MBCC 2022

[Jay]

Hi everyone,

Well we're just one week away from our first beer festival of 2022, sadly our first wasn't in Bruges     but there's always next year 

Copenhagen is our second favourite city to visit (after Bruges  ) so we're both very much excited to be returning.

Firstly news of our friend Vitalli from Kyiv, as I posted before he was the brewer/owner of Berryland Cider and Meadery in the Ukraine but sadly his brewery was blown apart during the Russian invasion of his home country 

His brewery Berryland was due to attend MBCC 2022 (as he did last year) and he was due to brew the official beer of the festival BUT recent activities have put a stop to that...but there's some good news.

Vitalli is perfectly safe and is currently staying in Copenhagen where he's working at Mikkeller while he's gathering funds to rebuild his cidery, Mikkeller themselves are assisting with various events during and after the festival that are aimed at securing funds for the rebuilding of his brewery.

It's great to hear that a genuinely nice guy like Vitalli who through no fault of his own found his own was at a total loss and now with the help of people like Mikkeller he's finding a way to get back on his feet. I honestly wish him all the luck and will be sure to try a catch up with him during the festival.




Will report back next week 🇩🇰

Cheers,
Jay 
 

[Trappist]

Vitalli is perfectly safe and is currently staying in Copenhagen where he's working at Mikkeller while he's gathering funds to rebuild his cidery

Hi Jay,
Really great to read our friend Vitalli is "safe" ! Definitely the most important thing, and a BIG relief !!!
We also wish Vitalli all the best for a total recovery, and let's also hope that this war will finally end --> ASAP !!

Here are my fantastic memories from Vitalli in Kyiv, where we had an overnight stay at the hotel next to the airport, where Vitalli suddenly showed up with a massive choice of local quality beers. A M A Z I N G !
https://www.flickr.com/photos/trappist/sets/72157687660762506/

Cheers and have a great time in Copenhagen Jay 
Filip

[Jay]

Hi folks,

Well we're now just 2 days away from travelling to Copenhagen in readiness for this weekend's MBCC beer festival.

A couple of days ago they put up the list of beers that are available for each session, like last time we are attending the final green session (Saturday 4-8pm) and to my surprise I noticed that two of my favourite Belgian breweries are attending - De Dolle and De Struise 

Yesterday however De Dolle vanished from the list BUT today they are back on it and with a much better beer...they are bringing Stille Nacht Reserva 2015 

What a lineup this is turning out to be, we cannot wait and SNR will be at the very top of my "to try" list.

https://www.facebook.com/246563312117569/posts/5096562353784283/?d=n

Cheers
Jay 

[John B]

Whew, that looks like it's going to be fun! Have a great time Jay and Linda. Can't wait to hear about your experience.

Cheers! - John

[Jay]

Hi everyone,

Well the dust has settled on another MBCC and what a festival weekend that was, this has been by far our favourite trip to Copenhagen yet...some amazing beers sampled at some truly memorable bars and shared with a fantastic group of like minded beer fanatics.

Now I won't be posting multiple pics of bars I've previously reported on, more the new to us bars but I will give Warpigs a mention, this is a top 10 bar so rightfully deserves a revisit.

After checking into our hotel and dropping off our bags we decided to take the chance (as it was 11pm) and take the 5 minute stroll to Warpigs, despite the late hour it was packed (both inside and out) but our luck was in and we managed to bag a couple of seats.



A couple of fresh NEIPA's were rightfully ordered, these went down a treat with us both so two more were ordered. Trying to fight tiredness so room for one last beer - Sky Burial Barley Wine





Walking home we noticed something new, something we hadn't seen before just around the corner from Warpigs...more on that later.


Woke to a rainy Friday (first day of the festival) and after a wonderful breakfast we decided to pay a visit to somewhere new (to us) a bottle shop less than 5 minutes away, a shop co owned by Mikkeller and run by the community...The Social Beer Shop.





Upon entering we received the warmest of welcomes and asked if we'd like a beer and a Danish pastry, the bloke behind the counter poured us both a glass of Mikkeller Beer Geek Breakfast and a slice of fresh Danish pastry...what a welcome.



