Opening a new can of worms.

Today I got a new delivery of beers which I'm pretty excited about. They have come all the way from Maui, Hawaii. I've got an American IPA called "Big Swell" and a porter with toasted coconut called "CoConut Porter" (the weather is probably too hot to be creative). I got them via Mikkeller in Denmark, and felt I had to bring them to Estonia - 1) because they are pretty great beers, and 2) because there really couldn't be two opposing climates to drink beer in. It's currently raining in Tallinn, but lets hope these tropical beers let a bit of sunshine into our Baltic summer.

I almost didn't order them. In truth, I'm still a bit nervous that I did. Ok, I've only got 15 cases of each, but what makes me nervous is that I might not even be able to sell this small amount. "Why?" I hear you ask. "But you said they were great beers?" I hear you cry.  "Because they are in cans" I mutter in a casual back handed, slightly sheepish sort of way.

Beer in cans - that's cheap beer to you and me isn't it? We've all been conditioned into thinking that cans are commodity and glass is premium. I mean - you don't look as cool drinking a Corona out of the can at the local "venue" bar do you? And I've got to admit, when I saw that the Maui beers were available, and then looked at the packaging column on the excel spreadsheet and saw "355ml Can", my heart sank. I really wanted this beer. Estonia really wanted this beer. But does Estonia know anything about quality beers in cans? I thought back to the last beers I had in cans, and fortunately, they were from the Oliver Twist bar in Stockholm - the leading supplier/stockist of craft American beer. Dales Pale ale, Ska Brewing Modus Hoperandi, New Belgium to name but a few. When I was in the UK, I was very partial to Bass pale ale in cans - which was specially brewed with more hops for the canned version.  So I took the plunge and ordered some. After all, I had the same feelings when I placed my first order for Brewdog....


Revolution is a word Brewdog are fond of. They are revolutionising the beer market as we know it with "out there" beers, and styles that differ from the norm. On the cans by Maui Brewing, they use the word revolution too. Here's what's written for you to read.....


WHY CANS? WELCOME TO THE MICROCANNING REVOLUTION...
Cans eliminate light damage and help reduce the risk of oxidation, keeping this craft brew fresher than in bottles!
Cans are lighter, chill quicker, and can be enjoyed on beaches and in sensitive environments. Aluminium is the most re-cycled and eco-friendly material.


The "Metallic" Myth.

Bottles are fine, I guess, if only because so many beers I love come only in bottles. But the thing that matters most—taste—doesn't change a bit in a can.

The next time someone says canned beer tastes "metallic", cut a can in half and ask him to show you where the metal ever actually touches the beer. Then he'll point at the inside of the gleaming can and say, "Right there geek. I'm guessing all the metal."

What your friend is missing is the epoxy lining that is sprayed on the inside of every can, the same stuff that has been used for about 40 years.

Keg beer.

Think about the new wave of craft draught beer. That comes in a keg, right? A big, metal keg that is lined with the same type of coating as your humble little can. In fact, back in the '30s American brewers started selling beers in cans they advertised it as "keg-lined."  It took a little longer in the UK, as the market was still dominated by cask, but in the late 70's early80's, Watneys brought out a 7 pint keg, and it was swiftly followed by a glut of canned beer.

Is it possible that canned beer tastes better than bottled beer? Well, sure, depending on circumstances.  But that's often because of the way beer is transported from the brewery to the store. Light will accelerate the oxidation of beer—that's why most brewers use brown bottles, not green—but it's not the only way a beer develops off flavors like that of the aldehyde trans-2-nonenal, which can make light-colored beers off - a little skunky, and in some cases a bit like lipstick (don't tell your wife/girlfriend/partner that she tastes like stale beer next time you are in the throws of passion. I don't think she'll see the geeky side).

Heat's actually just as big a factor. If your beer stays refrigerated from the brewery to the bar or shop, without sitting on a shelf somewhere at room temperature, everything should be great. But of course that is in the make believe world. It rarely happens in real life. This is all worth bearing in mind that a canned beer won't be subject to light oxidation like a bottle beer would.

Of course it doesn't really matter if it's a generic lager, or lesser hopped ale. But those who have read my previous blogs, know that hops don't like sunlight once they are in the beer. This is why IPA's - especially heavily dry hopped beers, are in dark bottles. The sun makes the essential oils in the hops break up and give off bad aromas. Fine for a beer like Corona or Sol with very little hops (think about the colour of these bottles), but very bad for an IPA, especially an American IPA which is packed full of the plant.

Green - but not green glass.

Canned beer's benefits don't stop at freshness. Cans are easier on the environment. They are nearly 50 percent lighter to ship than bottles, which greatly reduces their carbon footprint.  Aluminum is infinitely recyclable, and recycled cans can be back on the shelf with new product within eight weeks. 

It's easier to store and transport.

Got some friends coming over for a bbq? They'll be drinking beer of course. Lots of it. Better stock the fridge to the max. How many times have you played Jenga with your beer bottles? Trying to stack them in the fridge without them rolling around, is a skill in itself. With cans, you don't have that problem. 6 pack or 4 pack, you just slide them in. Being in aluminium chills them down faster than glass too. And although I don't advocate ice cold beer, the quicker it is to cool an IPA down to 12 degrees the better.

Going into the forest with some mates? Don't fancy glass rolling around the boot of your car or backpack? Cans are safer. Going down the beach with the guys and girls - don't want to run the risk of dropping some glass bottles on the rocks? Take some cans. At least, if you drop them - you can probably salvage a few drops, or at the very lowest, enjoy spraying beer over everyone.

So I've got to admit, I have a changed viewpoint. As I said right at the beginning, I thought of the great beers I tried in can, and used these to sway my decision to bring them to Estonia. But up until then - those beers have always been "novelty beers". Beers that are "great beers but in a can".  I spoke to one of the guys at Oliver Twist and they told me that they tried New Belgium Fat Tire amber, side by side in both bottle and can. The can won hands down. It tasted fresher, more creamier and had a much more roasted pallet than it's bottle counterpart. Punk IPA is available in cans. Who knows - if I get good feedback about these beers, then I can really join the "microcanning" revolution and bring Brewdog in metal over to Estonia.

