Wednesday 21 May 2014

The Banana Republic and the Bailout published by Jusos Kiel

I was asked to write an article by my Comrades in Jusos Kiel who were kind enough to show me all around there lovely homeland a couple of years ago.

It focuses on the state of the nation post-bailout and why The Boomtown Rats still matter.

The article is available in English here.

And translated into German here.

Enjoy!


Thursday 8 May 2014

Copenhagen Beer Celebration 2014

The Copenhagen Beer Celebration takes place in a sports-hall in Østerbro, Copenhagen each May since 2010. The festival is organised by Mikkeler, the microbrewery and pub chain based in Copenhagen.

The festival hosted 40 breweries over 4 “sessions” with each brewery presenting 2 different beers per session. Breweries from the Brazil, Denmark, Germany, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, the UK and the US. There were well known names such as Brew Dog, Three Floyds, De Molen and of course Mikkeler itself.

Numbers can be used to label things numerically or randomly.

The first 3 sessions sold out quickly, so they added an extra one, at 10am Friday morning...

This is the one I attended and after 40 minutes of queuing me and my fellow travellers arrived into the sports beer hall and received our tasting glasses. The glasses at 60ml were practical for tasting, and you were more than welcome to get seconds if desired. Though their were some fountains to clean your glasses, most of those manning the beer taps were using bottles of water to rinse the glasses to save everyone inconvenience.

Despite the crowds the atmosphere was relaxed and after 30 minutes of everyone was pretty jovial from the sampling. Those dispensing the beers were as a rule from the breweries and were enthusiastic though extra signs to show what brewery was where and what they were offering would have certainly helped.

The Glasses fit safely in my pocket when urinating or gesticulating
Tasting Glasses



You get a map that tells you your location is else where.

There was coffee, fancy hot dogs, Smørrebrød and pork burgers available for those that needed less beer based nutrition. The location was pretty handy despite the toilets available, two high-end-but-still-festival-standard-porta-loo-cabins, being outside the entrance. But it was a sunny day and it was nice to be able to take your beer out for a walk in the sun.

Among all the fun and little beers, I had a melodramatic insight into a well publicised family feud, where Jeppe from Evil Twin (Mikkels Evil Twin, for more on that) was greeting people with hugs on the ground floor, Mikkel was taking it all in from an upstairs window, as menacing as DarthVader in the Death Star.



Here is a brief overview of Breweries that stood out for me, in alphabetical order:

Arizona Wilderness: Presented a very good Barley Wine, which managed to balance its traditional sweetness against good grain.

Buxton: Had a Raspberry Rye that allowed you to taste the bitterness and mouth-feel of fresh raspberries mellowed in rye. They also had a Stronge Extra Stout that was nice but unremarkable.

De Molen: Their Hot & Spicey Terrible Trinidad Moruga Scorpion Chilli was, well it was hot sauce in a glass. Could be better used, as, well hot sauce.

Evil Twin: The Mini Dingo, a good imperial stout, this was late in the day so I can't offer more...
Academics

Funky Buddha: This was something special, their Bonita Applebum: an apple pie brown ale, gave you all the spices, crust and apples you'd expect from apple pie in a glass. A great example of what a dessert beer can be. Their Last Snow, a Coffee Porter with Coconut, White Chocolate and Caramel was a delicious as it sounds as well, but not as distinguished as the Applebum.

Kernel: I always enjoy what they bring to the table, though I enjoyed their HBC 466 India Pale Ale,and their Pale Ale, with Cascade Chinook Citra their delicate qualities are best enjoyed sitting down with some time to mull them over.

Kuhnhenn: Their Fluffer Session IPA was exactly what it promised and I'd be interested in more of their range.
Professional Researchers

Levrig: It's not often I get to enjoy Norwegian beer as I don't have the oil money to buy it, but I found Levrig's Galaxy IPA and their We Love Wheat (a collaboration with Nøgne Ø) very well crafted beers.

Mikkeller: Their A X Imperial Stout Black Spirit Olorosso Barrel Ed., an imperial stout, fell on its face for me as some of their more complicated beers do, it seemed like a good beer with some bad sherry thrown in (on another note, I had a stout aged in Calvados from Mikkeler, at the Viktoriagade bar the day after and it worked wonderfully!).

To ØL: Their Yeastus Christ SuperSour was a beer I was looking forward too, though it was very enjoybale and had a good long linger, I think they can aim higher than Christ and up the sour. Their 10 Finger Discount, a Cedar IPA was a good full IPA.


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Following and branching from the main themes Poetry, Urbanism and Beer and all the rest, along the way.