After buying bottles and cans to bring home (including a very special vintage release from Fremont) we decided another new (again to us) venue was called for, so we strolled across town to Peders (a place we had heard people talking about)
Now this place is very easy to miss, it's a cellar bar with no sign and we walked past it three times.



It's a small cellar bar that has one long room that's slightly divided into three. It was clear that this is very much a specialist bar that served beers we saw nowhere else in Copenhagen, this is a place you don't just happen to stumble upon, you make the decision to venture here.

Despite being well hidden and away from the main square it was packed (and there was a reason for this) as unknown to us there was a tap takeover and bottle release from Swedish brewers Närke.

Now even though I've never had a beer by this brewery I know that they make some very special and very sought after beers...it seemed like every 2 minutes someone was coming in to buy bottles to take away (limited to 2 pp)
So why I had the chance I had to order one from tap and chose a Närke Katalysator (8.5% Rouchbock)










A couple more new bars visited that day, firstly a bar call Rbabarrab. A bar connected with general store Kihosk (located opposite) it had a modern open feel to it and had some amazing beers on tap.

From tap Evil Twin/Kihosk colab This Kihosk Needs A Bigger Beer Selection (Blueberry, Coconut and Grape sour) and Amundsen Barrel Aged Mocha Ice Cream Fudge Cake...stunning









The final one of the day and this was easily our favourite, located just around the corner from Warpigs this was a pop up bar from Danish brewers ÅBEN. It's just there for the festival and during Summer and it had a very Summer beach feel to it, with deckchairs and party music playing.










What a fantastic first full day, the festival and final day in part two.

Cheers
Jay 

[Trappist]

Hi Jay,
Again, what a great report!!! 
Very good you did not re-post the bars you already visited.
But still, so much more is there "beery wise" in Copenhagen.
VERY impressed with your Närke Kaggen Stormaktsporter finds.
Actually they give an amazing rating on ratebeer!
https://www.ratebeer.com/top-beers
That's a second place, just before Westvleteren 12       
Thanks a million for sharing   
Cheers,
Filip

[John B]

Fantastic report Jay!     What a wonderful beery place Copenhagen is. That Narke Stormaktsporter is such a great beer. I managed to have a few variants of it a number of years ago at the Borefts beer festival in Bodegraven Netherlands and each one was sublime. Thanks for sharing your report with us Jay!

Cheers! - John

[Jay]

Cheers guys 

Regarding the Närke beers I guess we were in the right place at the right time. Lots of bars had special events on for the Mikkeller beer weekend and unknown to us but Peders had a Närke tap takeover and bottle release.
If you look closely at my pic of the bar you see a bloke wearing a Närke T-shirt leaning on the bar, that is the brewer (with his wife sat beside him) we didn't speak but they both smiled at me and gave me a thumbs up when I ordered my beer.

There were 4 bottles available to drink in but only the 2020 and 2021 releases were available to take away and despite their high price it seemed like all the tables around us had bottles on their table, a table at the back of us was full of American tourists and they had all 4 bottles which they were opening and filming the event.

After much deliberation I did decide to purchase a bottle, it will be a special moment when I open it.



Cheers
Jay

[Trappist]

Hi Jay,
There is something about that bottle too.
They look so inviting!! A bit similar to the Westvleteren bottles, without label.
That small image on that label is so recognizable, and so eye-catching too.
You know, success is all about the details, but the beer inside ofcourse is most important, and that is what's happening with Närke Kaggen Stormaktsporter    A totally COMPLETE picture!
M A G I C !!
Cheers,
Filip

[Jay]

Hi Jay,
There is something about that bottle too.
They look so inviting!! A bit similar to the Westvleteren bottles, without label.
That small image on that label is so recognizable, and so eye-catching too.

I know just what you mean Filip, it could have something to do with that simple, clean, no nonsense Nordic approach...the same could be said of To Øl and their bar BRUS, more on that in part two of my report 

Cheers
Jay

[Jay]

Okay folks, part two of our trip..

Saturday and it's festival day  but that's not until 4pm so we decide to spend the morning at the TorvehallerneKBH food market and as we step out of our hotel we're greeted by glorious sunshine, a short taxi ride later and we're there.