So put the thought about canned craft beer being blasphemous to one side and try these two new beers that are available to you. You'll also have to leave the "canned beer is cheaper" mindset behind too, as these beers are the same price as craft beer in bottles. Buy them with an open mind - thinking about how much fresher they may be. How quicker you'll be able to drink them at the right temperature, and how they won't smash into a million pieces when you drop the bag onto the road on the way home. Maybe even find the geek in you, and serve them to someone in a glass without telling them that the beer came from a can. (Important note - just because these beers are in a can, doesn't mean that you can drink it from the can. These beers are full of wonderful aromas and freshness - you absolutely must pour them into a glass).

Whatever you do, this is about breaking new ground in beer drinking, and it's nice to be a part of it isn't it? Now that's something I CAN relate to. (I'll get my coat. And my backpack complete with 6 pack).

The glass is always cleaner on the other side...

I went to a pub the other day, ordered a draught beer and it was served to me in a Weston's cider glass.  Now, there's two things wrong with this. The cider glass has something called an "activator" on the bottom of it which enhances the gas in the liquid (more on this later). Basically, it makes it more fizzy. Unfortunately, I'd ordered a pint of Abbot ale - which isn't meant to be fizzy. The second thing wrong, is that it just didn't look right. I like my beer to be served in it's own branded glass.

Its a bit like sticking a Citroen badge on VW. You know it's a VW, but it doesn't look right, and the car would perform so much better with its correct badge on the bonnet.

Glasses are designed to increase or enhance the performance of your drink. Take a wheat beer glass for example. Tall, 50cl, narrow at the bottom widening at the top. It looks nice, but this design has a purpose. The width allows for the aroma to be channelled towards the drinkers nose, and also accommodates the thick fluffy head that wheat beers have.

In the UK, until the end of the Victorian era, pub-goers mostly drank out of pewter tankards, which hid the bits of sediment that used to float around in their beer. Then two things happened: dark pubs began to be better lit, and modern filtration methods started to produce a clearer drink. As newly enlightened drinkers took more notice of the clarity of their pint, the modern beer glass was born.

The first mass-produced beer glass – the 10-sided, handled pint mug – arrived in the 1920s.

                         An advert showing a typical 10 sided handled glass
                                 

After the war, it was replaced by the dimpled beer mug which was cheaper to make, made of thick glass patterned with indentations, oddly resembling a hand grenade. This design change fitted in with changing drinking habits: dark beer had acquired an unfashionable image as an old working-class man's drink, and its substitute, amber bitter, looked lovely in the refracted light of a dimpled glass.


Then, in the 1960s, the dimpled mug went into a long, terminal decline because (or so the brewers told us) drinkers preferred a lighter, straighter glass. The invention of a new type of glass, with a bulge about an inch from the top, also solved the perennial problem of straight glasses – their tendency to chip near the rim when being washed together. The bulge prevented this from happening, and the glass was called a "Nonik" (no nick) glass.

The UK only really produces two types of beer: Lager and ale. These can be served in the same type of glass. It's when you go to continental Europe, that you'll see the different types of glasses really coming into play. Belgium is a great example.

I was in Bruges a couple of years ago and walked into a tiny little bar. This bar boasted over 200 different beers - I've no idea where they put them all. I ordered a beer, and is customary in Belgium, it arrived in it's correct branded glass. That got me thinking about their storage problem. Not only do they need space to store the beer, but also (if they have glasses for each beer) all the glassware too. So I did a test. The first beer I ordered was pretty mainstream - big brewers have money to spend on glasses. The second beer I ordered, I chose a much smaller brewery from the list, and sat back to see what glass it arrived in. Lo and behold, the glass matched the beer (it was a "De Graal Tripel in case you are wondering). The next beer I had, was a "Satan Red", which also arrived in it's own glass. I was suprised about this, not because I didn't think that the glass would be available, but suprised because THEY had any available. The problem with interesting glasses, is that they get stolen.

The iconic glass from Kwak is the worlds most stolen beer glass. The glass is distinctive because it stands upright in its own wooden holder. Legend has it, that this glass was used by a 19th century coach house, and that the wooden holder was designed to fit into the stirrups of the drinkers horse so that he could drink on the move. No such thing as drink driving laws back then.

The second most stolen glass in the world is also produced by the same brewery - the Tripel Karmeliet glass is a wonderful looking item, but once again it's designed with practical intentions. It's tapered at the top to allow a big creamy head. The only thing unpractical about it, is trying to sneek it into your wife's handbag when no one is looking (although seeing as it's a very popular glass to steal - it can't be that difficult).

I actually don't serve either of these beers at Drink Bar. While they are very good beers, whoever drinks them always wants the correct glass. As I've said, these are the two most stolen glasses in the world, so I think that if I did start stocking both the beer, and the glasses, in a short space of time I'd only have the beer. And there's nothing more disappointing than if you ordered a Kwak and it came in just a regular glass. The glasses are pretty hard to come by, and although I'd get some for free on my first order, after that I'd have to start paying for them. In Belgium, is a tradition that if you want a Kwak in a Kwak glass, you hand over your shoe as a deposit. I don't want to do that either - we're a small bar and the smell of ripe feet might put people off their drink!

Beer glasses aren't always beautiful. In many traditional pubs in the UK, you'll find an unusual item hanging up behind the bar - the "Yard of Ale". A yard of ale or yard glass is a very tall glass used for drinking around 2.5 imperial pints (1.4 l) of beer, depending upon the diameter. The glass is approximately 1 yard long, shaped with a bulb at the bottom, and a widening shaft which constitutes most of the height.^[The glass most likely originated in 17th-century England where the glass was known also as a "Long Glass". It is associated by legend with stagecoach drivers, though was mainly used for drinking feats and special toasts.Drinking a yard glass full of beer is a traditional pub game. The fastest drinking of a yard of ale in the Guinness Book of Records is 5 seconds. You wouldn't want to be in a round with him.

There's also a boot you can drink out of.  Beer boots, or Bierstiefel, have over a century of history and culture behind them. It is commonly believed that a general promised his troops to drink beer from his boot if they were successful in battle. When the troops prevailed, the general had a glass maker fashion a boot from glass to fulfill his promise without tasting his own feet and to avoid spoiling the beer in his leather boot. Since then, soldiers have enjoyed toasting to their victories with a beer boot. At gatherings in Germany, Austria and Switzerland, beer boots are often passed among the guests for a festive drinking challenge. 

