Around Bruges in less than 80 Beers

During a trip to Belgium in April 2013 I spent two days in the beautiful city of Bruges, which has witnessed a revival of the local beer scene with a number of great pubs and cafés opening up. Plus the odd brewery or two. An indication of this revival is the recently published "Around Bruges in 80 Beers" by Chris Pollard, who has visited 80 drinking establishments in Bruges. My goal was much more modest, to spend two days just enjoying the history and rich beer culture of Bruges. This post is a recapulation of my experience as a beer tourist in Bruges.

A great way of getting around Bruges in 80 beers?

Bruges for dummies
Bruges (for once the French and English agree on the spelling of a name, while the locals insist on Brugge) is the capital of West Flanders in the north west of Belgium. Receiving its city charter in 1128, new canals were dug out connecting Bruges with the sea, and the city quickly became an important trading port for ships from the Hanseatic League. For the next three centuries, trade was good and wealth amassed in Bruges - resulting in many of the spectacular buildings seen in old town Bruges today.

In the early 16th century most of the canals connecting Bruges with the sea had silted up or were in the process of doing so and the city lost its position as the favored trading port in the Low Countries to Antwerp, causing a slow but lasting decline which saw the population dwindle from 200,000 around 1500 to only 50,000 by 1900. In hindsight, this decline was very fortunate for the preservation of old town Bruges as it meant that there was little money for new projects or renovations to demolish the impressive, old buildings.

Luckily, Bruges also made it virtually unscatched through two destructive world wars, which ruined so much old history in Europe, leaving old town Bruges one of the best preserved late medieval cities in Europe. Today, the entire old town is classified a UNESCO World Heritage Site and it has become one of the most popular tourist destinations in Belgium.

Cafés and pubs lining the Grote Markt in Bruges.

Bruges tourism
There seems to be two modes by which tourists get to Bruges. The one favored by many tour groups, in particular those with elderly folks or Asian tourists, is by bus from Zeebrugge, the port of Bruges, where large cruise ships dump their passengers by the thousands, resulting in dozens of buses heading into Bruges and large tour groups crowding the same streets, squares, churches and buildings. For more adventurous tourists, traveling alone or in small groups, train is the preferred mode of travel. Bruges is located on the main railway line from Brussels to Ostend, about an hour from the capital.

While I was in Bruges I heard that two large cruise ships had arrived in Zeebrugge, both sending multiple groups of tourists into Bruges, so it was no wonder that Grote Markt and most adjoining streets were so crowded that locals and single tourists had to walk in the streets when they tried to pass.

I'm not sure if there are any slow months for tourism in Bruges, April certainly wasn't, and with two million visitors every year you'll either have to tolerate some crowdiness or stay away from the Grote Markt area. Which means you'll also miss out on some of the better pubs and shops.

De Kelk was closed during my visit

Enjoying beer in Bruges
I certainly didn't have time to check out 80 different drinking establishments and I sacrificed some of the more famous ones because of the crowds of tourists, such as Staminee de Garre and 't Brugs Bertje - two highly rated beer bars close to Grote Markt. I was also recommended De Kelk in Langestraat, by a nice bartender I spoke with. De Kelk opens late, at 7 pm, unfortunately it didn't seem to open at all on the Tuesday I was there. I still managed to visit some great and some not so great beer places, in this section I'll focus on the pubs and save the breweries for the next.

Café Rose Red
On my first night in Bruges, after giving up on the crowded places near Grote Markt, I found myself walking through a quiet side street named Cordoeaniersstraat, which seemed more like a residential area than a place to find a good beer bar. Outside number 16 I spotted a blackboard with chalk letters listing several quality draft beers and in the hallway there were many metal placques of great Belgian beers and breweries, including all the trappists. When I peeked inside the first thing that caught my eye was a hundred red roses hanging from the ceiling. I had arrived at Café Rose Red.

The bar at Café Rose Red is tucked away in a corner

Café Rose Red has actually been around since 1987 but I've got the feeling that their focus on good beer, in particular trappists and lambics, are of a later date. Inside, Café Red Rose provides a cozy and fairly quiet atmosphere, sitting well with the slogan "Trappist Beer - Taste the Silence". It opens at 11 am every day and closes at midnight, except Sundays when they close at 10 pm.

In addition to the red roses (all in plastic, by the way) hanging from the ceiling, the café is kept in a simple, rustic style with well worn wooden tables and chairs and a small bar counter, with the beer taps, tucked away in one corner. The walls are decorated with beer signs, there's a cabinet - almost like a religious shrine - with bottles of Westvleteren XII and a mirror doubles as an information board for Belgian sour ales. I felt at home!

Except for some finger food, Café Rose Red doesn't offer much for the hungry, this is a beer café more than a place to go out to eat. But the beer selection is immaculate. On draft, they had Dupont Rédor Pils, Lefebvre Hopus Blond, Het Anker Gouden Carolus Triple, Malheur Novice Triple Black and the Straffe Hendrik Quadruple from local brewery De Halve Maan. The bottled beer menu was even more impressive, with a large selection of geuze and trappist beer. In fact, the menu said that Café Rose Red is an official ambassador for Orval in the years 2012 and 2013!

Gouden Carolus Tripel on draft at Café Rose Red

I was also impressed by the dedication and knowledge shown by the bartenders, they really cared about the beer they sold. At one point I asked about the vintage of an oude geuze, since the bottle I'd ordered didn't say, whereupon the owner, Veireman Kris, actually called the blender to find out for me! (For those curious, it turned out to be the 2010 vintage of Hanssens Oude Gueuze.)

Because I enjoyed the atmosphere so much and still had many beers to try after the first night, I returned the second night to enjoy some excellent bottles of De Cam Oude Geuze, Engelszell Benno (the new Austrian trappist brewery) and Dupont Avec les Bons Voeux. I can safely say that this place came closest to my heart in Bruges.

If you're planning to stay in Bruges for a few nights you may want to check out Hotel Cordoeanier which is located at the same address and with the same owner.

't Brugs Bieratelier
The latest addition to the Bruges beer scene is named 't Brugs Bieratelier or 't Brugsche Bieratelier (as it says on the sign above the entrance). This is a small beer pub which opened up five months ago, on December 1st 2012. It would have remained below my beer radar if I hadn't met a nice fella from Australia, at Café Rose Red the night before, who gave me the rough directions as "close to De Halve Maan". So the next morning I walked around Walplein and several side streets until I found it, in Wijngaardstraat 13.

