Intro:
Hello everybody, this is the intro for this story, why an
intro you say? Well we got so many impressions from this trip that this is a
hopeless attempt to separate them and categorise them, so that this will be
easier for you the reader. I could and probably should separate this into more
stories, but new stuff is coming up so I need to clear my slate here...
It all started back in September/October 2011 when we first
heard about this event, I started a facebook group/event and encouraged lots of local people
to join in. When the tickets was put out for sale the 11.11.11 at 11:11 both me
and Kjetil sat ready on our computers at work, it was a rush and Kjetil was
first able to get through and score tickets. That was exactly half a year
before the festival was scheduled. Then later we decided to visit the Sour
& Bitter festival also, cause two days of drinking after all is just two days...
The Road Trip:
Just two guys out on a road trip, drinking beer, meeting
people and shopping, nothing strange about that! Did you say shopping? Yes,
beer shopping of course. If you gaze for long into a beer, the beer gazes also
into you! And when you drink Imperial Stout after Imperial Stout for five beer
fuelled days, all blacker than Satan’s blackest heart, darkness must come one way
or another... ...NOT! Kjetil and me started our little journey straight after work
Tuesday afternoon. We headed out on the highway, if there is such a thing in
Norway, and set the destination for Patricks Pub in Kristiansand. We spent the
night in bunk beds at the luxurious Budget "Hotel" in Kristiansand
before driving down to Aalborg for a beer run at Ølkonsortiet, we had a little
break in Aalborg, before heading straight for Ølbutikken & Mikkeller bar in
Copenhagen. We stayed at the not so amazing "Absalon" one star hotel,
but whatever we didn't spend many hours there. Let's talk about some of the
wonderful places we visited.
Patricks Pub & Restaurant:
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| Bartender & Erik Dahl of VANØ at Patricks back room. |
Patricks Pub calls themselves an Irish pub and I think
that’s hilarious, cause there's no positive references in my head to Irish pubs
or the shit they serve. Look beside the Irish decor and the name and there's
nothing here resembling an Irish pub. A Kilkenny & Guinness tap might be
enough for some people to call it an Irish pub, but I couldn't care less, all pubs serve that crap anyways, but what Patricks actually is good at is Craft Beer. I would like to Honor them
with the title Craft Beer Bar, sure it's not all craft beer, and as it is today
they probably wouldn't survive without their CB beer. But one look at the
shelves and a couple of words with the bartender and you know that’s not where
their love and passion lies. A quick look in the menu and I concluded that
everything is as it was the last time I visited Patricks back in October 2011.
But no, they have a monthly special menu, with the newest beer selection, most
of it limited and in constant rotation. We met up with Erik Dahl of
"Venner av Nøgne Ø" and he gave me a little tour of the back room
together with one of the bartenders. There I found some exciting little treats
I hadn't tried before. So you understand what great beer selection this place
had I will list up some of what we had had on our night at Patricks: 8 Wired
Batch 18 a Barrel Aged Imperial Stout, the first of many stouts we had on this
trip, really heavy on the wood, quite nice. Brewdog Abstrakt AB:07 a Whisky
cask aged Imperial Scotch Ale, limited to 4.200 bottles. Mikkeller Black Hole
Barrel Aged Edition Red Wine, a quite unique beer experience, something to
convert wine lovers maybe? Nøgne Ø/Terrapin Imperial Rye Porter on tap, maybe
one of my favourite beers so far this year, I've mentioned it in other articles
but I don't mind repeating myself when saying this is a world class Porter.
Just as full bodied as Midtfyns X-Porter, with a great mouth feel, balanced and
luxurious as hell! Not only did we hang out with Erik Dahl of VANØ at Particks,
but an old friend of mine and Kjetil, Bjørn and his girlfriend Eva also joined
us. Later former Manager of Patricks and friend of Erik Dahl also joined us and
that brings us into the next chapter. But anyways, Patricks is the place to be
in Kristiansand!
