Beer Guide By Country

This page is under development. Currently some of the text is sourced from the wikipedia.

Austrian Beer Guide

It should come as little surprise that Austrian brewing shares a lot with it's German and Czech neighbours. The towns of Plzeň and České Budějovice were part of the Austrian empire during the creation of pilsner and the terms used to describe beers mirror the German classification. A number of breweries still brew in accordance to the German order of purity. The characteristic Austrian beer is the Vienna amber lager, which is only produced by a handful of Austrian breweries these days. Lager dominates the domestic market with the Brau Union owned breweries (Gosser, Zipfer, Weiselberger, Puntigamer) doing the majority of business.

The main types of beer are Marzen, Helles and Pils. Marzen is a hoppy lager of around 5% abv. The Vienna based 7 Stern and Salm brewies still make traditional amber Marzen with fuller flavours, but most of the Marzens are gold in colour and unlikely to spook a regular lager drinker. The Helles and Pils are much like their German counterparts and are rarely particularly distinguished. Unfiltered lagers called Zwickl are also available which have more body to them.

Dark beers called Dunkels can often be found and these generally ape the Czech dark lagers with Wieden Brau and 7 Stern doing good examples. A variant on the Dunkel is the Germischtes which is a mix of light and dark beer that can often be found in bars that don't serve a dark beer. Historically these were often blended in the glass though now things are done in a more measured way at the brewery - probably trying to aim at people who find Dunkels too heavily flavoured.

There are selection of strong Bock beers available such as Urbock 23 and the Samichlaus beers brewed by Schloss Eggenberg - the latter originally an experiment by Swiss brewers to see how strong they could brew beer - the end result being a rather wopping 14% abv and the strongest regularly brewed beer in the world (apparently). Generally these beers appear to be all strength and no finesse.

Seasonal beers abound, espeacially at brewpubs, and are generally worth trying. The 1516 brewpub in Vienna appears to be trying to ape American micro-breweries and is certainly coming up with some interesting ideas such as wheat beers made with quinoa. Unfortunately the highly regarded Nussdorf brewery closed down a number of years ago. The pick of the Austrian beers I have tried is the Fischer Brau Weisse which is wonderfully light and fruity beer.

Five Austrian Beers To Try -

1. Fischer Brau Weiss: Light yellow, cloudy wheat beer with a gentle lemon and banana flavour that is not very sharp and feels quite natural. Fantastically refreshing and with a suprising lightness for something with the mouthfeel of a typical wheatbeer, possibly due to having having a slight gassiness in place of the usual bready head. Incredibly drinkable.

2. 7 Stern Marzen: Hoppy amber beer with a brightness in the middle that settles into a lingering chewiness. In the bottle it is smokier and spicier. Full but not domineering and in the style of a traditional Vienna amber beer.

3. 1516 Quinoa Weisse: Wheat beer made with quinoa. Pale gold in colour and as opaque as a normal wheat beer. A pronounced sweet citrus boiled sweet flavour fades into a bready aftertaste.

4. Grieskirchner Export Dunkle: Unusually for a dunkle this is not black. Instead it is dark amber, almost mahogony coloured beer with a sweet malty flavour that leaves an aftertaste of runny caramel. Light and drinkable without compromising on flavour.

5. Ottakringer Wiener Wirsterhaff Hausbrau: Dark amber cloudy beer with a full bodied malt and yeasty taste and the mouthfeel of a wheatbeer. A hoppiness emerges through the mist with a slight caramel sweetness. Smells of horlicks and tastes of hob-nobs. The house beer of the Wiener Wirsterhaff restaurant in Vienna.

French Beer Guide

In a country where wine production and consumption is so dominant it is no surprise that beer hardly gets a mention. To most people in Britain the beers produced in France can be categorised as either Kronenbourg or cheap stubby bottles purchased from supermarkets either in Britain or vast sheds in Calais. However, though they may be difficult to source outside of France, there are a number of smaller artisan brewers producing some of the finest beers around.

In the north of France you will find Biere Du Garde which are farmhouse style brews that are traditionally laid down to age during the summer when brewing conditions are not favourable - hence the name "keeping beer". These beers have an earthy, rustic taste and often adopt the classifications of Blonde, Ambree and Brune, much along the lines of Belgian beers. The beers are often sold in Champagne bottles. One of the best examples is the Thriez brewery which is tucked away in a the small village of Esquelbecq. Their beers are hoppy, rustic and well-balanced with a good depth of flavour whilst still being very drinkable. They have a tasting room where you can get samples and buy bottles but you may struggle to find their stock elsewhere outside of specialist beer shops in France. Even the pub next door sells Stella Artois instead.

