Bergen & Flam, Norway

I had a short stay in Bergen actually, as our aim was a trip to fjord.  So it was rather a stop-over, and we did not even visit a bar there (and reluctant to mention that we were rejected by a supermarket cashier when we intended to buy a bottle of beer after 8pm).

Departing for the fjord at 8am, and we arrived at Flam before noon.  Flam is a beautiful, small port by the tip of a fjord, also at the bottom tip of a steep railway line.  There was a museum depicting the struggle in opening up the railway.  I always cannot imagine the hardship of railway workers a century ago, when we could comfortably sit in a train and enjoy the scenery along the rail.  How could we pay tribute to them?  In a respectable and proper way ...

I have not read much tourist information about this small port town, therefore it was quite a surprise to us when we found a microbrewery there - AEgir Bryggeri.  More correctly when I noticed that this one is only second-best after the Oslo one (much better than the ones in Warsaw and Gdansk).

They sell a set of five tasting samples and we tried that.  There should be enough time for us as the ferry would only leave in one and a half hours.

They are usually presented in a order from light through hoppy/bitter flavour to port or stout, as you could see them from left to right (not necessary fitted with your imagination on the colours).  They are all good, but in general showing a rather pale finish (as you could always describe as crispy).  This is a general observation I could conclude in visiting several microbreweries (except the Oslo one), the beer brewed are mainly light or pale, except any single one of IPA which showed the strong character of hoppyness.  Among the five, the like the first one the most, i.e. Boyla Blonde Ale (4.7% ABV).  The taste is very well-balanced and refreshing - perfect for a Norwegian summer afternoon!

The ferry took us through Aurlandsfjord and Naeroyfjord, and eventually back to Bergen in the late evening.

We have nothing to complain but gratitude to everything we've seen: the fjords, seabirds, a big waterfall, steep railway, a microbrewery and all the beautiful scenery.

Oslo, Norway

The only two things I know about Norwegian beer comes from Jan Hillesland's book "All about beer that a man needs to know", they are "Lorry" (a restaurant with a beer garden) and "Ringnes" (the most popular local beer in Norway).  I tried both within four hours since my touching down on this part of Scandinavia (including three hours of searching for the correct way from the airport to the B&B).  I never imagined that I would be surprised by many more during the short stay in the capital city of Oslo.

Lorry and Ringnes

The neighbourhood around my B&B (Holegata) is neat and tidy, basically everywhere in Oslo is neat and tidy (you might feel too tidy if you started to get used to the Polish way).  A short walk downhill took us from the B&B to Lorry.  The interior of the restaurant looked like an haunted house, filled with all kinds of exquisite objects ranging from 兵馬俑, chairs for a king and a queen, a deer's head, and anything you name it.  We just looked for our simple lunch, so we ordered a salad and a sandwich.  Of course, unavoidably, some local beer (only afterwards that I know that's Ringnes).

I could not describe much about Scandinavian lager, except you may say the taste is clean, crispy, or refreshing.  From Hillesland's book, we know that Scandinavian lagers are brewed according to the original law of Purity, which means only malt, hop, water and yeast are used in the process (no rice, no fruit, or whatever).

The famous thing about the place Lorry is that it features an extensive beer menu with over 100 different brands.  But anyway, I insisted to try the local one, instead of UK or German stuff.

There are still those weird regulations imposed on sales of alcohol in Norway nowadays.  For example, you cannot purchase from any supermarket alcoholic drinks on Sundays, or after 8pm weekdays.  That's obviously inconvenient to me, when cashiers rejected my beers twice.

Actually the receptionist of the B&B could not show us the way to Lorry when we asked her, instead she introduced a "very good" microbrewery "just at the next block of this street".  Eventually we visited there in the next day, after several museums, and found out (afterwards) it was the best microbrewery we visited in the whole trip.

Oslo Mikrobryggeri

After visiting four cities in Europe during this trip and Shanghai in my previous trip, microbreweries are definitely a fashionable item in big cities (maybe except Hong Kong).  But the problem quality.  I can surely say that Oslo Mikrobryggeri is the best microbrewery we've ever visited, up to now.

