Jimbo's Beerblog

Very, very nice aroma this Danish porter has. Roasted malts, sweet coffee and chocolate very clearly noticeable in aroma. Quite thick mouthfeel, definitely sweetness, but very lovely roasted flavour. This is fucking good porter! 8,0% alc vol, don't know any other specs, check them out beer geeks, but let me say this: This is propably the best porter available! And if you think, what porters are (or hav e been) my favorites, I can name couple of the best: Fuller's London Porter and Sinebrychoff Koff Porter. This is even better than those. Aftertaste is wonderful, a bit dry, roasted, malty, maybe bitterlike hoppy too, I'm not sure, there is so much lovely things happening in my mouth :) I like good coffee and chocolate, and this has them both, but not over the top dry burned coffee like Nøgne Ø:s Imperial Stout or too sweet chocolate flavour like in some choco stouts. This is porter and so good, it's a shame that I only have this one bottle...

Mik kel from Mikkeller 7,3% vol alc. Nice head. Black, as expected. Aroma very citruslike, American hoppy style. This is one of Alko's (Finnish Alcohol Monopoly) spring 2013 Craftbeer campaign beers. Taste is a bit dull after a lovely scent. Aftertaste is better than first bite. There is slight bitterness, but otherwise like drinking cola (so easy drinkable this actually is). But I'm a beer enthusiast, so my cola is horribly bitter shit for an ordinary beer consumer. I'm not a consumer, I live and love and breath my beers. Maybe that's my alcoholic side speaking, though. Sad but true. Still, this is okay, but not any special. *** OK

Belgian-Style Pale Ale. 7.0% alc vol. This beer is full of Belgian yeast magic. Head is HUGE. I poured this beer in glass for 10 minutes, at least, and still I had to EAT some of the head just to get a tiny sip of the taste. Aroma is good and fruity, with yeasty touch, but not too over the top yeasty as in many Belgian beers. Taste is kinda mixture of basic fruity pale ale and Belgian beers, but there is that odd...hmm, it must be horse meat, as they put it nowadays in every place, haha. But yeah, there is this scent that is very much present, and I can't say what it is, but I must say there is some kind of stable-feeling in it. And it also tastes. Maybe I should google it. That I normally don't do, because I want just to enjoy my beers and say, what I feel – not compete with more delicate reviewers, who can say by tasting, what yeast or malts or hops are used, or at least say 10 scents and tastes that can be sniffed and analyzed by the tip of your tongue. ...

Suomenlinna Fortress A mber looking ale from Suomenlinnan Panimo. Head is foamy and the taste is quite traditional. Head disappears quite soon. Aroma has a nice twist, its kind of aromatic :) I can't describe it well, it's like sweet perfume, but not at all too sweet or perfumelike. Still quite nice. Taste has that same twist (from spices used, I guess). It's definitely malty. Its not hoppy, I mean. Malts dominate in that unique way I can't describe, as I don't know the perfect example to tell you how it is. It is good, definitely better than in ordinary bulk shit beers. This has a definite unique taste, that I can't recall tasting in any beer and I don't know, what it is...but it is good. Nutty, but sweety (fruity) feeling. This is definitely the best of Suomenlinnan Panimo's beers I've tasted. *** OK **** Great if you know how to put this in perspective, and today I could

This is Speedway stuff all right - black motor oil pours in my glass making a dark brown head. Aroma promises roasted malts - as expected - and some sweetness - maybe not necessarily expected, as Nøgne Ø's Imperial Stout looked the same but was mainly like burned coffee, and I don't recall such sweetness in its aroma. Very, very thick mouthfeel with lots of burned malts, definite black chocolate vibe and sweetness, but this is not like dry burned coffee at all (compared again to Nøgne Ø's Imperial Stout, that many liked, but I didn't cherish that much), and at first this tastes awfully too much at the same time, but the aftertaste is a little easier (to absorb, if you know what I mean - easy drinking is not a high praise worth indicator). This would be absolutely great with something to eat...but I'm not eating anything. Maybe cheese would be great. Or some dry cake. Sausages. This is not - at first at least - salty and liquorice in my opinion, so maybe some...

