  

It poured black as night and quite thick.  Smell was very tar-like with a serious snap of vanilla.  Flavor is intense.  Dark fruits, light fruits, rum, whiskey, chocolate, coffee, molasses, marmite, oak and vanilla. Yeah, it’s pretty good.  Appearance was a little less fantastic but the head had a really nice color.  I shared the bottle with the two guys working the bar.  It was good consideration for the very excellent conversation about beer and the beer scene.  [For those of you who don't know, this is probably the most or second most hard to get beer in the world.  It sold for only one day of the year at the brewery and you must by a ticket to even have the chance to purchase a couple bottles.]

After consuming the above offerings I was pretty intoxicated.  So of course I asked to photograph the one remaining bottle of The End of History stashed behind the bar.  If you have a spare $3,000 you can drink this offering directly from the stuffed stoat it comes in.   Fair enough.  

I’m not sure the experience would be worth the money…but its cool.  If you don’t think it’s at least cool and peg it as a marketing ploy then you need to lighten-up.  55% beer that comes in a stuffed squirrel and is named after a Fukuyama book is at least cool….period.    Plus I like the tux.

After getting messed up at Mikkeller I met up with my better half for dinner at Kong Hans.  It has been awarded a Michelin Star for more than a decade.  The food was awesome.  I particularly enjoyed the cheese plate.   I have a thing for cheese plates and this one was really stellar.  Not just on an offering-by-offering basis.  The plate as a whole had a well thought out balance.  Unfortunately the beer sucked.  But hey, what can you expect from a Michelin Star rated restaurant?

Go to Mikkeller and drink beer.

A Few Saison - Beer Review

Saison, also known as french farmhouse ale, has become a very popular and dare I say a "hep" style as of late.  I understand the interest and some of the hype.  They are very versatile beers in the sense that I can enjoy them year-round.  I also think that they have a certain quality that appeals to a larger section of the public than do other idiosyncratic styles; namely they are refreshing and light-bodied.  

This is also my favorite style to brew at home.  I usually use Pilsner malt with a little bit of Vienna and a touch of wheat for body and a fluffy head.  As for hops, I like to mix things up with the usual European noble varieties and sometimes late-edition or dry-hop with something different and more aggressive; I recently threw in a bit of Citra and it worked out well.  I've also used spices / orange peel but the jury is still out on those kind of additions; at least for me.  In the yeast department I've been consistently loyal to Wyeast's French Saison strain (3711).  This coming spring / summer I plan to experiment with the Saison Dupont strain mixed with some Brett; posts of the experimentation will be included in the "Brewing" section.

Over the last two months a have tried approximately 12(+) different Saison.  Here are a few that I managed to take notes of. 

I picked up a bottle of Brasserie Fantôme's Pissenlit while I was visiting Brussels.  Now that the brewery is closed (apparently, can anyone verify this????) anything from them is nearly impossible to find.  I think those in the US may have a different experience due to remaining stock from the tons of Fantôme that was shipped there while they were still up and running.

This beer is brewed with dandelions and the name literally means "wet the bed". Apparently the dandelions are gathered from the fields around the brewery and brewed into a tea.  Needless to say this beer is a little different than most Saison; at least in terms of recipe. 

Wow, this stuff is amazing.  As soon as I smelled and tasted it I was pissed that I couldn't go visit the brewery or pick up more of their products.  The appearance wasn't amazing; cloudy, not much of a head (especially for the style), the body seemed quite thick and the color rather...dull.  

But the smell, damn complex, spicy and citrus.  Grapefruit juice mixed with Indian food, in a good way. The taste is the same.  I was really surprised at how grapefruity the taste was.  The thickness and acidity made it seem like I was drinking grapefruit juice.  So good.  No Trace of the 8%.  I need more of this stuff.

Next Up: Saison Regal isn't really a Saison that gets too much mention.  I think this beer looked great but lacked something I look for in a Saison.  It may be a bias but the darker more malty versions of this style never really strike me as being all that appealing.  I feel the same way even about highly rated examples such as The Bruery's Saison Rue (I very much prefer their Saison De Lente) and Dupont's Avec Les Bon Voeux.  