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It is an old joke to hand the boot to a young novice drinker with the tip pointing away from his person, which will result in beer pouring over the drinker's face uncontrollably when air enters the tip Experienced drinkers always point the tip towards their body until the glass is sufficiently drained. It's the same with a yard - an experienced drinker will rotate the glass, to prevent the beer coming up from the bottom of the bubble and drenching them.

The general rule is that if it's a lager, then a regular nonic glass can be used. If it's a Pilsner, then it's best to use a Pilsner style glass which gradually taper outwards to let all those aromas out. Weiss beer is the same. If you're going to be drinking an ale, again a nonic or straight sided tulip glass can be used. No need for a stemmed glass - because the ale isn't going to be cold. The darker the beer, the more aroma you want to get from it. You might want to think about using a glass similar to what Chimay use. This allows for maximum air to get into the glass, and maximum aroma to come out. And if it's a very strong beer, you might want to think about using a smaller glass. Quite often, the stronger beers come in 33cl or even 25cl bottles. Something to sip and not gulp down is the order of the day here.

While lots of glassware dates back to tradition, there has been lots of new modern technology to help enhance your drinking experience. It is increasingly common to find pint glasses which contain markings on the base; very often these glasses are branded to one particular beer. The markings themselves are formed from small etchings which aid in allowing the gas within it to more readily release and thus preserve the head. Without the aid of these pits a regular pint glass will keep a head for only 3 or 4 minutes before appearing 'flat'.The markings come in a variety of styles ranging from a simple circular or square hatched pattern to more complicated branding messages.

                                                  An activated glass for Harp Lager.

I'm actually carrying out a consumer survey with Saku on this topic. The glass etching technology was new to them, and even though nearly every lager glass in the UK uses this system, Saku were still unsure of it's benefits.  I got some of their glasses mocked up with the Saku logo, and we're currently testing how drinkers think of the glasses compared to normal ones (go into Dubliner or Karja Kelder in Tallinn's old town and ask to take part - you'll get a free pint!). If the results are positive, then Saku will look to use activated glasses across their range. I must point out, that it's only for lager. There's no need for bubbles in ale. Here's a short video I made in my shed, proving how geeky you can get about glasses.

And keeping on the geeky theme - do you know how to spot a dirty glass in the bar? There's the obvious glass handed to you with lipstick smudges on it, but the less obvious can still mean the glass is dirty. In the video I explained about rising bubbles from the bottom of the glass showing the sign of a quality beer, but if you see bubbles on the side of the glass - then you should really hand that beer back and ask for a fresh one. The bubbles clinging to the inside of the glass, are actually trapped on particles of dirt. Yuk. You might sometimes see it on your glasses at home, because home dishwashers aren't as good as industrial glass cleaners. 

                                                 DISCLAIMER: That is not me.

Something else that ruins your beer inside the glass is milk. You should never wash a beer glass and a coffee cup in the same machine. The lactose in the milk makes the glass oily, and will kill head retention.  Same with fabric conditioner - let your glasses air dry, don't towel dry them if you want to keep the foam on your beer

A good way to identify a clean glass, is by "lacing". Lacing is the definition of the latticework of foam left on the glass after a drink has been taken. This is normally found when drinking ale, as ale is much more creamy and less carbonated than lager.  It's said you can tell how good the beer is , by counting the amount of sips (or gulps) to finish the beer.

                                    I finished this pint in 9 sips. I must have been tired.

So armed with this information - you're now going to send back any dirty glass you get served with aren't you? No, I didn't think so. Unfortunately, it's still a problem area in most bars. Many bar staff don't know the signs of a dirty glass, so will just shrug their shoulders and say that it's not their problem. Just as bar staff should be educated on which beer goes into which type of glass, they should also be taught how to correctly clean, dry and store glasses.  The main problem is, that many people still consider beer to be a cheap drink that gets you drunk. A dirty glass isn't going to prevent this from happening, so what does it matter if the glass is dirty, chipped or the wrong size? Quite a lot to my overall beer experience thank you very much. Cheers for the beer, but I won't be coming back to your bar again. 

Beer is a food. To serve it, you need a food licence and a health and safety certificate. I don't think many (although I am sure some do) serve food on dirty plates.

As Stella Artois say in their adverts "You wouldn't serve champagne in a teacup", and the more people who start to understand what they mean by this, the better. Demand more from your beer and it's glass!

I'll raise my glass to whoever starts the glass fightback!

Gourmet beer comes (back) to Estonia.

Right, after much complaining to Viru that they are ignoring their home market, they have done a u-turn and decided to make the beers available in Estonia. I got some samples last week from the sales rep. As far as  I am aware, they will be on general release from May. The price he quoted me was under a Euro a bottle. Alarm bells.

For those who don't know, Viru Olu recently revealed that they are brewing "gourmet beer" for the Danish market, and the Danish market only. They said that Estonians don't like ale and aren't ready for gourmet beers. I chuckled at this quote, because at that time of writing, I had just struck a deal with Mikkeller of Denmark, to bring their "gourmet" beers to Estonia for ale thirsty Estonians.

Doing a bit of research shows that the brewery where this is made is the Gourmetbryggeriet in Roskilde, some 60 or so km West of Copenhagen. This brewery produces quite a few beers, and has even been used by Mikkeller to brew their Christmas beer "Santa's little helper" in 2006.

I have to admit, I am still a bit confused where Viru come in. Do GB brew it under licence for them?

They are planning to release 4 different beers. 3 under the GB name, and 1 other under the Puls brand.

Here they are:



Puls "ale" (and in very small print "pale ale"). 5.2% abv

It's the same packaging as the other Puls beers - which I kind of like in an Art Deco way. I have to admit that my concerns were immediately alerted when I read that the word ale, was in inverted commas. On the back, (in Estonian) while saying that it is top fermented, it goes on to say that it's an ale style beer. The fact that it's top fermented means that it uses ale yeast, so that means that it's an ale. Ale is not a style, pale ale is a style, brown ale is a style, lambic, stout, scotch and Burton are all styles.