Christianssand Brygghus:
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| Lars infront of the brand new brewery. |
Former Patricks manager Lars Kristian Amundsen offered us a
little tour of what is to become Christianssand Brygghus. He told us that the
plan is to open in August/September I think. The brewery is at 500 liter and
will soon be put to the test so beer will be ready and stored before the
opening. To get the right brewpub feeling the tanks and the brewery will be
visible from the restaurant, they also plan a backyard under open skies, where
you can smoke a cigar while sipping on some Iconoclastic Imperial Stout. Hops might be
growing on the walls for decoration, maybe something to use for a hop smoked
beer? I expect this place to also have great food and a great beer
selection, both their own and from other great breweries and I'm really looking
forward to visiting them when they open. Cheers!
Ølkonsortiet:
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| Svend & friend. |
Ølkonsortiet have existed around 8 years, the shop is run by
owner Svend Nymann and some of his friends. Everyone there works for free, it's
a non-profit business, and it's only open 3 days a week. They were kind enough
to open just for us on a day they were supposed to be closed, and Sven himself
came down in his break at his "paying" job to say hello. We got
something good in our glasses and started digging in the shelves. Cigar City,
Mikkeller, Emelisse, Lagunitas, Evil Twin & more. But one thing that bummed
me out was that they had sold all of their Bourbon County Stouts from Goose
Island to just one guy. A treat like that is rare in Europe and Ølkonsortiet
have nothing to win on just giving it all away to one greedy FUCK! guy. So when we were there lots of boxes was filled with yummy Goose Island stuff
and we couldn't buy any of them! But we still left with skinnier wallets that we
came with, a trunk full of beer and with smiles on our faces. We will return to Ølkonsortiet, but first
we will call them and "lay off" all the really good beers before anyone else can
buy them, kidding! Ølkonsortiet was/is rated as the 3rd best bottle shop in Europe, and it’s
run by geeks, and that’s the way we like it! (Cause we're geeks too!) The
negative part of this little section are just me being a whiny boy so
disregard it, cheers Svend, keep up the good work!
Mikkeller bar:
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| Shady looking boys with Tom "Kjempetorsken" Young. |
If there were a bar at the end of the world, inches away
from the edge, that would be Mikkeller bar. People from far away would travel
here to tell tales of infinite wisdom and share magic elixirs. Brewed up by
artists and wizards from all the seven continents of the world. I don't know if
I would say that Copenhagen is at the edge of the world, but the selection at
Mikkeller bar certainly is out-of-worldly, they have beers from all four
corners of the known brewing universe. As the last time we visited this beer
Mecca the 20 taps are still there, and they're ever changing, we're talking
Mikkeller, Evil Twin, Dark Horse, Cantillion, Three Floyds, Rogue, Pizza Port
and more. But what really made my week was their extremely great bottle
selection, the vintage bottle selection that is. Some of the vintage beers we
enjoyed here was the Goose Island Bourbon County Stout 2008 & 2010, Three
Floyds Dark Lord 2008 (Most expensive beer I've ever bought, 650 DK), we
compared Orval 2006 & 2007 both looks and tastes differently, we compared
Dark Horizon 2nd edition & 3rd edition, I like the 3rd edition the most and
so did the 3 others I shared them with. We also had a revisit of the great beers Tyttebær,
Sweet & Red Horizon from Nøgne Ø, rare indeed.
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| Andrew & Elsa of Nøgne Ø at Mikkeller Bar. |
We shared a Speedway Stout from Alesmith
with Elsa & Andrew from Nøgne Ø, we shared lots of great and awesome beers
with Herman from Cardinal and his friend Lars, 8 wired iStout from New Zealand,
Highland & Calvados edition of Mikkeller Beer Geek Brunch Weasel, and one
of the highlights of the trip finally trying Hoppin Frog D.O.R.I.S. The Destroyer, an incredible beer, max score! Everywhere we've been the last year
or two this beer appears in the lists, but they never have it, it's like Doris
have been dodging us, another beer that have been dodging us for a long time is
the Great Divide Oaked Aged Yeti, if anyone here reads this and would like to
send/share one with us, please message me. I'll be indefinitely grateful!
Mikkel and his brother Jeppe was also there, they preferred self-service in the
bar. I met Menno from De Mollen in the bar line, we met Mike Murphy from
Lervig, Tom from the Kjempetorsken blog, Mikael from Melkebaren in Sandnes,
Jakob "The lord of malts" who used to review with the "Master of
Hoppets" blog. We met Belgians, Americans and French people coming to
Copenhagen for the sole porous of beer! We didn't meet any Germans though,
reinheitsgebot, REINHEITSGEBOT!!!!!! Mikkeller Bar is awesome, a top 10 bar on
this planet for any true beer geek!
