Ohhh... My Head... - Autumn festivals & travels 2003

Fractions of OMH visited a couple of festivals during the late summer & autumn of 2003. The STockholm pub Oliver Twist held a small US microbrew festival, where both draught and bottled beers from a couple of interesting brewries were served. The the top score from this festival was a three way tie, where the one beer from Flying Dog in Colorado had to share the podium with two beers from Rogue, Oregon.

There was also a major beer festival in Berlin. Itwas held on the street Karl Marx Allee, beneath the impressive stalinist buidings east of Alexanderplatz. The amount of beers was endless, the heat and humidity nearl intolerable, and the music dreadful. The top score was a four way tie, which included for instance a lovely helles from the Berlin brewpub Spandau Havelbräu, and a schwarzbier from Ernst Bauer in Leipzig. The festival had an excellent assortment of beers from small German breweries, but the imports consisted mostly of dull macrobrews, and presumably fake imports from Haus der 131 Biere. We have to thank Katrin for kind hospitality. Vielen Dank!

The top rated beers on this list however comes from STtockholm Beer Festival, which had a much more interesting beer selection than the previous two years. The top new beers were De Ranke Kriek, a superbly balanced kriekenbier, and the new christmas beer from Nils Oscar, a full bodied belgian style dark ale, made partly from rye malt. On third place you'll find Dwan's Carden's Wild Ale, cask, an experimental concotion from the jovial Irishmen in Tipperary.

Three brepubs were also visited, two in Madrid, Naturbier and Magister Fabrica de Cervezas, both served stable, fresh lagers. And also one in Turku, Finland: Koulu, which is located in a classy old school building, and has excellent, friendly service. The quality of their beers ranges however from quite good to poor.

Beers rated August-October 2003

POS

BEER

COUNTRY

ScotlandRE

PS

CG

FH

ABV

STYLE

27

De Ranke Kriek

Belgium

4,59

5

 

5-

7,0%

Special

27

Nils Oscar Julöl 2003, draught

Sweden

4,59

5

 

5-

7,0%

Ale, Belgian style

65

Dwan's Carden's Wild Ale, cask

Ireland

4,45

5

4-

5

5,1%

Ale, British style

354

Achel Extra

Belgium

4,04

4

 

5-

9,5%

Ale, Belgian style

436

Dominion Pale Ale

USA

3,97

4+

 

 

5,6%

Ale, British style

436

Dwan's Imperial Gold Porter, draught

Ireland

3,97

4+

 

 

7,0%

Porter/Stout

555

Lefèbvre Belgian Kriek, draught

Belgium

3,94

4

 

4+

3,5%

Special

555

Kelham Island Land of The Midnight Sun, cask

England

3,94

4

 

4+

8,0%

Porter/Stout

708

Nynäshamn Sotholmen Extra Stout, draught

Sweden

3,84

4

 

4

6,6%

Porter/Stout

708

Mad River Jamaica Sunset IPA

USA

3,84

4

 

4

6,4%

Ale, British style

754

Slottskällan Dublin Black, draught

Sweden

3,81

4-

4+

 

5,3%

Porter/Stout

911

Ambrosius-Bräu Hell, draught

Germany

3,72

4

 

 

 

Lager, Light

911

Zwönitz Pilsner, draught

Germany

3,72

4

 

 

 

Lager, Light

911

Spandau Havelbräu Hell, draught

Germany

3,72

4

 

 

 

Lager, Light

911

Ernst Bauer Schwarz, draught

Germany

3,72

4

 

 

 

Lager, Dark

911

Flying Dog Snake Dog

USA

3,72

4

 

 

5,8%

Ale, British style

911

Rogue Sea Otter Amber Ale

USA

3,72

4

 

 

5,5%

Ale, British style

911

Rogue Saint Rogue Red Ale, draught

USA

3,72

4

 

 

7,0%

Ale, British style

1146

Avery White Rascal

USA

3,65

4-

 

4

5,5%

Wheat beer

1188

Lelles Pampas Bitter, homebrew

Sweden

3,63

4

 

3+

4,7%

Ale, British style

1270

De Troch Cuvée Chapeau Lambic

Belgium

3,58

3+

 

4+

5,0%

Gueuze/Lambic

1294

Carnegie Porter Rare Editionn 2003, draught

Sweden

3,56

4-

4-

 

 