And a pale ale it is not. It's actually quite a deep, caramel red. A reasonable sized head, sits proudly on the liquid. And this caramel carries onto the nose. There is no smell of hops, but quite a nice sweet, toffee aroma. Not the sort of smells you'd associate with a pale ale - modern or traditional. It's almost like smelling the beer from Sillamae "Munchen". Which incidentally, is a lager. I find that this sweetness soon becomes quite irritating. If I am smelling a pale ale, I want to smell fresh hops - spicy one if its a classic pale ale, or more floral tropical fruit ones if it's a more modern style.

By the time I am ready to taste it, the head has rapidly disappeared. Another sign that there is little hops used. The taste is similar to the smell - pretty sweet, with lots of caramel flavours. Perhaps this is where the colour is from - caramel or candy sugar? Very little bitterness, and overall pretty one dimensional because of the sweetness. It's very very similar to Saku Manchester.  Mouth feel is slightly cloying and chewy. I served this at about 12c. I don't think serving it any warmer or colder would have any difference on the taste.

I'd just taken a second sip, when the wife called me from upstairs to tell me it was time to put the kids to bed, starting with changing the littlest ones nappy. I went upstairs without a second thought.  Came back downstairs half an hour later, saw the beer and poured it away.  Kind of sums it up.

Verdict: Drainpour.



Next up is "Piney".5.2% abv.

This is part of their "GB" range. Someone said that it sounds like a toilet cleaner brand. On the label it explains that Cascade and Amarillo hops are used. Brilliant! The same hops that are used in Brewdogs 5AM Saint. So it was with some excitement that I opened the bottle.

Not much aroma comes from the bottle, but it does pour a decent straw golden colour with a pretty strong head. A big sniff into the glass to get all those lovely American hops aromas (some of which should be pine - hence the name of the beer I guess), leaves you disappointed. Its that same sweet caramel aroma again. The beer is the same abv, and a pretty similar colour - is it the same as the Puls beer?

Once again the head has gone. The taste does have a little fragrance, but is lost amongst the caramel which dominates the beer. There is a suggestion of a finish, but that, like the head on the beer quickly disappears.

If you are going to do an American style beer, you have to be able to a) smell the hops and b) taste the hops. Two things that are missing in this beer. They also recommend to serve it at 6c. Odd.

Verdict: It's not bad, but those who know what Amarillo and Cascade taste and smell like will immediately disregard this beer as being not true to the style. Those who don't, will wonder what the difference between this and the Puls beer is, and also might think that American hops used in this beer are probably used in Bud too.

It's a lager next. "Bock" . 7% abv.

Gourmet strong beer on the label. Pours very thin (even in my specialist bock glass). Struggled to keep a head even for the picture. A nice amber colour. (uh oh - please, not more caramel).

Aroma is almost non existent. The taste is ALMOST EXACTLY THE SAME as the previous two! The only difference is that there is more fizz on the tongue. I'm getting bored of saying it now: caramel sweetness, toffee and very little hops.  Here's the weird thing. Recommended serving temperature 7c. Higher than the ale?

Here's a picture, 4 minutes after I poured it.

Bock beer is traditionally served on special occasions. I suggest that April fools might be a good time to drink this. Or my funeral wake.

Verdict: You think I was going to continue drinking it when it looked like that after 4 mins? Woudn't raise an eyebrow if someone told me that this came from a 2L plastic bottle.  Drainpour.

And last, and hopefully not least is FinAle. Is that a play on words. Finale, meaning last? Or is this an ale for Fins? Lets find out. 6.5%

Pours a deep burnt orange, amber colour. Decent size head. Looks pretty nice in the glass.

Serve at 7c it says on the label, so I did. The result is no aroma at all. Despite being promised as described on the label, as having West Coast flavours from the Cascade hops.

I don't even need to say what it tastes like. Except this is the worst of the lot. Apart from the sickly sweet caramel flavours, there is a metallic finish. It's actually diffiicult to drink because it's so heavy and chewy. It's a sort of beer where you struggle to finish the whole glass. Again, as you can see below, intital good looks quickly disapear. GB should supply free beer goggles for all of these beers.

Verdict: What's the difference between this and the others? The name. Which actually is quite apt. It's the FinAle nail in the coffin for this particular group of beers. Felt guilty about pouring YET ANOTHER beer down the sink. So I left it on the worktop unfinished, for the Mrs to pour it down the sink in the morning. Wife drainpour.


As much as I totally commend what they are doing, I just wished that they had done their research a bit more fuller. I completely buy in to the fact that 99% of Estonia is a lager market, and that means that many of  the people drinking this beer will be trying ale for the first time. I am sure most will enjoy it - because this type of ale is more amber lager, than pale ale. Saku Tume and Sillamae Munchen drinkers will probably like this. Ale geeks like me won't like it. My main fear are those people who have seen these funny named brands on the shelf "Punk IPA, Trashy Blonde, Bishops Finger etc etc" and have wanted to try them, but have been put off by the price, name of style, so decide to try a GB beer instead. After drinking one of them, they are bound to wonder what the fuss is all about over Brewdog and Mikkeller, and go back to drinking lager instead.

If you are only aiming at a small segment of the market who like quality ales - then make one for them. Spend a bit of  money. We don't mind if the beer is more than 4€ a bottle if it's worth it. If that means using hops by the bagful instead of sprinkling them on like saffron, then so be it. If it means adding some aromatic American hops towards the end of the boil, or dry hopping for aroma - then do it. It's only going to be 1% of Estonians who don't like it, but if done properly - you never know how many new craft beer converts you might get.

But of course for every craft beer drinker who dislikes this, there is a lager drinker who will like it. And this in turn will hopefully make them feel more confident about ale, and will give them the courage to try some of the more "out there" beers currently available in Estonia. We all have to start somewhere I guess.

Still, it's early days and things can only improve. Lets hope they forgot to add the hops or something. Or that the head brewer decides to leave.

Ah well, lets all sit back and wait for A Le Coq and Saku to release their version of "ales". At least it makes the beers in Drink Bar and Shop taste even better.

