Greene King - Yardbird

This is one of four different beers I received as a birthday present by various members of my family. Good or bad, beer is always appreciated, so let's crack on..

Light waft when pouring of malt, citrus, some florals and faint grass.

Yardbird pours clear golden amber with a a white head. Fruity intake with malt, citrus, hops and some caramel while the finish is grainy dry, floral and mildly bitter. A caramel sweetness and some pine are left in the aftertaste. Despite the very lively looking carbonation just after pouring, it is not too gassy in the mouth and the body is light without being too watery.

Hmmmmm, blindfolded I would not guess this was an an American inspired Pale Ale/IPA. Certainly it tastes nothing like any of the bottles I have had recently or in years gone by. My brother commented it tastes like my first home brew which I done in August, during a heatwave, which was meant to be lager like but ended up a golden ale (which developed into a very fine pint after 6 weeks conditioning btw).

I put this in the category... if you go into a discount supermarket, say lidl or aldi, they always have a range of food/drink that is 'american style' but actually tastes bugger all like it is meant to be, either in taste or in quality. It is not as if it is bad or drain pour, it just reeks of cutting corners and marketing.

Summing up , if you like McKennedy American Style Burgers/Poopeyes Quality Fried Chicken, buy this..if not, avoid.

This scored a lowly 3.5/10 on the ' Is it a bird ? Is it a plane ? No, it's a poor imitation copy bastard' Beerometer.

Alc : 4%
Where to buy CPH : Høkeren, Ravnsborggade 13, 2200 N

Skovlyst - Oktoberfest

With Oktoberfest on, time for a 'fest bier' or two. Things have really gone downhill for german beer availability recently, well since the closure of Getrænkeland, which sold mostly standard german brews but there was a good few crackers to pick up every now and again. The biggest miss is they had a good selection of oktoberfest bier, so they are sadly missed here.

So, having to settle for mostly for domestic interpretations, let's see what this is like...

Bottle blurb translated.

A German inspired festival lager beer, brewed according to the German Reinheitsgebot using only malt, hops, yeast and water. A thirst quenching and fresh beer despite the powerfully malted body and the dark amber golden color.

Uh huh...We'll see....

Light aroma of sweet malt from the pour along with caramel and dusty hops.

Oktoberfest pours clear amber gold with a frothy white head. Sweet and malty on the intake with caramel and herbs while the finish is dry and mildly hoppy bitter. There is nothing much in the short aftertaste apart from some sweet malt. Medium carbonation, the mouthfeel is light and soft.

Well, all the tastes of a oktoberfest are there, but for me it is all a bit of a light edition, more of everything please next year ! Saying that, I still would have no problem drinking a few of these in a small session..if there is none of the real mccoy about, which due to the afore mentioned demise of getrænkeland seems the case this year. I guess I can pack away the cheap pretzels from lidl and borrowed dirndl, I'm joking !...Uhhhmm summing up, quaffable oktoberfest beer light edition.

This scored 5/10 on the '5 Bratwurst und 5 bier bitte ' Beerometer.

Alc : 5%
Where to buy CPH : Superbrugsen and other large supermarkets.

Nørrebro Bryghus - X

X in this case meaning a ten year birthday for this local Copenhagen brewery which has produced some very nice brews over the years. I'll translate the bottle blurb on this so you don't have to use google....

X - To celebrate Nørrebro Bryghus's 10th anniversary we have created this celebration brew that is refreshing, but also complex 6.5% dark milk ale (eh?)with a light smoked aroma that blends in harmony with the notes of vanilla. The smell is spiced from dry hopping with a background notes from the dark malts.

Confused what that means? I was .....So it is a milk stout/porter lightly smoked, vanilla and roast malts with a prominent aroma hop ? Time to find out what this is organic brew actually is...

Light wafts of roasted malt, vanilla, dark dried fruit and baby milk powder from the pour.

X pours black with a creamy beige head. Baby milk powder(or I could just say lactose) and slightly sweet intake with roasted malt, dark chocolate and a touch of spice. Fruity and very lightly smoked finish with blackcurrant and raisins and  a dab of eucalyptus ? in the long aftertaste. Low carbonation and the mouthfeel is silky and light creamy.

To be honest and fair I am all over the place with this one as I think my tastebuds have gone haywire and the above may possibly be way off the mark. I still enjoyed it though, ain't that the main thing ? Very fruity for a stout/porter, almost to the point of saying more like a christmas brew/winter warmer. Not one I will re-visit any time soon but no problem drinking another if offered.

