Craft Beer in Northern Europe, Part 4: Denmark

Sorry guys, it has taken me a ridiculously long time to get around to finishing this post. I guess this is due to the fact that unlike the rest of Northern Europe, Denmark is not somewhere it is hard to find good beer. This is by far the most developed beer scene in Scandinavia & not coincidentally has the most liberal beer laws with independent beer shops, beers at supermarkets, brewpubs, craft breweries and beer bars galore. It helps that Mikkeller is based there and they really push the scene along. Mikkeller does this in part by organizing the Copenhagen Beer Celebration which looks like a great festival I 'd love to go to someday. There's a great report from the festival here.

As stated above, in Denmark(especially Copenhagen) you're never far from good beer. In other cities, the selection may be more limited but like in Japan you can order beers online & have them shipped to your door. During my time in the country I was mostly in Copenhagen & the surrounding area so I can't rightly speak for the whole country but these are my general impressions.

Brewpub across from Tivoli Gardens

Copenhagen has a fairly strong brewpub scene with pubs inside Tivoli Gardens, right outside & across the street! 



However, most brewpubs seem geared towards the tourist trade meaning the beers aren't as good as they could be. The exception to this is the Norrebro Bryghus where Shaun Hill of Hill Farmstead fame  used to work. 

Tasters @ Norrebro Bryghus

Norrebro beers in bottles-top shelf

It's a beautiful space with reasonably priced tasters & generous pours. This place takes brewing beer seriously and you'll even find their beers in bottles for sale around town.





In Denmark, you have a strong mix of great domestic brewers (To Øl, Mikkeller, Amager, Beer Here) but also a wide selection of the best from Europe & the US. From rare Cantillons to funky Three Floyd's you'll find whatever kind of beer you're looking for in Copenhagen at several excellent shops. My favorites, in no particular order, were:

Barley Wine

Great small basement shop with color coded shelves splitting beers by style. Small fridge packed to the gills offers the option of drinking something right away & the central location means it is an easy stop while sightseeing or shopping nearby.

Olbutikken

Great small basement shop with exceedingly friendly outgoing staff. The great thing here for out of towners like me is you can reserve beers online for pick up when you visit. Also the home of the famous blueberry lambic by Cantillon, Blaeber.

Mikkeller & Friends

Mikkeller has two bars in the city, this one has a warren of rooms that include a small but great bottle shop. Bubble wrap helps out visitors like myself and the shelves are packed with interesting releases from Mikkeller & the friends who seem to mostly be powerhouses of the US Craft beer scene like Surly, Lost Abbey & Three Floyd's. 




Hokeren

This had more of a local bar/shop feel and the staff quickly handed me a glass on the house while looking through their beers-nice! Another basement shop (definitely a trend going on) with a good selection of Danish, European & American brews. I was finally able to find Goose Island's Bourbon County Stout! Great, my only regret is I should have bought more than one bottle... it's just down the street from Norrebro Bryghus so easy to combine the two into one visit.

Kihosk

This place reminds me of Yamaoka in Kyoto as from the outside it just looks like a simple corner store but inside are shelves & fridges full of beery goodness. Rumor has it that the basement is a wondrous place - a great beer cellar! Alas, I had no idea how to get in there but I was satisfied with what was available on the first floor.


Verdict: A fantastic developed beer market means beer geeks will find lots to interest them in Copenhagen but less so outside major urban centers. The bottle shops kick ass in terms of service & selection but most brewpubs are fairly touristy and don't seem to take brewing seriously. The beer bars are generally very strong & I heard they have extensive bottle lists but most people tend to stick to what's on tap. Overall, a great place for beer but brewpubs & bars need to kick it up to the next level to reach the heights of places like Akkurat.

Kansai Beer Lovers Awards 2013

Welcome to the 1st Kansai Beer Lovers Awards!

As there are numerous awards for beers & breweries in Japan but no awards for the bars or shops that dispense our favorite drink I decided it was time for someone to make one. The winners of these prizes get bragging rights and the right to call themselves the best. 