EDIT: After sleeping on it (and I think I've found the cure for a hangover - drink bad beer! The more you pour down the sink, the less chance of a headache in the morning), I decided that I'd been a little harsh and possibly cruel. I don't want to be seen as the Englishman living in Estonia who shoots down Estonian beer because its....Estonian. Maybe Estonian ale is different from British ale and this is how it's meant to taste. Not everyone enjoys the uber hoppy beers such as Punk IPA, Hardcore IPA or the new style American/NZ hops which are currently en vogue. But then I thought, they've got "West Coast" and lists of American hops used in the brew in their marketing on the bottles. So I'm not being harsh. These beers are not a true reflection of the style that they are supposed to represent.  


So I'm still sticking to my original reviews. I will however look out for further reviews with an open mind. As I mentioned in a previous tweet, You are bound to think Ferrari's are great cars if you've only ever driven Fords before. I suspect that these beers will receive much acclaim from the local press, simply because they will be comparing it to the generic lagers and "ale types" that are currently on their radar. In this case, they probably think Fords are Ferraris too.

Hoppy Easter!

It's not just the Easter Bunny that hops.


Lots of talk in the brewing world at the moment seems to be centering on hop varieties. The focus (in craft beer) is moving away from the traditional English, Czech and German hops, and towards the "new world" plants from America, Australia and New Zealand.


What is a hop, what is it used for and what does it do?

Humulus lupulus is a species of Humulus in the Canabaceae family. In other words, it's the female climbing plant that is related to Cannabis plant. I wouldn't advise smoking it though, it's much better used in beer.They can be used in tea and soft drinks, and can also be used medicinally to send you to sleep, but of the approx 150,000 metric tonnes of hops that are produced worldwide each year, nearly all of it ends up as the vital ingredient in providing bitterness and aroma in beer.


Hops first started being cultivated in the Hallertau region of Germany. Their hops are still used to this day - even in our very own local beer Saku (sharp intakes of breath as people actually realise that Saku contains a) something so historic and b) hops). It wasn't til a couple of hundred years later that hops were used in brewing. Beer before that was flavoured with herbs and spices to give it a bit of bite. This combination of herbs was called gruit and contained various ingredients with fantastically silly Harry Potteresque names like mugwort, yarrow, horehound and my own personal favourite; henbane. Quite why the hens didn't like this particular plant I don't know. One interesting fact about actual hops, is that it is extremely toxic to dogs, causing them to get hypothermia which in nearly all cases results in death. I bet Brewdog didn't know about that.

It was these mildly narcotic ingredients, along with various other theories, that led to the decline in the use of gruit and the switch over to hops. Some beers still use herbs and spices instead of hops, most notably the unhopped beer Sahti from our neighbours in Finland, and others have used traditional recipes to create new beers. Gruut Brewery based in Ghent, Belgium produce some fantastic tasting beers. These are available to buy from Drink Shop. http://www.gruut.be/En_Beginpagina.aspx

Hops are used in brewing because of their many benefits. They balance the sweetness of the malt with bitterness, they give off lots of different flavours and aromas, and they also act as a preservative. It's this last one that finally made brewers switch from gruit to hops - they found that their beers lasted longer using the latter.


Which incidentally is how IPA was invented. In the early 1800's beers were generally sweet and dark without much hops (read porter, stout etc). When the British troops based in India called out to the brewers back home for some beer, they waited in anticipation for it to arrive two or so month later (no Easy Jet back then). It arrived off the boat, and with mouths drooling with anticipation, was immediately racked, tapped and poured into eager glasses. They weren't very happy with the result. Due to the boat getting knocked about over the high seas, the beer getting blasted by high and then low temperatures, shook up, rolled about and generally not treated with the full care it deserved, when it did finally arrive in India, it was pretty much undrinkable. Although I BET they still drunk it. The brewers scratched their heads, and came up with the notion that hops, as a preservative could keep the beer fresh if there was enough in it. They also decided to brew the beer paler, and in a less conditioned state than the previous brews. This meant that along with the increased amount of hops, it would also be preserved by the amount of yeast in the barrel that would condition the beer along the way. The beer arrived in perfect order, and although it was much dryer than the usual brews, everyone loved it. Huzzah!! India Pale Ale, or IPA for short, was born.

Look at a glass of beer which is high in hops. Then look at the head. It's going to have a big creamy one. 

 Bumper sticker for my car. #1 "IPA drinkers like good head".

The idea is that you use two different types of hops, I won't go into it fully (if you want to know more - read my blog "leaves a bitter taste in your mouth"), one type of hops you add at the beginning of the boil and keep them in there for a couple of hours. These give the beer bitterness. The other type of hops is used for aroma and taste only - and that is added literally right at the end of the boiling process, or "dry hopped" where whole hop cones or pellets are added to the container and don't get boiled at all. Think of it as a soup. If you added parsley or coriander at the beginning with all the vegetables, you'd get very little flavour. If you added the chopped herbs towards the end, or actually in your soup bowl, then you'll get the benefit of these flavours and aromas without them all disappearing out of the window in a cloud of steam.


So what flavours do hops give off? Traditionally, hops from the UK give off earthy, spicy tastes and aromas. Those from Germany, Czech Republic and other Eastern European countries, give off spiced citrus and grassy aromas and flavours. The new wave of American and Southern Hemisphere hops are now bringing tropical fruits and very fresh grapefruit/mango like aromas with a soft but long lasting bitterness.


Who grows hops? The market is mostly dominated by the Germans and the US in terms of hectares, but look at Ethiopia and China in there. There is a school of thought that the Ethiopian hops "Gesho" in not in actual fact a hop at all, but more related to the buckthorn family. This is a chart from 2009. The figures have now changed, with Germany leading the market in 2011, and the US in second place. The "rest of the world" segment has increased too. There has been a huge demand for New Zealand and Australian hops - so much so, that one of the new "en vogue" hops, "Nelson Sauvin" has been totally sold out.

Here's what hop production in the USA looks like.

Over supply is affecting the industry due to a shift in varieties sought by brewers. Average prices are falling as growers near the end of long term contracts written at the start of the acreage run up. With the rise of craft brewing calling for different types of hops (hops that don't demand as much space due to the fact that the beer volumes aren't in the same league as the multinational brewers), these depleted acres should in time begin to fill up. Just over 10 years ago it was predicted that craft brewing would never gain more than 2% of the market, now it's predicted that it will reach 10% in a couple of years.


Know your hops: what are the names of some of the hops that are used in the top producing countries?