The bar opens at 12 o'clock every day (and closes whenever the last customers have left) so after a quick stop at De Halve Maan, which opens two hours earlier, I was waiting outside the Bieratelier when the doors opened. This gave me the chance to get a good impression of the bar as well as keep up a long conversation with the young bartender.

View of the bar at 't Brugs Bieratelier

Though just five months old, the Bieratelier has already acquired the atmosphere and the looks of a really old drinking establishment. Much thanks to its old, rustic interior. I was told that the well worn bar counter was 150 years old and had been purchased from the Netherlands, the rest of the wooden furniture also looked old and the floor had been laid with old, wooden boards, almost like on an old sailing ship. The most surprising feature is the low bar counter, when you're sitting on the stools at the bar you feel you're almost siting on the bar! This, combined with the tinyness of the place, about 20 people can sit comfortably by the bar and another 20 in the adjoining room, makes for an intimate bar experience.

Regarding the beer selection, the Bieratelier have a very simple philosophy - they want to provide high quality Belgian draft beer. Period. They don't have a bottled beer menu because they don't sell beer on bottle and there are only 12 taps, but each one has a unique, well crafted Belgian ale. The taps remain unchanged for a full month, the next month they change most if not all to showcase another set of quality draft beer. When I was there in April, they had St Bernardus Prior 8, Hercule Stout, Timmermans Tradition Lambicus Blanch and a number of other excellent beers on draft. I could easily have spent the entire day there, but had to move on to visit other places - though from now on it was going downhill.

By the way, 't Brugs Bieratelier also arranges guided beer tours "to discover the most original pubs in Bruges" every Monday and Saturday at 1 pm. Just sign up in the bar and for €39 you'll be taken around Brussels to sample the atmosphere and beers of the best pubs in the city.

The 17th century home of Bierbrasserie Cambrinus

Bierbrasserie Cambrinus
After my visit to the Bieratelier it was time for lunch which I decided to have at Bierbrasserie Cambrinus in Philipstockstraat 19, since they open at 11 am every day. I was hoping that this beer restaurant would offer a menu of good beer and food pairing. And with windows declaring that they've got 400 types of beer, this seemed like the perfect place for a lunch (or dinner).

Named after the legendary Cambrinus (Gambrinus in English), king of Flandres and patron saint of brewers, Bierbrasserie Cambrinus is located in a beautiful red brick building from 1699, with that common Dutch crow-stepped gable street facade. Inside you'll find a long bar on the right and a number of wooden tables for both larger and smaller groups.

On draft they offered ten beers. Unfortunately, the beer selection revealed a strong preference for InBev and the pub was out of several interesting bottled beers, so in the end I had my lunch, a rabbit stew, with a glass of Blanche de Namur from draft. The food was decent, but not impressive. The three women working in the bar showed little interest in the beers I asked about and were also fairly slow in looking my way when my glass was close to or empty, even though it was just a handful of other guests in the restaurant. Thus, after finishing my lunch I walked over to the bar, asked for the bill, paid and departed the place as quickly as possibly.

Despite a high rating on RateBeer (Bierbrasserie Cambrinus is currently number 3 in Bruges with 93 points), I found the beer restaurant lacking in every possible way; poor draft selection, the most interesting bottled beers were sold out, uninspired food, slow and ignorant service.

De Struise Brouwers beer shop on the Burg square

De Struise Brouwers Beer Shop
While in Bruges I also made a point of checking out the shop that De Struise Brouwers, one of the highest rated Belgian craft breweries, opened up on the Burg square, right next to the Basilica of the Holy Blood, a couple of years ago.

From the outside, the shop looked really well stocked and nice but I had to wait until 1 pm for it to open. When I entered, I was apalled by how warm the shop felt, it was certainly above 30 C. This is not good for storing beer, and most of the bottles stood in uncooled shelves, so I decided not to buy anything as I didn't know how long the bottles had been stored warm. For such a great craft brewery I am surprised they don't take better care of how their bottled beer is sold!

La Trappist
In addition to the pubs and cafés mentioned above, I heard talks to the effect that Bruges will soon also get a dedicated trappist beer pub. Supposedly, it's going to be called La Trappist and open up in May. But there's one worrying fact, it's owned by InBev.

Brouwerij de Halve Maan is the oldest in Bruges
- founded by Leon "Henri I" Maes in 1856

Something's brewing in Bruges - about breweries and festivals
In addition to the pubs mentioned in the previous section, Bruges also offers visitors old and new breweries as well as an annual beer festival. Let's start with the old.

Huisbrouwerij De Halve Maan
There has been a brewery on Walplein in old town Bruges at least since 1564, when it was known as Die Maene ("The Moon" in English), but it's with Leon Maes that the story of the modern brewery starts. Affectionally known as Henri I, Leon was an entrepreneurial spirit and in 1856 he purchased the old brewery, with some help from his uncle Canon P.J. Maes. He quickly threw out the old equipment and constructed a new and, for that time, very modern brewery. Brouwerij De Halve Maan was born.

De Halve Maan, which means "The half moon", was one of several breweries in Bruges, but as the years went by so did the other breweries. When Brouwerij De Os closed in 1985, De Halve Maan became the only brewery left in Bruges, but they were not about to give up. And almost thirty years later, the sixth generation of the Maes-Vanneste family is running a very popular brewery and tavern on Walplein, where tour groups tired of walking the streets of Bruges can stop by for a quick brewery tour and some cold beer in the tavern.

Despite looking like a large brewpub from the outside, and they do serve their own beer fresh from tank in the tavern, De Halve Maan is actually a fairly big brewery by Belgian standards, with an annual production of 30,000 hl beer.

The bar at De Halve Maan brewery tavern on Walplein

There are two good reasons for visiting De Halve Maan rather than just buy their beer at pubs elsewhere. One is to attend a tour of their brewery, which takes place every hour around the day, and the other is to have their Brugse Zot Blond from draft, which is only served unfiltered at the brewery tavern. Everywhere else, or so I'm told, you'll get the inferior filtered version.

In addition to the Brugse Zot, which comes in Blond and Dubbel versions, De Halve Maan brew several types of beer in their Straffe Hendrik series, including a delicious 11% Quadrupel and a more ordinary 9% Tripel. If you can find these on draft, and in Bruges the chances are pretty good, they tend to be a lot more full bodied and flavorful than on bottle.