On the nose this beer was quite fruity along with a putrid (not necessarily a bad putrid but a typical dark saison putrid) tinge.  The taste was similar with some nice spicy flavors along with some subtle rotten light fruits.  Carbonation is excellent along with the head retention and lacing.  Overall its pretty good but there is a flavor in their that just isn't my friend.

Lastly: Saison D'Erpe-Mere from KleinBrouwerij De Glazen Toren is a somewhat "under the radar beer".  The same can be said for their other offerings.  I personally think this is one of the best Saison available and I'm glad that my local bottle shop brought in a few 750s.

The packaging is very cool.  It has that whole paper-wrapped thing going on...if that means anything.  As soon as I popped the cap the bottle basically exploded with foam and spilled out of the mouth without agitation.  No doubt very lively; a trait that is preferable in a Saison.  Be careful pouring this one.  Even a gentle hand results in massive head.  Not just big, but the kind of head that keeps getting bigger for 5 minutes after its in the glass and seems to be alive (see pic).  Settles to a weird, brain-like glob in the middle of the glass.  Exactly what I am looking for.  Perfect Saison apperance.

This beer has a classic Saison nose.  Spicy, dry, fruity, citrus.  I think it is kind of like a more extreme version of Saison Dupoint.  Very nice.  The taste is very dry with all the classic Saison flavors and even a touch of funk.  Damn boy.  Why can't I have this one back home in Ontario?  A perfect Saison?  

I'd like to give a little shout out to Brian of Stillwater Artisanal Ales.  The recent Rate Beer list has him at #2 best new brewer of the year.  I tasted a few of his Saison at the Mikkeller Beer Bar in Copenhagen and had a brief chat with him as well.  Very nice.  Top-shelf stuff. 

I will discuss some Stillwater beers in more detail when I post my feature on Copenhagen.

Drink some Saison in the meantime.  Get primed for the summer season.  

Moeder Lambic - Brussels - Beer Bar

Brussels is one of those places in the world where a beer lover could become very disoriented.  Not simply because there is an immense pressure to gorge oneself on high-alcohol beers but because there are only so many hours in a day and choosing where and what to imbibe in is a little...challenging.  I made some choices while in Brussels; one beer over another, a visit here over a visit there.  One choice I did make that I am sure was the correct one was visiting Moeder Lambic.  Its one of those places that if you seriously love challenging and hard to get beers, you must...absolutely must, stop there when in Brussels.

Moeder Lambic is pretty much right downtown Brussels.  Its sort of in between the main tourist area and the Cantillon brewery, so for beer geeks it is perfectly located.  The bar itself is extremely well decorated in a modern (think lots of stainless steel mixed with urban lodge) decor.  Lots of seating with a long bar. 

The draft menu is fantastic.  Plenty of rare and unusual finds along with a few staples.  The on-tap and on-cask lambic menu is really great; you do not find this stuff everywhere.  The bottle menu is even more special with some very rare offerings.  Plenty of vintage lambics.  

Off the bat I jumped into Drie Fonteinen's Straffe Winter.  It is slated as a faro-lambic created for the  special open brew days at the brewery.  The presentation was perfect; a nice high pour into a tall glass and a wicker box to keep the bottle at a perfect angle to keep the yeast settled.

This was a pretty funky beer on the nose with some mild lactic sour notes.  Lots of hay / horse blanket with a little citrus tinge at the end.  The taste was much more mellow in terms of sourness than I expected from the smell.  I found this much more dry than I would expect from a faro.  The head retention and lacing were awesome for the style.  Overall very enjoyable.

Next round I went a little more adventurous; Cantillon / De La Senne collaboration brew called Zwarte Piet.  As far as I know Moeder Lambic is the only place this beer can currently be purchased.  Of course because this is a fairly limited one-off, the bottle came with no label.  'Black Peter' is a mix between a lambic and a stout.  I little strange no doubt but how could I not give this a try.

This beer looks like a light bodied stout.  Black with brown around the edges, plentiful carbonation and a  really nice off-white to beige, foamy head.  Lacing is killer.  Looks more like a stout than a lambic. Sour up front on the nose with a little roasted malt at the end.  The taste is similar with acidity and sourness at the start followed by roasty coffee and chocolate notes.  For some reason this reminds me of a Cascadian Dark Ale (or black IPA or whatever you want to call it)....must be the contrast.  Pretty different but very drinkable.