USA: Amarillo, Bravo, Cascade, Centennial, Chinook, Citra, Comet, Liberty, Magnum, Nugget, Simcoe,, Tomahawk.
Warrior, Willamette, Zeus
England: Bramling, Challenger, First Gold, Fuggles, Goldings, Northdown, Styrian,Target.
Germany: Hallertauer, Merkur, Opal, Perle, Saphir, Tradition.
Australia: Galaxy, Pride of Ringwood, Stella, 
New Zealand: Green Bullet, Motueka, Nelson Sauvin, Wai-iti


There are also four hops known as noble hops. These are hops which are low in bitterness and high in aroma. They are:
Germany: Hallertau, Spalt, Tettnang
Czech: Saaz,

As mentioned, different hops give off different tastes aromas. Here are some beers with the hops used explained:




USA: Sierra Nevada Pale Ale. Uses two hops - Magnum and Cascade. You'll get all the aromas of the hop in this beer - pine, cedar, citrus, plus some tropical fruits in the flavour. And lots of bitterness. Think of a forest in Oregon where this hop was first developed. Lots of Mikkeller use American hops too.
ENGLAND: Meantime IPA. Uses Fuggles and Goldings. Lots of English hops give this spicy orange peel flavours.
GERMANY: Hacker Pschorr Munich Gold: Hallertau Magnum. Soft herbal hops flavours with a spiced finish. Saku Originaal also use this hops.
AUSTRALIA: Little Creatures Pale Ale. Uses Galaxy and Cascade. Lots of flavours from both of the hops - grapefruit from the Australian Galaxy, coupled with tropical fruit and resin from the American Cascade. 
NEW ZEALAND: Punk IPA. Chinook, Simcoe, Nelson Sauvin, Ahtanum. Uses American and New Zealand hops, and it's the Nelson Sauvin that really shines through, with tastes of mango and passion fruit.
NOBLE: Pilsner Urquell. Classic Czech Pilsner hops Saaz are used to give the beer a citrus and spicy taste.

Many people, when they try some of the beers using American or New Zealand hops for the first time are simply blown away from the aroma which hits them on opening, and the flavour when first tasted. People are generally used to very little hops in beer, or bittering hops in beer. America is top of the charts, but in actual fact, it's the alpha hops which impart bitterness, not the aroma hops that make up most of their hop production. Although it's not always apparent, Bud and the other big boys use hops too. German hops are very soft and blend well into lagers - so they don't really taste huge either. So that's almost 80% of the market gone just with these two. In actual fact, unless you actively seek out craft beer, you're not really going to stumble upon a beer that uses Galaxy, Bravo or Nelson Sauvin. And when you do - you'll certainly know about it!  I absolutely love it when I am introducing a person or group to a heavily hopped aromatic beer for the first time. The look of shear confusion turning into delight as the tropical fruits and mango aromas hit their nose is wonderful. 


A friend of mine, and fellow beer geek also has similar feelings. He is slowly working through his friends converting them into craft beer hop heads. He told me a story about one of his friends who is now a Punk IPA fan. His friend said that no matter how bad a day he is having, all he has to do is put his nose into a glass of Punk IPA and he can't help smiling. I thought it was a great story, and to my suprise, the very next day when I was selling Mikkeller American Dream into a customer, they said the exact same thing. They said that each time you put your face to the glass, it was difficult to drink because of the huge smile on your face. If only you could bottle that feeling....oh wait.  

Bumper sticker for my car #2: "Craft beer drinkers do it with a smile on their face".

Here's a great example of what I am talking about. It's a beer that could be just like any other beer. If it wasn't for the hops.


It's a beer that when you open the bottle, you are immediately hit with the aroma of tropical fruits, grassy sweetness, and sharp malts. It's a beer that when you taste it, a multitude of flavours wash over your tongue. Sugary caramel at first, passion fruit at second, tangy hops third, and then finally the bitter dryness of pine cones at the finish. And of course this is a beer you spill all down your shirt because you are smiling too much.


I'll whisper it very very quietly. This beer is a Lager. That's right - a Lager as in, not an ale. To be more precise, it's a Pilsner. But what makes it a different from your regular Pilsner, is that the hops used are American. Simcoe, Centennial and Amarillo are the magic ingredients in transforming a classic Pilsner into a wonderful beer. So good in fact, that Ratebeer.com rate it as the worlds best premium lager.


What is it? What is it? I can hear you ask. The answer is what we've all been striving for:
The American Dream.


Mikkeller "The American Dream". Denmark (although brewed at the De Proefbrouwerij, Belgium). 4.6% ABV. Ratebeer rating: 96

It hits you as soon as you open the bottle - the aroma of fresh hops. It's as if someone has opened a mango factory in the middle of a pine forest. Mikkeller have been very careful to not call this a lager in huge flashing lights. It's described in Danish, as a Pilsner brewed with water, hops, barley and yeast. Interestingly, unlike many of their other beers, it doesn't list which hops they use. Maybe it's because they don't want to scare any lager drinkers. To be honest, when they first offered it to me, I said I wasn't interested. Estonia is full of lager, and I want to bring more ale here. Trust me, Tore from Mikkeller said. I took a punt, and when I had my first sip, I was literally speechless. I also had beer all down the front of my shirt.  When I'm describing it, or selling it in to a few of the places in Tallinn I think are worthy enough, I don't call it a lager. I just describe it as a wonderful refreshing beer made with American hops. 

You can tell by the colour that this is not an ordinary Pilsner. Its a murky, hazy apricot gold with a very large thick head. It's also got very little carbonation. Certainly not the fizz you'd get with a commercial lager.

When you taste it, you also realise it's not an ordinary Pilsner. I've already described the tastes you get from this beer in the opening description - but really, you just don't expect this beer to taste like this. Especially at 4.6%. I'd describe it as a sort of easy drinking Punk IPA. Of course for your regular lager drinker, this would be as challenging as it comes, but for a seasoned hop drinker, it's a very good, very well balanced beer.

Mouthfeel is great - how can it not be with that massive head? The head stays all the way to the end of the glass too. Interestingly, Mikkeller describe this as an "easy drinking summer beer to be drunk straight from the bottle". Call me old fashioned, but I prefer to drink from a glass. BUT, if I was hanging out on the beach, or someones lawn at a bbq, and they brought a chill bag full of this stuff, I wouldn't object. Even if it was ice cold.  