Porter/Stout

1467

Left Hand Milk Stout

USA

3,48

4-

 

 

5,2%

Porter/Stout

1467

DeGroens Pils

USA

3,48

4-

 

 

5,3%

Lager, Light

1467

Zwönitz Nachtwächter, draught

Germany

3,48

4-

 

 

 

Lager, Dark

1467

Ganser Ganserator, draught

Germany

3,48

4-

 

 

9,0%

Lager, Bock

1467

Glückauf Kräusenbier, draught

Germany

3,48

4-

 

 

5,0%

Lager, Light

1467

Bauer Keller-Pils, draught

Germany

3,48

4-

 

 

 

Lager, Light

1467

Flying Dog Road Dog

USA

3,48

4-

 

 

 

Ale, British style

1467

Weyerbacher Hops Infusion

USA

3,48

4-

 

 

6,2%

Ale, British style

1467

Dwan's Carden's IPA, cask

Ireland

3,48

4-

 

 

6,5%

Ale, British style

1585

Museum Brewery Phew!, cask

England

3,47

3+

 

4

4,3%

Ale, British style

1901

Samuel Adam's Wheat Ale

USA

3,34

4-

 

3

5,2%

Wheat beer

2033

La Trappe Witte Trappist

Netherlands

3,29

3

 

4

5,5%

Wheat beer

2190

Bell's Best Brown

USA

3,23

3+

 

 

6,6%

Ale, British style

2190

Schultheiss Berliner Mix Weisse Waldmeister

Germany

3,23

3+

 

 

 

Special

2190

Alten Schlachthof Helles, draught

Germany

3,23

3+

 

 

 

Lager, Light

2190

Stiepelbräu Pils, draught

Germany

3,23

3+

 

 

 

Lager, Light

2190

Meissner-Schwerter Privat Pils, draught

Germany

3,23

3+

 

 

 

Lager, Light

2190

Kurfürsten Maximilian Kölsch, draught

Germany

3,23

3+

 

 

 

Ale, German style

2190

Glückauf Pilsner, draught

Germany

3,23

3+

 

 

4,9%

Lager, Light

2190

Radigk's Pils, draught

Germany

3,23

3+

 

 

4,5%

Lager, Light

2190

Floris Framboise

Belgium

3,23

3+

 

 

3,7%

Gueuze/Lambic

2190

Henninger Dunkler Bock, draught

Germany

3,23

3+

 

 

6,7%

Lager, Bock

2190

Naturbier Cerveza Rubia, draught

Spain

3,23

3+

 

 

 

Lager, Light

2190

Magister Pilsen Imperial 9º, draught

Spain

3,23

3+

 

 

9,0%

Lager, Bock

2190

Magister Tostada, draught

Spain

3,23

3+

 

 

6,5%

Lager, Bock

2424

Samuel Adam's White Ale

USA

3,19

3

 

4-

 

Wheat beer

2481

Snow Leopard Wit, homebrew

Sweden

3,16

3+

 

3

4,9%

Wheat beer

2597

MacLay Gold Scotch Ale

Scotland

3,11

3

3+

 

5,0%

Ale, British style

2597

Slottskällan Uppsala

Sweden

3,11

3

3+

 

5,0%

Lager, Light

2790

Speakeasy Prohibition Ale

USA

3,03

2+

 

4+

6,1%

Ale, British style

2923

Bürgerbräu Bayreuth Braunbier, draught

Germany

2,98

3

 

 

 

Lager, Dark

2923

Zwiesel Dampfbier, draught

Germany

2,98

3

 

 

5,0%

Ale, German style

2923

Ambrosius-Bräu Dark, draught

Germany

2,98

3

 

 

 

Lager, Dark

2923

Greizer Zwickl Pils, drauht

Germany

2,98

3

 

 

 

Lager, Light

2923

Meissner-Schwerter German Porter, draught

Germany

2,98

3

 

 

7,0%

Porter/Stout

2923

Radigk's Roggenbier, draught

Germany

2,98

3

 

 

4,5%

Special

2923

DeGroens Dunkles

USA

2,98

3

 

 

5,4%

Lager, Dark

2923

Koulu Bitter, draught

Finland

2,98

3

 

 

4,7%

Ale, British style

2923

Magister Rubia, draught

Spain

2,98

3

 

 

5,0%

Lager, Light

3055

Breznak Tmavé Vycepni Pivo, draught

Czech Rep.