I've broken the awards into 7 categories:

1. Best Bottle Shop in Kansai 
2. Best Bottle Shop in Kansai for Japanese Craft
3. Best Beer Bar in Osaka
4. Best Beer Bar in Kyoto
5. Best Beer Bar in Kyoto for Japanese Craft
6. Best Beer Bar in Kobe
7. Most Improved Bar in Kansai

These awards are based on my extensive research over the past year and feedback I heard from patrons. They are not scientifically voted on in any way though that's something I'd like to do someday. Maybe next year. Anyways, on to the awards!

Best Bottle Shop in Kansai

In terms of depth of selection & quality of service no one comes close to Asahiya's Liquor Shop.

Honorable mention: Craft Beer Base provides a slightly smaller selection(but has a few Asahiya doesn't) & 4 taps in a central location near Umeda Station.

Best Bottle Shop in Kansai for Japanese Craft

In terms of places to buy Japanese Craft beer Yamaoka Saketen is by far your best bet for seasonals & rare releases. His relationship with brewers is so good that he was able to launch numerous beer festivals & events in Kyoto. He's even helped brew beers & requested beers be brewed such as Kyoto Machiya's recent IPA!

Best Beer Bar in Osaka

This was by far the hardest category to judge, tons of good bars have opened in Osaka over the last few years but few seem to be really pulling ahead of the pack. In terms of asking around I rarely got the same answer twice. So I will just leave you with a list of honorable mentions:

Craft Beer Base

Craft Beer Base, 4 taps, a central location & take-away bottles make it a popular choice. Especially if transiting through the Umeda Station.

Tenma Beer Belly

Beer Belly, Minoh Beer's 3 taproom locations including the large new Tenma bar make it easy to drink local beer at good prices. The other locations are Edobori & Higobashi downtown.


Qbrick, the most established bar in Osaka that is still good but not as outstanding as it once was as younger bars catch up.










Kamikaze, located down near Shinsaibashi this place has brought craft beer to a part of town that was a good beer desert.



Yellow Ape Craft, a funky name & a popular Guess The Beer Win The Pint event make this one an up and comer.

Best Beer Bar in Kyoto

Tadg the man himself

Kyoto has a good half-dozen beer bars these days but few can match the selection & variety of Tadg's. 23 taps of craft beer covering both Japanese & Imports that are carefully chosen by Tadg means you won't be finding any sub-standard beers on tap though you will find a ton of IPAs! Not the most balanced of menus in terms of styles but I like that he knows what he enjoys and that his tap list reflects a certain vision.

Best Beer Bar in Kyoto for Japanese Craft

No table charge, decent prices, a stylish location that opens right onto Shijo, 10 taps & friendly staff make Bungalow a winner in my book.

Best Beer Bar in Kobe

This is a fairly easy category to judge as Kobe has two Rokko taprooms & not much else beyond a Belgian bar or two. The winner by a large margin is Rokko Beer Dinner. With their mix of Rokko beers, Guest beers & their new in-house Starboard Brewery beers they have the best selection in town, reasonable prices, tasting sets & a location right in front of Motomachi station. In Hyogo, it doesn't get much better than this.

Most Improved bar in Kansai

This last category popped into my head when I visited Marciero after not having stopped by in 6 months or so. What started as a small somewhat sterile little bar has blossomed into a cool place with character, they now have a well curated tap list and a nice mix of Japanese + Imported craft beer. Kudos guys you did a great job!

Nagisa Beer - Shirahama

the beach

If you live in Kansai a nice weekend trip down to Shirahama is a great way to relax, in the summer you have a nice beach(Shirahama means white sand) and in the winter you can enjoy all the hot springs to the fullest. 

a hot spring

If you're a beer lover like me then as an added bonus you can enjoy a taste of the local beer: Nagisa Beer.