The bar only sells beers brewed at site, not any other bottled or draft beer.  There were eight kinds of beer mentioned in its catalogue, but only five are available on the day of our visit.  You could easily tell them all from the photo.

In most of the microbreweries visited, the beer seemed to taste milder and paler.  I guess the reasons for this are, one, customers' favour for pilsner; and, two, not easy to make the bitterness a good balance.  Many cases are that you would try the other extreme - those hop juice.  They say that's American style IPA.  I don't like it.  IPA should not be hop juice.

Here in Oslo Mikrobryggeri, Steamer is very well-balanced ale.  I like it a lot.

I also tried the IPA and porter, they are also great!!

After the Mikrobryggeri and a night's sleep, we departed for any Norwegian city - Bergen.

Warsaw, Poland (1)

It is the annual summer holiday, my destinations this year are Poland and Norway.  It may sounds a strange combination, but at least geographically the two countries are not far away.  And the two cities I visited, Gdansk and Bergen, followed the similar trade history in its involvement in the Hanseatic League.  Poland is always my love, and I headed to Norway for its natural scenery.  I don't expect I bumped into so many microbreweries along the way.

Two Glasses of Zywiec and One Glass of "Vodka"

I tried three bottles of Polish beer and bought two more from a huge beer store (which sells almost a thousand, literally, types of beer) during my first day in Warsaw.

You cannot avoid the brand Zywiec when you talked about beer in Poland.  It is the most popular beer brand, and when you order a beer in a bar without mentioned any brand (because you don't speak any Polish) the bartender will probably get you a glass of Zywiec.  Therefore I had my first glass of Zywiec beer just after I checked in a hotel in Warsaw, after I mentioned the word beer to a bartender.  Beer poured in a branded glass, placed onto a branded coaster.

Zywiec is a city in south Poland, somewhere near Krakow.  The brewery was originally founded by Habsburgs in 1852, and started operating in 1856.  You could still find the Habsburg crown and a couple dancing Krakowika (a traditional dance of the area of Krakow) in the logo.  It was nationalised during Communist era.  And later in 1990 acquired by Heineken International, and becomes a very modern brewery nowadays (open for visitors too). 

Zywiec pale lager tasted nice, but I liked the porter much more.  It's almost 8.5% ABV, as I remember. Very refined, but not over-roasted.

I cannot find, from internet research, a commonly-recognised second most popular beer brand in Poland.  It may be Tyskei, or maybe Warka, as I saw quite some advertisements in the streets.  Anyway, I had my third glass of beer, Warka, at dinner, when I actually tried to order a glass of "vodka".  I guess the old man in the restaurant misunderstood my poor English.

(To be continued)

Shanghai Beer Scenery - July 12-14

I've been to Shanghai for several times, and I don't expect there is actually a "beer scene" developing so vividly in the city.

Friday: Shanghai Brewery

I did some research before the trip and knew that there are quite a number of microbreweries.  Yes, there are brewmasters doing their work right there at the beer house, or in breweries somewhere else then transporting the products to the bars and selling them to customers (mostly served in 0.3L, 0.5L, 1L glasses - they are more following the German scale: I didn't see any "pint" in SH).  Therefore after touching down and having a wonderful dinner with mates, we headed to one of those microbreweries - Shanghai Brewery at Hangshan Lu (衡山路, 東平路).

The brewery was packed with drinkers already when we arrived and we just sat outside under the sky and trees (梧桐樹, so famous in the "French quarter").  Six kinds of fresh handcrafted, micro-brewed beers are regularly brewed on-site: West River (浦西) Weizen (wheat beer), People's Pilsner, North Star IPA, Black Eyed Bear Stout, Hong Mei Amber Hefeweizen and Peach Weizen.  It says that all of the beer recipes were created and brewed by award-winning American Brewmaster Geoff Engel and Chinese Brewmaster Sam Yang.