2,98

3

 

3

3,7%

Lager, Dark

3171

Zubr Classic Tmavé, draught

Czech Rep.

2,93

2+

 

4

4,4%

Lager, Dark

3372

John Martin Blonde Ale

Belgium

2,83

3-

3

 

6,0%

Ale, Belgian style

3523

Cameron's Strong Ruby Ale

England

2,74

2

 

4

4,4%

Ale, British style

3546

Flying Dog K-9 Cruise Attitude Ale

USA

2,73

3-

 

 

6,8%

Ale, British style

3546

Ganser Kölsch, draught

Germany

2,73

3-

 

 

 

Ale, German style

3546

Alten Schlachthof Dunkles, draught

Germany

2,73

3-

 

 

 

Lager, Dark

3546

Stiepelbräu Weizen, draught

Germany

2,73

3-

 

 

 

Wheat beer

3546

Erzquell Zunft Kölsch, draught

Germany

2,73

3-

 

 

 

Ale, German style

3546

Peters Kölsch, draught

Germany

2,73

3-

 

 

 

Ale, German style

3546

He'Brew Bold

USA

2,73

3-

 

 

6,8%

Ale, British style

3546

Sinebrychoff Porin Juhlaolut

Finland

2,73

3-

 

 

5,0%

Lager, Dark

3546

Naturbier Tostada Especial, draught

Spain

2,73

3-

 

 

 

Lager, Dark

3833

Kelham Island Museum Ale

England

2,61

2+

 

3

3,7%

Ale, British style

4060

Krachts Vollbier Schwarz, draught

Germany

2,49

2+

 

 

4,7%

Lager, Dark

4060

Dessow Mord und Totschlag, draught

Germany

2,49

2+

 

 

 

Lager, Dark

4060

Düssel Alt, draught

Germany

2,49

2+

 

 

 

Ale, German style

4060

Mora Stark

Sweden

2,49

2+

 

 

5,0%

Ale, British style

4060

Koulu Lehtori, draught

Finland

2,49

2+

 

 

4,7%

Lager, Light

4060

Charles Wells Bowman Stout, draught

England

2,49

2+

 

 

5,0%

Porter/Stout

4198

Samuel Adam's Vienna Style

USA

2,43

2

 

3

 

Lager, Dark

4277

Lagom Läcker American Pale Ale, homebrew

Sweden

2,38

3-

 

2-

4,6%

Ale, British style

4469

Bell's Oberon Ale

USA

2,24

2

 

 

6,5%

Ale, British style

4469

Marcus-Bräu Dunkel, draught

Germany

2,24

2

 

 

 

Lager, Dark

4469

Bergquell Lausitzer Porter, draught

Germany

2,24

2

 

 

 

Porter/Stout

4469

DeGroens Marzen

USA

2,24

2

 

 

5,4%

Lager, Dark

4469

Goron's Finest Silver

Belgium

2,24

2

 

 

8,0%

Lager, Bock

4784

Stoudt's Honey Double Mai Bock

USA

1,99

2-

 

 

7,0%

Lager, Bock

4784

Koulu Ope, draught

Finland

1,99

2-

 

 

4,7%

Lager, Light

4997

He'Brew Genesis Ale

USA

1,75

1+

 

2

6,0%

Ale, British style

5005

Koulu Oktober, draught

Finland

1,74

1+

 

 

5,0%

Lager, Dark

5035

Bavaria 8.6 Bière Special

Netherlands

1,73

2-

 

1+

7,9%

Lager, Bock

5179

Cameron's Chocolate Ale

England

1,49

1-

 

2+

4,0%

Special

5242

Lola

Belgium

1,36

1-

2-

 

5,0%

Lager, Light

5254

Bavaria 8.6

Netherlands

1,34

1+

 

1-

8,6%

Lager, Bock

5262

Kelham Island I've Lost My Cherry, cask

England

1,31

0+

 

2+

4,5%

Special

5325

Kelham Island Fool's Bitter, cask

England

1,18

1-

 

1+

3,8%

Special

5351

Bavaria Regular Malt

Netherlands

1,08

1-

 

1

0,0%

Lager, Light

5371

Kelham Island Gone Bananas, cask

England

1,00

0+

 

1+

3,8%

Special

Rated by: Per Samuelsson, Fredrik Huldt and Jonas Bofjäll

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Updated 2003-10-28 Per Samuelsson