Jimbo's Beerblog

Cheers to all you beer lovers! I made " Interlude: Jimbo's Year 2012 Review " -list yesterday and realized, that for the first year of the blog I did not do that, which is a shame, because there we excellent beers blogged in the first year too. So, here you go folks:   Jimbo's Year 2011 Review   (not necessarily in any "best of" -order, because these all are Great)   1) BrewDog Hardcore IPA Hardcore = best. 2) Malmgård Blond Ale Maybe the best Finnish beer out there? At least the best beer in groceries. 3) Prykmestar Pale Ale Best Finnish Pale Ale. 4) Anchor Liberty Ale Best Ale of them all. 5) Fuller's ESB The original ESB. And the best one. 6) Oppigårds Golden Summer Ale Biggest surprise of the year. 7) BrewDog Trashy Blonde Great hoppy blond ale. 8) BrewDog 5 A.M. Saint Great hoppy amber ale. 9) Fuller's London Porter One of the best porters out there. 10) Huvila E.S.B. Best Finnish ESB, compares to Fuller's great ESB. 11) Nøgne Ø Indi...

A nice view from Plevna, Tampere, Finland What a beer year this was for Me ! I can't say anything for you, my dear readers, but I had some great beers this year. I also noticed, that some beers are not for me and I have drank too much great beers to enjoy bulk shit anymore (except may be Piston head wi t h Sons of Anar chy :D) . Year of growing, year of pleasure, year of pain. Jimbo's Top 15 beers in 2012 (not necessarily in the top of the pops order): 1) Plevna Siperia (2010) Absolutely fabulous shit from Tampere, Finland. It took a long time to have it and the video review I made was maybe not so praising, but it was defin i tely one of the best beers I have ever had. 2) Stadin American Barley Win e Best beer brewed this year. Stadin Panimo's greatest effort and absolutely fabulous stuff that I've enjoye d many times this year. 3) Stone Imperial Russian Stou t Almost as fucking great as the number one. Great Imperial Stout, yeah! 4) Red Seal Ale One of my fa...

Well, it's been a year of basic life with my children, going to work and drinking beer. There have been moments of not-so clear moments of human relations, but yeah, all in all, it was an okay year for me. Here is my Happy New Year's 2013 Video Review , enjoy! I had some extra special shite from Japan along with it. ** Drinkable, I guess

Bloody English bombard Suomenlinna aka Viapori (in Finnish) / Sveaborg (in Swedish) in 1854 Porter from Finnish capital Helsinki. Small indie brewery from legendary "Finnish fort" of Suomenlinna made by Suomenlinnan Panimo. Once upon a time, when Finland was part of Russia (Finnish history is divided into Russian and Swedish occupation until our declaring of independence in 1917), English fleet bombarded Viapori (nowadays Suomenlinna) and we have a nice song about it. But that's all for history, let's talk about this beer. Well, it is porter, in a way. Actually it is "portteri", a Finnish way of saying "your real shit is too tough and tasty, we like lighter beers", or so it seems, because this is in my humble (but straightforward) opinion a light version of porter. But let's not judge too harshly - this is still ok for a beer, however like a slightly watery version of better porters. There are much better, actually excellent porters ...

Germans. BeerPeople. WheatBeerPeople.Very yeasty and misty unfiltered strong wheat beer this is. Bought this in a moment of unclarity, as I don't generally like wheat beers, though some weizenbocks are great at best. So lets try this yeast-banana-bomb. Head is okay, scent is yeasty, as expected. Taste is very sharp and bananish. What the fuck is ”esterinen” in English, this is very ”esterinen” :) Let's call this The Esterinen, in Finglish. Today is the independence day of Finland and Germans fought alongside us in the WW2, so this is to y'all, nazis (though I hate nazis, the motherfucking ubermänchen), brothers and Lapland-burners (yea, you did that, but we were the backstabbing brothers in that picture – forced by the russians of course) – people, who had to suffer in war. I don't blame anyone, the least the Germans who fought in the Finnish frontier – if this ugly dark country and this lovely unbelievable language was to be saved, it needed you gu...