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| Menno of De Mollen & Haffy at Mikkeller bar, very sober! |
Ølbutikken:
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| Kjetil outside Ølbutikken. |
If you're anything like us, you like to do some real
shopping while on "vacation", right? Located in the dirtiest corner
of Copenhagen, where people come to exchange their greens for live flesh, that’s
where Ølbutikken resides. Awarded best Beer retailer in the world loads of
times by ratebeer, this store is owned by phantom brewer
Jeppe, also known as Evil Twin, brother of Denmark's most famous phantom brewer
Mikkel(ler). He also runs a "little" import company called Drikkerige that
supplies Ølbutikken & Mikkeller bar with many of their extreme and rare
beers. OK, you know those wet dreams you have at night? Where you just dream of
awesome beers that you wish you could enjoy in the comfort of your own home,
without the hassle of going to the pub or visiting the brewery. Yeah, those
super great, rare and awesome beers that you would love to saviour in your
cellar for years, laying there just waiting for that rainy day you need
something super special, this is the kind of beers you find at Ølbutikken, 250+
beers mainly from Belgium, Denmark & USA. We're talking Alesmith, Mikkeller,
Southern Tier, Lost Abbey, Evil Twin, Amager, Cantillion, Jester King,
Stillwater, Brewdog, De Mollen, Hoppin Frog, 8 Wired, Green Flash and more, the
list goes on, you get the picture. As far as I know this store have been at
this location a bit over a year, it used to be in a smaller and more uncomfortable
location before. Now you can sit down and have a break, have a beer and do some
of what I call "real" shopping, this is the only way to spend your
money in Istedgade!
Barley Wine:
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| It was crowded at Barley Wine when we came. |
Since last time we visited Barley Wine their location has
changed, now in a bigger & better place, with lots more room for wonderful beers.
This place is much more affordable than Ølbutikken, we're talking value for
money, bang for the bucks, so the next time I go to Copenhagen I will start my
beer shopping here before moving on. Barley Wine got a crazy beer selection, even
more than they got at Ølbutikken, Ratebeer claims 400 different brews. BW has lots
of rare beers and lots of not so rare beers, but all great beers, no crap. Much
more Danish microbreweries than the other stores, many of which I've never
tasted or heard of. I would love to spend a week just trying different Danish
microbreweries, stay at a cheap motel and just hang out, eat, drink and meet new people. Barley Wine is a great store, with good but a bit slow service, but I highly
recommend you take the time and pay them a visit!
Fish & Beer:
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| Kjetil found some Rogue. |
We had to compromise, because we bought so many beers at the
first three stores mentioned, that the luggage room of the car was already
full. Fish & Beer was a bit outside the centre of the town, their selection
was great, and the service was OK. I was a bit disappointed that they actually
didn't sell fish cause I had this very different mental image of how the place
would be like, almost fairytale like. Big freezers with ice cubes and boxes
with fresh fish, refrigerators with cold beer, and workers dressed in white
plastic aprons packaging this stuff, tossing beer and fish back and forth while
yelling to each other and having fun. They used to sell fish and beer, and the
company actually still sells fish, but not in the store, but it's a great name
so why not keep it. Kjetil was very happy to find a lot of Rogue we hadn't seen
anywhere else here, other than that the selection were kind of like Barley Wine
only less. A great store, but still not comparable with the other three stores
mentioned here. Will we return? Probably not! Was it worth the trip? Yes!
Sour & Bitter:
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| Jeppe & Haffy at Sour & Bitter, not looking Sour or Bitter... |
Far outside of town, in a run down area there is a big white
building. In that building 200-300 lucky bastards gathered to share a special
experience of primarily sour and bitter beers. And with the likes of 3
Fonteinen, Port Brewing/Lost Abbey, The Bruery & Pizza Port who can
complain. This night was filled with wonderful and interesting beers. Bitter
Stouts and IPA's from Pizza Port, they started out as a Pizza place back in
1987, but in 1992 they started to brew beer. 4 locations and a bottle
shop is it, but they have a great reputation, no doubt due to their great
beers, but also due to the fact that Port Brewing/Lost Abbey spun out of Pizza
Port. Anyways this is beer you can't find in Europe, so I just had to try them
all, all 16 of them. And they came in generous portions too. The Coffee Monster
and The Barrel aged Night Rider were my favourites from them, Pizza Port beers
taste a lot, their motto should be: More is more!