Other good biere du gardes are Duyck's Jenlain beers and the Castlelain Ch'Ti beers. The beers made by Pelforth, a brewery now owned by Heinneken, are widely available in French supermarkets and are very good. Some American breweries such as Flying Dog also produced biere du garde.

Whilst the north of France has a Belgian influence the Alsace region is more influenced by Germany - both in beer production and generally. The Fischer brewery in Alsace does a good range of beers including a rather fabulous whisky beer called Adelscot.

There is also some creative brewing going on in around the rest of France with beers made with seawater (Mor Braz), seaweed (Abers) or nuts (Canardou). You may also find a beer called Kasteel Cru that uses champagne yeast to give an interesting fizz but little else.

Five French Beers To Try -

1. Thiriez Blonde du Esquelbeck: Cloudy golden beer with a creamy head and a smell of fields of hops and oranges. The taste is initially crisp and gassy leading into a fresh citrus orange flavour that is bright but well balanced. There is a hint of cider that would make it ideally suited to summer but it's good enough to be enjoyable in a snowstorm.The taste is balanced by a wheat beer breadiness that gives it depth.

2. Duyck Jenlain Ambree: Strong (7.5% abv) top fermented beer made with 3 types of hops grown in the Alsace. The taste is reminiscent of a dark, malty, Czech lager and is very, very nice.

3. Pelforth Brune: Dark, malty beer with a smooth edge, slightly offset but a gentle gas to give it an edge. Akin to a Belgian scotch ale.

4. Fischer Adelscott: A malty beer whose taste is finished off by an edge of smooth blended whisky. Lighter than Innis & Gunn it has a broader range of flavours (though not as much as the rum cask). When tasted from a can it is smokier with a more processed flavour and not as nice.

5. Canardou Biere Aux Noix: Beer with nuts! It's nutty aroma prepares you for it's sweet honey nut flavour with a light caramel malt flavour in the background. Strongly flavoured and cloudy with sediment with the sweetness of a wheat beer, rather than it feeling sugary or syrupy. Very moreish and very well balanced.

Icelandic Beer Guide

Iceland is a country which is playing catch up in terms of producing beer. Following a refrendum on prohibition all alcoholic drinks were banned from 1915. This ban was amended in 1921 when wine was made legal and spirits were legalised in 1935. However beer was banned until 1989, though in the 1980s bars tried to get around the ban by combining alcohol free beers with spirits - a practice which itself was made illegal in 1985. Since legalization beer has become incredibly popular in Iceland with over 20 million litres of beer drunk each year.

Given the origins of Iceland's settlers it's no surprise to find that Scandanavian beers such as Carlsberg and Tuborg are widely available in bars, with the latter brewed under license in the country rather than being imported. Guiness and Irish pubs are also common - much as they are in the rest of the world. In the 70 years since spirits were legalised Iceland has only managed to produce 2 vodkas and a schnapps called Brennivin (black death). However a mere 20 years on form legalisation there are now a wide range of domestic beers available produced by 7 different breweries. These make up the majority of beers consumed in the country.

The most common domestic beers are Lagers which are very similar to the premium continental European brands. Many of the brands come in two versions - a full strength 5% version and a low alcohol 2.25% version - and you will struggle to find a beer of 3% or 4% in strength. Clearly following a ban on full strength beer the last thing people are after are moderately strong beers. The two major breweries are Egils and Viking and the main lagers they produce are called Gull, Gylttr, Thule and Polar Beer. These are all pretty generic with the main defining characteristic being the use of "pure Icelandic water" which gives the beers a softer feel than their continental counterparts. Generally the malted barley used in imported but the Egils Gull and Premium beers use domestic barley, though this doesn't seem to generate a particularly distinctive result yet. More interesting lagers are the rustically hoppy Olvisholt Skjafti and the subtly spicy Mjodur Jokull pilsener.

As well as pale lagers, most breweries also produce a darker Dunkel counterpart. The Olvisholt Mori, Egils Maltbjor and Kaldi Dokkur are all fairly decent with the Mori having elements of an English bitter to it. There are also a couple of Stouts available. The Viking Stout is of standard strength and is very drinkable with a hint of porter and a good balance between bitterness and creaminess - it's probably the best Icelandic beer. The Olvisholt Lava Stout is an Imperial Stout which should have more complexity for it's 9.5% strength for my taste but should appeal to people who like Guinness' Foreign Extra Stout.

Experimentation with beer styles is still quite rare in Iceland. The main innovators are Olivsholt who started brewing in 2007 and have a year round Wheat Ale called Feryja and have brewed an Abbey Dubbel, a Marzen and a Dunkelweizen as seasonal ales - however you may struggle to find these. A new brewrery called nIcebrew have also recently started making an IPA which has limited circulation.

