So, in 2020 Corona virus reared its nasty little head and basically cancelled the world. In Sweden, things started to close down in March as the virus took over, with many things being postponed indefinitely. As the general public were asked to stay away from pubs and restaurants, the amount of social interaction between people dropped substantially. I continued to hold the regular Umeå Beer Club tastings, with added social distancing and less physical interaction between the guests. I felt that it would be nice to do something for people who couldn’t go out due to being in a high infection risk group or people who just felt uncomfortable with the idea of going to a pub. I decided to hold some beer tastings live on Instagram so that people could participate in from the comfort of their own living room. All they needed to do was buy the beer at Systembolaget and log in when we went live. I was joined at nearly every tasting by Mimmi, which was great as I find it really helped to have a second opinion on the beer. It also helps to keep the conversation flowing and most importantly, it’s a lot of fun to try new beers together! We never got paid for holding the tastings and bought all the beer ourselves. We just wanted to help in a tiny way to connected people at a very strange time in the world.
I’m not going to go into a deep desciption of each beer as there has been so many of them. I will score them out of 5 so you can see roughly what I thought of the beer. If you see something that makes you curious feel free to go and track them down! Some of the live tastings were saved on Instagram so feel free to go and check them out if you wish. This list will be updated as we hold more events. Any future tastings will be listed under the “Upcoming tastings” section of this website. Hope to see you there soon!
Dave
Past Tastings
27th March (IPA theme)
Cigar City “Florida Man” DIPA – 2.5/5
Collective Arts “IPA No. 12” – 4/5
Oppigårds “Cascadian Dark Ale” – 3.5/5
3rd April (No theme)
Destihl Brewery “Hawaii Five blonde ale” – 4/5
Brekeriet “Spring Gose” – 3/5
Stigbergets “Trouble Sleep imperial stout” – 4/5
10th April (No theme)
Good Guys Brew “White Spring wheat beer” – 2.5/5
Bitburger “Triple Hop’d lager” – 3.5/5
Founders “Frangelic Mountain imperial brown ale” – 4/5
17th April (No theme)
St. Eriks “Rabarber sour beer” – 3.5/5
Oscar Blues “Can O Bliss IPA” – 2.5/5
Sierra Nevada “Bigfoot barley wine” – 3.5/5
24th April (Green theme)
Örebro Brygghus “Det Våras För Lime sour” – 3/5
Remmarlöv “Prima Vera spring ale” – 3/5
Captain Lawrence “Tears of Green NEIPA” – 4/5
1st May (Live from Bryggverket)
Bryggverket “Bru Team brut IPA” – 3.5/5
Bryggverket “Lengräddad NEIPA” – 4.5/5
Bryggverket “Kaakao Kaakao imperial stout” – 4/5
8th May (Ecological theme)
Gotlands Bryggeri “Eko Bulldog pale ale” – 2.5/5
Stockholm Brewing “Saison D’etre” – 3/5
Poppels “Passionfruit pale ale” – 4/5
16th May (Dugges 15 theme)
Dugges “15 sour” – 3/5
Dugges “15 IPA” – 2.5/5
Dugges “15 stout” – 4/5
22nd May (Lager theme)
Modelo “Negra Modelo” – 4/5
Schönbrunner “Urbock” – 3.5/5
Melleruds “Paradpilsner IPL” – 3/5
Upp Brewing “Duster schwartzbier” – 2.5/5
30th May (Belgium theme with Martin)
Lowlander “White ale wheat beer” – 3/5
Westmalle “Dubbel” – 4/5
3 Fonteinen “Oude Gueze” – 2.5/5
5th June (Beer and ice cream theme)
Lindemans “Apple fruit lambic” – 3.5/5
This Is How “How To Tear Down This Wall raspberry berliner weisse” – 4/5
Omnipollo “Aon imperial stout” – 4/5
18th June (Beer and cheese theme)
Schneider Weisse “Meine Festweisse Tap 4 wheat beer” – 3.5/5
Stigbergets “West Coast IPA” – 3/5
Chimay “Blue” – 4.5/5
3rd July (Beer and chocolate theme)
Timmermans “Kriek lambic” – 3.5/5
Caldera Brewing “South Side strong ale” – 3/5
Youngs “Double Chocolate stout” – 3/5
17th July (Beer and sausage theme)
Cornish Orchards “Gold Apple cider” – 3.5/5
Ayinger “Maibock” – 4/5
Jämtland “IPA” – 3.5/5
24th July (Live from Beer Studio)
Beer Studio “Loop Session lager” – 4/5
Beer Studio “Crossfade sour ale” – 3.5/5
Beer Studio “Monkey Mountain APA” – 3.5/5
31st July (End of summer finalé theme)
Brewdog “Clockwork Tangerine session IPA” – 2.5/5
Kona “Big Wave golden ale” – 4.5/5
Amundsen “Apocalyptic Thunder Juice NEIPA” – 4.5/5
Samuel Smiths “Imperial Stout” – 3/5
25th September (Oktoberfest theme)
Weihenstephaner “Festbier” – 4.5/5
Fruh “Kölsch” – 3.5/5
Franziskaner “Hefe – weissbier” – 4/5
4th December (Christmas theme)
Charlis Brygghus “Snöfall” – 3/5
Lagunitas “Holiday Ale” – 4/5
Brekeriet “Lusse Lelle” – 3.5/5
11th December (Gotlands Bryggeri theme)
Gotlands Bryggeri “Easy Rider Bulldog Alcohol Free” – 3/5
Gotlands Bryggeri “Wisby Pils” – 3/5
Gotlands Bryggeri “Sleepy Bulldog Pale Ale” – 4/5
Gotlands Bryggeri “Wisby Julbrygd” – 3.5/5
18th December (Darkest Night theme)
Carlsberg “Carnegie Porter” – 3.5/5
Left Hand Brewing “Raspberry Milk Stout” – 4/5
Founders “Breakfast Stout” – 4/5