Jimbo's Beerblog

Actually I'm used to call this Grön, but nowadays it comes with this new international ”green” brand, which is also familiar in Carlsberg brand. Actually Carlsberg owns the traditional Tuborg so that there is only one huge beer brewing corporation in Denmark. This is very light lager. Head goes away soon. And the taste...well, this is bulker than bulk. If that is even English :) There is still a bigger meaning for me, when Tuborg Grön is mentioned. It was back in 1992, when I was 17 yo, full of life and went with my class on a trip to Denmark. I was actually a non-drinker then (which is nice, because with my drinking habits, there would have been maybe more severe consequences if I had started the bad habit earlier in my life – like many teens used to, and still use to nowadays, at least in Finland), so it all was a great adventure for me. When we boarded on Silja Line (or Viking Line, who remembers, the floating drunkard-disco-giants look all the same inside), there was my ...

I was going to do my first-ever videoblog-entry for this beer, but my ex-wife came to visit boys and stayed late, so she messed my plans up (because I can't do things like write or make videoblog, when someone else is around :D). It does not matter, because after all – what the fuck was I thinking. This is not a videoblog. But I have to do it sometime in the future, still :) Well, this beer I enjoyed, video or not. I was pleasantly surprised, that this beer did not have too sweet taste, because that is my main concern in dark lager types. This is based on Karhu lager all right, but it is still very different. If Hartwall's effort of making a unique Finnish lager by adding Kataja aroma in beer was a failure, then this effort of competing brewery Sinebrychoff is much, much better. This is actually a good beer, and my scale of stars does not give this enough props, if I don't give it a straight four-star ”Great” for the effort. This is lager, but there is malted rye, whi...

Olvi beers have their distinctive taste (I have named it "metallic" of some kind), which I regrettably am not very great admirer, as Olvi is still nowadays the only big Finnish brewery that still is Finnish and not own by bigger multinational corporations. Sandels, brewed since 1971, is named after (folklore-)warhero Johan August Sandels, a Swedish soldier and officer, who fought against the Russians in Finland, Savonia, 1803-1808 and gathered fame by winning battles like in Koljonvirta, Iisalmi (hometown of Olvi breweries) against multiple times heavier Russian forces with his Swedish (and eventually also Finnish forces - though Finland was only one of Sweden's provinces by that time and later a province of Russia...) army of Savonia Jäger regiment. Sandels is light and soft lager and well-known and respected lager brand in Finland. I actually have these two nice Sandels-glasses, which I use quite often in my reviews also :) So, there is a respect for Olvi and Sa...

This is mainly regarded as a "party beer" and I guess there are not many beer enthusiasts (at least not in Europe) who would regard this as a great beer-drinking experience. But it actually is! Like its other Mexican well-known counterpart Corona, this is often served in bars with lemon and served in a bottle, not poured in glass. Beer is a drink that does not like sunshine. Thats why most of the beer bottles are dark brown. Some beers are not and these Mexican soda-beers are known for this kind of presentation. I don't know many European beers sold in similar bright glass bottles except Newcastle Brown Ale, which I have to review one time, too. This is a sunny beer, party beer and a great beer to drink straight from the bottle (though its not recommended nowadays, because some weird study told that when beer is drank straight from the bottle, some toxins or bacteria or what-the-fuck-ever are swallowed :D) when having fun. And beer is also a funny drink! *** ...

Danish lager has a special meaning for me. It was in 1992, when I had my first actual beer drinking sessions, as a 17 year old teen. We were in a school trip to Denmark, Copenhagen and also in Roskilde. We were astonished to buy our own beer from the groceries and drink in pubs too. Grøn Tuborg was then the main brand we drank and it is actually also the number one brand in Denmark. Carlsberg, however, is the owner of Tuborg breweries (since 1970, Tuborg itself was established in 1873). Nowaways Carlsberg also owns Sinebrychoff from Finland. Carlsberg ads claim that it is "probably the best lager in the world" (earlier it was "the best beer" I think), but it is just a lager. Quite good lager, but nothing fancy. Its sold nowadays in green bottles that look like soda, which also give an impression of "easy-drinkable" beer. Well, I also like easy-drinkables and there is a time and place for those, but it is still just basic lager. Because of the tanti...