I've been drinking these Green Flash beers lately because of my two successful orders from BrewDog webstore and now finally I'm realizing, they have a unique "house taste". So, this is definitely a Green Flash Brewing Company beer - and I like it. Aroma is a bit off...it is not like in those lovely hoppy IPAs, just some odd scent I can't explain any better than odd compared to hoppy IPAs :) Maybe its because of the stronger body that somehow kills the hoppy aromas (?) or not those same hops used, that give that lovely citruslike sensations when sniffed, that this one does not. Head is very nice, at least if you pour the beer fast into glass, like I did. Taste is hoppy and dry, but not in a way you would expect from Imperial IPA. This is far away from eg BrewDog-hoppiness. Still, very nice and somehow winelike sensation, but of course it is, ´cause this is far more strong than those basic IPAs, with 9,4% alc vol. Summit and Nugget hops give this beer its uniq...

Weird but true: This is from Hawaii. And second weird thing (or not) is that this craft beer is in a can.  Well, there is a good explanation for it. Cans reduce damage done by light (either sun or artificial) and the beer stays secure inside the can - risk of toxication is significantly lower than in bottles with crown caps. There are also good points by the Maui Brewing written in can: Cans are lighter, chill quicker (if thats needed) and can be moved and drank more easily in challenging environments as beaches. Aluminum is also the most recycled material - at least in USA, where this can is from. I'm gonna recycle this can with bottles, unless the machines wont take it, because of the unknown barcode...this was bought from Scottish webstore of BrewDog and Finnish bottle/can returning/recycling system is based on barcodes. But, something about beer too :) This is very noticeably IPA. Aroma is wonderfully hoppy and so is the taste. Bitter and dry, I like it. There is not any meta...

Mufloni Saison. 6,0%. 750ml . B est be fore: 24.1.2014 Barley malt ( Pilsner and münchner) , wheat, oats, hops ( Tettnanger, Celeia and Chinook) , junip er berries (kataja nmarja) , yeast, water.  Clear looking, golden saison. Head is foamy, not ver y lasting. Aroma is very yeasty - the Belgian way. Taste is very Belgi que too. A bit lame for me though...but I'm not a Belg-beer fan so I'm not in a right customer segment o r whatever :) This is still very bold c raftsmanship. A Finnish small time craftbrewery makes a beer with a fuc king long nam e, with absolutely noticeable Belgique tw ist and the bottle is 750m l Italian with a real cork cap. Heads up, hands down, Beer H unter's are go! Belgian yeastiness dance s in my mouth. You know w hat it feels like, you Belg-beer fans. This is a treat for you! And others, chec k out Stadin American Saison for some hopp ier saison . *** OK PS . In the dying stages of the big bottle I'm beginning to und...

Yeah, I got my second BrewDog delivery and I'm a happy man now – beer-wise. Every 21 beers ok and a beautiful new tulip glass. Also a leaflet, a manifesto. Marketing speech with a twist? Maybe. But all the BrewDog beers are made so that the dudes responsible for the shit want to drink those. BrewDog wants to “put the passion, choice and flavour back into your beer glass.” They also explain, why they can't be cheap piss sold in 24can boxes friday night. They brew expensive. There are roughly 40 x hops compared to basic commercial lagers. There are roughly twice the amount of malted barley compared to industrial lagers.    They also have bars that are coming to every corner of Europe. There are BrewDog bar in my neighbouring country Sweden's capital too. There you won't be able to buy piss lagers.    Pure beer. Not chemicals or preservatives. Beer is made for drinking. I think the best part of their agenda is the most important in its s...