10,5% vol. 0,65l. Very cool looking bottle. Ingredients include some decadence :D Nice scent, burned malts, but some freshness still. Very nice taste, indeed. Kind of easy drinking for a imperial stout, which speaks of great aromatic variety and alcohol is just a basis of the great mixture. I suck at the taste and adjective -shit, so I just say, that this should be reviewed as ” Great Imperial Stout ”. This is very, very good. I drink this ”housewarm”, like 18-19 celsius, and I guess it has to be drink this way to get the most of this. Nothing too burned or extreme or hardcore, but just very pleasant taste of stout. I hope I can get this beer more, because this is gonna be a future classic and ” absolutely fabulous ” beer of Jimbo's as is Plevna Siperia , which I reviewed earlier and maybe Siperia was even better than this - but this is still great so long live both Stone and Plevna alike. **** Great

Basic Ale from Fuller's. Fruity nice Ale. Nothing more, nothing less. Very soft and easy-drinking. This should be sold and drank in quantities, not those shitty lagers. *** OK

Traditional English brewery makes this Pale Ale. I have no high hopes of this 4,5% vol beer. Nice scent, but no big aromas. Head is okay, but goes away soon. Basic English Ale, I might say, or Pale Ale, of course. Slightly copper brown, not very inviting appearance, but the taste is kinda ok. Some bitterness with fruits. This is good compared to many shitty lagers for example, but still nothing more than a basic Ale in my opinion. Maybe I have had too many Imperial Stouts and other weird shit lately :D ** Drinkable *** OK for a basic beer

Oak Aged Ale. Matured for 800 days in Auchentoshan Whisky casks. 9,0% vol. Beautiful box. Fuller's classic bottle. Very foamy stuff :) The taste is very whisky-like. This might have needed some fridgetime, now I opened this room-temperature, some 18-19 celsius. Head is over the top but goes away soon. Scent is very fruitful. Whisky rules the scent as it does the flavors. A bit too bitter – in a bitterish way, not great alish way – so I have to declare my love for beer, not for whisky, and just give this a pass, but not with a blame, but for great endevour. *** OK

Hoppy scent with a huge head welcomes to drink this amber ale with wheat and stuff. I think. Should read specs before saying anything :) but this is my style: Just say, what you think and feel about the beer. At first the taste is oddly vague, but aftertaste is bitter and nice. Head is wonderful, and you get a new bouquet every time you pour some more in the glass. Bottle is 0,75l so this could be a very nice gift for some beerloving people. 8,0% alc vol. Nice misty double IPA. Enjoyable, easy-drinkable strong and tasty beer, which gives great aromas as it gets warm. Very nice with my late evening supper so have to say that this is one of the best beers I have yet tasted this Yule time. **** Great

I haven't recalled any other Norwegian brewery but the magnificent Nogne O before this, so its nice to have some other neighbouring Scandinavian shit. Aroma is burned malts. Taste is burned malts. Dry, bitter, burned stout/porter this is. Reminds me a lot of some other similar stylish beers, but I don't recall which ones. Nice, smooth, burned, nam! *** OK  PS. That was not the label in Finland, but Nissefar means YuleGubbe, so there you go :)

Dark brown/black stout with a heavy aroma of real chocolate. It's in the taste too, so there must be real chocolate in it. Taste is a bit disappointing though as the chocolate takes all the attention and all else gets left behind. I can't say I like this very much or would buy this again. Maybe in serious need of choco this might go as a substitute, but as this has so heavy choco-flavor in it, I have to say, I rather eat my chocolate and drink my beer, separate. ** Drinkable

Wow, this is a real treat. Of course it was also expensive. Five months (I explained to my friend earlier after buying this from Alko Arkadia, Helsinki, that "it has been matured five years in whiskey barrels!" :D) in whiskey barrels and couple years in maturing (my bottle was from 2010), this Finnish indie classic from Tampere-based restaurant-brewery is a real beer enthusiasts' heaven. Watch my  Video review , if you wanna see, how I reacted when tasting this treat. (at the beginning of the video I mumble shit about the breweryname, because the brewery is actually Koskipanimo and the restaurant Plevna , but I guess its quite the same, which one takes the credit...) **** Great

I bought this Norwegian magical oil from Alko Arkadia, Helsinki. I was in Finnish capital to celebrate my first "godchild", my sister's lovely daughter Hilma. I opened the bottle after a nice day with my sister's family and the evening was full of nice work - making a handicrafts, a present to Hilma which I called "A Book of Memories". This is the review, I wrote about this beer though :) so let's go. Black, blacker, the blackest, Imperial Stout from Norway. Burned, very burned, Nøgne Ø Imperial Stout. Coffee, which has burned. I actually drank this alongside coffee, and it was actually a bit difficult to say, which one of those was beer :P Well, stout had some chocolate, but burned malts dominated, heavily. I felt thirsty after drinking both coffee and this. This might have been great with some moisty food and cheese, because this really is hardcore stout. *** OK