My friend told me today, that he prefers Karjala beer over other Finnish bulk beers, so I thought I give it a shot in my blog too. I however, did not buy the basic light lager, but this spiced up version of Karjala, which contains tar as an added aroma. When poured to a beer glass, head is visible and stays in glass for a while, which is good for a Finnish bulk lager. Tar aroma is in there when smelled and tasted, but does it give something to this beer? My opinion is, that it is not especially good spice of beer, and this beer - though its kinda ok for a bulk lager - is not very good because of it. Tar is of course as Finnish as the saying "Karjala takaisin - vaikka pullo kerrallaan", which goes back to times, when Karjala was a part of Finland and not yet occupied by The Soviet Union in World War II. These is of course part of Karjala inside Finland, so its not just misery over lost land. There is however a large population with Karelian (Karjala = Karelia in English) ...

This is a Finnish bulk lager, but propably the best at its league. By league, I mean companion of Finnish top lager brands: Olvi, Karjala, Lapin Kulta, Koff and nowadays maybe also Kukko. Most people know these beer brands in Finland and every beer drinker sure as hell knows them. Finnish beer culture is mainly a light/golden lager -drinking culture and that's the kind of beer you get, if you go to ordinary Finnish pub, bar or restaurant. There are of course special bars and pubs for beer enthusiasts, but mainly Finnish people drink Finnish lager (and cider and vodka or some other type of hard liquor) and that's what they serve. It was nice to see the rise of Finnish beer culture when I was younger, as it went down and under in the early 1900s when prohibition law was going on from 1919 to 1932. After that Finnish alcohol monopoly Alko was the only shop (and which also regulated other alcohol sales in restaurants and so on) to buy alcohol from, until 1969, when beer class III...

I don't know much about German beer, but I know, like every beer enthusiast I think, that Germans are a beer drinking people. Their Oktoberfest is worldfamous happening with sausage, traditional clothing and music - and of course the huge pints. They are also known (at least by beer enthusiasts) for their Reinheitsgebot, "German Beer Purity Law", which is a bit odd code (because of its strickness) for making real beer. It is originally from 1516 and does recognize only water, barley and hops as the ingredients of beer. (Still the first thing that comes to my mind from German beer is wheat, which I don't like very much.) It is also said, that Reinheitsgebot led to the extinction of many traditional and local German beer specialities, which is a shame. It is still abided by some German breweries, though it has had many revisions through the years. So, that is German beer culture - big pints and strict rules. This beer, Holsten, has one special meaning for me, as ...

This British golden brown ale has a great aroma when smelled. But there is not so great taste or aftertaste. Head goes away quite soon too. This has been my problem with all these British Ales, that I have tasted: Maybe too much some bitter taste, that lands on your tongue and stays there. And that slightly disturbing bitterness in throat too. I'm not a fan of British Ales (nor actual Bitters, except some of them, but that's another story for another review), but I still like this, as I like almost every other beer. It just is not spectacular or even wonderful, just ok. What could then be said about British beer culture, if this beer is worth reviewing? Actually my blog has a mission: Every beer is better than any other drink, so every beer deserves to be reviewed (and drank too, of course). It goes so far, that I got to prove it by reviewing every label that I get my hands into. It's easy now, as I just started, but it will get tougher, when I have gone through all th...

It is always nice, when independent breweries "go wild" and put some odd, often local/native ingredient in beer, and make that their "special one". This is one of those, I think. I have liked Prykmestar-beers a lot and raise my hat to Vakka-Suomen Panimo, which has made its own brand of Prykmestar, with they touch of olf-fashioned typography and tough-looking bottles. Most I have propably liked their Pale Ale, which I must review one time. Pils was also quite good, Schwarz just ok. However, I didn't like their "Savu" (=smoke) and this beer is about lot of smoke. It's "hook" is in kataja (=juniper), which is a small tree, that lives in Northern hemisphere, so it is common in Finland. There is a saying, that we Finns are a "katajainen kansa" (=people like junipers), mainly emphasizing that we don't brake under pressure, which kataja/juniper does not do either, at least not very easily. Kataja is a tree, so it has no berries,...

I have already written about the increase in Finnish beer variety after many small, "independent" breweries have entered the business. Indies have the advantage over their big accompanies in making beers distinctively different than those leading bulk lagers. This is a product like that. Based on Belgian yeast and four different hops, this beer smells and tastes good, almost like a lemonade, but is still beer. Quite easy on the alcohol (4,2% vol) and easy drinkability are not curse words as there are not many beers like this in Finnish groceries. I would not choose this if it was the only beer I had to choose for the evening, but it's a great beer to drink in between heavier, more flavorable dark ales, stouts and bitters. I don't really like wheat-based beers, but this has also malted barley in it and with those hops and yeast, there is a sweet combination of lightness and taste. Maybe the best blond ale there is - at least from the Finnish point of view. Long li...