You will also finds malts in most bars. These are a low alcohol beers similar to a Russian Kvass beer. These are a hangover from prohibition with the main example being Egils Malt Extrakt - a sweet, fruity, malty beverage that is 1% abv and tastes like liquid rye bread. They are fairly decent drinks and may appeal to those who like sweet stouts.

To buy alcohol in Iceland you will probably need to visit one of the state liquor stores called Vinbudin. These have limited opening hours, espeacially outside Reyjavik, so don't roll up at 8pm expecting to find it open. You can find a good range of beers at the Icelandic Bar in Reyjavik in the Austurvöllur square by the Parliament building. Overall there is little innovative or truly exceptional to have come out of Icelandic brewing so far, but their best beers are of a high standard and with time they are likely to improve. So if you are in a bar in Reykjavik, make sure you try some of the local beers rather than opting for Carlsberg or Tuborg.

Five Icelandic Beers To Try -

1. Viking Stout: Almost porterish stout with a bitter, coffee grounds taste but with a smooth creaminess to balance things out nicely. Very easy to drink.

2. Olvisholt Skjalfti: Full flavoured lager with a pronounced rustic, dry hoppy edge to it. Well rounded with a gentle bitterness in the finish. Has elements of a biere de garde.

3. Mjodur Jokull: Smooth lager with a gentle bitter floral taste. The makers claim it is fresh as a glacier. It is certainly refreshing. The hop and barley tastes are incredibly restrained. There is a subtle spicy note in the finish that builds pleasingly.

4. Bruggsmidjan Kaldi Dokkur: Mahogany coloured lager, no head. Gassy and malty with a hint of porterish coffee grounds in the background. Light and easy drinking with a nice aroma and little that lingers in the finish.

5. Egils Malt Extrakt: The low alcohol beer that the drinkers of Iceland had to make do with until full strength beer was made legal in March 1989. Dark, malty and sweet - it is basically rye bread in a glass. Fair enough stuff but not exactly subtle.

British Beer Guide

English beer has a long history, and has quite distinct traditions from most other beer brewing countries. Unusually, England is one of the very few countries (along with Ireland, Scotland, and Wales) where ales, beers brewed by warm fermentation rather than lagers, have remained dominant among domestic beers. In addition cask conditioned beer rather than bottled beer is still normal, with the beer finishing its maturing in casks in the cellar of the pub rather than at the brewery.

Five British Beers To Try -

1. Innis & Gunn Rum cask Oak Aged Beer: Syrup coloured beer with a huge taste of stewed fruits and spices topped with a hit of rum. It has been matured in rum casks and wooden casks for 107 days. It's taste is like a lighter Westvleteren 12 and almost feels like drinking an aged spirit. A superb beer of rare quality - only available in limited runs.

2. JW Lees Supernova: Gentle beer with a surprisingly dark colour for it's taste. Very smooth with biscuit and bitter hoppy flavours lingering in a creamy body. With time it becomes slightly chewy with a faint hint of coffee grounds. At 3.5% a great session beer for winter night if you are after something light but with a bit of flavour to it.

3. St Austell Tribute: This is an everyday beer in the finest sense - a beer you could happily drink everyday. It has a light brown colour and a gentle malty taste that is never bland but is not overpowering either. It is almost elusive with each mouthful calling for another to try and tease out another subtlety in the taste. They say it's "moreishly drinkable", I just say more!

4. Thornbridge Jaipur: India Pale Ale with big fruit flavours that combine beautifully with the traditional hoppy taste of IPA. The overall taste is fairly heavy but it still provides refreshment and can balance well with food. The only reservation is that it becomes a tad too dry and bitter towards the end of a bottle.

5. Ridgeway Foreign Extra Stout: Dark with a faint head. Burnt soy sauce, coffee and liquorice lightened by a hint of apple and a crisp fizziness. More like a porter than a stout. Strong but easy drinking at 8% and well balanced. Smooth and superb with Raisins coming through when warmer.

Belgian Beer Guide

Belgian beer comprises the most varied and numerous collection of high-quality beers in the world, and varies from the popular pale lager to the esoteric appeal of lambic beer and Flemish red. Belgian beer-brewing's origins go back to the Middle Ages, when monasteries began producing beers. Belgian beer production was assisted by the 1919 Belgian "Vandervelde Act", that prohibited the sale of spirits in pubs, inducing the market to produce beers with a higher level of alcohol. The Vandervelde Act was lifted in 1983.

Five Belgian Beers To Try -

1. Westvleteren 12: Dark bitter trappist ale that is stunningly smooth. Almost closer to a liquor than an ale. A base that is a coffee tasting porter, with a spiced fruit top and a smooth middle. A beer so well balanced that it trips all the tastes receptors on the tongue equally and is absurdly packed with flavour. Deceptively drinkable and very fine indeed. The best beer in the world? There certainly aren't any finer.