I ordered a sampler (including four kinds) while my friends chose West River Weizen and North Star IPA respectively.  Brief comments are:

People's Pilsner: acceptable, will be better if more chilled
West River Weizen: unacceptably pale (this may be an interesting question regarding taste of Chinese drinkers, and should be explored further by someone), and thus quite character-less.
Hong Mei Amber Hefeweizen:  same as above
Black Eyed Stout: acceptable, but not malty and biscuity enough
North Star IPA: fairly fine, compared to the above, less bitterness as compared to other IPA tasted.

Regarding of the beer, the atmosphere of the place is really great.  Everyone around you are drinking, laughing and enjoying themselves.  The nachos ordered by the Germans on the table beside ours is so big and appealing.  It seems that everybody is having a good time.  Of course, it is a bit pity that the beer is not that good, but nobody except us really cared.  We headed for somewhere else, leaving behind some unfinished glasses ...

Bar Constellation

We just walked on the street after leaving the brewery, and looked for our next destination.  My last good experience dictated our way to Bar Constellation, this time another one in a new location.

You could easily find out many reviews aboutr this bar on the internet when you typed in Bar Constellation Shanghai, the descriptions you mostly likely read will be "best cocktails", "500 single malt whiskies", etc.  I have not tried most of the cocktails, but at its presentation, you would believe the descriptions are true.  They are serious about making cocktails as the menu presented quite a profile: vodka based, gin based, etc, etc.  You simply don't know how to choose, too many names you do not know and too many varieties you hesitate to order at one time.

Luckily, my friend made a very good and decent suggestion - a kind of rum that beats all your previous experiences on the stuff, and I ordered a neat glass of Zacapa XO.  It is very delicious, very easy to drink while offering a very refined aftertaste. Just excellence.  Thank you, mate!  I missed the opportunity of trying this when I visited the Bar Constellation at Ningbo.  But I did not miss it this time.

The day ended with a perfect aftertaste.

Saturday: West Well (西井滙), Zhujiajiao (朱家角)

I am not clever enough to associate numerous cafes, style shops, restaurants with a small heritage riverside town.  I should have thought about that for the rising consuming power of Shanghai.  Even that, I really don't expect to find out a cafe selling some rarely-seen beers, such as Old Rasputin Russian Imperial Stout.

Old Rasputin Russian Imperial Stout

Source: North Coast Brewing Company, Fort Bragg, California, USA
Style: Russian Imperial Stout
Strength: 9% ABV
12 Fl. oz. bottle

Rating (out of 10): 8.5

Note: You could very easily pick up the "imperialness" / "royalness" of this stout in your first mouthful.  Difficult to describe its subtle difference with other stouts, until I read Mr Protz's notes in his book (300 beers to try before you die!): "an explosive finish packed with warming alcohol with a Cognac note ... ".  That's it, Cognac, that's the refined taste I experienced, thank you.

Visiting a 水鄉 is nice, but nothing could beat the unexpected chance in coming across something you really wanted to tried but failed in years.

Ole, a supermarket

Just stoped by a supermarket in a HK-styled mall, and saw some rarely-seen beers.  Chinese do prefer German beers, but luckily there were also some Belgium brews.  I bought the Lambic style beer - Lindemans FARO Lambic (250ml bottle, 4.5%ABV) (and another German beer).  Not bad, at least for my first time.

De Refter

After a nice local Shanghai meal, we headed to a bar specialised in Belgium beer - De Refter.  I was all too happy just taking a look at the drink list.  Those familiar ones, Chimay, Orval, Leffe are on the list, no doubt. And I found also numerous others.  In spite of some "strange" sub-headings, such as Fruity Poisons (for those Gueuze, Kriek and Lambic choices), the list is simply magnificent!  There is a sub-heading of Must Try.  So I opted for La Chouffe (8% ABV), my friends: Delirium Tremens (8.5% ABV) and Westmalle Tripel (9.5% ABV), all among the must try items.

They said that those liquid are beyond their past beer-drinking experience (don't forget they have tried numerous beers before), and were rightfully described as "special beer".  For me, La Chouffe is very good (rating: 9 out of 10); but the Delirium Tremens is simply "better" (rating: 9.5 out of 10).  Nothing is perfect, of course.