This is such a beautiful place, split between two buildings (one sweet with cakes and bread the other savoury with meat and fish stalls and food stalls) with a vegetable market in between.
Our first stop off was the savoury side, it's the natural choice PLUS this building is home to the Mikkeller and Friends bottle shop...so the bottle shop it was    and after buying a few bottles and getting our passports stamped (more on them later) we ventured around the corner to our favourite Spanish Tapas bar for a few snacks.










After spending a good couple of hours we thought it was time to head back to our hotel so went outside to get a taxi home, to our surprise we saw  a few pop up food stalls and a pop up beer festival on the park opposite so had to investigate.
Now if we weren't already full from the lovely food in the market and on our way to MBCC then we would have definitely spent another hour indulging, instead I picked up a few more bottles.







Beers unpacked and wristbands already picked up it was MBCC time, excitedly we made the 5 minute walk to the festival.
As in previous years this is held in the meat packing area inside a large open plan building, outside there was a pop up bar, American school bus turned into a Whiskey and Gin bar, multiple food trucks and stalls...all giving that festival feeling even before our green session started.




Festival time and first beer to be sampled just had to be De Dolle Stille Nacht Reserva, now Kris and his wife Els had been at the festival the day before pouring their beers however on our day it was Tony Sørensen, a fellow De Dolle and Mikkeller fan.





Time for something fruity next (before the dark stuff) and a brand new beer from Greek brewery Seven Island with their Alien Jam #3 an 8% Fruited Sour with Banana, Mango, Dragon Fruit and Purple Yam 





Now then time for something special, from Moksa it's their Elijah's Creed - a 14% Imperial Stout aged in Elijah Craig Bourbon Barrels.
This was stunning, easily one of the best beers of the weekend. No adjuncts, just an Imerial Stout aged perfectly in Bourbon Barrels...one of the best in this style (within 2 hours it had run out)




A few DIPAS followed before choosing another barrel aged Imperial, it was on my way to my chosen stall that I happened to walk past the Mikkeller Baghaven stand (Mikkellers lambic brewery) just as they opened a Methusala sized bottle, an absolute stampede ensued as people held up glasses to be filled, mine was one of the lucky ones.




After that funky and tart beer I felt like something sweet and boy did this hit the spot, at over 24% it took a little longer to work through 





It was now around half six and the high demand beer were starting to run out, a good sign we're jugs filled with the last of beer, so a couple more were quickly chosen.








The final hour consisted of a dj set with Mikkel making an appearance to bring another amazing MBCC to a frenzied finale.

What an awesome festival filled with some truly amazing beers, this years surpassed the last and we cannot wait until 2023.




Our final full day in part three 

Cheers
Jay

[John B]

What an amazing selection of great beers! That Moksa especially sounds like a real treat. I've had a few of their beers before but not the Elijah's Creed. They're a brewery from California and I just noticed on their website that they direct ship beers to your home within California, so some ordering from them just might be in my future.   

Looking forward to the third part of your beery adventure Jay   

Cheers! - John 

[Jay]

John...that Moksa Elijah's Creed was simply stunning, not only was it the best beer of the festival, it was one of the VERY BEST Bourbon barrel aged Imperial Stouts I've had anywhere (on holiday or at home) it really was that good.

It's aged in 11 year old Elijah Craig Bourbon barrels for 23 months...hats off to the Americans but no one can barrel age a beer like they can (it must be the availability of freshly emptied barrels) also the beer itself is just so damn thick, completely black and viscous.

If they had bottles available then I'd have bought one (no two) in a heartbeat but almost everything at MBCC is from tap.

Part three of our beer adventures will follow soon mate.

Cheers
Jay 

[Trappist]

Hi Jay,
Again ---- a truely wonderful report 
That Elijah's Creed looks great to me too. 14 vol% !! I sure want some right now 

It seems to be a collaboration brew with excellent Toppling Goliath Brewing Co.