The name Brugse Zot, by the way, means "Bruges Fools" and is said to originate with the Holy Roman Emperor Maximillian I, who had acquired Flanders through his marriage to Mary of Burgundy (the lady celebrated with Duchesse De Bourgogne). At one time, in the late 15th century, he was staying in Bruges to watch the famous annual Holy Blood Procession, in which the locals jump around and make mad gestures. The next day some citizens had approached Maximillian to ask him about sponsoring an institution for the mentally ill. Maximillian had replied, "Just close the city gates and Bruges will be one big mad house". Since then, the citizens of Bruges have been known as Brugse Zot.

Brouwerij Fort Lapin
Just north of old town Bruges, in Koolkerkse Steenweg 32, a new brewery called Brouwerij Fort Lapin made their debut early 2012 with the Fort Lapin 8 - an 8% abbey tripel beer. Their beer labels carry a pair of rabbit ears above the "o" in Fort, which harks back to the French meaning of the name - "fort lapin" means "strong rabbit".

Fort Lapin is a really small brewery, producing just 300 hl beer annually, and so far they've only got two types of beer in their lineup, the aforementioned tripel and a very tasty 10% abv dark quadrupel named Fort Lapin 10.

The Fort Lapin beers should be available at the better beer pubs in Bruges, but I've also found their beers as far away as Leuven.

A bottle of Fort Lapin Tripel in Bruges

Brouwerij "Bourgogne des Flandres"
In September 2013 a new brewery is scheduled to open up in Bruges, I don't know what it will be called but it will be a brewery dedicated to the famous beer that used to be made by Brouwerij De Os: Bourgogne des Flandres - "The Burgundy of Flanders".

Bourgogne des Flandres is a sour ale made by mixing 50% lambic and 50% Scotch ale, so when De Os closed in 1985 the recipe was picked  up by lambic brewery Timmermans in Itterbeek. Timmermans, since bought up by the John Martin Group, still makes the beer but this fall production will move back to Bruges, the original hometown of Bourgogne de Flandres.

Brugs Bier Festival
If you're planning a visit to Bruges and cold winter weather doesn't sound too scary, you may want to consider the annual Brugs Bier Festival which is held in De Halletoren, the big tower by Grote Markt, usually in the first weekend of February.

The festival, which is also known as the BAB-festival after the organizers Bruges Autonomous Beertasters, was first held in 2007 and typically attracts some 70+ Belgian breweries, serving several hundred beers to the visitors.

A glass of Brugse Zot at De Halve Maan

For more photos of pubs and beers in Bruges, see this Flickr set.

World class beer places in Stockholm

Despite being less than an hour's flight away from Oslo, I had never been to the Swedish capital until a business appointment forced my hand. Thus, on a cold Friday in early January 2013, I found myself on the Arlanda Express train from the airport to Stockholm Central Station, with three days at my disposal.

The Royal Palace in Stockholm seen from Skeppsholmsbron

Stockholm
Stockholm is the capital of Sweden and the largest city in the Nordic countries, with a population of 870 thousand in the city and more than 2 million in the greater Stockholm area. The city was founded sometime in the 13th century at the spot where Lake Mälaren empties out into the Baltic Sea. This was probably a strategically important place to settle, in order to protect entrance to the lake and the old settlements along its shores.

The city originally rose to prominence as a result of the Baltic trade of the Hanseatic League, but it was with the accession of Gustav Vasa to the throne in 1523 that Stockholm really grew into the major city it has remained ever since. Especially in the 17th and 18th century, with Sweden a major European power, did Stockholm take on much of the appearance it has today - with a massive royal palace, impressive architecture and a multitude of harbors.

Modern Stockholm is a mixture of history, art and culture, with endless waterfront walkways and small islets connected by bridges or ferries. Whether your thing is museums, theatres, island hopping, walking along beautiful canals and waterfronts, shopping or dining at great restaurants, Stockholm has it all. And, of course, it also has a world class beer scene.

The easiest way to get to Stockholm is to fly to Arlanda Airport and take the Arlanda Express train, departing up to five times an hour for most of the day. It takes you straight to Stockholm C, in the heart of modern Stockholm, in just 20 minutes.

Södermalmstorg in Stockholm seen from Katarinahissen

The beer scene
The beer scene in Stockholm is old by Nordic standards, several of the great beer places started up in the 1990s, just as the first wave of US craft brewing was peaking. Because of that, the older places still have close ties to US craft brewing, usually offering a number of US craft beers on draft. In addition to much else.

Because of their age, some of them twenty years old, the Stockholm beer bars feel more like great US beer bars than the more hip beer bars I've been to in Copenhagen and Oslo. In Stockholm, it feels like the most natural thing to ask for a SKA Modus Hoperandi or a Girardin Guezue Black Label 2001. No beers are hip, they're just plain, good quailty beers served by people who know what they're doing.

Because I only had three nights, one of which was a public holiday with many places closed, I only got to visit three beer bars on this trip - Monk's Porter House, House of Ales Oliver Twist and Akkurat Restaurang & Bar.

Monk's Porter House
Despite its old appearance, in the cellar of a protected 17th century building on Munkbron 11 in Gamla Stan ("old town"), the Monk's Porter House is actually a fairly new place, which opened up in 2010. It's one of several "daughter pubs" of the famous Monk's Café Wallingatan, in the north of Stockholm, which opened up in September 2006. Like its mother pub, Monk's Porter House is a working brewery, basically a brewpub, which focuses on dark beers, typically stouts and porters, as its name suggests.

Porter steak and stout at Monk's Porter House

When you arrive at Munkbron 11, walk in the main entrance and don't let the wine bar on the first floor fool you, but take a sharp right turn and head down the staircase into the basement. There you'll be met with walls and vaulted ceilings made out of old, reddish brick stones stained by time and what looks like open fires.

The bar is on the left hand and straight ahead you'll be able to peek in, through a large window, onto a dark, cave like room containing all the kegs connected to the tap lines of the bar. All in all, Monk's Porter House sports 56 tap lines, allowing visitors to try locally brewed beer, beer brewed at the Monk's Café mother pub and guest beers from all over the world. And with about 150 types of beer on bottle, again mostly porters and stouts, you should be able to find something to enjoy - if dark is your craving.

I settled by a small table in a dark corner, only lit by a candle. A rather romantic setting, if I had brought a partner, and certainly cozy. The bartender was on my case right away, giving great suggestions both for beers to try and for beers to drink along with my dinner - a tender and juicy porter steak which I ended up having with Monk's Café 101 Oktan imperial stout. A reasonably good match.

