Santa Claus is coming to town?

I think Denmark can best be described through the 4 Bs:
Bread
Bikes
Blondes
Beer

Last night, I experienced the Danes' intense affection for B4, specifically Tuborg Julebryg, Christmas Beer.

The night Carlsberg releases its Christmas beer is known as "J-Dag (day)," an unofficial national holiday in which the vast majority of Danes over age 18 hit the bars. J-Dag used to be on a Tuesday, but was moved to Friday because employers complained of too many workers calling in "sick" the next day.

So, in the name of cultural experience, we decided to check it out.

"Copenhagen Weekly" described the J-Dag events, including a launch party at the Carlsberg Factory at 7:45 PM. When Gabi, Liza and I arrived, we were delighted to see snow in the streets! Fake snow, of course. Snow that looked like... foam? Beer head foam? In the road? Awesome! (but kinda gross, too)

Well, turns out the party at Carlsberg was only for Carlsberg employees. Oops. Awkward. So we joined up with a HUGE group of DIS students to head into Copenhagen proper.

All of the bars on the Strøget were decked out with lights and balloons and, yes, more beer head foam piped out from the roofs like snow. We managed to split off from the gigantic and awkward crew of Americans and find a table near the door of the Irish Rover. Everything was ridonkulously expensive (a pint of Leffe Brune was 49DKK!), but came with a free cup of Julebryg, which is really good.

According to the Carlsberg website, "Tuborg Julebryg (5.6% ABV) is a bottom-fermented, wiener beer brewed on lager, münchener and caramel malt with English liquorice. The beer is dark-golden with a fresh aroma of caramel, grain, liquorice and blackcurrant. It's excellent with traditional Christmas recipes, smoked fish, grilled/fried herring, smoked ham with curly kale, roast pork and duck."

Carlsberg employees dressed as "pixies" (elves for you Americans out there) scamper into each bar once a night with several big cases of beer, blinking santa hats, stickers and other nonsense. Everyone sings "jingle bells" with "Ju-le-bryg! Ju-le-bryg! Tuborg Julebryg!" replacing the normal words. You sing and shout and push to get free beer. Its awesome. We also caught pixietime at The Globe, which was equally a hoot.

A very merry early Christmas, everyone!

99 Bottles of beer on the wall

Last night, Ryan and I attended a seminar called "Culture through a beer mug." As you might know, the Danes love their brewskies - Carlsberg is cheaper than water at many restaurants! Also, now that crappy college keg beer is no longer my only option, I figure I might as well get an education about the good stuff.

The seminar was held in the student lounge of one of the DIS buildings, so I wasn't really sure what to expect - is this going to be legit? But the set up was actually really nice. Frank Sinatra was playing on the stereo, long tables set with white cloth tablecloths, candles, and glass goblets. Not solo cups - goblets.

Our leader, Søren, introduced himself as a "part-time alcoholic" who was going to teach us about various microbreweries in this part of Europe. We went through the "Periodic Table of Beer" and learned about different kinds of beer: ales, lagers and the variations thereof. Then came the testing:

We started with "Økologisk Classic" from Thisted Bryghus, a pilsner. Søren said that the problem with most pilsners on the market is that they have become so watery that the flavors of the beer are all but lost. He said microbreweries is the way to go because "they aren't afraid to offend your tastebuds." I loved the classic, its the not too light, not too dark - perfect compliment for a meal or just chilling out with friends.

Next was Herslev Bryghus Hvede, a pale ale. It was almost yellow in color, with lots of condensation at the bottom. It smelled and tasted like bananas. Weird, but tasty. Still, I don't think I'd go out and buy it.

The following beer had the best company name: Bryggeriet Djævlebryg (The Devil's Brewery - slogan, "Satans gode øl," or "Devilishly good beers"). Søren said that this was a beer that people either love or hate - I thought it was OK.

A Brockhouse India Pale Ale came after. IPAs have a pretty funny history: when Britain had colonies in India, the government would send shiploads of beer to the men in India. However, due to the long journey around the African coast, more preservatives were needed so the keep the beer from turning into mildew. Most common preservative used? Alcohol. Leaving the port in England, the liquid was about 3.6% abv. Upon arrival, it was more like 16%

The next beer was a really really dark stout. Like, really dark, almost black. It looked like soy sauce and tasted almost like coffee, with a sort of bacon-y aftertaste, people said. We had an Ølfabrikken in the can, the best stout in the world, according to Søren. Yuck. Yuckyuckyuckyuckyuck. I took 3 sips and gave the rest to Jake. I'm sticking to the lighter girly stuff.

The last was by far the best. It was a 2007 da Capo barley wine from Musik Bryggeriet. SO GOOD. It wasn't very dark, but still really flavorful and something like 10% abv. You can only buy it in select stores, but do yourself a favor and get some - it is outstanding.

The point of the evening was to enjoy and learn about microbreweries, however, after 6 glasses of the stuff, I was feeling it. Ryan and I had plans to go to Christiania's anniversary celebration after the tasting, and we brought a few kids from the group with us. On our way to the free town, we stopped at 7-11 for more refreshments. And got a couple of 6-packs of Tuborg to split among the group.

Some things never change.