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| Me with brewer of Pizza Port. |
When we came we tried some 3
Fonteinen Framboos (The most sought after beer in the world right now!) with
Jakob "The Lord of Malts", we also shared a bottle of Millenium Geuze
(Bottled back in 1998) from the same brewery with Stian Krog and his VANØ
Bergen friends. This is actually where I met the only jackass on the whole
trip. An American holding a table for his friends, that just wasn't there, but no one could sit down, it was "their seats." There were six available spaces and this fuck asked me
to get his chair back when I sat down. I so badly wanted to tell him to fuck off but
Kjetil talked me out of it, my comfort is that all his friends had ditched him
and that he probably had a miserable time. Yeah and hopefully the next guy he annoys like that will smack him up a bit, I'm way to nice, but I like it like that...
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| Us with Head Brewer Fred Karm of Hoppin Frog. |
We also met Fred the head brewer of
Hoppin Frog and I also talked to the head brewer of Pizza Port. We were
introduced to Hanne på Høyden from Bergen, Christer "BeerNorway"
showed up and so did Svend Nyman from Ølkonsortiet. We had a great time talking
with these people and others. Before the end I bought my Framboos to go, Jeppe
himself was the dealer, cash only in the back of a white unmarked van parked in
the alley, now I'm trading two of them for a Dark Horizon 1st edition &
Stormaktsporter and some other great beers. I also decided to try all the Lost Abbey
stuff, and the guys in the bar was cool enough to let me pour my own beers as I
tried my way through them.
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| This picture speaks for itself on the state of the photographer. |
At this point I started getting drunk as a
consequence to all the awesome beers I'd been drinking, and I don't really have
much more to add. Sour & Bitter was awesome, so my hang over the day after
was quite evil, I felt like dying! I actually think I almost
did. But what doesn't kill you simply makes you stranger...
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| Die By The Beer with BeerNorway! |
Fermentoren:
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| Dan Shelton & Mike Murphy |
After Sour & Bitter we met the head brewer of my local
brewery Lervig Mike Murphy and some other folks from Stavanger at Mikkeller Bar
and we grabbed a cab. Fermentoren was a big bar, with a great tap line,
Cantillion & Crooked Moon among others. And this is where we hung out until
the small hours. This bar is probably the reason why we overslept and came late
for the main event of this trip...
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| There's a black hole here somewhere!?! |
Copenhagen Beer Celebration:
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| Jeppe, Haffy & Mikkel! |
The vision of Copenhagen Beer Celebration is that of Mr.
Mikkeller himself Mikkel Borg Bjergsø. The goal was simply to create the best
Craft Beer Festival ever: "The greatest beers + The greatest food + The
greatest atmosphere + <3 = The greatest beer celebration." At least
that’s what it says on the booklet we got upon arrival. This all happened in
the 100 year old Spartahallen just outside of Copenhagen centrum. For me this
festival was all about the breweries, I had expectations for the food and the
breweries; only the brews accomplished my expectations. The food was great, but
my expectation was to high. There were beer seminars, 5 different every day covering
different subjects, I didn't attend them, I had enough tasting the best beers in the world. With
breweries like: Cigar City, De Struise, De Molen, Hoppin Frog, Kernel, Nøgne Ø
& Three Floyds who can blame me?
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| Jakob Schytz & Fred Karm |
As mentioned we arrived late the first day, the festival
doors opened at 12:00, we were still sleeping at that time, some 4 hours later
after deciding whether to live or die from the immense hang over, and after
force feeding our self solid food we left for the festival. We got our glasses
and chips and started trying different kinds of beer. The beer line up was
different both days and so was the food, so I'm really happy about going both
days. Another thing I'm also really happy about is the fact that this was not
the only beer festival in town this weekend. This is controversial, because
this subject has been debated heavily on different forums on the net. Even at
Mikkeller bar while hanging out there, one dude was all going like "He did
it because so and so", so I told him, "Mikkel is right there why
don't you ask him", and he did and I wish I could repeat what Mikkel said,
but they both spoke Danish and my Danish isn't very good.