The bar set up a VIP list, for which anyone could join after they tried all 50 of its selected items.  If you do that, your name and the number of days required will be marked onto a plaque, together with a special VIP glass placed on the special VIP rack with your name shown clearly.  I would sign up for it if I could stay in Shanghai two more weeks.

A very enjoyable night!!

Sunday: The Bund Brewery

I planned to cut down my drinking during the third down of my trip, but failed eventually when coming across The Bund Brewery near the Bund (外灘).  There were only three kinds of homebrew, including amber wheat beer and dark wheat beer, served in 0.3L, 0.5L and 1L glasses (seems normal in the city).  I tried the amber wheat beer, it's fine, not very good.  But what impressed me is the availability of brewery in the city.


Taking away some empty bottles ...

Within a four-day trip, I visited two microbreweries, tried more than ten new beers, took away four empty beer bottles (for decorating my house) and two Beer Magazines (there is beer magazine introducing brewing recipes, homebrew competition, pub crawls, oh my God!).  See, people are trying new things and exploring when opportunities are given, rather than paying huge monthly rents selling LV bags, watches or formula powder.

I am not saying that there is anything special or worth promoting for beer.  It is just one kind of alcoholic drink, and I am sure not many people are enthusiastic to this drink as me.  But should there be more space and variety in a place, for those who are interested to experience and explore?  How special is this city really? Provided that the word "Special" is included in its formal name ...

Confusion, (and therefore) search for differentiation between Pale Ale and (Best) Bitter - Blind comparison of Marston's Pedigree and London Pride

"300 Beers to Try Before You Die" written by Roger Protz is placed on the top shelf of my room, and I always need to consult it about the beer style.  Pilsners, lager, stout or even wheat beer is very easy to tell.  But when it comes to the pale ale and bitter (or best bitter), confusing is definite.

I have tried Marston's Pedigree quite numerous times actually, both on taps or in bottles, and I must admit that I was usually not very impressed although the "glorious" history and background of pale ale being brewed in Burton-on-Trent, UK.  In its website, the pale ale is claimed to be the official beer of England (since it is a sponsor of the English Cricket Board), and it always praises the importance of the using of Burton spring water and the unique union cask system (fermentation of ale still takes place in oak casks!).

But comes down to actual drinking, I find Pedigree not as "sharp" or "tasty" as London Pride (which is classified as Best Bitter in Protz's book.  Difference of bitter and best bitter may be seen as between lager and premium lager, vaguely in terms of alcohol strength).  Today, I try to find out how those two beer styles differ actually.

I had an idea of blind tasting and comparing when I was drinking my pint of bottled Pedigree (pale ale 5%).  So I  poured for myself another pint of bottled London Pride (best bitter 4.7%).  Thanks to the assistance of my best mate, I just closed my eyes and drank from one of the glass handed to me in the first place, followed by the other one later.  Obviously I recognized the taste of London Pride immediately, but the point of the tasting is on grasping more accurately what those beer really taste like.  I draw the comparison as follows:

                                                          colour        body           refreshness        sweetness        maltiness
                                                                      (full or watery)   (pilsner as         (just like fruity  (degree of
                                                                                           benchmark 100)      vs dry wine)    substance)                                                    

Pedigree (classic pale ale):           pale amber    medium             80                medium dry        malty

London Pride (typical best bitter):  golden     medium to full       50                     fruity             malty

I have to disclaim in the first place: the above assessment is totally subjective and not scientific, but it gives my own answer to my question as mentioned in the headline.

And this comparison is also consistent with my preference on wine styles: I prefer "fruity" Italian wine to "dry" French wine.


I have not imagined more thorough and in-depth study on beer styles and their corresponding brewing science will give me such joy in beer drinking.  From Protz's book, he tells you the major differences between Pale Ale and Bitter are: 
(1) Pale Ale bears a longer history of brewing (i.e. it predates bitter);
(2) Crystal malt is an essential component of bitter.  It is stewed malt made by a process similar to making toffee that turns the starch inside each kernel of malt into crystallised sugar.

