After drinking them all I feel kind of feed up with them. Feels like Easter beer (and Octoberfest beer) usually are of lower quality then normal. Christmas beers are an exception where some of them can really stand out of a crowd.
Here is a summary of the Easter beer:
The best Easter beer of the year. Good balance between bitterness and sweetness. It also had a noticeable hoppy and malty character.
Total: 3,3/5
Total: 2,9/5
A very mild beer with very little flavour whatsoever. This beer needs to be acompanied by food, it just can’t holds it’s own ground.
Total: 2,1/5
Mariestads Påskbryggd (50 cl) 5,8% – 17,50 SEK
Tasted synthetic and artificial and I didn’t like it very much. It will need some food to go with it, on it’s own it was just to depressing.
Total: 2/5
Mariestads Påskbryggd (50 cl bottle) 5,8%
This is the last Easter beer that I had to review, I’ll post a summary tomorrow.
Style: Vienna
Cost: 17,50 SEK
Bitterness——Sweetness—–Sourness—–Intensity——-Body
Appearance: 3/5
Clear amber liquid with a dirty white foam.
Smell: 4/10
Sweet and weak smell of caramel and bread.
Taste: 4/10
A synthetic taste of caramel and bread.
Mouthfeel: 2/5
Stingy mouthfeel with a medium-thin body, medium carbonation and a warm alcoholic finish.
Comment:
I didn’t like this beer very much, it tasted to synthetic. Almost like it was made from chemicals rather then proper ingredients like malt and hops. I actually ended up poring it out in the end. It need some more body, more malt to carry the little sweetness there is and also a dash of hops to bring some bitterness. Feels like it’s lacking all over.
I think these beer needs company to be able to work. Any kind of food should work, but don’t expect a Hallelujah moment.
Total: 2/5
I might be a bit cranky with the score now, but I’m starting to get tired of the Easter beer. Tonight I’m going to drink something a bit more exciting. Founders Breakfast Stout maybe?
Jämtlands Påsköl (50 cl bottle) 6%
This is another Easter beer released at Systembolaget on the 15th of March.
Style: English Strong Ale
Cost: 24,90 SEK
Bitterness——Sweetness—–Sourness—–Intensity——-Body
Appearance: 4/5
Dark amber liquid with a medium sized fluffy dirty white head that left chunks of foam on the side of the glass.
Smell: 6/10
Grassy hops, caramel, malt and fruits.
Taste: 6/10
Caramel, malt, bread, fruits and citrus.
Mouthfeel: 4/5
Smooth mouthfeel with just a little bit of sting, creamy, medium thick body and low carbonation.
Comment:
Probably the best Easter beer so far. Good balance between bitterness and sweetness. It also had a noticeable hoppy and malty character. Fairly enjoyable but I suspect this isn’t a great match with the Easter food. The bitterness isn’t very intense but I got a feeling it would clash with the salty Easter food, specifically anything containing dill.
Total: 3,3/5
Nils Oscar Kalaspåsköl (33 cl bottle) 5,6%
This is another Easter beer released at Systembolaget on the 15th of March. I tried this with the Easter food last year and gave it a 2,3/5, with this comment:
“It tasted of bread, caramel and a hint of burned toast and metal. Was pretty boring with low taste and smell, but was ok in combination with the food.”
Style: Amber Ale
Cost: 19,30 SEK
Bitterness——Sweetness—–Sourness—–Intensity——-Body
Appearance: 3/5
Clear dark amber liquid, medium sized light beige head that left an even layer of foam on the side of the glass.
Smell: 4/10
Weak smell of caramell and bread.
Taste: 5/10
Mild taste of bread, caramell and malt.
Mouthfeel: 5/5
Smooth and creamy mouthfeel with a medium thick body and low carbonation.
Comment:
Very easy to drink but also very mild with a malty caramel flavour. I think it was to mild though, would have loved some more flavour. I had to concentrate to feel anything at all.
This one worked well with the Easter food last year, and I suspect it will work well this year as well.
Total: 2,7/5
Eriksbergs Påsköl (50 cl bottle) 5,8%
This is another Easter beer released at Systembolaget on the 15th of March.
Style: Vienna
Cost: 15,50 SEK
Bitterness——Sweetness—–Sourness—–Intensity——-Body
Appearance: 3/5
Very dark clear amber liquid, almost looked brown, with a medium sized light brown head.
Smell: 4/10
Weak smell of malt and bread.
Taste: 4/10
Weak smell of malt, bread and caramel.
Mouthfeel: 2/5
Medium smooth mouthfeel with some sting, thin-medium thick body with a low-medium carbonation.
Comment:
A very mild beer with very little flavour whatsoever. I would have preferred some more flavour in this beer as it got a bit uninteresting to drink.
I suspect it might work with some food though, can’t say for sure if it’s a good combo with Easter food. But this beer needs company, it just can’t holds it’s own ground.
Total: 2,1/5
Nynäshamns Pumpvikens Påsköl (50 cl bottle) 5,8%
This is another Easter beer released at Systembolaget on the 15th of March. I tried it with the Easter food last year and gave it a 2,1/5, with this comment:
“It had a weak smell of bread. Tastes of bread and caramel and didn’t go very well with the food. The stingy bitterness was a bad combo with the salty Easter food, specially the salmon. To bad, I usually enjoy Nynäshamns beer.”
