Jimbo's Beerblog

This is Bosnian beer and I was very excited when I first introduced this to my beloved friend - who is a Bosnian guy. Well, he was not overly excited. He thought that the beer had a similar kind of taste of Bosnian beers like Sarajevsko Pivo (which I had as a souvenir from him - not actually very special beer - though my friend's souvernir from his next trip, a bottle of Sarajevsko Premium was a really good lager) or Tuzlansko Pivo. There is a slight discomfort though, because Banjalucka - where this beer is brewed - is a Serb territory of Bosnia and the recent history between serbs and bosniaks is not a very nice thing to remember. I, however, am not judging anyone by their origin, race or colour, so I just drink this as a beer. This is a very flowery lager, due to used hops I think, but other than hops, it is quite easy drinkable and - sorry to say - forgettable also. Lager, easy drinkable and forgettable are not the words to say of a great beer, but perhaps an ok beer at best, b...

There are rarely a beer I don't like, but this came as a surprise. This Jamaican beer was actually awful, in my opinion. I don't know what the reason for the bad taste or aftertaste was and is, but I don't wanna drink this no more. Sorry for those, who might like this beer. Jamaica is forever in my heart for its great reggae. It would be nice to know if mighty Bob Marley liked this beer, but I think even he preferred some other shit - inhaled :) * This is beer, allright

Best dark lager in the market. Period. Laitilan Wirvoitusjuomatehdas is an indie brewery and this is their best effort - and really a splendid dark lager. I used to like dark lagers, until I got bored and actually nausiated by their sweetness. Why the fuck they have to put sugar and syrup on beer?! Well, there are not any sugar and syrup in this beer; only water, roasted barley malt and hops. And this is fucking great! I have complained about the beers made by Laitilan Wirvoitusjuomatehdas, that they seem like soda to me. I'm glad, that I can now say, that this beer proves, there are real beer brewing ability and quality in this Finnish indie brewery. This is of course a lager beer, that has to be remembered. There aren't any great notions about special hops or malts or flavour or any of that shit. This is easy drinking stuff for us all, not just for enthusiasts. This is a grocery-sold stuff, and best of Laitila's brand of beers, at least for those sold in groceries. If you...

Oh my god - a beer without a head! Is this beer at all? Well, the taste tells that...yeah, this is something liquid, that is called beer, but wtf are they doing in New Orleans, USA. This must be suffering from long importing distance, but how then can you explain to me great Anchor beers and better-than-this Asian beers. Well, actually, as I now watched from the bottle, I could notice that there was a certain apologizing text on the side of the bottle. Beer was not brewed in New Orleans, it was brewed in fucking England. Shame on the brewers, 'cause this is not a very good beer, and when there's no head, this looks like some energy drink or soda, with no much better taste than them, either. So, I must give this the worst review of them all, which I'm sorry to do, because for the people who suffered in New Orleans, it would have been a greater honour to say, that their beer didn't suck, as it did. * This is still beer

There are not ill words to say about trappist beers in general, but I am not used to drink them a lot, as there are not many brands sold here in cold north, and definately not in groceries - until now. This is actually a grocery-sold beer with only 4,7 % vol alcohol, so nothing like Chimay or Duvel here. Smell is really good, indeed. I guess that hops and yeast fill the air with this very flowery odour. Head looks nice, but it is not there after couple of minutes. Taste is trappist-like, but very light compared to the earlier mentioned big brands of trappist (which are very heavy on alcohol too). Colour of this beer is very light. Aftertaste is a bit yeasty, but hops are well tasted too. My only problem with these trappists would be the yeast, that usually is quite non-visible, but as this is very light in colour, it looks like yeasty as well. It would be nice to see this beer have some sugar in bottle, as I guess that yeast would slightly vanish and be replaced with alcohol. Then this...

I have been waiting for a change to review this beer as long as I started the blog, and now, after new shipment of this great beer arrived in my home town's shopping hell, I finally have a chance to introduce to you propably the best indie beer in "keskiolut"-category (or class III taxation level in Finland, which categorizes beers with alcohol level between 3,7 and 4,7 alc vol, and is the highest level of alcohol allowed in normal groceries in Finland - only alcohol monopoly Alko is allowed to sell other beers). Sinebrychoff have published splendid beers this autumn (Like Nikolai Vuosiolut 2012 and Karhu Ruis), so this maybe not the best Finnish beer in groceries nowadays, but still is among the very best. Colour is brown, maybe amber, not yellow at least, very nice looking. Head looks fine too, but goes away very soon. Taste however, is very good, especially the first bite, not so much the aftertaste. Alcohol level is only 4,2% vol, so there are great aromas here, that ...