But that explanation don't give you any concrete substance, right?  You have to acquire the difference by yourself.  Cheers!

About the beer

Marston's Pedigree

Source: Marston's Brewery, Burton-on-Trent
Strength: 5%ABV
Style: Pale Ale

Rating (out of 10): 9

(from the brewery's website)
Pedigree is available in draught, bottle and can versions. All of Marston's Pedigree™ is brewed at our brewery at Burton upon Trent, using our spring water, the finest ingredients and our unique Union system.


Last but not least, I am beginning to appreciate the style of pale ale and like this classic Pedigree more and more!

Stella Artois

About the beer

Source: Inbev, Leuven, Belgium
Style: Lager
Strength: 5.0% ABV
Colour: Golden

Tasting at The United (apart from the numerous times in numerous
                       bars at numerous occasions)
Rating (out of 10): 7.5

Notes:

I did have to check through my past items to see whether I have already included Stella Artois in my beer drinking journal.  It's surprising when nothing could be found actually.

The beer is popular here in the city, and there is nothing wrong with being popular.  It has an appeal of being "higher-class", and there is also nothing wrong with that, together with all its advertising efforts including advertisment (always seeing a handsome, well-dressed, male European, allured by this golden and perfectly poured glass of Stella Artois), logo (anno 1366), branded glass (stemed), slogan (She is a thing of beauty).  Everything fit together to create an image of prestige and "European" (so the word "Imported" is emphasised, spelt out and printed near the bottle-neck, although most of the bottled-beer brands we drink nowadays are imported).  It gives you a good feeling in drinking it.

On actual drinking experiences, it varies a lot.  It could be rather pale and taste-less, if the pub treated the draft beer too coldly (which is quite normal in HK).  It could contain too much gas (I don't know why) some times, and not very friendly with your stomach.  It could be quite "ordinary" in quite many times that you do not recognise which beer you are drinking if you do not look at the glass.

Anyway, I had quite a walk in the morning, and this glass of Stells Artois gave me some refreshing feeling (and together with a glass of sparkling water, answered my thirsty quest), and it worths 7.5 points.

Black Cab Stout

About the Beer

Source: Griffin Brewery, Chiswick, England (Fuller, Smith and Turner PLC)
Style: Stout
Strength: 4.5%ABV
Colour: Black (as a London Black Cab)

Tasting: at The United
Rating (out of 10): 9

Notes:

I don't know what other experts would say, my utmost (or maybe only) criteria in assessing a beer is whether it is delicious.  I cannot find any other reason to enjoy a beer, (it is much easier to getting drunk if you drink whisky, vodka or gin; and "show" your "taste" by having a glass of wine).  And my first-time drinking of this Fuller's Black Cab Stout fits very much what I demand of beer drinking - it is very delicious, from the first mouthful to the very last.

The beer books told a lot about the "invention" of this style of beer in London and was so loved by the working class people (i.e. the porters), from there the name came.  And the stronger version of porter was called stout.  Nowadays, when you speak of Stout, it almost automatically means Guinness.

It is true that Guinness is good, when you drink it on tap at a bar (but not bottled or canned).  Much better than other brews, such as Murphy.  But I think this Black Cab Stout is more delicious than Guinness, in ways of its deliciousness, easy-going character, and dry finish.

Black Cab Stout is so delicious that it gives you a taste of sweetness in your first mouthful of it.  More accurately, it should be called bitter-sweetness, but actually more sweet than bitter.  This may be described as "biscuit-like" or "malty" in those book, but anyway I prefer sweetness.  Furthermore after the first taste of sweetness, it gives you dryness in its aftertaste.  Such a perfect combination.

A really satisfying experience.

This is what introduced in the Fuller's website:

Black Cab Stout

Brewed with a combination of five different malts, some heavily roasted for a near jet black appearance, Black Cab Stout is 4.2% ABV and beneath its dark exterior features luxurious red berry notes, toasty aromas on the nose and culminates in a dry, bitter finish.