Sorry 'bout the old pic, but here's to you punks! This fine hoppy bomb comes from Scottish indie kings. 7,5% vol and full of hoppy scent and taste. Aftertaste is very bitter and dry. Very BrewDog-like beer. If you've had 5 a.m Saint, this is like a heavier big brother of it. There is even more hoppy flavours in it – me likes. I'm a BrewDog fan, they never fail. **** Great

I love these English St. Peter's' beers. This one is a dark, a bit bitterish Ale, that reminds me of their great stout. Very good looking beer with a nice creamy head. Scent gives just a hint of the inside. Taste is a lot better. Very creamy, a bit roasted, nicely drinkable, leaves a great aftertaste and longing for more. Not very flavorable, but still very good beer. This is a borderline case in OK-Great -scale, but still, it is a great beer that just lacks a bit of its potential to be great. *** OK

Ooooooh, what a scent! Citrus, fruits, oolalaa. Taste is very bitter after lovely scent, but not bad at all, just a bit surprising - or not, if you know, what a lot of hops do to a beer.  There is some very bitter in the first bite, then it flows all around the mouth, but the aftertaste is a bit disappointing. Bitterness stays inside your mouth and tongue...this is like a bitter fruit, that you thought was going to be the sweetest one of them all, but was poison :) Hops, hops, hops. This is a hoppy beer, nothing else, nothing more. Hops rule. But this might be even a bit too angry hops for me :P *** OK

Head goes away fast. Scent is spicy. I'm a bit scared this is as bad as last years' ”spice jar”. But hey, let's taste this sunny beer with dark, coffeelike colour. Ohhhh, shit. Spice Jar vol. 2. But hey, this is also interesting. Maybe I'm ”growing up” as a beer taster. I may even find some tastes in here: Coffee, cinnamon, coriander, Garam Masala (yeah, its's not actually a single spice, it's a mixture of shit from India/Asia). It would be nice to find a food that goes with this, though I am a vegetarian, so what's there to be eaten with this spice bomb? Maybe cheese, that is always good. This is kinda bad beer in a way that I don't have huge urge to drink this at all after two sips. But yeah, this is not industrial easy-drinking piss-lager – quite the opposite. Maybe this would also go well with some company. Whisky and such, I mean. Still, I'm not a huge fan of this mess this year either... ** Drinkable *** OK for a silent night, ...

Nice, hoppy Imperial IPA from UK. Fruitful beer, nam! Here's my boring 10 minute video review . Halcyon On and On! **** Great   PS. In the video review I mistakingly spoke of great Finnish Beerblog Reittausblogi , but actually it was another, Arde arvioi , that had that praising review about Halcyon.

A 39 th birthday present from my old dear friend, who knows good, great beers. This is one of them. I made a video review while enjoying it ( watch it HERE ), but afterwards I have to say, it reminded me of another GREAT stout, Nogne O:s Imperial Stout. Buy each one of these, and you never will want any other beer (or maybe will, because these are the strong ones, both in alcohol and mixture of tastes – and not everyone likes roasted malts. I love them!). **** Great

Legendary Chimay's " White" version (yellow label, referred to as ”Blanche” = ”White” Chimay), which I got as a birthday gift from my dear friend. Very nice yeasty and fruity scent. Huge head, which keeps its form and aromas within it. Beer looks misty, unfiltered, and light brown. Taste is very yeasty and Belgique – like trademark within these trappists. There is some bitterness as well and beyond that some fruits, but with a bitter end. I like this one, not bad at all. I thought this would be more wheat beer -like, but this is very good mixture of barley and wheat. Not a mindblowing experience, but very good beer. *** OK

Wow! A real treat from Finnish Indie brewery from Finnish Capital Helsinki. I have not been a huge fan of Stadin Panimo beers earlier, but this is a jackpot. Real nice fruity, bloomy, plummy scent and nice head. Very nice looking amberish copper brown beer of 8,0% vol. American hops I guess, haven't really gotten though the specs and don't care, because the beer itself is that matters. Bitter taste like in the best of British bitters and strong ales (a bit like this years Vintage Ale from Fuller's, but a lot more fruitful), fruity, maybe even berries or mango or something like that, many many aspects in the taste to be felt. Very tasteful, absolutely fucking good. Nothing to complain about, so have to have this more, before it ends :) **** Great