The real hidden gem on the bottle menu is the Wadesda #1 from De La Senne.  Apparently a cross between a lambic and a triple.  If you have access to this beer you should get some and horde it.

This legit tastes like a mix.  The smell is literally half triple and half sour lambic.  Amazing flavor.  Very hard to describe but it is deadly drinkable, watch out for this one.  This is a sparse review but all I can say is wow, so good.

Go to Moeder Lambic, drink beer there.  There are actually two locations.  See info:

Moeder Lambic Original

68 rue de Savoie, 1060 Brussels

Tel.: +32 2 544 16 99

Open from 04:00 P.M. until 03:00 A.M.

Moeder Lambic Fontainas

8 place Fontainas, 1000 Brussels

Tel.: +32 2 503 60 68

Open from 11:00 A.M. until 01:00 A.M.

(friday and saturday until 02:00 A.M.)

http://www.moederlambic.eu/

Take One - Maastricht - Beer Bar

For the three days prior to Ash Wednesday towns in the southern Netherlands celebrate Carnival.  It is basically a three-day-drunk filled with crazy costumes and bizarre behavior.  So I took the four hour train ride south in order to get a taste of the madness.  

While the madness of Carnival was very tasty, the beer being pilfered on the streets was not so great.  A 250ml glass of Bavaria Lager will only get me so far.  In proper form I took to the web to see what the geeks were saying about Maastricht. Take One was at the top of the list and deservedly so.

This place is a cozy little cafe located on the east bank of the River Maas.  Owned by a husband and wife team, Take One has been serving top shelf beer in Maastricht for more than 25 years.  The walls of the cafe are literally coated in beer related signs, posters, lights and clocks.  A long bar with a string of taps runs from the door back to a comfy seating area.  The on-tap and bottle menu are written on a marker board behind the bar.

This isn't a place that has popped-up due to the growing enthusiasm of the craft beer scene.  The owners and locals that frequent Take One are serious beer lovers and the beer knowledge in this little cafe is enormous.  

In fact, I think the most enjoyable part of this place was the company that filled the bar stools.  All the locals here were very enthusiastic to have so many international visitors and they were by far the friendliest people I have met in Europe.  There are not too many bars on this continent where the locals will buy you a glass of beer and have you in stitches with their jokes.  Top notch.  Special shout-out to Jack, Tom and Camille (see pic below-right) for really making our visit a blast.

The beer selection at Take One is also fantastic.  There was no problem finding beers that I had never tried of even heard of before.  One particularly great (and apparently underrated IMHO) triple that I tried was the Kempisch Vuur Tripel.  Very clean with plenty of complexity.  Fruity with some spice, a nice slightly sour citrus and a mouthfeel to die for.  Looks pretty nice in the glass too.

I will leave you with a couple pics of Carnival.  It was crazy.  I'm not sure I could have mentally prepared myself for such debauchery even if I knew what to expect ahead of time.  I wish everyone had the opportunity to experience one of these events at least once in their lives.  Truly joyous.

When in Maastricht, or anywhere in Limburg for that matter, make your way to Take One for a beer (or five).  If you do visit, stop by earlier.  This place seems to fill up quick around 7 or 8 pm.

Info:


Take One Beer Cafe
Rechtstraat 28
6221EJ Maastricht
043-3216423

http://www.takeonebiercafe.nl/index.php

Birra Artigianale Di Qualita' - Milano - Beer Bar

When I think of craft beer Italy isn't exactly the first place that comes to mind.  I have drank some excellent bottles of Panil Barriquee Sour-Version ( a Flanders Red) but that was sort of a fluke in my mind.  On a recent visit to Milan my perception of the Italian beer scene was seriously altered.  

I arrived on Friday at midday and promptly sought out the best place in town to taste some beer.  All the usual sources pointed towards Birra Artigianale di Qualita.  

This bar is in a very non-desrcript location and has a humble street front.  I would easily pass-by without cluing in that this is a killer spot for beer.  The inside is also simple and to the point.  Long beer-hall-like tables, a small bar lined with tap handles, a massive board with an amazing list of bottles, another board with the on-tap selection and a cabinet full of some rare and hard to get brews.  To be honest, I don't think I have ever seen a selection like this outside of Northern Europe.