Hah. There is a scandal in England, when it was discovered that there are dead ponies in their lamb sausages, or what the fuck ever meat they are eating. Stupid wankers. Try veggie food. Or eat like Chinese – they know how to eat meat; by eating everything that moves. I mean whats the fucking difference i f you gonna eat living things.  I don't , except some yeast in my bee r :D So, here we are punks. I'm drinking 3,8% alc vol beer and enjoying. Fuck this is good! Aroma is of course great, citruslike – it's the BrewDog Bite!    Taste is hoppy and bitter and dry. Very, very nice.  For a “light” beer, this is the greatest of them all! Californian Pale Ale that is golden brown BrewDog magic punky shit.  Drink till you drop (should take quite many bottles) :) **** Great

Wow. What a nice scent. Cola-coloured magic with a very nice and thick head. Bitter, sweet, roasted. But very easy drinkable stuff so everything is in balance and nothing goes on top of the other. And did I mention the aroma already: Well, if you've had BrewDog beers like Hardcore IPA, Trashy Blonde or Dead Pony Club, you know, there is that wonderful citruslike hoppy aroma, that I personally could just sniff all night, if I didn't want also to drink this lovely beer. **** Great

After having a couple of splendid BrewDog beers, this actually do esn 't have that big hoppy aroma. But this has like a bit of a finesse in its aroma of citruslike hoppiness. Lovely.    Head looks nice, but goes away quite fast. Well, not fast fast, but you know, faster than the prog rock song of five parts end but slower than an average man has his orgasm when fucking. Taste has fruitiness, bitterness and finesse in one package. I ate some chips earlier, their saltiness is still in my mouth disturbing. I'm not optimizing my reviewing conditions. Maybe this lacks something, a final touch, an aftertaste rememberable or something. This is good, this is IPA. But for an IPA this is not among the best ones, for me. Still very good and wins all the lame ass lagers by a mile. *** OK for an IPA

Pic by Arde copyright http://arijuntunen.blogspot.fi/ So, is this basic pale ale. No hoppy aromas. Taste is malty. But bitterness follows. Quite ok, but seems to lack something. Head goes away awfully fast. This is not too fresh, I think. Not very pleasant scent. Not very pleasant taste. A bit like some industrial lagers. ** Drinkable

Update 7.5.2013 Top 5 Beers spring 2013: 1. Stadin American Pale Ale 2. BrewDog Cocoa Psycho 3. Nokian Keisari 66 4. BrewDog Goldings 5. Mallaskosken Kuohu Valioluokka Pils Top 5 Beer Styles spring 2013: 1. American Pale Ale 2. Imperial Stout 3. India Pale Ale 4. Porter 5. Barley Wine Top 10 Beers winter 2012-2013 were: 1. Mikkeller Porter 2. AleSmith Speedway Stout 3. Rooie Dop Utrecht Strong Ale 4. BrewDog Dead Pony Club 5. Green Flash Imperial India Pale Ale 6. Maui Brewing Big Swell IPA 7. BrewDog Libertine Black Ale 8. Green Flash Barley Wine 9. Horn Dog Flying Dog Barley Wine 10. Stadin Panimo Ultimator Top 10 Long-time favorites 1. Malmgård Blond Ale 2. BrewDog Hardcore IPA 3. BrewDog Trashy Blonde 4. Vakka-Suomen Prykmestar Pale Ale 5. Anchor Liberty Ale 6. Fuller's ESB 7. Malmgård Huvila E.S.B. 8. Stadin American Barley Wine 9. Red Seal Ale 10. Brooklyn American Ale Top 5 Classics 1. Duvel 2. Chimay Bl...

A lmost no-sounding bottle open, so there is not a lot carbon dioxide. Almost non-existing head follows the pour to glass, but yet again recently, this is quite cold at first (my cellar...). Visibly almost like black oil. Aroma is a bit roasted, but still sweet – in label they say, that this could be drinked in 25 years time so the sweetness might actually quite high for bottle-fermentation...maybe if kept in good conditions, but I doubt it, as normal beer crowns are not reliable. Very, very thick sensation in mouth, when I taste it. So smooth and full of oiliness. This has unique mouthfeel because of that thickness, I don't recall having beers with this kind of mouthfeel for a while. Maybe the thickness can be explained by all the stuff that even the label lists: pils malts, munich malts, chocolate malts, wheat malts and and cara malts with premiant and sladek hops. Very mild in flavors, kind of easy drinkable (or maybe too cold at first). Warming sensatio...