Monk's Porter House and Monk's Café both make seriously good beer. Usually strong too. On the night of my visit they had two well aged beers fron Monk's Café on draft, the 101 Oktan Imperial Stout and Trequartista, both around 10% abv and brewed in 2010, making them smooth and well rounded with age, but still very tasty and enjoyable. Of their own beers, I just had to try the Red Rauk'n Roll - a really well made smoke beer of 14,5% abv.

With my cheese dessert, the bartender suggested Dogfish Head World Wide Stout 2009, which turned out to be a great combination with the strong, slightly earthy flavor of the aged brie. Yummy.

Akkurat
Akkurat or Akkurat Restaurang & Bar was founded in 1997 and is located in Hornsgatan 11 in Södermalm, not far from the Slussen metro stop. From the outside it doesn't look like much, except for the reveiling red neon sign for North Coast Brother Thelonious. But once inside you'll be met by an impressive bar with a great number of beer taps and lots of exclusive bottles lined over the bar.

Akkurat Restaurang & Bar in Södermalm

Akkurat is not only the highest rated beer bar in Sweden but has for many years been rated as one of the best beer bars in the world, by the users of RateBeer.com. With a great draft beer selection and a truly amazing bottled beer menu, containing rare beers of many vintages, it's a place you can spend days and weeks without getting through it all. Akkurat is also one of the few places in the world participating in the annual Zwanze Day event, because of their long and close ties with Belgian lambic brewery Cantillon.

On my first visit, late on a Friday night, the place was so packed I had to stand in the second line by the bar. It didn't make for an enjoyable drinking experience, so the next day I was back shortly after their 3 o'clock opening to secure a spot at one of the long, wooden tables. That worked much better and I was even able to ask the very knowledgable bartenders about beer suggestions before they got swamped by the crowds.

Girardin Gueuze Black Label 2001 at Akkurat

As a sour ale lover, in particular lambic based sour ales, I was amazed by their bottled beer menu which sported several pages of lambics, gueuze, krieks and other fruit sour ales. My eyes fell on a 2001 vintage of Girardin Gueuze Black Label, this 11 year beer cost me just 175 swedish kroner for a 37,5 cl bottle. Ridiculously cheap for such an old an awesome beer!

I also got to try another old favorite of mine, Hair of the Dog Fred from the Wood of 2008 vintage. It was amazing. On draft I tried the very nice Monk's Blood from 21st Amendment, Gouden Carolus Christmas from Het Anker and Närke Vintermörker to name a few.

After my two visits two Akkurat, I understand why this place is so highly rated. But you should make sure to be there early in the day, before it gets too crowded and noisy.

Oliver Twist
House of Ales Oliver Twist opened up to the drinking public in May 1993 and it can still be found in Repslagargatan 6, just a block south of Akkurat, in Södermalm. It radiates more of a neighborhood pub feel than the worldly Akkurat, with a dark, English type of pub atmosphere. The ceiling is covered by banners, for beer as well as sports teams, while the walls are covered with beer ads and blackboards listing what's on tap.

The impressive bar at House of Ales Oliver Twist

Unlike at Akkurat, it never felt that crowded on Oliver Twist, even late on a Saturday night I found a small table to sit down at. The bartender knew his beers, both the Swedish and the American brands. I also enjoyed two good meals at Oliver Twist, a rich and tasty fish soup for lunch one day and a tender sirloin steak for dinner the next. Along with the steak I enjoyed the delicious Belgian Style Yeti from Great Divide Brewing Company, which I thought was a good match.

Because of the neighborhood feel, with many regulars sitting in the bar, it seemed easier to get involved in conversation about beer and food. And when I forgot my guidebook, it was handed over to the bartender who gave it back to me when I returned the next day. Thus, even after just two visits I feel very much at home at Oliver Twist.

Regarding the beer selection at Oliver Twist. On draft I tried several American classics, such as Avery The Maharaja, SKA Brewing Modus Hoperandi and Rogue Ales Old Crustacean, in addition to a number of beers I'd never had before - such as Magic Rock Dark Star from England and the awesome Nils Oscar Saison 2009. On bottle I got to try a couple of rare beers from American craft brewer Michael Lalli, his Brewmaster's Signature Gose and Grätzer.

Choc Brewmaster's Signature Grätzer at OT

All in all, Stockholm more than impressed me as a cultural and craft beer city. Akkurat is just as good as its RateBeer ranking says, though I felt that the atmosphere at Monk's Porter House was more cozy and that Oliver Twist had a more homey, neighborhood feel. But all three pubs are worth several visits, their beer selection will keep you busy for days.

I will surely return, but probably when the weather is a bit warmer than in January.


More photos from my trip to Stockholm can be found at Flickr.

Oslo Beer City

Five years ago I would have laughed at such a preposterous title, three years ago I would have called it a nice dream and even two years ago found it hard to believe. Still, in the last couple of years the Norwegian capital has been the stage of a breathtaking beer boom, rivalling that of other emerging beer havens around the world. This post is my own recollection of the rapid changes that has and still is taking place in Oslo, ending with an overview of the current beer scene.

Oslo Rådhus (the City Hall) in February 2008.
- at this time Oslo had a no beer scene.

Year Zero: 2007 - a dead city

Though Oslo has witnessed the appearance of a few good beer places earlier, those places were either A) ahead of their time or B) quickly degenerated into boredom. The former was the case with Gambrinus Bar in Prinsens gate which in the 1990s served 35 beers on draft, a lot of it from Belgium, before having to close its doors. An example of the latter is our very first brewpub, Oslo Mikrobryggeri, which opened up at Majorstuen as long ago as 1989. For a few years they provided students and beer interested people with our first taste of Porter, Stout and their take on California Common - the Steamer. But eventually the founding fathers left and their beers lost character - for the last 15 years they have all tasted the same, the only difference being the color. The brewpub is still there, but its ales are just as bland as industrial lagers.

Christmas beer from E. C. Dahls @ Beer Palace 2008.

Another place which held some promise in the early 2000s was the Beer Palace. Located at Aker Brygge, it sported a nice selection of Belgian ales - in particular Trappist. They had a large blackboard behind the bar listing the "new ales of the month", one month it could be English, another American. As the years went by, the frequency of new beers dropped and the people working there showed less and less enthusiasm about beer. It seems they were a victim of being ahead of time too, since most guests still wanted their usual "halvliter" (a generic term for half a liter of lager).