American pilsner? Well, okay. 5,5% vol and should be quite fresh, but how can you know. New beer in local Alko. Very clear looking, very light lagerish colour. Scent has some unique shit in it, nice, but I can't say what it is. Head is foamy and goes away soon like in soap. Taste is pilsner-like, a bit bitter, Czech style. Good taste in its own category. Not bad, not very good either. I could drink this again, in some situations, but still cannot praise this too much, so...just drinkable. ** Drinkable *** OK for a pilsner

I might be a heretic for saying this, but let's have a go: Schwarzbier is kinda stupid and useless genre in beermaking. Its dark, very dark lager. Its main flaw is its sweetness. Okay, I like them, occasionally and in a right situation, but right now I can't think of a situation, in which I would choose Schwarz over an blond ale, ale, dark ale, brown ale, imperial ale or even a lager, if its well-hopped. Schwarz is in the same category as in pure wheat beers (also German ones...), that I don't prefer. This is ok, but only drinkable for me. I could easily name 100 beers better than this at a gunpoint - and if the gunpointer would say, that I have to claim this is the best beer in the world, I would lie like hell (because I don't want to die - for my children and such), because this is no treat. ** Drinkable

My favorite Finnish brewery serves yet another great beer! This has been available for some years, just not in this part of Finland and not in Alko, the beloved Finnish monopoly to sell alcohol beverages above 4,7% vol alcohol. So, this "Belgique" 8,0% treat is now first time in my glass. Quite fresh shit, just hit the Alko's around Finland yesterday. 20 of the bottles came to my hometown of Kajaani and 4 of them are owned by me. First one now in glass. Aroma is very yeasty and Belgique. Not very interesting though - smell of yeast reminds me of punkers' traditional Kilju and I don't miss it very much :) Taste is very smooth, bitterlike ale with a Belgique twist (yeast). Very distinctively a Malmgård beer - you know what I mean, if you have drank or will drink Malmgård beers. And I fucking love that Malmgård taste! So, I like this a alot, but Malmgård still has better beers. This is no bad, of course not, I just say, that their Blond Ale is maybe the best Finn...

Quite good but nothing spectacular, this Finnish indie ale (4,5% vol) from Suomenlinnan Panimo. Slightly bitterish ale, but just easy-drinking shit, really. Nothing too good or bad about it, but maybe I have to say just drinkable. ** Drinkable

Very good 4,2% Finnish Indie product from Suomenlinnan Panimo. Reminds me a hell of a lot of my favorite pilsner of them all, Pilsner Urquell. So much like it that I just rest my case saying ”good alternative to Czech pilsner king”. *** OK

Danish super-hoppy shit, yeah man! Reminds me a lot of those lovely turbo-hoppy beers of Scottish Beergods aka Brewdog. Bought from grocery so the alcohol level is reasonable 4,5% vol or something like that (bottles are drank and empty and gone). This is a beer you can have as a supper alone, so full and rich of hoppy aromas and taste it is. This does not go well in every situation, though. *** OK

Craftmade Finnish beer, that is sold in groceries. Very basic Dark Lager. Scent gives nothing. Head is ok. Taste is quite ok, maybe a little bit better than in those Yule dark lagers, so I drink this with no bad taste in my mouth and would choose this over any Finnish bulk lager. So...*drumroll*, long live Finnish Beer Crafting Community – and with these words I claim this to be among the ”better” beers :) *** OK

Basic Finnish dark lager Yule beer from the island of Åland. Nice Yule-label with bock made of grain. Beer pours like lagers, nice head. Scent is awfully metallic. Taste is better. It is still watery dark lager. ** Drinkable

Why they had to put that finger in this beer? Smells awful. Taste is a bit better. I start to like them German beer after this. ** Drinkable

Weird name and some 1700-1800 th century dude having a laugh about it in the label (not very promising). Amber brown like Salvator and also almost the same alcohol level (8,0% vol). Head is promising at first, but goes away in a while, not so much though than in Salvator. This is German too. Dobbelbock. Scent seems to be quite similar to Salvator – these could be related, if their were anything else than beers. Scent has some whiskylike shit. Taste is oddly maybe even poorer than in Salvator. Should I raise its rating a bit...this seems to be very light shit in spite of being 8,0% and has some unique portwine-like (or whisky, if you prefer that) sense, but I don't know, maybe I just am not a dobbelbock-person :P ** Drinkable, if you are looking for a treat *** OK for a beer, of course