"Collaboration with Toppling Goliath Brewing Co. For the second barrel aged collaboration with Toppling Goliath, we decided to go the non treated route and let the barrel be the star of the show. Elijah's Creed started as a combination of our Barrel Aged Imperial Stout recipes. After fermentation, we filled freshly dumped 11 year old Elijah Craig barrels and let it age for 23 months. Notes of chocolate and caramel dominate the flavors with undertones of vanilla, oak tannin, and well aged Bourbon whiskey."

Simply ASTOUNDING stuff !!!!

Waiting for the third part Jay !! Thanks !!!

Cheers,
Filip

[Jay]

Cheers Filip     

There sure were some amazing beers to sample at MBCC but the Elijah's Creed was a true King.

Onwards with our final days and Sunday greeted us with another glorious sunny day, so seeing as the sun was shining we decided to to take a leisurely stroll across town to BRUS (the home of To Ôl beer) for some special beers and food.

What a wonderful walk it was along the København area into Nørrebro









BRUS





After that rather warm walk a couple of Session IPA's were rightfully ordered (Another Reality and Take A Look Around) both hitting the spot and as juicy fresh as they come, beers are brewed on site in a brewery located at the rear of the building (but in plain sight) brewed on the right and served on the left.






Time to order some food, BRUS's famous fermented fries and Korean fried chicken hit the spot perfectly




Whilst waiting for our food to be cooked I had a stroll around the beer and merchandise shop to pick up some brand new beers released just that week, one I just had to sample onsite first...it was that good I bought a couple to take away.



To Øl Atomic Tangerine - 8% Tangerine DIPA...as juicy and tangerine forward as it looks and less than a week old.




After that wonderful visit to BRUS we decided to stroll the short distance to a new bar - Ølbaren, a small one room bar with a good selection of Belgian beers on tap.

We arrived just as it opened and received a very warm welcome from the young girl serving. A St Bernardus Wit and Tripel Karmeliet from tap were instantly ordered and my did we enjoy them, before leaving I chose a beer from Swedish brewers O/O and their Double Narangi - 8% DIPA...delicious










Time to move on and weave our way back home, just around the corner we stumble across Himmeriget (owned by Evil Twin) and our luck was in, they were just opening up...perfect.



This is a small one room bar that specialises in beers that are that bit more...special.



From tap an Overtone PBJ - 7% Peanut Butter Jelly Sour and Beak Gatto - 10% Imperial Stout with raspberries and cherries, both totally delicious




After that it was a love stroll back home to unpack and freshen up for the evening.

We chose to visit Warpigs for beers and BBQ before moving onto what was becoming one of favourite bars ÄBEN for some fantastic DIPA's and Fruit beers 








Time for one last beer before heading home, so a short walk along the main street brought us to Fermentoren. It's a dark and quirky bar located under a block of residential flats but boy does this place get packed, with tiredness creeping in we had just the one beer, Linda a fruited sour and myself an Alesmith Speedway Sout Double Fudge on 12%...my what a finish, so dense and roasted and fudgey 😋








Monday and today we fly back home BUT not until later, so we spent the morning exploring Tivoli Gardens...what a great place to spend a few hours walking around the beautiful gardens indulging in Smørrebrod and beautiful some beautiful cakes.











My Linda



Smørrebrod and a Jacobsen Special Old Ale



Beautiful cakes and coffee




Time to head back to our hotel but not before a slight detour to ÄBEN for one very last beer and would you believe what Linda picked me...from Manchester it's Track Breweing and their recent Gold Top release called I'm Home






Taxi time and with a tear in our eyes we leave for the airport, after checking in and dropping off our bags we made our way to our gate BUT not without a slight detour to visit the Mikkeller bar in Copenhagen Airport.
Now me and Linda never drink in the airport (coffee is our liquid) but we had to pay this place a visit for just one small one...and to get our passports stamped.



Drinks complete with stamped passports, every time you visit a bar you get a stamp. You get free beers, food, merchandise the more stamps you obtain.
Set into the bar in front of every stool is a metal bar mat, each engraved with a beer...see which I sat at 




So there you have it, another utterly amazing and fantastic trip to Copenhagen. Which a special place this is becoming with us both, it really does hold a special place in both of our hearts 🇩🇰❤️ and with that one last pic, the inevitable beer haul



Cheers
Jay