I love Czech lager, as you might already know. Kozel makes no exception. It's very flowery with its hops, very easily drinkable, nothing special, but still something to enjoy. I don't know, why they sell dark Kozel in my neighbouring little grocery, but I hate it. Its sugary shit. This, however, is not. This is not like Urquell at all, but still noticeably Czech. Should I say something more about Czech? Well, it is a country I wish to visit someday, as you loyal readers (if there is any :D) might know, and they play good football and very good ice hockey. Still, I admire the most their artists like Vaclav Havel, as a writer but more so a long-term president, and Milan Kundera, a well-known writer, who we all know, or should know, from his "The Unbearable Lightness of Being". It is of course an important detail, that the country was originally known as Bohemia and bohemian ways are close to my heart. Then there are those two Czech guys, who played hockey in my home tow...

Greece is a country of great history. It is also nowadays in a notoriously bad financial shape. But I don't care about economics nor politics, they are not life. Beer is life, and food. I love Greek feta cheese but if you wanna have extra special wonderful cheese, buy halloumi, which originates from Cyprus. I have visited the divided island once, when I was a child. Don't remember much though, it was warm and stuff like that :) Now I'm gonna eat some roasted halloumi with chili and drink my first ever Greek beer. And this seems to be golden lager, which is no surprise. Taste is nothing special. Something unfamiliar in first zip, then no aftertaste for a while, but at last something in my throat, hops I think. Another zip. Well, not bad. I could easily drink this lager a lot while watching mediterranean in front of me. Someday I will return to Greece. ** Drinkable stuff *** OK with halloumi

I thought it would be nice to write about beer, and in this blog, even if I don't have any new reviews. So here we go. Something for the road, while waiting new, reviving reviews ;) I have been enjoying my beer many times after my last review, but there have been other more interesting stuff to do while drinking, such as being with my good friends place and having a good time, then celebrating my 38. birthday and also many nights of watching some quality tv. And by quality I don't necessarily mean any "high profile" or Emmy awarded shows, though there are good ones in that bunch too. I have lately been watching great historic drama Spartacus, that has in it lots of naked people - men and women, lots of violence and lots of blood. People in the series (during ancient Roman Empire) also drink their cheap, slightly better and high quality wines, depending on the status of men. Even slaves have wine, when they party. Well, maybe that's a cultural thing and of course i...

Liberté, égalité, fraternité! Long live liberty of men and this great ale from - not France, haha - but United States of America. I have been avoiding American beer for too long, because now I seem to have fell in love with this great brand of Anchor beers. Liberty Ale is unfiltered and its flowery hops taste great. Americans do know how to praise, but this beer need no praising. This beer needs drinking :D **** Great Edit 6th November 2011: I have now had this beer for many times and am ready to say, that this is maybe the best ale there is! Very flowery, nice, good tasting, easy to drink but with lots of flavors and character. Me likes! ***** Absolutely fabulous

What can I say...I had this with my late supper, so it went really fast with the food. It was beautifully coloured, red amber. Head was fine and the taste really good. I should have bought more bottles of this, as it was almost too easily drank, as I was thirsty :) Aftertaste is really, really good. There is that ale-kind of bitterness on my tongue, and its flavory. This is a good beer, I reckon. Handmade and shipped from other side of the planet, but at least this one had not suffered from it. Must have this again. Also have to give this four stars, as I have nothing to complain and an urge to have this again. **** Great