In 2007, the beer scene in Oslo was basically non-existing. You could go to Beer Palace and with some luck convince the bartender that they had a certain beer you wanted to try, and then enjoy that while watching everyone else down their lagers. Or you could hang out at Bar & Cigar, a small place next to the Court House that from time to time would get in something interesting on bottle and at least served fresh Czech pilsner on draft (Urquell for a while, then Budvar). If you craved good beer, the solution was to take a ferry to Copenhagen in Denmark or a train to Gothenburg in Sweden - two cities with a superior beer culture and a number of great beer bars.

In November 2007, something important took place though, something that would take a couple of years to mature and slowly change peoples perception of what was possible, beer wise, in Oslo: Olympen Mat & Vinhus, a restaurant in the Grønland district, opened up after a period of renovations. It had been bought by Nevzat Arikan who owns several restaurants around Oslo.

For the last few decades, Olympen or just Lompa, had been known for its shabby interior and the many alcoholics sitting around in the bar. It was not a place to bring your parents or girlfriend. After re-opening, the place was shiny and clean, with a brand new kitchen and large wooden tables. The alcoholics were gone, replaced by young and cheerful people. The focus of the new Lompa was on rustic, Norwegian food, served in healthy portions and at low prices. With the food, Lompa started out like every other restaurant in Oslo - they served wine. However, Lompa had hired a bright, young sommelier who knew that something was happening in the beer world. He managed to get hold of some quality beer to serve at Lompa.

Year 1: 2008 - something's brewing

When I made my first visit to the new Lompa, in the fall 2008, the people working there had no clue about beer. They had Nøgne Ø, HaandBryggeriet and some Belgian beers on the menu, but whatever I ordered they would always ask what kind of beer it was and in which type of glass it should be served. In this way, beer knowledgeable customers acted as mentors for the staff. From time to time we would even be asked about particular breweries and which beers they should start importing to Lompa, which gave us beer geeks a sense of influence and a connectedness we hadn't felt with other pubs before.

Nøgne Ø & Dugges Sahti @ Olympen 2008

And this worked really well for both parties, the beer geeks got more interesting beers coming in to Oslo and the confidence and beer knowledge of the Lompa staff grew with every new beer.

Some time in 2008, the people at Lompa must have realized that there was an untapped market for high quality beer. Thus, Lompa kept expanding its bottled beer selection and started getting in some really interesting stuff, never seen in Norway before, such as beer from Mikkeller, North Coast, Great Divide and Stone. It was still all on bottle though.

Some of the Norwegian brewers I spoke with at the time (other brewers have confirmed this later) talked about going from pub to pub, in the major Norwegian cities, asking in each pub if they would be interested in selling craft beer on draft. But all pub owners replied the same, that they didn't think they would be able to sell enough to keep the beer fresh. A few were brave enough to order a few bottles, to keep in a refrigerator, which could be brought out if asked for. This was a depressing situation, quality beers seemed destined to a future in bottles while the big lager producers controlled all taps.

In May, Bar & Cigar, by the Court House, decided to run a cask event. A cask of Nøgne Ø Saison was untapped and a group of eager beer enthusiasts managed to empty the 40 liter cask that same night. It was a surprising success so Bar & Cigar decided to do it again. However, the next three cask events didn't go that well for Bar & Cigar, who got stuck with old cask ale they couldn't sell. In addtion, the two breweries - Nøgne Ø and HaandBryggeriet - thought it too much work cleaning the returned casks and filling them up again. So, this first attempt at creating a cask ale tradition in Oslo silently died out over the summer.

HaandBryggeriet founder Jens Maudal serving Dark Force
- at Grünerløkka Øl & Mat festival in August 2008. 

In August 2008, I attended the very first craft beer festival in Oslo - the Grünerløkka Øl & Mat at Parkteateret. I guess you may find this stretching the difinition of a beer festival, since only one brewery attended, but it was a true festival and the stand of HaandBryggeriet showed the visitors what they had been missing in Oslo for years - a good selection of tasty draft and bottled beers. The brewers themselves were almost in shock, they had brought two bold draft beers with them, the 9% Dark Force imperial stout and the equally strong Dobbel Dose double ipa, and both sold out in a couple of hours!

To me, this was the proof that it would now be possible to sell something richer and stronger on draft in Oslo than regular 4.7% lager. I suspect that the brewers, bar owners and other guests at the festival felt much the same way, and a couple of months later, Nøgne Ø managed to convince a couple of pubs - Lompa and Beer Palace - that they should have a dedicated Nøgne Ø beer tower.

Quality craft beer had finally arrived on draft in Oslo!

Year 2: 2009 - the revolution gets underway

As we entered 2009, I still had the feeling that Oslo was a backwater when it came to beer culture and good beer bars. Yes, I could now enjoy Nøgne Ø on draft in Oslo, but usually the same beer at those places that had the black Nøgne Ø tower. And, yes, I could choose from perhaps a hundred different bottled beers at Lompa. But it still felt very limited, compared to the 30-something beer taps at Café Delirium in Gothenburg or compared to what I experienced on my beer journey to the US in the fall 2008, visiting great beer bars in Chicago, Seattle, Portland (OR) and San Francisco.

Fortunately, the seed for a better beer future had been sown.

In August, two new beer places opened up in Oslo - within a week of each other - the Håndverkerstuene beer restaurant and the beer bar Tilt.

Entrance to Håndverkerstuene in Oslo
- a world class beer restaurant.

Håndverkerstuene opened up in an old but finely restored restaurant across the street from Hotel Bristol. It was the first restaurant in Oslo to put beer suggestions, instead of wine, on the food menu. They opened up with 6 beer taps (two each of Nøgne Ø, HaandBryggeriet and Ægir) which was unheard of in Oslo at the time.

The man behind this food and beer concept was Amund P Arnesen, a former whisky expert and bartender at Dr Jekyll's Pub. With Håndverkerstuene he was aiming for a more mature audience than regular beer bars in Oslo, in particular people interested in great food combined with equally great beers.

Tilt, located next door to the Rockefeller concert hall, is a bar catering to a younger and more playful audience, with tables made out of old arcade games and an adjoining room full of various games. Like Håndverkerstuene, Tilt sports multiple beer taps, offering both Norwegian and foreign (Danish and Scottish) craft beer. In particular the beers from Ægir has sold really well at Tilt, more or less from day one.

Olympen responded to these challenges by increasing its own number of beer towers and adding even more bottles to the beer menu. Suddenly we had a minor beer war in Oslo, where new and old pubs competed for the attention of beer drinkers!