So as Brewdog say "Think about everything you know about lager, and then forget it in an instant" (ironically, this was their tagline for 77Lager, which they've now forgotten about because they think it's too boring). This is a truly lovely drink, and a champion of what can be done with hops if you choose the correct varieties. 

We've got some cases of Brewdogs "IPA is dead" arriving next month. These are 4 packs of 4 beers each containing just one single hop. It was Mikkeller who first came up with the single hop series, and I really believe its the way forward. Wine does it, and it really does help the customer. Imagine, just as you do when looking for a wine, that you can browse the beer section and decide which beer to choose on it's hop variety. Same with a bar. Walk in and ask the bartender "I'd like a glass of Nelson Sauvin please". Actually - come do drink bar and do just that, I'd like to think that my staff know a thing or two about beer. Even if they don't, it might be amusing to see what they give you :)

As Easter is upon us, I feel it's only right that you crack open a few beers and raise a toast to the man who gave his life so we can enjoy ours. I can't help but think that if he had turned water into IPA instead of wine, those nasty Romans might have put him on a pedestal instead of a cross.

Bumper sticker for my car #3 "Jesus should have made beer".

Hoppy Easter!

Stout or Porter?

With it being St Patrick's day last weekend, many people decided that it was the perfect occasion to sink a Guinness or two. Even people who don't normally drink dark beers get caught up in the atmosphere, and find themselves ordering a pint of the black stuff.

While many people think of Guinness as wholly Irish, it's actually brewed and consumed around the world. The UK drink the most of it, followed by Ireland, Nigeria and the States. 40% of worldwide sales are in Africa. Guinness has breweries in Nigeria, Canada, the Bahamas and Indonesia. It must be said though, that the base liquid (wort) is brewed in Dublin and is then shipped over to the other breweries to be fermented. So it's half Irish (just like most Americans claim to be).

A regular question that people ask me is "what's the difference between a stout and a porter". In actual fact they are one and the same. Maybe it's a testament to how Guinness tastes now, that I've heard many people say that they don't like porter, but like Guinness. And what I mean by that, is that Guinness of today doesn't really taste of anything. If you can, try the "Guinness Foreign Extra Stout". This used to be available in Estonia and is the nearest to the true Guinness that was brewed back in the 1800's. It's 7.5%, has very little carbonisation and is has much more taste than the more popular beer that we have here. I say popular, but of the 40% market share in Africa, almost 80% of that is made up of "export stout".

So what is porter and what is stout? Without getting into too much of a history lesson, "stout" was the strongest varient of the "porter" family. So in otherwords (like I said right at the beginning), they are both the same.

Time travel back to 18th century London. If you want to imagine a city in it's prime, then it's London. Loads of trade to and from abroad, as well as trade within the UK. London stations and docks were jam packed. These places needed people to transport luggage and goods from one place to another. These transporters came in the form of men who worked up to 20 hours a day. At the end of their working shift, these guys were hungry and thirsty. Not getting paid an awful lot, they had to make the best of what they had in their pocket, and they sided towards something strong and cheap.

** How can a beer be made strong and cheap**?  Making beer takes time. Not just because of the process that is involved (fermentation alone can take up to 2 weeks), but because of the storage of beer. It's this storage that "rounds off" the beer. It matures it. It conditions it. The word "lager" means in German "to store". Think about a strong and cheap beer that you've tasted. This is the stuff in plastic bottles. It's strong and it's cheap because it's never had the time to mature, which is why it can be sold cheap (time is money) and tastes mostly of strong alcohol. However, the people who generally drink this stuff don't really worry about time (they normally don't have watches) and they are only interested in drinking and getting drunk as fast as possible.

Anyway, back to these workers who carried luggage for a living. They transported things so much, that they got the name "porters". They drank so much of the beer mentioned earlier that this style of beer became known as "Porters beer". At the time, it was common to drink a  beer that was  a mix of three different beers - ale (which contained hops), beer (which was a relatively mild drink of malted barley) and "twopenny" which was a strong beer.  This new drink was called "Entire Porter", and was made to a recipe that didn't need to be mixed. We sell a stout (ok, this is confusing isn't it!) in Drink Bar made by Hopback called "Entire Stout" and this is where it gets it's name. It's an excellent beer which is bottle conditioned too.  In some parts of the UK, it's still common to mix your beers. If you ask for a "black and tan", you'll get a mix of dark beer and ale. If you ask for a "Mickey Mouse", you'll get a mix of lager and ale.

But all Porter/Stout is from Ireland right? Wrong. As mentioned above, London was the place to be, and along with Burton on Trent, lots of the brewers set up camp there. Beer was brown back then (they hadn't discovered the technology of roasting malt until it was black until the early 1800's (more on this later). This brown malt beer required quite a lot of conditioning and this was usually left to the landlord. Nodding at the "time is money" quote again, many landlords sold the beer as soon as they got it, which meant that the beer was a watery brown with quite a sour taste. Ironically, it's called "green beer" today.

The London brewers decided that they would condition the beer themselves. This meant it was ready for drinking (in a condition that it was meant to be) straight away. Due to this maturing process, it had a slightly darker colour than the previous version, tasted stronger and more importantly sold with great success. This dark Porter beer suddenly became the talk of the town, and anybody who was anybody started to drink it.

Up until 1770, the alcohol levels of beer was largely guesswork. In 1770, the hydrometer started being used to measure the density of liquid to the density of water. In laymans terms, you put the hydrometer into the unfermented beer and it gives you a reading in the form of numbers. You then put it in again after fermentation and take the reading again. The numbers will be lower, because the yeast has eaten all the sugars in the liquid and turned them into alcohol. You do a small equation, and this then gives the the alcohol content of the liquid. Brewing is easy right?  When the brewers making porter started to use the hydrometer, they found out that the brown malt they used didn't give as much sugar into the liquid. This meant they had to use more of it, which put the costs up. They decided to use pale malt as the main malt, with a little bit of brown and a lot of dark colouring. This had to stop in 1816, when a law was passed that only malt and hops were allowed to be used in making beer. Fortunately, a year later, the art of roasting malt until it was black and burnt was perfected, and the brewers could add a percentage of this malt instead of colouring. It wasn't until 1776 that Ireland in the form of Guinness started brewing porter. They mainly produced ales, but saw the success of the dark beers over the water. They produced a porter, but were still using brown malt with colouring. It was the ruling in 1816 that changed their recipe when they switched over to the black malt that gives the style of beer that we know from them today.

