Beer Compurgation

A few months ago I had the opportunity to purchase beers from a brewery I’d read and heard about, but yet had chance to sample. They were the To Øl brewery from Denmark. They have an interesting background, and direct links to the Mikkeller brewery, which is what initially, sparked my interests. Anyone who has a huge passion for beer, and has been tutored by one of the grand masters of international brewing, must have a pretty decent idea of what makes decent beer. On that day I purchased five of their beers, and enjoyed the first – First Frontier IPA – finding it deliciously hoppy ale and one I would seek out again. It was then that I decided I would taste another 3 of their bottles, all being versions of an IPA, together to get an interesting insight into how good this brewery currently are. The three chosen ales were the Final Frontier IPA, and the two Mikkeller collaboration IIPA’s Overall IIPA and Sleep Over Coffee IIPA. I’m not expecting prosaic brews and approach this ta

I've reached that stage in the craft beer game where I seem more than happy to spend what can be considered a sensational amount of my hard earned money on beverages that are surely overpriced. When I tell my non-beery friends that I recently enjoyed a great beer in a Manchester bar that was £4.50 for a half pint, they give me the sort of look one gives a man who has announced that he is to write the words of Wordsworth on a Cathedral wall in his own shit. “So that would work out as £9 sterling for a pint of beer?” they will say, in incredulous tones.   Sometimes I require a mirror to give myself a scathing look when I scan bottle menus in similar bars and view anything under £10 as a "bargain." So, as Joey Tribbiani once asked "Who says wine has to cost more than milk?" tonight I must ask myself whether I could just enjoy great beer on a more reasonable budget? I'm not a rich man. I have plenty of bills and a very active social life to keep up with. Is t