Pixel Brewer

Same. It's tiring really...

Excellent beer. Cheers!

UPDATE: And here is the final product. I'm really pleased with how it turned out. I never before managed to achieve such a beautiful and stable foam on my brews. It's nice and dry with some pleasant phenolic vibes going on. Grassy and floral notes. But the spruce tips are nowhere to be found.

A very old bottle of Liefmans Goudenband to the left, with the beer in a glass to the right.

Currently drinking a beer which may be even older than me: Liefmans Goudenband, possibly late 1960s, or a little younger. Anyone with specialist knowledge of their labels may be able to advise. Whatever the age, it's held up well, lacking overt sourness but in good condition. Wow.

I'm a huge fan of this West Coast IPA from Beer Hunters Panimo from Finland 🇫🇮 bold hoppy flavours from the usual C-hops and a solid toffee and caramel base from the malts.

The right glassware always elevates the experience. There is something comforting about when the logo on the glass matches the beer.

The picture shows 6 bottle caps of Belgium Abbey/Trappist beer. On the left the old design and on the right the newer design.

These are just some recent examples that I found where beer cap / logo design was simplified. I don't know, but to me the new designs on the right have lost their soul compared to the previous design...

Enjoying a beautiful summer evening with this tasty Fässla Lager from Bamberg.

It is really baffling how overpowering the hop character was in this beer. Not much body to counter it, which made it feel quite unbalanced for my taste. Interesting beer, but in the end it left me a wondering what it is trying to tell me. Might get better over time if the hop character fades.

Image of a bottle of Michaeli Märzen next to a teku glass filled with the beer.

Today I had the pleasure to try this fancy bottle. A 6% Märzen called "Michaelis" by Riegel BierManufaktur from Germany.
The smell and taste screamed Cascade for me, but the description only read Mandarina Bavaria. However in a small note in the booklet it reveals that also Cascade is being used.

I went to a Viking event in Pirkkala yesterday. In a small herb garden on the edge of the forest was a hops plant climbing up a pole.

UPDATE: today was bottling day. The colour turned out to be nice after all. Nice notes of white pepper already and quite dry. The spruce tips only show up very faintly in the aftertaste, but I would have never guessed if I would not know. Can't wait for when it's actually ready.

Went down to a local pub in Tampere that played some King Diamond this evening. It doesn't get any better than that.

Today was a brew day. Kräusen is starting to build up on this Saison. I dared to put some spruce tips in the boil during the last 10 mins. Let's see how it turns out. It seems darker than I wanted and quite murky. Ah well... Time will tell.

Went to the taproom of a local brewery yesterday and had this single hop neipa called Taika Motueka. It really is an exceptional hop. Perhaps one of my (and many others) favourites at the moment. A really beautiful beer, although I am not a huge neipa fan in general.

Time for me to try them and I have to admit that the 2 years have actually done them really well.

Enjoying an excellent beer while smoking some pike perch on the balcony.

In 2023 my brother confessed that he has never tasted an Orval before. I immediately bought two bottles and kept them in my cellar to be prepared when he would visit me for the next time. He hasn't visited since then. This week he travelled to Belgium and had one...

Yesterday I picked around 250g of fresh spruce tips from the garden. I've been thinking about using them in a Saison. Any tips? I haven't brewed with them before and the amount used in recipes I found online vary significantly.

I fully agree with that. 💯

Congratulations!

Unfortunately, my social battery ran out after the first day and I had to skip Friday and Saturday... That seems to happen more often lately... I need to adjust my daily routine a bit... It's been a bit rough lately

We had SOPP in town this weekend. An annual event that celebrates small Finnish breweries. It's a great opportunity to try their products and get into talks with the people making the beer.
Kimito Brewings Scotch Ale X Tenu. Really silky and way too drinkable for its strength
suuretoluet.fi/tampere/

www.ebcu.org/cob/

In case you wonder what the beer landscape in Finland looks like and what places are worth visiting for a beer geek. Sign up for this webinar held by the EBCU and the wonderful Anikó Lehtinen.

And here is the update🍺 It turned out really nice. Beautiful color and good foam. Aroma of cranberries, cinnamon and cloves. Very Christmassy. Bold spicy flavors with quite some bitterness and a rather dry finish. Could benefit from some more sweetness. But overall very satisfied 👌

A friend of mine shared some of his homemade cider with me. Usually, I'm not a big fan, but this year he managed to get a nice balance between sweet and sour with a nice dry finish. This one I don't mind at all.

Trying my own single hopped double IPA with Cascade today. It smells and tastes pretty good. Foam is great. Color? Not so much. But so what🤷‍♂️

YouTube video by EBCU Official - European Beer Consumers Union "All About… Sahti" Anikó Lehtinen and Marjo-kaisa Piironen

You can find and watch it here:
youtu.be/aAshICThaFQ?...
I really love the webinars from the European Beer Consumers Union. Big thank you for making them available to all of us.

Enjoying some really tasty Sahti from Mallassepät while watching a webinar recording from 2022. Anikó Lehtinen and Marjokaisa Piironen give a very good and informative introduction to the EBCU.

My chapter on the archaeology of brewing stones is finally out. It's about why people had to use hot stones to begin with, other things hot stones were used for, and what we know about the archaeological remains of fire-shattered stone. Conclusion: lots of open questions. (Link below.)

Time for a webinar on Christmas beer with Markus Raupach and other amazing guests.
I'm sipping a St. Bernardus Christmas Ale while listening. Excellent beer!