If you say "give me a good porter", I bring you Sinebrychoff's Koff Porter (link: http://www.sinebrychoff.fi/porterbeer). This is legendary beer in Finland and highly appreciated by beer enthusiasts all over the globe. And I understand why. If you would have this as your first porter ever, you would propably be icking a bit: How odd a taste, so burned burned burned...but hey, there is a sweetness too and other aromas, and umm, this is good! If you like black coffee and beer, you should also love this, because there is a heavy coffee (and maybe also chocolat) aroma. This beer maybe needs a trained beer enthusiast to fully enjoy all the aspects, but when they are appreciated, there need no other porter, in my opinion. Late Michael Jackson (the beer guru) liked this a lot and it is along same brewery's Christmas Beer the only Finnish beer that got into guru's top 500 list of beers in the world. ***** Absolutely fabulous

This is the best commercial (by that I mean beers that are not some local brewery products or otherwise well known brands in the beer consuming world), imported Bitter, that I have tasted. It is beautiful in its dark brown colouring, head is nice and the taste is just perfectly balanced in bitterness and flowery hop aroma. This might also be the best English Ale I have tasted. Must go to England some day and have pints on site. I'm sure my real English (ale/bitter) favorite awaits in there somewhere... **** Great

There are not many Swedish beers I can name, that I have liked and only one, that I loved, years ago. It was some old barrel-aged black beer in a very beautiful bottle with a unique bottle opener hanging over its crown. It was absolutely fabulous beer, indeed. This however, was a one time stand and a beer to be thrown on your face by accident. I was in Finnish alcohol monopoly store Alko, when I accidentally got into section of ”summer beers” (or maybe even some odd garden-beers...) around the globe. The etiquette did not promose much. It was too Swedish and ”summer-like”. I did not have any high expectations about this one... Sweden is certainly an important part of Finnish history as well, but also a thing to be mocked in Finland. Beloved – and hated – neighbours. This beer has so lame etiquette, that it would surely be regarded as something shitty from our beloved neighbours. I have drank many, many beers, that I have no time to review. This, however, was so good ale, with so...

I remember having Bohemia Regent when younger, and being enthusiastic about their gothic typo in the etiquette and of course the Bohemian origins. I have visited Bohemia (Czech republic), and also endorsed the bohemian way of life. We even formed a brotherhood of Böhém, which is our own transformation of bohemic lifestyle, with Finnish way of doing things (like having beer and being rock-endorsed hippies) and just this boyish way of seeing life. Also one of my idols in life, Rush's Geddy Lee, made a song in his solo album titled ”Moving to Bohemia”. This is a good lager beer. Head is actually wonderful. Taste is not so bitter as in some fellow Czech beers so this might be regarded as easy-drinking but very good Czech lager. Yay, for Prezident! *** OK

Finnish beer industry needs fresh faces and Laitilan Wirvoitusjuomatehdas is one of those. Kukko is nowadays a known beer brand even for those, who don't know much about beer culture or only care about the basic lagers to drink – and enjoy. This is a good lager, though its quite easy on the taste and bit of a soda-like. That's not a bad thing, if you are thirsty or zipping beer in hot temperature. So, I can understand why Finns tend to like these kinds of beer. No, there is not very hot in here (except perhaps for a month in summer), but we love sauna! *** OK

American beer is not familiar to me, as I rarely have them, nor they are often sold in Finnish groceries or bars. Anchor beers are one of those few American brands, that are sold and they are a product of sunny California. This one is interesting: Californian porter beer. Black, of course, because porters are made of roasted malted barley. Head is also dark brown and quite impressive. Taste is very strong with all kinds of roasted flavour. This is still not as good as our Finnish number one porter Koff Porter, which I'm reviewing soon also. Tonight its appropriate though to review this American one, because I have enjoyed watching American quality tv-miniseries Into The West. Porters are always impressive in their way of filling the mouth with their taste, and staying, so I prefer them over many other lighter beers. This one is no exception, though it gives nothing special – as a porter I mean. Still its ok and very good after dinner warmer. And now back to watching the ...

Should I just for once make a pure old-school beer reviewing review and not start any shit talk? Because here is really a beautiful un-filtered beer, that has a very nice taste. This is a special beer from one of Finnish big ones, Sinebrychoff, which leads the way by making best beers of the lot. Perle-aromahops give a very flowery taste and aftertaste – which actually improves as you drink the pint. There is also wheat in this beer, which does this only good. I had this with my late night dinner and it was marvelous with the fried halloum cheese and my pasta-soy-egg-cream -leftover stuff from lunch. I have nothing to complain - hooray Sinebrychoff! **** Great