European Beer Festival 2008

Danish beer enthusiasts have been working on a plan to host a big pan European beer festival in Copenhagen 2008 in connection woth thier own 10th birthday.

It is cummoung! None other than Carlsberg came to the aid. Carlsberg i closing production of beer in their old facility in Copenhagen (Valby). A rental lease has been made and European Beer Festival 2008 is going to be held at Carlsbergs.

Importtant to note is the fact that Carlsberg will NOT have any influence of the content of the European Beer Festival 2008. We leave all that up to ale.dk and they probably do as fine a job as havde they many years now.

The festival will have a unique combination of new and old, of innovation and tradition. I an so exited to go there. Will I see you there?

European Beer Festival, September 2008
at Carlsberg in Copenhagen (Valby)

Weird and special beer tasted

Ølfestivallen this year was bigger and better than ever (amazing how Danish Beer Enthusiasts can achieve that year after year). The selection was broader and better than ever, and also for weird combination.

At the Mybeer booth I made a detour from beer. Ultraprés was served warm in small 2cl glases with a shot of whipped cream. It was sweet and the experience had noting to do with beer, ewww. Their own tagline is "don't take our word for io, ask someone who have tried it" - I just wish that I had. It was not unpleasant, but totally wrong.

Although the experince at Mybeer was bad, it has nothing to do with me not liking sweet beer. One of the good ones was Quadrupel 11% vol. from Ølfabrikken. This is an intense beer is brewed with pilsner malt and caramel syrup and with a belgian yeast. This beer is special and is only served at special occasions, after being stored for at least a year. Although my expectations were high, they where all met at the Ølfabrikken booth.

While being totally in the sportligt for brewing excellent beer Mikkeller did not excite me as expected. I tried a couple of beers from them. For instance their X Hop Juice 2007 IBU a hoppy ale with 5% vol. Probably the most hoppy beer in the world, and so what? While I HAD to try it, it was fun, but not an interesting beer apart from the fact that it had a teoretical IBU of 2007. That said, Mikkeller make great beer, and the brewer also works for Ølfabrikken (Note: Ølfabrikken is restructuring so who knows who works there today).

Greenland Brewhouse served musk ox saussage on toast. A very pleasant experience together with their Artic Ale a nice barley wine with 9% vol. although it would go better with good cheeses.

Pssst! Don't tell anyone... but I liked the Radler served at Gourmetbryggeriet. In the mountains of Germany and Austria, the bicyclists (Radler in German) need a good refreshment, and a little energy after a long climb up a mountain road in the blazing, humid weather, but they also need the soberness and strength to return home, down the long, steep hills. From these excursions has developed the concept of a beer and lemon-lime (actually Zitronenlimonade in German) mixture in Germany and Austria, the Radler and the Russ, basically the same as the Shandy in England. The Radler is a normal Munich "Helles" or a pilsner-style beer such as Zipfer mixed with 1/2 lemon-lime soda, and the Russ is a mixture of 1/2 Weizenbier, such as Edelweiß Hefetrüb, and 1/2 lemon-lime soda, - refreshing, relaxing, and enjoyable. At the Gourmetbryggeriet booth it was served with 70% beer and 30% lemonade.

All-grain brew machine

This years Ølfesival in Copenhagen has left so many impressions that I do not know where to start.

Getting right on track with a craft brew story: Housebrewer, an all grain beer brewing machine

I met Morten Steen Pedersen from Housebrewer a company so new that they do not even have a website yet (will probably be www.housebrewer.com). Morten who is the software delveloper for the project, showed me the machine. It is supposed to be aimed at cafés, restaurants etc. Housebrewer brews all-grain beer and therefore is able to brew the full range of beers out there. It measures 60x60x100 cm and has a batch size of 25 liters. The materials are stainless steel and glass, so that you actually can watch the brewing process, and all the ingredients while it brews. Unlike my set-up Homebrewer has very little manual work involved. Just add the ingredients in the different compartments and turn it on - out comes the chilled wort ready for fermentation.

Morten promised that a future version of the software would support BeerXML.

The price is approximately 1.600€ so this machine is not to be confused with anything you can buy on TV-shop (or that crappy beermachine.

Welcome to the Copenhagen Beer Festival in Valby Hallen

From ale.dk:

It is a great pleasure for the Danish Beer Enthusiasts to observe that it takes exactly 6 years to create a tradition to make a Beer Festival in Copenhagen.

The Danish Beer Enthusiasts are therefore very pleased to invite you to the 7^th Beer Festival in Copenhagen which again this year will take place in Valby Hallen.

As usual the guests will get an opportunity to taste a great variety of beers together with several novelties never presented in Denmark before. We expect more than 70 exhibitors and a range of more than 1000 different beers at the festival.

At the festival you will get an opportunity to experience the diversity, try the range of the Danish breweries beers, try rare beer types from Danish and foreign breweries and also try the beer’s good qualities together with food.

Welcome to the Copenhagen Beer Festival in Valby Hallen.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact Press Officer Marttin Stuart Nielsen, marttin.nielsen@ale.dk, or on phone +45 2880 8010

See you later.

Less than 24hrs to go

The seventh Copenhagen Beer Festival and number eleven in the row of festivals arranged by Danish Beer Enthusiasts ( www.ale.dk ) is less than 24 hrs away. That makes me happy!

As one of the world's largest beer festivals I've spoken with people from all over the world. The festival is laid back and al the stress and hard work by the volunteers always pays off. I look forward to this event all year.