This scored 7/10 on the ' I've made up enough baby milk bottles in my lifetime to know that smell..do you get organic milk powder ?' Beerometer.

Alc : 6.5%
Where to buy CPH : Bought in Irma.

Amager Bryghus/Cigar City - Xiquic And The Hero Twins

This is my second of Amager's latest collaboration series, first one here. This one being an Imperial Stout, blurb below....

Who Xiquic was, is a bit hard to explain - but we all know the hero twins: Wayne Wambles and Jacob Storm - headbrewers of Cigar City Brewing in Tampa, FL and Amager Bryghus, Denmark respectively. Since his first visit at Amager back in 2011 Wayne has been quite the idol for us. We don’t believe it’s possible to find anyone with a bigger heart in brewing - combined with the utmost passion and sense for detail. Therefore it was a great honor to us that Wayne accepted our invitation to come brew at Amager Bryghus - even on his birthday! A recipe was created from what seemed like an endless stream of emails. The Cigar City signature cedar wood was ordered and a birthday cake was baked. We had a fun day - we hope you’ll have fun enjoying this double mash cedar infused black pepper Imperial Stout, yeah, no kiddin’. It’s a bit of a beast - but a gentle one. 

Nice aroma of roasted malt, mild coffee, chocolate, black pepper and wood from the pour.

This one pours pitch black with a creamy tan head. Spicy ! intake with roasted malt, hops, dark bitter chocolate and coffee while the finish is dry, sweetish and hoppy. Cocoa powder and mild chili pepper spice linger in the long aftertaste. Lowly carbonated, the mouthfeel is smooth and creamy. Alcohol is noticeable but more as a warming effect than masking the flavours.

Wow, extremely busy beer with a whole lot going on. One minute I had something down as juniper berries, the next it was gone and replaced with something else. I'm also sure there is a spice in there that is in a lot of danish xmas beers but I failed to pin it down. If I drank another bottle another day I could pick up a whole lot more different flavours...which I might just do. This is certainly a beer to make you think. I really enjoyed this one, no problem here drinking another. Summing up, a cracking complex beer that will make you think, well worth trying !

This scored 8/10 on the 'yaaaas !, no licorice' Beerometer.

Alc : 9.0 %
Where to buy CPH : Kihoskh and Ølbutikken had it in stock at time of writing.

Thisted - Malthe

Probably the most confused/confusing brewery in Denmark. What I mean with that is they never seem to be consistent with the naming of their brews across their range. Forever changing brew names, labels, having organic and normal versions of the same brew, calling one beer something in a 33cl bottle and a different name in a 50cl bottle.. and so on. For gods sake, simplify the bloody range please ! Whoever is in charge of product management needs a good kick up the arse. Enough said.

They do produce one of Denmarks best value for money beers though, Thisted Limfjords Porter, which is superb for the price. Ok, time to move on to their latest creation, an organic dark lager or dunkel if you want to be proper, which no doubt has probably changed name and label by the time your read this...

As the name might suggest, a whole lot of malt with some chocolate and dark fruit coming off this from the pour.

Malthe pours dark brown with a ruby tinge in the glass along with a light beige creamy head. A medium sweet malty intake with dates, dark sugar, prunes(eeek) and licorice, thankfully well in the background while the finish is slightly dry. There is no hop/bitterness to this at all. The mouthfeel is light and bordering on oily.

I have to admit I'm writing this on the second bottle of this I tried, the first I drank quick straight from the fridge a couple of days ago and initial thoughts were it was not bad. This time however I've taken more time and the beer has went through the temperature changes while I pondered what an original IPA actually tasted like(last blog post), thanks to someone who gave me a good couple of suggestions btw.

For anyone that reads this blog regularly you will have noticed I hate two things in beer, well one is okay if it is in a stout...Prunes and licorice, the latter is the okay one. I ####ing detest prunes and the taste became more apparent as the beer warmed up. Of course, that is what I taste, your own mileage may vary.

Not impressed with this at all.. unless drunk at 4c quickly. Not one that will pass my lips again as there is far better dark lagers available in any larger supermarket. Yet another organic let down.

This scored 3.5/10 on the 'the most time I've taken writing any post...ever' Beerometer

Alc: 4.8%
Where to buy/avoid CPH : Any larger supermarket.