2. Moortgat Duvel Rood: Straw coloured strong ale (8.5%) that floats like a butterfly on the palate whilst still packing a hefty taste.

3. Girrardin Gueuze 1882: Sharp and sour beer with a fruity note and little if any sweetness. Very impressive and very interesting. Truly one to savour.

4. Palm Rodenbach Grand Cru: A superb example of a strident beer. A syrupy sweetness competes with a taste of sour cherries whilst a gentle gassiness lifts the taste and a deep oaky base grounds it. Aged for 24 months in oak barrels and well worth the wait.

5. Ellezelloise Quintine Ambree: Dark amber beer with a thick body, deep caramel flavour and a slow building bitterness. It has a roasted caramel aroma and deep spiced corriander finish and a nice sweet edge. An intoxicating (8.5%) spiced toffee apple of a beer.

Czech Beer Guide

Czech beer, beer brewed in the Czech Republic, has a long and important history. A brewery is known to have existed in 1118, the city Brno had a right to brew beer from the 12th century, and the two cities most associated with Czech beer, Plzeň and České Budějovice (Pilsen and Budweis in German), certainly had breweries in the 13th century. Hops have been grown in the region for a long time, and were used in beer making and exported from here since the twelfth century. The Czech Republic has the highest beer consumption per capita in the world.

Five Czech Beers To Try -

1. Krusovice Dark Beer (Cerne): Dark chocolate lager with slight hints of fruit (cherry, raspberry?). Very smooth with a coffee taste when drunk warm. Fairly light and gentle at 3.8%

2. Bernard Sveltly Lezak Pilsner: Champagne yeast beer that feels like an ultra-gassy lager. Bottle conditioned with variable head. Deeper taste than Kasteel Cru.

3. Budejovice Budvar: Dry, hoppy lager with a gentle malty aftertaste. Perfectly drinkable but a little on the thin side.

4. InBev Staropramen Lezak: Smooth, clean pilsner with a dry, hoppy taste. One of the better mass produced European lagers, but not exceptional.

5. SAB Miller Gambrinus Premium: A pilsner with a fuller maltier taste than usual. It is a good beer but it is not exceptional.

German Beer Guide

German beer is highly diverse and an important part of Germany's culture. There are around 1,300 breweries in Germany, more than in any other country except the United States which has 1,500.[1] The German beer market is somewhat sheltered from the rest of the world beer market by the German brewers' adherence to the Reinheitsgebot (order of purity ) dating from 1516 (and most recently updated in the Vorläufiges Biergesetz of 1993), according to which the only allowed ingredients of beer are water, hops and barley-malt. This law also requires that beers not using only barley-malt (such as wheat and rye) must be top-fermented.[2] Many breweries worldwide adopted the Reinheitsgebot for their own beers. After its discovery, yeast became the fourth legal ingredient, though for top-fermenting beers the use of sugar is also permitted. In part because of this law (which since 1988 has not applied to imported beer, but is still compulsory for German brewers), beers from Germany have a reputation for high quality. The Germans are behind only the Czechs and the Irish in their per capita consumption of beer.

Five German Beers To Try -

1. Hovels Original Bitterbier: A hoppy, top fermented beer from Northern Rhineland. Amber coloured, hoppy and citrus smelling, strongly malty with some caramel and bready undertones and dark raisiny fruits. Semi-dry, bitter finish.

2. Schenkerla Aecht Rauchbier: Dark ruby coloured, almost black, beer with a smoky, burnt malty taste that is balanced by a slight caramel sweetness. Goes very well with smoked or spiced sausage. Initially similar to a porter, further tasting shows it to be distinctly different with a good depth of flavour and no coffee edge.

3. Lowenbrau LowenWeiss: Unfiltered golden coloured top fermented wheat beer with a big white head. A marvelous aroma of banana and citrus mixed in with cloves and spices greets you as you raise the beer to your lips. The taste steadily builds to a bready taste with orange and bananas on top and a light gassiness. A four star beer with a five star aroma.

4. Kulmbacher Eisbock: Stunning strong tasting dark beer (9.2%) which is freeze concentrated to increase it's strength. It has a strong figgy, fruity, caramel taste with a lingering malty alcoholic after taste. Akin to a strong Belgian brune such as Maredsous, the alcoholic edge verges on the overpowering but it doesn't quite become too much.

5. Diebels Altbier: Copper coloured German ale with a bready yeasty smell. Starts out with a taste like and English Christmas ale with strong malt and plum fruity tastes. Further tasting allows the gentle carbonation to provide a building sourness with a hint of tea in the dry aftertaste. Would be improved if were smoother to allow the malt and fruity flavours to shine through but would make a good session beer.