Horn Dog Flying Dog Barley Wine 10,2% alc, 335 ml, IBU 45 Best before: 08.01.2014 (is this the American date or European?) Having this dirty brown looking – but with nice looking head – American Barley Wine with dinner. Head is not too longlasting, but still ok. My beer cellar is producing too cold to drink beers, so aromas are a bit off, at first at least. I sense some nutty stuff. Taste is quite mild at first. Maybe the coldness disturbs. Also, I'm not having non-tasting food, but with mexican spices, so this beer actually tastes like refreshing and mild. Maybe it is, I don't know :) This is not very bitter, and there is sweetness with some kind of a portwine feel, but not too much sweetness either. Aroma gets better and better, when beer gets a bit warmer. I sense...some nice flavors from malts, I guess. Very drinkable stuff! Some bitterness comes forward after beer gets warmer, but everything is still nice and easy. This is a beer...

Green Flash Barley Wine 10,9% alc, 650ml Vintage 2012 (no visible BB or enjoy by...) With food. Beer is unfortunately too cold, again - my cellar is not configured well into low degrees of Finnish Winter. I still sense some peachy and a bit sweet, maybe bloom. Color is copper brown/amber, darkish. Head is very nice and stays in my aroma glass as beautifully lacy. First sip gives quite strong first bite, with very hoppy bitterness. Me likes. Lets eat and let the beer warm a bit... Very good with the food I'm having, but my senses (or sensors) are a bit off, so the hoppy dryness rules, but rules ok. Very good, I like this kind of stuff, very much. ...and the final notes: Barley Wine was good, bitter, tasteful, dry, nice. Very nice. **** Great

Malt = One of the four main ingredients in beer. Malt is where most of the flavor and sugars will be derived from. You can get malt in grain form or get malt extracts in dry or liquid form. Base malts = 2 and 6 row pale malt, Pilsner malt and Wheat Specialty malts = These malts add color, flavor and body to your brew. The benefits of these malts can be seen in extract brewing, but really shine in all grain brewing. They include: Carapils - Used for head retention and stability. Does not change the color or flavor. Honey malt - Adds a sweet, toasted and nutty flavor. Munich - Increases body, aroma, and malt sweetness. Will not add sugars unless mashed. Rauch - Smoked malt used in Rauchbiers. Has a peat flavor. Rye - Must be mashed. Adds a spicy, fruity flavor. Most often used in Roggen style beers. Special roast - Imparts a toasty or biscuity flavor. Victory - Adds a warm, toasted, nutty flavor. Excellent in nut brown ales. Vienna - Similar to Muni...

Intro: Here's some Jimbo's Basics of Beer vocabulary and couple of interesting scales (at least I'm interested in them and that's why I wanted to collect them into one page). This is by no means any definitive list of beer styles or tastes. I don't even know should I say "style" or "taste" or something else, but you know, I'm just trying to gather info for you and me. Its not so important to know all the specs or understand the differences in beers, than to enjoy beer and find beers that are suitable for your own taste. Tastes and Styles Ale = Beer that is top fermented (yeast does its magic in the top of the brew), traditionally a British way of brewing. Pale Ale = Made usually with Pale Malts, almost as usual style of beer as lager (or at least if all the pale colored ales are counted as one style). My favorite Pale Ale is Finnish Vakka-Suomen Prykmestar Pale Ale. English Bitter = More hopped version of Pale Ale, with more bitter ...

Intro: I am not a Beer collector in a sense that I would acquire Beers to store and age. No no, quite the opposite. If Beer is in my cellar for a long time, there must be something wrong with the beer or me :) Inventory is not gonna be large, ever, but I will keep it for yours and mine pleasure of anticipating new raving reviews :D U pdate 7.5.2013 Cellar is EMPTY! BrewDog order no. 4 is at a plan ning ta ble ... But so is my project of less drinking.

  Finnish craftbeer, yeah! But, this is schwarz, in my humble (and maybe stupid) opinion the most useless beer style in the world. Basically a black lager with a fancy German name. I don't want a basic German style black lager with a more high alcohol level to twist my head. M'kay. Taste is actually okay. For a lager. But this is VASP-beer, so of course. If you like black lager, this should be your choise. I would not choose any sweet Chezh dark lagers after this. But if you like those, choose them. Beer is good. You just have to find your beer. My dear friend still thinks there is something really different in Heineken and Finnish piss lagers. Well, there might be - the bottle! Vakka-Suomen Panimo is a good brewery. Their Pale Ale is actually great. I would have wanted to taste their more strong India Pale Ale, but I guess that's already been made of earlier. So they made a high alcohol level black lager. Well, this is okay, still. *** OK in its own black lager c...