Although it's not quite the same today. Back then, it was much stronger: around 9% in alcohol. Guinness still produce this style today called "Foreign Extra Stout". If you can find it, try it. It's very good.

What about the other Irish stout that you can get here - Murphy's? Murphy's is from Cork in Southern Ireland and has been brewing since 1856. It's got a much lighter taste than Guinness, owing to the fact that it doesn't use as much roasted black malt, and uses caramel as a colouring agent. It's not as popular in Ireland as Guinness, but in 1997 when it's owners Heineken decided to put money behind a marketing campaign, it was the fasted growing stout in the world.

Stout is not just from Ireland and the UK. And remember, when I say stout, I also mean porter. In the Caribbean dark beers especially Guinness Extra and Dragon stout are very popular.Go over to Sri Lanka and lots of people drink Lion Stout. Baltic porters have their own category, with Estonia being very famous for producing some wonderful beers during the the realm of Catherine the II in Russia. It's Catherine that puts the Imperial in Russian Imperial Stouts.

So now you know a little bit about stouts and porters, and where they come from, and maybe a little bit about what they taste like. I'm reviewing Guinness and Murphy's, both available at Drink Bar, but don't overlook the following we have available too: Entire Stout (Hopback brewery), McCallums Stout (Belhaven), X-Porter (Huvila), Black Hole Imperial Porter (Mikkeller), Tokyo imperial stout (Brewdog).

The first one I'm having is Murphy's (ratebeer rating 81). It's relatively new in Estonia and is available in a 500ml can. The can contains a "widget", which is a device that contains nitrogen. It's like a small ping pong ball filled with gas - when the can is opened, the pressure forces the gas out of the widget and into the beer. This in turn creates the creamy composition that is the same as you get in a bar.

The problem with having a can that contains a widget, is that you must chill it. When beer is room temperature, it's much more lively than when it's chilled. If you opened a can of Murphy's straight from the shelf, it's more than likely to foam up everywhere. The downside of having it in the fridge, is that you lose quite a lot of taste and aroma.

So, the pour - well due to being nitrogen enhanced, of course it is super smooth. Very nice and creamy, and it's nice that it's 500ml, so you can try and replicate the pint from the bar (minus the shamrock or waiting 119.53 seconds that is). It's a nice deep ruby red (it's not black) colour with a great head.

Aroma is not so good. Maybe because it's been in the fridge, but probably because the nitrogen masks all the aromas. Or maybe because this is a mainstream beer and they aren't that big on aroma hops/dry hopping.

The taste - is nice! It's very smooth, not so roasty, but quite sweet. You can taste the caramel in the brew, not much hops, but a slight bitterness from what little hops is there. The overall taste sensation of this is "smoothness".

Overall a pretty good beer. I suspect the high ratebeer rating comes from all the Americans who like to think they are Irish.

Moving on. Now we have Guinness (rate beer score of 90). Also with a widget, but this time in a 330ml bottle.  Pours nice and dark with a more tan head than the Murphy's. It's always a pleasure to watch the swirl of the beer before it settles in the glass. Here's a fact - if you are a good barman/woman, you can pour a draught Guinness in one pour. I can do it. It's all marketing bullshit this "two part pour" nonsense. I remember a brand manager for Guinness telling me how it all came about. The advertising agency were thinking about how to make Guinness more appealing to the younger generation. Almost giving up, they went out for lunch to have a bit of a rest from their work. One of the execs ordered a steak. They were eating in an open kitchen. The chef, being a good chef, took the execs steak from the grill, and instead of putting it straight onto the plate, he let it rest for 5 mins. Right in front of the execs open eyes and watering mouth. The way to sell Guinness had been found!!

Aroma - it smells quite sweet. That's the over-riding smell. No hops, no roasted malt - just sweetness. And I thought Murphy's is meant to be sweeter than Guinness?

Taste - wow, now this is a huge suprise! Ok, I drink Guinness very rarely, normally when I'm in a bar that doesn't have a good selection of draught beer or ale, but I don't remember it tasting this sweeeeet! And I mean sweet as in sugar, not an American adjective of pleasure. Maybe it's because the Murphy's was so mild, but this has such a creamy taste (as well as texture) that I've never noticed before. I don't think it tastes this sweet on tap, and I am certain it doesn't taste this sweet when it's the Foreign Extra version. As I said - very suprising.  So much so, that I am going to have to get another bottle to try, and also head over to a certain Irish bar on the square to check out the taste of their draught version.

So what to say? I can say that I was suprised by the tastes of both of these beers (read stout, read porter). I knew that they would be creamy, but I didn't know that the overall taste of them would be of sweetness. Maybe it's because I am so used to American/NZ hoppy beers, that I felt lost when the hops was virtually non existent. But I don't only drink hoppy beers. I like dark beers too. But I like them because they are roasted, burnt toast offerings of alcohol, that make me slow down my drinking tempo and have me sitting in a chair with a lovely warm glow, and more often than not, a mouth that tastes like I have been licking an ashtray. With a smile.

Of course, these two beers volumes are probably more than the total craft beer volume in the UK put together. And it shows. As I keep saying "the moment you make something taste of something, is the moment people can decide they don't like it". Much the same as A Le Coq and Saku are battling it out over the "premium"beer market  in Estonia, it seems that Guinness and Murphy's are doing much the same thing with stout (read porter, read beer).

Not bad beers - and at a push, I'd choose Murphy's over Guinness (only because it's the smaller of the two organisations), but if I had the option, I'd go for one of the stouts/porters I mentioned earlier. AND, (and it's not often you hear me say this enough), don't forget the Estonian porters. I actually look forward to A Le Saku's offerings at Christmas, because they may produce mainstream middle of the road beers for 10 months of the year, but when November comes and the Christmas porters come out, all of a sudden I am an Estonian beer fan.

Now that DOES sound Irish.