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| Evin O'Riordain aka The Kernel. |
Well back to the
point, why I'm glad: It's not because I think the other festival is shit, but
it's a great opportunity for those who wanna see more, not only one of the
festivals, but also because the people attending the CBC were only hardcore
beer geeks. There was no people trying IPA or Imperial Stout for the first
time, people didn't come to get drunk, but to drink great beers and socialise.
With one or two exceptions maybe! I think Elsa from Nøgne Ø said it
best when Andrew asked us if we were going to both of the festivals:
"These dudes are hardcore beer geeks, they won’t go to the commercial
festival." After six hours of beer tasting we left for the Mikkeller bar
to hang out there.
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| Die By The Beer poster boy Kjetil! |
The next day we arrived a lot earlier, we're now at beer
geeking day number 5. One of the first things I hear is Fred from Hoppin Frog saying,
"Hey I heard you guys finally got to try the D.O.R.I.S. yesterday! How was
it?" De Struise, the only brewery placed on the outside had moved from the
front side to the back yard where the festival toilets where placed. We're
talking Roskilde festival toilets here, probably, he he! De Struise had a 20 tap
festival waggon, they where the only brewery not changing their beer line up
between days, but they also had the biggest line up, so I didn't really care. I
think they where my favourite brewery at the festival! We ate the food of Jakob
Mielckes of Mielcke & Hurtigkarls, Saturdays dish was quite nice, I didn't
care to much for the beer that were served with the food, after drinking so many tasty beers this beer just weren't tasty enough in my eyes. We also ate Hot Dog with beer pickles, beer
ketchup and beer mustard from John's Hot Dog Deli, we had a great time walking,
talking and meeting people. Before the end we took a group picture with Mikkel
and Jeppe and I got a few words with Mikkel, he said that what he were most proud of
was getting Three Floyds to Europe and to the festival.
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| Some woman getting beer! |
I really hope Mikkel will do another festival next year, and
I really hope I have the opportunity to go. I don't care too much if they still
have festival toilets but I would like the opportunity to clean my glass and wash
my hands after going to the loo. Oh,
and I wanna be able to sit more, so I can hang out longer than I did and try
even more beers! Other than that everything was perfect, great event, best line up ever,
best beer festival I've ever been to! Two thumbs up! CBC was the highlight of a road trip filled with highlights!
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| Kjetil, Jeppe, Lars, Herman, Haffy & Mikkel. |
Beers from CBC that demands more attention:
De Struise Dirty Horse 1983 7% Wild Ale: One of the oldest
beers I've ever tasted, impressively good and complex.
De Struise Black Damnation VI - Messy 39% Imperial
"Eisbocked" Stout: These guys should teach Brewdog how to do it, you
would never guess it's that strong, drinks like a normal Imp. Stout. Awesome!
Westbrook Mexican Coffee Cake 10,5% Imperial Stout: Spicy
dessert of an ale, could just as well been made by Southern Tier. Have this
instead of dessert? Yes please...
Evil Twin Even More Jesus 12% Imperial Stout: My kind of
beer, an "all in" Imp. Stout from Jeppe brewed at Fanø, great!
Brewdog Anarchist and Alchemist 14% Triple IPA: Finally
something new and relevant from the Scots, great beer, go get it and enjoy!
Cigar City Marshall Zhukov's 11% Imperial Stout: One of the
best Imperial Stouts in the world, one of the best Imperial Stouts ever, you will
never get to try this beer! Ha-Ha! Or maybe you will...
Fanø Bryghus Chocolate Lava 10% Imperial Stout with chocolate,
licorice syrup and chili: Starts off with chocolate sweet chocolate flavor, then
chili, chili, chili.......HOT!
Mikkeller Spontandoubleblueberry 8%: This beer both looks
and tastes amazing, incomparable and unique, a beautiful beer!
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| Spontandoubleblueberry |
The long way home:
The next morning we left the hotel at 11:00 in the morning, and came home at
04:00 in the middle of the night; we had work to attend the next morning, any
questions? Yes it was swell!!!!
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| We returned safely with all our loot! |
Cheers
- Haffy