7,9% vol. German. Amber brown. Loses its head quickly. Quite easy on scent, maybe something sweet or fruity :) Taste is not so spectacular either. Very low on hops, maybe some fruit and nuts, and some wine-like sense. Tickling on the tongue. I don't know what to think about this. Warms. Don't get me wrong, this is kinda good, but I don't see me drinking this again either, so why praise. ** Drinkable, if you are looking for a treat *** OK for a beer, of course

Another Yule-beer from Finland. This one has its ”neighbourhood barley” bought from local farm (near the factory). It's still bulk, but quite good in its category of sweet easy-drinking dark lagers. Not bad at all, but not a treat either. ** Drinkable

Smoky shit from Indie brewery, Lahti Finland. Actually I don't like that smoke flavor in beers. It just reminds me of ham, which I don't eat – I'm a vegetarian. So, this smells like smoke. This tastes like smoke too. I rest my case. Not bad, but smoky. ** Drinkable

Basic pilsner from Germany. Extra points for use of organic barley and unfiltered lovely misty sense. Taste is easy drinkable, but not at all disturbing. I ate some spicy food along with it, so taste seemed to be really light, but I sensed some nice flavors, which I don't recollect anymore :) Not bad at all, quite good drinking this is, but still, this must stay in the category of drinkables, as I can't find any reason to buy or drink this again (unless there are only poorer beers available, that is). ** Drinkable

A nice looking 0,75l bottle. Beer looks fine also, nice head, good but not very colourful scent. Taste then...a disappointment. Lacks Character. The review made a year ago was right. This is poor beer. ** Drinkable

Germans know how to do their pilsners. Nice head, pisslike scent, clear outlook, quite easy but aftertaste has its twist. Not a basic bulk, this has something unique in its core. Shit, is this a smoky lager?? I should give this OK for uniqueness. And I will. *** OK

So, it's Yule again. Or in a couple of months actually, but Finnish ”Christmas Beers” have landed in shops, so I bought few of them. This is my first one this year. I used to earlier hate Olvi beers for their ”metallic” taste, but then I realized it to be the only big Finnish brewery that is still Finnish and has its roots in middle of Finland, Iisalmi, Savo, which is about 90 kilometres away from my home town. But yeah, the y s till ma ke thes e in dustrial beers, that lack r eal taste, unfortunately... Scent is odd, non-existent. Taste is very odd, metallic and Olvi-like. Fuck this is bad. Head was okay for a while. This should be something like Dark Lager. Its copper brown liquid with lots of carbon dioxide. Very Finnish lager-like. Bulk with a twist, but it does not save this to be great or even good beer. ** Drinkable

Very nice label and cool name this beer has :) But what the hell: After I poured this to glass, head disappeared faster than in Coca Cola?! Scent promises some volume and slightly burned but sweet liquid. Taste then: Well, that's the best part of this beer, but maybe a little too sharp (if that's the right term – opposed to soft, smooth and such). The label seems to be lying – the head part. Dobbelbock, that's true. But still, wtf! ** Drinkable (first bottle ) But after a while of tasting and great aftertaste the after all judgment has to turn to OK, because this really has potential to be even a great beer (maybe my bottle just was not the best of them). *** OK (first bottle, final judgment) ...And after a while I noticed a very nice review of this beer (written in Finnish and in poetic way) – so I got my other bottle of Celebrator and Voilá, this one has head and lots of other characteristics. So, what do we learn from this: Ne...

Solitary Supper BrewDog Trashy Blonde and its lovely head Beers in my Cellar 12th October 2012 Beer Cellar with a flashier angle (some rating to do!)

This is a list of reviews in Jimbo's Beerblog. I update this when I remember. First there is the name of the review (usually Brewery + Beer) or just the name of the Beer or name of the special "Interlude", which might or might not contain reviewing, usually not, but still some Beer-related stuff. Following the name of the Review/Beer/Interlude there is the date, when it was published in this blog (not necessarily when it was written or videoed). There is a plan to do also hyperlinking from this list to actual reviews, but so far I've been lazy :)   Update 29.12.2013   A. Le Coq Gold 7.8.2011 Achel Blond 25.1.2013 Achel Brune 9.3.2013 Adler König Das Echte Hell 27.8.2013 Adlerkönig Das Echte Weissbier 7.5.2013 Adnams Ghost Ship   2.12.2012 Aecht Schlenkerla Rauchbier Urbock 29.12.2011 AleSmith Horny Devil Ale 9.3.2013 AleSmith Speedway Stout 22.2.2013 AleSmith Y...