The beer revolution was finally under way, the Oslo beer scene changing from one month to the next. A year after tasting my first Norwegian craft beer on draft it was possible to go out in Oslo and enjoy half a dozen craft beers on draft, any night!

Year 3: 2010 - beer is the new wine

2010 was the year when I first felt that the emergence of a good beer scene in Oslo was inevitable, it had reached a critical mass and the momentum was high. Every day new people discovered that there were alternatives to lager, and even the old pubs - formerly rejecting craft beer - were coming around and started to sell more than just lager.

Oslo was finally following in the footsteps of cities like Copenhagen - beer was becoming the new wine that everyone was talking about!

The well stocked bar at Tilt

I started noticing new people, often young students, appearing in the good beer bars where I had been used to sitting almost alone. They would sit down in small groups, buy a bottle for sharing or ask what was on draft and slowly sip a new beer. Sometimes they would come over and ask what I was having and other times I would hint to them, as they stood at the bar exploring the growing menus, that if they felt brave they could try the Beer Geek Brunch Weasel or perhaps a Cantillon Gueuze.

In April, Håndverkerstuene hosted a beer event where James Watt of BrewDog came over from Scotland to present his brewery and talk the guests through a tasting of some of their beers. It was a huge success and something Håndverkerstuene would do again with other breweries.

That summer Olympen opened up its roof terrace with an additional 5 taps, bringing the total up to 11 craft beers on draft. There they served a number of great Danish micros, including Hornbeer, Beer Here and Amager Bryghus. What a summer that was, sitting out in the open air and enjoying a glass of Hornbeer Blonde or Beer Here Hopfix fresh from draft, before ending the evening with a Hornbeer Black Magic Woman also from draft!

The fall kicked off with a number of exciting beer events and happenings. In August the third Grünerløkka Øl & Mat festival saw the three major Norwegian micros - Nøgne Ø, HaandBryggeriet and Ægir - serve about ten different beers from draft. It was the best beer festival so far, Norwegian beer enthusiasts were overcome with joy.

Cask Ale Festival 2010 @ Håndverkerstuene

In September, Håndverkerstuene invited the public to the very first Cask Ale Festival in Oslo. BrewDog, Nøgne Ø, Ægir and HaandBryggeriet were all present with a large number of casks. This 2-day festival attracted both new and old beer lovers and the Beer Maker's Dinner, at the end of the second day, was a resounding success - with great food and beer pairing. It was on this occasion that Ægir first presented their delicious Natt Imperial Porter and its barrel aged sibling, the Lynchburg Natt.

As if this wasn't enough, the year ended with the opening of two great beer places - including the first new brewpub in twenty years - Grünerløkka Brygghus and Schouskjelleren Mikrobryggeri.

Despite its name, Grünerløkka Brygghus is not a brewpub, yet, but they have been talking about starting a brewery since before opening in 2010. They have a very good selection of draft beer, including the Kjell Pop single hop IPA house ale brewed for them at Nøgne Ø. They also have a big bottled beer menu and a very decent kitchen.

The other place, Schouskjelleren Mikrobryggeri, is a fully fledged brewpub established in the old cellar of Schous brewery, which was closed by Ringnes in 1981. It was bought up by Nevzat Arikan, the man behind Olympen, and beautifully restored with vaulted ceilings of brick stones and a bar which allows its guests a clear view of the brewery tanks. As they brew most weekdays, sweet wort and bitter hops are common smells when you walk down the stairs into the pub a late afternoon.

Year 4: 2011 - a world class beer scene

Five beer towers with ten taps at Håndverkerstuene in 2011
- Ægir, HaandBryggeriet, Nøgne Ø and two guest towers.

After having stayed closed for the Christmas holidays, Håndverkerstuene opened its doors to the public again at the beginning of January with a delayed Christmas present to all beer geeks: Two new beer towers with four taps, bringing the total up to 10 taps! And with imported kegs from the likes of Mikkeller, BrewDog, Stone Brewing, Great Divide and even Cantillon, it was a thrilling time to be a regular guest at Stuene - new beers would appear weekly, both on bottle and keg.

The dawn of the new year also saw Håndverkerstuene end up on a very respectable 30th place on the list of the world's Best Beer Restaurants 2011, published by RateBeer. It was the first time a place in Oslo had ended up on any kind of top list for beers, it highly deserved so because of its great kitchen and food and beer pairing.

At the same time, Schouskjelleren had expanded its initial draft beer line-up from 8 to 16 taps, which allowed them to always have 8 guest beers on draft in addition to 4-6 of their own. And what a range of guest beers! You would typically find beers from breweries such as Evil Twin, Mikkeller, Southern Tier, Thornbridge and Revelation Cat in addition to the Norwegian micros.

If Håndverkerstuene became a world class beer restaurant the year before, then Schouskjelleren became a world class brewpub in 2011. Headbrewer, John Hudson, would churn out new beers every week, going through fifty different recipes in the first year. Not all were great, but the best ones - such as Thunderbear Stout, Empress of India and Garden of Eden - were all delicious and very drinkable beers that quickly became regular fixtures on the draft menu. In addition to the draft beers, Schouskjelleren also has a very good bottle beer menu, with great sour ales from Cantillon and 3 Fonteinen.

Headbrewer John Hudson behind his 2 x 8 beer tap bar
- at Schouskjelleren Mikrobryggeri

The start of 2011 also saw the opening of a third brewpub in Oslo. Amundsen Bryggeri & Spiseri opened up in February, close to the City Hall, just off Stortingsgata. It's a spacious pub with a decent kitchen, serving lunch and dinners. Seated at their tables, the guests can enjoy the view of shiny copper tanks and brewing kettles behind glass windows. The pub also has a very good beer "cellar", containing rare bottles of Thomas Hardy's Ale, Rodenbach Grand Cru, Westvleteren 12 and Samuel Adams Utopia, just to mention a few. The bottled beer menu is really impressive, only rivalled by Lompa.

With so many new beer bars appearing on the scene, older places took notice and started shining up their beer menus too. Some places managed to contract the brewing of unique house ales for serving on draft, such as The Nighthawk Diner and Aku Aku Tiki Bar who both get their house ales brewed at Nøgne Ø - the Nighthawk Breakfast Brown and Aku Aku Lemongrass Ale respectively. Grünerløkka Brygghus already had a house ale from Nøgne Ø, but decided to get a second - Løkka Haust, brewed by Kinn.