After I had enjoyed my Chimay Blue, I went and washed my beer glass with hot water. It's a way to do it - not with any washing fairy liquid. So, I then went to my cellar to get just another beer before it's time to go to bed. I'm silly, I know. It's a working day tomorrow, so I should have gone to bed after - or even before - Chimay :) But hey, it's sinday, after all! This Finnish "independent" brewery (Laitilan Wirvoitusjuomatehdas) started as an alternative small soda factory, making beverages with vintage style. This beer has quite nice, old fashioned etiquette, which shows men carrying barrels (of beer, I guess). So this is a porter kind of beer all right and alcohol raises up to 6,5 % vol. Colour is black of course, but sadly head goes away quite quickly and the taste is not so rich, as one (enthusiast) might want it to be. This is still different from those Finnish bulk lagers and I always want to endorse these fine smaller breweries over bigger ...

Chimay is an authentic Trappist beer. It means, it is made in monastery by the monks. Monastery gets it upkeep mainly from the sales of Chimay beers ("Gold" or Triple, "Red" and "Blue"), but also gives revenue to social aid. So more people drink Chimay, the more they can help - I wish there was similar kind of monasteries in Finland, where man could go to volunteer his life to make great beers :D I'm not so much into religion and stuff, but I raise my hat to those monks. This beer is uniquely Belgian. I love the aftertaste. This is not some "drink when you are thirsty" -beers, but more like for moments of peace, relaxation, enjoyment. Maybe this could be a dessert after great meal - or any great activity. Taste is so full of flavor and after a distinctly yeasty and bit of sugary first bite, mouth and tongue are tickling with this lovely taste. Head shows, that there is sugar in this beer and it has also more alcohol in it (9% vol) than t...

This is a beer, that needs no introduction. Everyone knows, that Guinness is black and from Ireland (from its capital Dublin, to be exact). It is also one of those few stout beers, that I like. Guinness is known for its long lasting head, that keeps the aroma in the glass as long as it gets empty. In pubs it is poured slowly, so that the creamy head is perfect. It is actually quite easy drinking beer for a stout, and that's maybe the reason, it is so popular throughout the world. This ”Draught” was introduced as a canned version of Guinness imitating the Guinness served in pubs. It uses a capsule that is activated when the can is opened, and nitrogen causes the beer to start making a creamy kind of head for the beer. It is artificial, though, and this can never be compared to actual Guinness served in a pub. Still I like it very very much and it is a ”dream” of mine to one day visit Dublin and Ireland, and have a load of Guinness pints in their local pubs. I also love Irish Fo...

Czech beer is mainly lager or dark lager, and Pilsner Urquell is one of the most famous of them. It has unique Czech smell, taste and aftertaste, which is different than those lagers brewed in my home country Finland. There have been active beer brewing (in commercial breweries) about a thousand years in Czech, and nowadays the Czech have the highest beer consumtion in the world per capita. It is fair to say that Czech people really are living in a beer culture. In Czech, as in other parts of Christian Europe, many monasteries brewed beer earlier from wheat, but in the 1900 th century malted barley became the dominant grain in beer brewing. Czech have grown their own unique hops for a long time and also exported them, as well as their beers, for hundreds of years. Czech beer could be called the basis of modern lager beers throughout the world. I actually don't nowadays like very much their dark lager, because they are often quite sweet because of added sugar and/or syrup. Gol...

In Europe there is a widespread beer culture, which has been part of the human culture for a long time. Asian, American or African beers are not often mentioned at all in Europe, though beer originates from ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia (possibly even as far away in history as 9500 BC). Maybe beer culture has not flourished in certain areas in recent centuries, because of different powerful religions (that maybe condemn alcohol use more often than Christian faith) in the region of Indo-Asia. The beer culture has been thriving mainly in Europe and later on in America. In Europe there is a legacy of Christian monks brewing beer, which is still nowadays happening in countries like Belgium. In Asia, though, there are not such culture, because there the main agricultural product is rice, but most beers are brewed from malted barley of wheat. This Japanese beer is much like any other Asian beer (like Chinese Tsingtao, which I drink when eating in Chinese restaurants), I have tasted....