The hands down best part about BQ is their tasting options.  Plenty of Italian craft beer and you can get a selection of 100 ml or 250 ml samples served in marked wine glasses.  I cannot remember which Italian beers I tried (I apologize to those brewers) but they were all excellent.  I particularly enjoyed the IPAs; just as hoppy but with a little more balance than some of the beers being pushed today.  Who would have guessed?  Italian IPA.

They also had some Cantillon on tap.  I had the 2007 Iris, which I consider to be one of the best lambics out there.  All in all a very stellar beer tasting night.  

One of the more usual aspects of this bar is the bottle menu. Now this may have been a communication issue but as far as I am aware the bottles are for take-home only.  I'm not sure if I have ever been to a beer bar where this was the rule.  Is this just an Italian thing?

Nevertheless, I grabbed a beer to take back to my hotel room;   Abstrakt 1 from BrewDog.  On first impression AB:01 seemed like a pretty hyped-up product.  One of those 'lets make it seem fancy so it sells' beers.  AB:01 is described as a Belgian Quad brewed with Westy 12 yeast (harvested from the bottle) and aged on vanilla beans.  So it must taste good....right???

My conclusion is that this actually is very good beer worthy of its fancy bottle.  My suspicion is that given another 6 months or year it would be truly amazing.  The head was nice and bright and fluffy.  The lacing was sticky as hell.  The smell was very complex and rich.  The taste was a little sweet but the soothing mouthfeel made up for it.  I'd suggest trying this one....if you can find a bottle.

All in all I was highly impressed by my experience in Milan.  I think we have a lot more to see from the Italians in the future. 

If in Milan go to BQ...

Via Losanna 36
Milano, 20100
Italy
390234691006

http://www.letseat.at/bqit/

Fond Tradition - Gueuze

Gueuze....Oh sweet Gueuze.  If I have a beer vice then I owe 90% of my predilection to gueuze.  It is a love-or-hate style.  Even those who love it could only indulge a little.  For me this is the perfect style and I could drink at least one glass every day; natural, packed with flavor and of course the 'funk'.

'Funk' is a term that the beer community should be proud of.  'Funk' means a lot of different things.  In one way it is a subspecies of 'cool'....and rightfully so.  On the flip-side, 'funk' can be a downer, as in 'funk like a skunk' or Six from Blossom using the adjective 'funky'.  In another sense it is a lifestyle; a modus operandi (see video).   

For beer geeks though, 'funk' is a concrete, universal and necessary component of beer nomenclature.  The other day I was at Cantillon and I ran into a fellow beer lover who was in town specifically for beer-tourism.  We were downing some unblended lambic straight out of the barrels.  I was really blown away by how much 'funk' was present in this one sample.  So I said to my new acquaintance "Tons of funk in this one" and he knew exactly what I meant....

The look of absolute understanding on his face somewhat perturbed me.  So I searched to see if anyone had taken the time to define the term.  Here are a few I found:

"Barnyard. Band-aids. Bacon. Horse Stable"

"passion fruit and citrus to wet dog hair and moose urine"

"a rustic, unique flavor, like leather or barnyard. It’s really distinctive. But it’s extremely aggressive"

Are these adequate definitions?  What do you consider 'funk' to mean?

A big disappointment for me in the world of funk was the importation of St. Louis Gueuze into Ontario.  I mean, the LCBO had the willingness to import a Gueuze and chose this?  So I ran across Fond Tradition and seriously questioned even bothering with so much as a sniff.  Boy am I glad I gave this brewery another shot.

Big funk on the nose.  Barnyard and citrus at the same time; an awesome deep sour citrus.  Very fine and plentiful carbonation.  Taste is mad sour.  Puckering.  I like.

More to come with Geueze including my visit to Moeder Lambic and Cantillon.

The Korbinian - Doppelbock

Bocks are one style of beer that really had to 'grow' on me.  I'm not sure exactly what it was about them at first that really didn't appeal to my tastes.  I have this notion of a 'bock taste' that is very hard to put into words.  Maybe it is just the very slight remnants of sulphur from the lagering process?  

The Korbian is a doppelbock which really does not have this 'bock' taste.  If I didn't know better I would easily mistake this beer for a strong brown ale.  Needless to say, the Korbinian is a massive malt bomb.  Extreme complexity in the malt profile.  