  Some metallic sense at first, then all saison. Or German wheat style if you will. This is not a traditional Finnish beer all right? I'm not judging anyone. Head goes as it comes, like a male orgasm. Aroma is a bit yeasty. Taste is very wheaty and very very bananalike. Not very pleasant, but my bottle is almost room temperature, maybe 19 celsius. This could be nice drinkers' drinking beer when colder. But actually this is very good in its own category. I don't like German wheats a lot (okay, this might be MY point of view, sorry, I'm not a racist, but I may not want to try all of them because some German wheat lovers say so) and in between those this is definitely ok. *** OK in its own miserable company

So, here's another Finnish craftbeer. I guess Stadin Panimo has already used all of its "white/color" alternatives, so its time for a Grey StaPa! Wait, this is not just grey, it has some figures in it. There's hops! This is an American style Saison so Belgian-American-Finnish craftbeer, nice. Amber looking. Oooooh, the aroma is strong! I mean very strong, very. Phew, nice. And plus, its a very nice aroma. Best aroma, if you ask me. Bloomy, fruity, fresh, fucking nice. So, what about the taste? Can it be that good? No, unfortunately. This is Belgian style yeasty stuff. It's not bad, not at all. It's very good. But if that aroma could be added to some great taste, it would be the greatest beer in the world. This is good alright, very good. Not splendid in my books, but I'm not the center of the world, just one person. Drink beer, enjoy it! *** OK **** Great for a Saison

Interesting beer, even before opening. Malmgård is one of my favorites in Finland and I love their Blond Ale. Aroma. Wtf, I scent a hint of whiskey. Oh well, it must be oak. This is oak aged. X-Porter, last year, was good, I think. Well, read for yourself . Head looks nice. Its creamy. But then it sadly goes away. But fuck it, this is a beer, let's taste it! Creamy, porterlike, of course a bit roasted malts and maybe some nuts - or am I going nuts. Well, there is not that a bit watery feeling anymore, as was in (too cold) Ballast Point Black Marlin Porter that I reviewed earlier. Nice and very drinkable porter. This is like a beer you like to drink :) It does not taste like metal, cardboard, water or any such shit, this tastes of slightly roasted malts with oaky backkick. Drinkability is actually very important in beer loving. Alcoholics prefer the cheapest alcohol-based stuff and beer/wine/whisky/whatthefuckever snobs are at the other end. Beer enthusiasts are in the ...

Dark brown porter, which leaves a nice head on top of the brown sugar. Aromas of slightly roasted malts and sweetness are in nice balance. Quite carbonated "cola" sense at first, but this might be too cold, too. My cellar has gone tundra, god dammit. Very nice sensation in mouth after swallowing, not too roasted, but nice and smooth. Actually a bit watery mouthful, but I blame coldness, I must drink this slowly to appreciate all the nuances. Very drinkable, indeed. So, I have nothing to blame, if I wanted a refreshing porter. And this is. Wait, I needed this. I have those Imperial Stouts for dessert :D *** OK

Another interlude. Should I name this Jimbo's Interlude Beerblog instead? Well, I can't be drinking all the time, as you faithful readers and viewers might know. It's good though, it's nice to enjoy beers when I can, and be without alcohol the rest. Still, I fucking love (good) beer. I've been talking about BrewDog lately, because it's one of the coolest breweries out there, but also because I made an order from them, which I have presented to you in full scale report. Now I happened to visit their page today and saw a short blog-style marketing speech of the guys and shit, I must admit, I just had to get a few of their beers they presented - mainly American Guest beers this time, as they sell them too. Guys - and by guys I mean the founders of BrewDog James and Martin - say, the Guest beers are the favorites handpicked by them. This is the blog , I'm talking about. So, James had this to say about AleSmith Speedway Stout , which is a highly respected bee...