Café Laundromat, which started up near Bislett sports arena in 2004, took an interest in selling beer to their guests and they now sell more Nøgne Ø on draft than any other pub in Norway! The old pub Den Gamle Major at Majorstuen installed beer towers and started selling Norwegian micros, the same happened at the whisky bar Dr Jekyll's in downtown.

Thus, visitors to Oslo now have a great selection of places and beers they can try.

2011 also witnessed the certification of the first Norwegian cicerone or beer sommelier, when the bar chef at Håndverkerstuene - Amund P Arnesen - returned with his diploma after examinations in England. The downside was that Håndverkerstuene had to make do without him from the autumn. And with him, the vital force that had created the Cask Ale Festival, Beer Maker's Dinner and the beer and food concept of the restaurant was gone. Today, Mr Arnesen makes up one half of the Beer Enthusiasts import company, importing beer to Norway from the US, England, Italy, Belgium and Denmark. The company is very active "spreading the gospel", by hosting beer tastings and dinners around the country.

Back in 2008, three other beer enthusiasts formed Ølakademiet to spread the knowledge of good beer. In the beginning they would run beer tastings at Beer Palace but in 2011 they moved to the newly renovated Akersberget restaurant, next to Gamle Aker Kirke. The growing popularity of their tastings, brew courses and beer dinners is a clear indication that the average Norwegian has discovered that there is more to beer than lager and more to food than wine.

Year 5: 2012 - consolidation

The rapid growth and the appearance of many new beer bars and brewpubs have slowed down slightly in 2012, it feels like a natural consolidation phase where brewers, bar owners and beer enthusiasts alike are trying to take stock of the changed landscape. And changed it is, three years ago you would barely find a good draft beer in Oslo - now you have a number of excellent beer bars, great beer restaurants and several new brewpubs with dozens of great draft beer.

But I don't think we've stopped growing yet. Another beer bar, Gaasa, opened up this May at Grünerløkka with four excellent beers on tap at any time and a nice beer garden out back. And some of the older places is set to rejoin the game, such as Beer Palace who will close their doors on August 1st for a 3 months renovation  - when they reopen in November both the downstairs and upstairs bars will have 30 lines of draft beer each!

View of the bar and brewery in the background
- at Amundsen Bryggeri & Spiseri

Another major event that has taken place this year, which has already changed how I plan my nights out in Oslo, was the launch of the AleHunt.com website. Run by local beer geeks, it lists all the beer bars in Oslo (and gradually in other Norwegian cities too), showing what each place has on draft as well as on bottle. The idea is that visitors to a pub can login with a cell phone app and add or remove beers, so that the beer list is as up to date as possible, giving others an idea of what to find where. Say, if I feel like having a special barley wine, then I search for the name of the beer and then get a list of which places I can find it. Or if I just want to find a place with some good beer on draft I can navigate from pub to pub until I find one with a selection I'm happy with. It's perfect, both for local beer geeks and for visiting beer tourists unfamiliar with the beer scene.

On October 1st the first proper indoor market place, Mathallen, will open up at Vulcan in Oslo. Here visitors will be able to sit down at cafés, to enjoy properly made coffee and cakes, or shop at small artisanal stalls where they can buy farmers produce, cheese or fresh fish. And there will be a microbrewery making and selling beer there. This place could become the start of a food revolutuion too, since nowadays most Norwegians buy pre-packaged industrial processed food items in cheap convenience stores.

In the longer term, the owner of Olympen and Schouskjelleren is working on an idea to revive a proper brewery in Oslo, the last one was Ringnes which closed down and moved out of Oslo in 2001. This will probably take a year or two but will surely enrich the beer scene further.

The beer scene in Oslo has never been this good and the future's looking so bright, you gotta wear shades!

Home made sausages and Evil Twin Soft Dookie
- at Håndverkerstuene beer restaurant.

June 2012 - the current beer scene

Here follows my highly subjective list of best beer places in Oslo, listed in alphabetical order (for different views and more places check out RateBeer's Oslo Beer Destinations).

Amundsen Bryggeri & Spiseri
Address: Stortingsgt 20 (entrance from Roald Amundsens gt), near City Hall
Opened: 17 February 2011
Type: Restaurant and brewpub
Taps: 20
Bottles: 100+
Amundsen was the third brewpub to open up in Oslo. Located very close to Karl Johan street, it gets its share of tourists so the sales ratio of good beers to bland lagers is very low. It's still a very nice place to visit, especially early in the day when you can sit in the bar. The kitchen is decent (go for the homemade burger), the draft beer selection is nice and the bottled menu great, in league with Olympen and Håndverkerstuene. My main issue with Amundsen is the lack of beer competent waiters, most of the people working there show no interest in the beer they've got and even if you point to the menu they may not be able to find the beer for you.

Bar & Cigar
Address: C. J. Hambros plass 2, near Oslo Tinghus (Court House)
Opened: 2001
Type: Beer & Whisky Bar
Taps: 2
Bottles: 20+
This is without a doubt the most conservative place in Oslo. You will always find the same people, drinking the same beers and talking about the same stuff. The owner, Ole Gunnar Hauso, is a big fan of Cuban Cigars and whisky so expect to find many likeminded out on the back porch, where smoking is allowed. The beer selection is small but decent, with about a twenty types on bottle and usually a good Norwegian craft beer and a Czech pilsner on draft. From time to time they will put on a really rare beer on draft, that nobody else has, and they also do whisky tastings here. Bar & Cigar was also the first place to do cask ales in Oslo, back in 2008. In summers you can enjoy your beer outside.

Beer Palace
Address: Holmens gate 3, Aker Brygge
Opened: 6 April 1993
Type: Beer bar
Taps: 10+
Bottles: 40+
This place, with one bar downstairs and one upstairs, has not changed much in 20 years (except for a modest expansion on the second floor ten years ago). It has a cozy interior with old brick walls (the building used to be an industrial workshop), fitted out with wooden tables and chairs, a few sofas and some heavy leather chairs. Outside one can either sit on a platform above the entrance or on the ground beside the pedestrian street. They still have a decent bottled beer menu and usually a nice draft beer from Nøgne Ø. The rest of the draft selection are industrial lagers or well-known Irish or English ales (Guinness, Red Speckled Hen etc). It can be rather noisy here on Fridays and weekends or when there's a sport event shown on the large screen upstairs. Beer Palace will close for renovations this fall and should open up with a total of 60 beer taps in November!