This is a beer from a small Finnish restaurant-brewery. There has been an increase in variety of beer labels that are sold in Finnish shops in recent years. It is a great improvement. When I was younger and started to get to know beer culture, it was actually quite sad from Finnish point of view: Only basic lager after lager was sold. Then came the restaurant beers that were brewed and sold locally. Then came those little breweries that started to get their products sold in shops locally and step-by-step also nationwide. Nowadays it is possible to buy about 5-10 different "independent" local beers in shops, that were not sold at all 5-10 years ago. There are great beers and there are ok beers, but the best thing in rise of the little ones, has been the rise in variety of beers. There are different tastes, hops, malts, smells and so on. There are even organic beers available. This is one of those. Nothing spectacular. It smells good, though :) And I have been throwing dar...

I had to put that on quotation marks, because I have no idea, what that lovely, slightly dark nectar of the beer gods was, which I had a great pleasure enjoying on my trip to Prague. It is sad to say, that it was all the way back in 1992 and since I have longed for a re-run. But you know, life goes as it goes. After that trip, which I made with my dad (as a gift of being graduated), I have mainly lived my life either with no money or living too far (ie. not direct flights but an expensive flight after another) or as a student (drinking all my money far far away from Prague), and other time consuming shit like too young girlfriends or otherwise needy women, who are as poor as me to travel to Prague or anywhere, and finally working (but never still getting enough money for else but to start doing those things that people usually do - paying your student loans and taking another loans to buy a house and a car and so on) and ultimately becoming a father to four little children, of whom...

This is actually a light beer - and by "light" I mean that it is made for those family men (like me) who in the mornings have to drive a car and go to work or take care of their children (I'm a divorced dad living with three small kids). This is considered as a low-alcoholic beverage, rather than beer, actually. This is sold also in places, that can't sell alcohol. I have heard that many work-place restaurants used to sell this earlier, but it had to be stopped, as those, who came to work in a hangover or drunk, could go to canteen and order some "ykkönen" and say to collegues, that I visited canteen, and that's why I smell like a drunkard. "Ykkönen" is still beer, in my opinion. There is obviously the taste of bulk lager, but with a lot more water-like taste than the actual beer-beers. Some say this isn't a beer, as it is purposely made less alcoholic. "Ykkönen" is obviously not like those traditional home brewes, that may or may...

"Lager, lager, lager, shouting, lager, lager, lager!" I guess that was some kind of anthem in those early days of my beer loving career. However, this estonian lager has nothing to do with those times. It just happens to be lager. As it is called "Gold", it surely is golden-like. Odour (I think that is much funnier word than "smell") is very mild, almost non-existent. When poured in a good beer glass, the head is very thin. Taste is kind of bitter, metally, industrial lager-like. Carbon-dioxide tickles the tongue. I'm sure I write full of horseshite, as I'm not a literary genius in any language, not even my own. However, this tastes like bulk lagers usually taste, if you know what I mean. It sort of goes with the flow (if you are drinking already), but this is no "let's taste this wonderful piece of beer-craftsmanship, masterpiece of brewing", rather the opposite. But I have tasted and drank much worse beers - this just doesn't gi...

I have to start with my absolute favorite of them all... If I was to be left on a deserted island with just one (crate of) beer, I would pick Duvel. It is the beer every beer lover (and by that I mean beer enthusiasts like me - who are in to beers as a species of drinks which one prefers over the other drinks) should taste at least once in a lifetime. Duvel is not your "everyday beverage" but rather a drink for special occasions. It may not be your favorite, but you will surely remember it's uniqueness. I surely do (because as writing this first "review", I regrettably have no Duvel to drink...but I will correct my mistake soon enough!) Duvel translates into Devil, and despite I'm an atheist, I surely understand why - and shall praise this "devil", as I enjoy the magnifique of Belgian golden ale. This beer is quite strong (8,5% vol) and it will get you dizzy and eventually drunk in no time. That it will do as a devilish encounter as well. You...

I'm a beer enthusiast. Beer is not just a drink - it's the drink of drinks, and (for me at least) a hobby - even a lifestyle. As soon as I drank my first few beers as a young dude, I was sure, that this is my favorite for life. Never have I tasted better wine, whisky, milk, soft drink, water, juice, coffee or any other drink, that could be compared to beer. I'd love to live with beer tap at home. Still I'm nothing compared to Homer Simpson ;) In reality I'm a regular guy with family and a day-job. Maybe some dudes can just drink beer whenever they want and live their lives, but I must take care of my children, drive car and work sober. Also it is quite certain, that I would be dead already, if I had just drank beer all day long after starting the joyous journey when I was 17 yo. Now, 20 years later, I enjoy my few beers mainly at evenings trying not to get as drunk as I surely was too often when I was a younger dude. This blog was inspired by my old friend, who revi...