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I had a good beer the other day. In Finland.

I tried various canned and on-tap local stuff, despite Elder Daughter's warnings. Let's just say I didn't find anything I liked.

Then on a boat-restaurant on the river in Turku, I asked the waiter what a beer lover should order. He brought me a pint of locally-brewed IPA, I've forgotten the name of the brewery, but it brought tears to my eyes. Charged me nine euros for it, mind. I suspect it's one of these citrussy beers you're talking about. A moving experience.

Up till then, I was started to think the best beer of the trip was the Oettinger I had on the Lufthansa flight. But my faith in humanity is restored.

It is rightly acknowledged that people of faith have no monopoly of virtue - Queen Elizabeth II

by eurogreen on Wed May 15th, 2013 at 03:58:27 AM EST
A friend back from a car trip to Germany gave us a few bottles of Oettinger recently. Quite pleasant, but, as Helen says of these German beers, rather banal.
by afew (afew(a in a circle)eurotrib_dot_com) on Wed May 15th, 2013 at 05:17:21 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Actually, now I remember, it was a Warsteiner.

But I will take good, banal bier any day over the stuff they drink in Finland.

No, I didn't stay long enough to be qualified to dismiss a nation's brewing prowess so... dismissively. On the basis that "90% of everything is crap", it's probably fair to say that I would have been just as unimpressed drinking random popular beers in most countries (I would except Belgium and Germany, there are probably other countries to add to that list)

It is rightly acknowledged that people of faith have no monopoly of virtue - Queen Elizabeth II

by eurogreen on Wed May 15th, 2013 at 09:08:24 AM EST
[ Parent ]
I made the mistake of drinking the locally popular beer in Berlin once, on the theory that it shouldn't be possible to sell bad beer in Germany.

- Jake

Friends come and go. Enemies accumulate.

by JakeS (JangoSierra 'at' gmail 'dot' com) on Wed May 15th, 2013 at 02:10:26 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Berliner Weisse ? Only drink it with the wormwood essense (the green stuff). Then it's fantastic. But it's not so much a beer as a soft drink, being only 2% proof (or something like that)

keep to the Fen Causeway
by Helen (lareinagal at yahoo dot co dot uk) on Wed May 15th, 2013 at 03:44:47 PM EST
[ Parent ]
I forget the label. It was some years ago.

Pretty sure it was a pilsner, though.

- Jake

Friends come and go. Enemies accumulate.

by JakeS (JangoSierra 'at' gmail 'dot' com) on Wed May 15th, 2013 at 04:23:51 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Finland isn't really a beer country. Neither is Sweden, so I am not dissing on the former eastern half of the realm. Flavorless lagers is what we have.

If you want drinks with history up here, it is all in the booze department.

Sweden's finest (and perhaps only) collaborative, leftist e-newspaper Synapze.se

by A swedish kind of death on Wed May 15th, 2013 at 05:25:14 PM EST
[ Parent ]
I was aware of this, but I'm not a spirits man. And there was a fair amount of beer drinking going on, and frankly it was beer weather (absolutely phenomenal, especially compared to the cold wet French spring I came back to.)

This was at about 9.30 pm on Monday.

It is rightly acknowledged that people of faith have no monopoly of virtue - Queen Elizabeth II

by eurogreen on Wed May 15th, 2013 at 06:55:10 PM EST
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The Lowdown - Quality Swedish beer

I know and like Skottskallens beer. I've had a Nils Oskar beer, which was very good, but don't know their range very well.

keep to the Fen Causeway

by Helen (lareinagal at yahoo dot co dot uk) on Thu May 16th, 2013 at 03:34:08 AM EST
[ Parent ]
It turns out the beer was from Koulu brew pub, and now I'm offended that my daughter didn't take me there. She'd better have a good excuse, the reviews are excellent.

It is rightly acknowledged that people of faith have no monopoly of virtue - Queen Elizabeth II
by eurogreen on Thu May 16th, 2013 at 09:55:06 AM EST
[ Parent ]

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