Café Laundromat
Address: Underhaugsveien 2, Bislett
Opened: 2004
Type: Laundromat café
Taps: 8
Bottles: 100+
This is a laundromat with a café section where you can sit down to enjoy some good food, coffee or beer as you wait for your clothes to get washed. Many also meet here, without doing laundry, because of the cozy atmosphere and excellent beer selection - especially bottled beers, but also a handful of draft beers, spanning from Nøgne Ø to Sam Adams and BrewDog. They serve breakfast from 7 am and in the summer you can sit outside in view of Bislett sports arena.

Den Gamle Major's Pub
Address: Bogstadveien 66, Majorstuen
Opened: 1921
Type: Beer bar
Taps: 3
Bottles: 30+
Gamle Major ("old major") is an institution at Majorstuen. Located just across Kirkeveien from the metro stop, named after the old major whos cabin once stood here and gave name to the area, this pub has been around since 1921. It used to look brown and dirty, and it still does from the outside, but the total renovation in 1999 has given this place a second life. And now they've also started taking beer seriously, offering good Norwegian craft beer on draft and a decent selection of bottled beers too.

Dr Jekyll's Pub
Address: Klingenberggata 4, by Saga kino
Opened: 2003
Type: Whisky bar
Taps: 2
Bottles: 30+
This is a whisky bar, located next door to Saga Kino. It's decorated like the working room of Dr Jekyll, a bit dark and gloomy, and with weird sounds and gargoyles in toilet stalls, which are hidden behind an artifical bookshelf - always a source of confusion for first-time visitors! This is where Amund P Arnesen first cut his teeth on craft beer before moving on to Håndverkerstuene in 2009. Today, the pub has two decent beer taps - usually one with Weihenstephaner and the other with Nøgne Ø or HaandBryggeriet. They also have a decent selection of bottled beer.

Grünerløkka Brygghus
Address: Thorvald Meyers Gate 30 B, Grünerløkka
Opened: 8 October 2010
Type: Gastropub
Taps: 15
Bottles: 50+
This is a very popular gastropub at Grünerløkka, perhaps too popular as it can be hard to find a place to sit on most nights. The place sports 15 taps, though about 4-5 are industrial beers, carrying beer from Kinn, Ægir, HaandBryggeriet and Nøgne Ø. They've got two house ales, brewed specially for them, the Kjell Pop Single Hop IPA brewed at Nøgne Ø and the Løkka Svarthumle Black IPA brewed at Kinn. There is also a good bottled beer menu and a very decent kitchen here. They run frequent beer tastings and brewing classes and every autumn they host the Grünerløkka Øl & Mat festival.

Gaasa
Address: Storgata 36
Opened: 19 May 2012
Type: Beer bar
Taps: 4
Bottles: 20+
Gaasa, Norwegian for "the goose", is the latest addition to the Oslo beer scene, opening up in May 2012 with four great craft beers on draft, including their own Gaasa house ale, brewed at Scouskjelleren. They also have a decent bottle menu, including Belgian sour ales. Gaasa has a rustic feel, they serve warm food and has nice courtyards to enjoy your beer outside.

Håndverkerstuene
Address: Rosenkrantzgate 7 (entrance from Kristian IV)
Opened: Reopened August 2009. Originally from the 1880s.
Type: Beer restaurant
Taps: 10
Bottles: 100+
The former Håndverkeren restaurant was bought by Thon Gruppen and renovated into a beer restaurant which reopened in the fall 2009. It sports a huge selection of bottled beers and ten quality draft beers, both Norwegian and foreign. It was the first restaurant in Oslo to put beer suggestions on the food menu and they got listed as one of the world's Best Beer Restaurants by RateBeer both in 2011 and 2012. It's a bit pricy, but the atmosphere is good and the beer and food excellent - you really can't complain about a place that regularly has Cantillon Gueuze or Kriek on draft! However, the beer knowledge took a nosedive when Amund P Arnesen left in 2011.

Olympen Mat & Vinhus
Address: Grønlandsleiret 15, Grønland
Opened: Reopened 3 November 2007. Originally from 1892.
Type: Beer restaurant
Taps: 6 + 5 upstairs
Bottles: 150+
This is one of Oslos traditional beer halls and it is only fitting that it was here that the modern beer revolution first took hold in Oslo. Olympen or Lompa has been a restaurant and beer hall since it first opened in 1892, but it was fairly rundown the last few decades of the 20th century. In the new millennium new owners closed and renovated Lompa and it's now a great place for food and beer, with healthy portions and low prices. They have more than a hundred types of bottled beer and 6 quality beers on draft. In the summer season you can enjoy five extra taps outside on the roof terrace.

Schouskjelleren Mikrobryggeri
Address: Trondheimsveien 2, Grünerløkka
Opened: 1 October 2010
Type: Brewpub
Taps: 14
Bottles: 50+
This vaulted ceiling brewpub in the cellar of an old brewery, is currently the leader of the beer pack, with 16 taps (but two are with Hansa pilsner) and a good bottled beer menu, including a great range of sour ales from Cantillon and 3 Fonteinen. Importing directly from Drikkeriget, they've had an amazing list of guest beers on draft, from the US, Italy, England and Denmark. Their own beers have also improved immensly and now get glowing reviews even by seasoned raters. Best time to visit is shortly after opening (4 pm on weekdays), early in the week. It gets really packed here on Fridays and Saturdays. In the winter they have an open fireplace radiating heat at one end of the cellar. Really cozy.

Tilt
Address: Torggata 16 (entrance from Badstugata)
Opened: 21 August 2009
Type: Games and beer bar
Taps: 6
Bottles: 50+
Tilt is located in a former public bath (Torggata bad), it has become a place for gamers and students to hang out, many before and after concerts at the nearby Rockefeller Concert Hall. If you're coming for the beer, come early in the week and shortly after opening hours (they open at 3 pm Mon - Wed). Later in the day and during weekends, it will get packed and noisy. Tilt offers about a dozen beers on tap of which half are industrial beer. But they usually have beer from Ægir, Kinn, Nøgne Ø and BrewDog on draft. No food is served though and they may have loud music, either live or on the stereo.

The Whisky Bar
Address: Rådhusgata 28, Kvadraturen
Opened: 12 May 2010
Type: Restaurant and whisky bar
Taps: 6
Bottles: 30+
The Whisky Bar is a restaurant and whisky bar which opened up next door to and by the people behind The Dubliners Irish Pub. It has a cozy and quiet atmosphere and usually a handfull of good draft beers available - typically from Ægir, HaandBryggeriet, Sam Adams and BrewDog. On week days you'll be pretty much on your own here.

Welcome to Oslo Beer City!