The beers presented this year is from the entire range one can call beer. As usual there is a lot of new beers being released in the festival. There is more than 70 stands presenting more than a thousand beers.

Cheers!

Mjød forsøg

I kølvandet af ølfestivallen, har jeg fået mod på at brygge mjød.

En almen misforståelse er at mjød er det øl vikingerne bryggede, og mange anvender ordet mjød om øl i vore dage. Det er egentlig synd, for der er tale om et produkt med sine helt egne egenskaber. Smager du på mjød og forventer en øl, med honningaroma, så bliver du skuffet. Mjød har nemlig intet med øl at gøre. Øl er bredt defineret som baseret på korn, hvor vin er baseret frugt. Mjød er tættere på vin end på øl, men den er altså sin egen.

Jeg kunne ikke rigtig finde nogle opskrifter, og havde ikke tid til at at sætte mig alt for meget ind i emnet, så jeg kiggede på det hyggelige amerikanske podcast Basic Brewing Video, der havde et Mjød tema.

Det blev til en ultra simpel opskrift:
Smacket en 1384 Sweet Mead ca 3 timer før pitching (ikke tid til starter)

5400g discount honning (ingen dyre dråber - det er jo en test)
15 liter vand

Vand og honning holdes på 72°C i 30 min, og køles til 25°C og gæren kommes i sammen med 2 teskeer nutrient. Under opvarmingen skummede jeg af en gang imellem.

Det blev til 18 liter i tanken, der står ved ca 21°C.

Nu er det planen og se om det bliver til mjød. Gæren fik en ret hård start uden starter etc. Hvis det bliver interessant og alkohol %'erne kan bære det, så vil jeg splitte mjøden op og tilsætte forskellige smagskomponenter.

Så er det ud og slagte en ko, for at få nogle drikkehorn! Er du tændt på det så kan du sikkert skaffe et horn her:

Hornvarefabrikken
Åbrinkvej 2
7650 Bøvlingbjerg
Tlf.: 97 88 50 79
Fax.: 97 88 58 36
Alt i hornvarer, også rå horn til videre forarbejdning.

Har du nogle bud på spændende øl, som skal prøves?

Den kommende ølfestival er jo et glimmerende selvstudie ud i øltyper og varianter til inspiration a fens egen brygning.

Jeg lægger ud med fem, jeg finder spændende:

• India Pale Ale fra Bryggeri skovlyst (skulle være en af de bedste danske
  IPA'er)
  
• Batch 100 fra Ølfabrikken (fordi jeg gerne vil smage en ægte humlebombe)
  
• ØL fra Ølfabrikken (spændende fællesprojekt mellem Ølfabrikken, Ølbutikken og Ølbaren)
  
• Valhal fra Heimdal bryg (fordi den er inspireret af Egtvedpigens
  birkebarkspand)
  
• KNARK STOUT fra Duelund Bryglade (fordi den er vinder af årets Vendsysselmesterskab i håndbryg)

Har du nogle bud på spændende øl, som skal prøves?

Batch 100 fra Ølfabrikken

Ølfabrikken har ikke ligget stille op til Ølfestivallen. De kommer til at præsentere ikke mindre end seks nyheder (de, jeg har kendskab til). Dertil kommer en stump af det danske jernbanenet der har måttet lade livet for at være vært for ti fadølshaner med fabrikkens produkter. 42 kvadratmeter rustent jern skal holde det noget tunge udskænkningsaggregat oppe i serveringsniveau.

Fra de mange haner kommer Ølfabrikken til at udskænke øllet i deres eksisterende sortiment - men det er også blevet til en række nyheder og specielle festival bryg. I samme forbindelse skulle Ølfabrikken for nylig til at lave deres bryg nummer 100, og de satte sig for at bekræfte alle de fordomme om Ølfabrikken, som bryggeriet med de humlede øl. Øllen hedder Batch Nr. 100, får premiere på Ølfestivallen og vil efterfølgende kunne fås på flaske i et begrænset antal.

Batch Nr. 100 er efter deres eget udsagn den kraftigst humlede øl, der er blevet brygget i Europa i nyere tid. De har anvendt ikke mindre end 19 kg amerikansk høj-alfa humle til 450 liter øl - det er sindsygt meget! Det her er den type øl jeg tidligere har efterlyst. Modsat hvad man skulle tro, påstår Ølfabrikken at det er endt med en let drikkelig dobbelt-IPA på 10% alkohol. Ja, ja - vi får se! Man skal nok ikke starte smagningen her - for så kan man da slet ikke smage noget bagefter.

Ølfabrikken lancerer ØL

Ok, den titel får nok ikke nogen op af stolen. Der er i midlertid tale om en ny øl med navnet "ØL".

Jeg ser frem til dette års Ølfestival. Forventningens glæde er stor. Det er ikke kun Ølfestivalen anno 2006, der ser dagens lys, men det er også den nye øl ved navn ØL, der får premiere.

ØL er et fællesprojekt fra Ølfabrikken, Ølbutikken og Ølbaren, udtænkt en skummel aften på Ølbaren under konceptet "Brygget på Ølfabrikken, på fad i Ølbaren og på flaske i Ølbutikken"

Ølfabrikken har på ekvilibristisk vis omsat tanker til øl og lavet en Russian Imperial Chocolate Stout på 10% tilsat Sumatrakaffe og Korff kakao. ØL har premiere på fredag kl. 18 på cask på Ølbutikkens stand på ølfestivalen i Valbyhallen.

Mmmm med et stykke chokoladekage til se mit indlæg om Ølfabrikkens Brownies, hvor opskriften også er.