Style: Mild Ale
Cost: 29,10 SEK
Bitterness——Sweetness—–Sourness—–Intensity——-Body
Appearance: 4/5
Slightly hazy dark amber liquid with a medium sized beige head.
Smell: 5/10
Weak smell of caramel, fruits, oranges and other citrus.
Taste: 6/10
Smoke was the most dominant, but also bread, caramel, malts and oranges.
Mouthfeel: 4/5
Smooth mouthfeel with a medium thick body and low carbonation.
Comment:
A smooth and mild British style ale with a decent amount of smoke. Easy to drink and I can imagine drinking it in a pint glass at a pub.
This beer didn’t work at all with the Easter food but I did try it with some cashews and spring rolls, both worked well. However the Easter food is a bit more salty and intense, which might not work as well. I think I’ll settle with this being a good combo with food but not necessarily Easter food.
As you can see I’m raising the score quite a bit compared to last year. But I think it might have been the stressful testing schedule together with the horrible combo between Easter food and beer that lowered the score that time.
Total: 3/5
Slottskällans Blåkulla (33 cl bottle) 10%
This is another Easter beer that was released at Systembolaget on the 15th of March. As far as I know it’s the only ecological beer in this release.
I tried this last Easter and gave it a 2,3/5, it was tested during the Easter dinner and I shared the bottle with my grandfather, father and brother. This is the comment I wrote:
“Had a medium bitter taste with hints of bread, caramel, metal and some sweetness. Easier to drink compared to the other Swedish Easter beers and enjoyed by the others around the table. “
Style: Dunkel
Cost: 24,80 SEK
Bitterness——Sweetness—–Sourness—–Intensity——-Body
Appearance: 3/5
Clear amber liquid with a medium sized light beige head that left an even layer of foam on the side of the glass.
Smell: 6/10
Mild smell of malt, the kind of smell you get when smelling a bag of freshly grinded malt. Also some metal.
Taste: 6/10
Same as the smell. Malt bag, some metal and sweetness.
Mouthfeel: 4/5
Smooth mouthfeel with a thin-medium body and a low carbonation.
Comment:
It had a very distinct flavour that I relate to smelling a bag of malt. Something I love, but it lacked something to balance it with. It didn’t have a much of any hops and the body was a bit to light to carry the heavy malty flavour.
I think this might work well with the Easter food though, there isn’t an intense bitterness in the way of the fat and salty food and the beer might improve with some company. At least that’s what I remember from last year.
Total: 2,9/5
Oppigårds Easter Ale (50 cl bottle) 5,3%
This is another Easter Beer that was released at Systembolaget on the 15th of March. I tried it with with the Easter food last year and gave it a 2,6/5. This a short comment from that test:
“Had a metallic taste and smell with some hops and spices. It wasn’t very exciting but it worked very well with the salty food.“
Style: English Strong Ale
Cost: 25,60 SEK
Bitterness——Sweetness—–Sourness—–Intensity——-Body
Appearance: 3/5
Clear amber liquid with a dirty white head that left chunks of foam on the side of the glass.
Smell: 6/10
Fruity, caramel, malt, citrus, some oranges and a hint of metal.
Taste: 6/10
Caramel, malt and some fruits, also a hint of metal.
Mouthfeel: 2/5
Metallic, medium smooth, medium thick body, low-medium carbonation.
Comment:
Slightly below average English style ale. Mild, fruity and fairly easy to drink, but the metallic taste and mouthfeel draws down the points.
This beer worked well with the salty and fat Easter food last year and I got a feeling it will be just as good this year as well.
Total: 2,8/5
Mikkeller Hoppy Easter (33 cl bottle) 6,6%
This is one of the Easter beers that where released at Systembolaget on the 15th of March. It’s actually Mikkeller Drikkeriget GIPA. Now you might get as puzzled as I was when I saw GIPA, but it stands for German IPA and it’s basically brewed with German hops.
Style: India Pale Ale
Cost: 34,90 SEK
Bitterness——Sweetness—–Sourness—–Intensity——-Body
Appearance: 4/5
Hazy dirty orange liquid with a huge white head that left big chunks of foam on the side of the glass.
Smell: 7/10
Hops, grass, citrus and yeast.
Taste: 7/10
Fresh with hops and grass. The hops definitely feels more European then American.
Mouthfeel: 3/5
Medium smooth, dry with a medium thick body.
Comment:
A very interesting beer, I don’t I’ve tried this style before. It definitely doesn’t feel American and although I wouldn’t have nailed German hops as the source it did feel very European.
The beer itself doesn’t feel like an Easter beer, which is logical since it’s another beer with a different label. I think the fairly high bitterness won’t be a great match with the salty and fatty Easter food, but it feels suiting for the oncoming Spring weather. So go outside and enjoy this beer in the sun.
Total: 3,5/5
I’m currently focusing on this years set of Easter beer. I’ve now tried 6 out of 12 and hope to finish within the next couple of days. I will post two reviews per day for a couple of days and then finish with a summary.
I started out with the beers I hadn’t tried before and so far I feel this years set of beers has been better then last years. Here is a link to last years summary.
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