I visited Shirahama around 5 years ago & at that time you could look in on the Nagisa brewery & buy a few bottles from a take-away window.

the brewery

take out window

The brewery is located closer to the center of town, it's not that big but they have definitely grown since my last visit with the garage like space having filled up with fermenters & mash tuns. It looks like they may have almost reached the limits of what they can fit in this space. It is worth popping by to grab some beers(380 yen each), Nagisa goods and a peak through the glass walls into the brewery.

seasonal: IPA

Since then, they've been doing pretty well, they show up at more festivals, have started doing more seasonals & one-offs plus kegs of  Nagisa beer  are showing up in beer bars more frequently. 

On top of all that, they have a taphouse & restaurant in town called Nagisa Beer Dining Barley. 

beers available for take-out at the restaurant

 The restaurant, which can be reached by a 5 minute bus ride from Shirahama beach, is quite stylish with the staff dressed up in starched white shirts & crisp dress pants while the decor exudes a west coast bistro vibe.

The big bay windows and high ceilings give it an airy feel and it is actually quite large with 12-15 tables capable of seating roughly 50 patrons plus another half dozen at the bar. 

They seem to have about 5 taps though only 4 seemed to be in use during my visit: 3 of them Nagisa beers(American Wheat, Pale Ale & a seasonal at the moment it is an IPA) and a Guiness tap.

250 yen tasters - aka mini-glass

   

the delicious lunch menu

After having a nice lunch meal at the restaurant(last order 2:30pm), I went back in the evening enjoy a glass of the IPA which was my favorite of the beers I had in the afternoon(580 yen, 400ml -pitchers are 2100 yen for 1.6L!).

In the evening, the bar area was lit by old-style low wattage filament bulbs giving it a pleasing mellow atmosphere which perfectly matched the chill instrumental background music. I struck up a conversation with the bartender and a guy sitting at the bar in a Nagisa jacket. 

We got to know each other, talking about where we'd lived, talking about beer and I asked them about the restaurant & Nagisa beer. I learned that it is busiest during Obon & Golden Week and summer weekends. I also found out that the Eyepatch Stout will be their next seasonal release but the recipes being tweaked to be more "koi" i.e. flavorful. One thing I noticed about Nagisa beers is that they all have a characteristic smooth full-bodied mouthfeel that I like. It's nice when a brewery starts to have a recognizable trait.

relaxing with local beer

The cool thing was it turned out the guy at the bar was none other than the "shacho" Manabe Kazuya - founder of Nagisa Beer~! He's an incredibly nice guy who told me about living in Tokyo & Kyoto, that Ichijoji Beer's brewmaster often comes down for a visit as does Wachi's owner. It was a great experience and good japanese practice for me!

All in all, Shirahama is a great place for a weekend getaway with hot springs, a great looking beach plus of course Nagisa Beer!

Tuesday Tasting: Brewfist Beers

Today's Tuesday Tasting will feature two beers from Italian Craft Brewery Brewfist which are a new addition to Whisk-E's import line up. I'll be tasting Spaceman IPA & Caterpillar Pale Ale.

I picked up my bottles of Brewfist's Spaceman IPA & the BeerHere+Brewfist Caterpillar Pale Ale Collaboration on Rakuten for roughly 600 yen, though I believe Asahiya also has them, possibly for less.

Spaceman IPA clocks in at 7% but you don't taste that alcohol at all. It poured a great orange honey gold (which is my preferred IPA color) and had a fruity aroma, with mint, citrus, & tropical fruit notes  but no head. The taste is ascerbic, bitter but with a fruitiness that creeps up in the finish and it has some graham biscuity notes. It's pretty good.

The Caterpillar Pale Ale is 5.8% and has a very similar color to the Spaceman IPA but is slightly cloudier with much better carbonation. A milder aroma featuring, pine, fruity notes and maybe a hint of mint. The taste is not as complex or ascerbic as Spaceman, it is definitely a well-balanced beer. The bitter pine plays off the malts & rye well with a touch of citrus fruitiness in the finish. As it warms up the malts start to shine through a bit more.

I think both of these are very solid beers, the Spaceman IPA nudges ahead by a hair. It has a nice aroma & a more complex taste while the Caterpillar Pale Ale is less complex & more subtle though quite good. Both of these are worth checking out.