The strange thing about this beer is its extremely low carbonation.  It seems too low for the style.  Nevertheless, every beer geek should try this.  I could drink gallons.

Hopsinjoor & Houblon - Belgian IPAs

Belgian IPAs are a relatively new style depending on your perspective.  The concept is basically this; hop forward ales brewed in a similar manner to a strong Belgian blonde or golden ale.  If effect, some Belgian brewers are hopping-up their beers so that they can capitalize on the booming market for hoppy, bitter beers.

The bright side to all this is that another strong source of humulone is available to “numb your tongue and put your tonsils on hold” (dare you to find that quote).

I’m not a huge fan of Gouden Carolus beers.  The Cuvee Van De Keizer is fair enough.  So my expectations were pretty mild when I cracked the Hopsinjoor.  But I was happy; big sturdy head with great lacing, a pungent European hop aroma and a very nice bitterness.  Not so exceptional when it comes to the more subtle of hop flavors, there is a bit of floral essence in there but not enough.

  

Chouffe on the other hand is a brewer that I have enjoyed on occasion.  I like their Bok best of all.  I had also heard quite a bit about the Houblon.  Now I’m not saying I was disappointed but….it was OK.   Lacing was great but just like the Hopsinjoor, this beer lacked a certain something; a WOW factor.

  

I think the modern American IPA trend is really just about that WOW factor.  Its not just the bitterness, its something more.  If you don’t get some complexity from the hops then the effort is just a miss in terms of IPAs.  The same is true for many North American offerings and their imitators.    Don’t get me wrong I’m a huge fan of mouth drying bitterness, but it has to come with some killer flavors to be a success.

Cafe 't Arendsnest - Amsterdam - Beer Bar

My accommodations were just around the corner from this cozy, pretty standard looking, Dutch beer bar.  One of those typically brown colored places that can be found on about every block in the Netherlands.   Despite the prevalence of these bars, this particular establishment is really a cut above.

I stopped into ‘t Arendsnest around 7pm on a Thursday and the place was absolutely packed.  Standing room only.  The crowd was very diverse.  The bartender was taking his job very seriously and no one was without beer.   He even took his time to explain different beer styles to some noobs that were bumbling about.  “No, this type of beer is much more flavorful than Stella…”  

Not only were the bartenders very friendly and helpful, they weren’t f&%king around either.  Of course the whole frenzy of violently cleaning glasses followed by an epically dramatic pour from the tap is pretty common in this part of the world; but these guys had some mad skills.  Pure finesse.

‘t  Arendsnest offers a pretty good selection of beer; Dutch origin only.  The draft menu was very large and written on a blackboard on the wall.  A ton of beers that I had never really heard much of. 

A must-try for me was the Oak-Aged Black Damnation on draft.  I’ve had regular Black Damnation from a bottle and enjoyed it thoroughly.  A collaboration (isn’t every craft beer these days?) between De Molen and Struise brewers.  

The draft / oaked version was just as big and rich as the bottled version.  I didn’t think the oak came through very strong, although there was a pleasant but subtle vanilla / peat overlay.  I little chocolate, a little coffee and huge rich maltiness with a bit of that treacle taste (I'd like to say Marmite-ish but that freaks some people out).  

I also downed a bottle of Bat Out of Hell.  Another collaboration; this time De Molen and Flying Dog.    The latter brewery has extremely wide availability here in the Netherlands.  I can pretty much get all of their beers at my two local bottle shops in Groningen; I like the Gonzo Imperial Porter and Double-Dog the best.  

The Bat Out of Hell came in a conveniently small bottle with a ramshackle label.  Way more roasty than the Black Damanation.  Much more of that bitter coffee and slightly carbony / burnt taste.  Very nice on the nose but it could be a little more balanced. 

One of the more interesting Dutch beers I had that evening was the Emelisse Triple IPA.  A west coast style, high-gravity IPA.  Big on the citrus notes with a great biscuity malt backbone.  This is one example of a European brewer embarking into the dark (well more like a copper orange) waters of the modern American IPA with outstanding success.  Reminds me of Central City Red Racer.

My Advice; go to ‘t Arendsnest and try these beers.

Info:

Cafe 't Arendsnest

Herengracht 90

1015 BS Amsterdam, Netherlands

020 4212057

http://www.arendsnest.nl/english.php