What beer are you drinking now? #95

I went with a Swedish craft beer theme today since I figured I'd been a bit too focused on the lagers lately. Currently drinking an Oppigårds Amarillo which is a really nice Swedish take on an APA, a single hop ale which is perhaps a bit muted when it comes to its aroma hop component compared to some of the American pale ales, but it's really enjoyable.

 

Victory NATO IPA ... A good lunch today!

 

As I sit eating my grapefruit for lunch, I am pretty sure something is gonna Suck(s) when I get home...will be a first.

 

Lunch beer #2: Carton Decoy Winter Warmer - outsanding stuff!

Cheers!

 

Bells Black Note. This is amazing.

 

Next up for me is Nils Oscar Hop Yard IPA. A really nice IPA that I'm surprised got such so-so reviews on here. Whereas I can see where American craft beer drinkers might find Oppigårds Amarillo to be muted compared to the more distinguished American APAs, I do feel as though Nils Oscar delivers with this one. Juicy hop goodness in both smell and taste. The thing which alot of the reviewers seem to have a problem with is the bitterness, which in my experience is a common feature in Swedish takes on APAs and IPAs, the bitterness is usually prominent in a way that it might not be in alot of American APAs and IPAs (perhaps due to the lack of gadgets such as hop cannons and the likes, resulting in the use of more traditional dry hopping techniques and heavy late hop additions, or even early hop additions, adding bitterness).

I almost consider it a distinguishing trait for Swedish craft ales at this point, I expect a more noticable bitterness compared to American equivalents, although nothing extreme. The Amarillo has 50IBUs, but with the caramel malts some of that wont be picked up on. I'd wager that the Hop Yard has at least a dozen more IBUs compared to the Amarillo, maybe more still, but I still think it's balanced since it's also 7,3% and with what I imagine is a decent residual sugar content.

 

Having a Sierra Nevada Torpedo... Great beer

 

It was so good on Monday, time to repeat it. WnB with a nice cheese and cracker plate.

 

Highland Thunderstruck Coffee Porter, decent flavor, pretty thin body, I don't think Angus Young would be pleased with this one.

 

Finished work early and started with this.

 

Bear Republic Red Rocket Ale. For the first time. Man is that a good beer!

 

Milwaukee Brewing Company, Hop Happy. It's okay. A lot better things around here.

 

this was a nice, unexpected find. it sure is warming me up on this frigid day.

 

Cheers!!

 

First one ever:

 

going home from work in 20 minutes should be enjoying some
super fresh Alpine Duet I picked up recently when i went down to location
then after that who know trying to save the Nelson for the weekend

 

Shades of Pale 4-Play Porter at Canyons in UT

 

Last beer for the evening for me is a Carnegie Porter. It might be brewed by Carlsberg Sweden, it might be bottom fermented as opposed to top fermented, it might be hopped with German hops and not dry hopped at all, and it might be a measly 5.5% abv, but this beer will always hold a special place in my heart. Growing up in Sweden I watched bottle after bottle of the 3.5% version of Carnegie porter being poured into a cast iron pot to form the base of the sauce for a classic porter roast. Always curious as to how it tasted since I was never given a taste of it by my mother, whilst always enjoying the finished product, a rich sunday roast with the porter based sauce.

I think it's a shame that it hasn't maintained a place on the dinner table and has been relegated to a cooking ingredient since it's a delightful beer.