stockholm | Love Good Beer

I’ve done a lot of travelling in the past few years and I made an effort to seek out fine craft beer establishments wherever I went. I was reminiscing with a friend the other day and I thought I might as well post a list of my favourite European craft beer drinking establishments. Keep in mind that this is not an all encompassing list, but a list of places I visited and liked. That being said, I truly believe these are the cream of the crop and that any beer enthusiast should seek them out.

Mikkeller – Copenhagen, Denmark
The impressive and cosy bar of the Danish craft beer geniuses. What impresses me most about Mikkeller is their creativity and range. They also server American and other European craft beers in their bar.

‘t Arendsnest – Amsterdam, Netherlands
You could argue there are better beer bars in Amsterdam, but this is this only one that serves only Dutch craft beer. The bar itself is a beautiful wood paneled brown cafe located right on a ridiculously pretty canal.

Delirium Cafe – Brussels, Belgium
It’s grungy, smokey, crowded and you’ll never want to leave. The quintessential Brussels beer bar is famous for it’s massive beer list featuring almost every Belgian beer available. The staff are super knowledgeable and also rude. I remember being scared to order, but it’s worth it in the end.

‘t Brugs Beertje – Bruges, Belgium
The classic Bruges brown cafe. I highly recommend watching In Bruges then heading to this place for a gay beer or seven. It might not be the best beer bar in Bruges, but it’s the classic and a must visit.

Akkurat – Stockholm, Sweden
Surely the best beer bar in Sweden, featuring craft beer from around the world and from Sweden’s burgeoning craft beer scene.

Bir & Fud – Rome, Italy
Serving only Italian craft beer, this place is in the hip Trastavere neighbourhood of Rome. I didn’t know Italy had a craft beer scene until I visited this place, turns out craft is taking off in Italy.

Ma Che Siete Venuti A Fà – Rome, Italy
Across the street from Bir & Fud, this place takes care of the rest of the world and serves top notch stuff from Northern Europe and America.

Craft – London, UK
Can you believe I lived just over a mile away from this place and I only went there twice? I should be punished. Founded in the summer of 2011, this place immediately became the top beer bar in London. They have the very best from all over the world; tons of Mikkeller, English and American stuff.

Brewdog – London, UK
The punks at Brewdog are on a pub opening tear in the UK. The London joint opened in December and has been packed since. Features tons of Brewdog one-off stuff, as well as quality craft from around the world.

Oktoberfest – Munich, Germany
Okay, not a pub, but an essential and amazing experience. I found most German beer halls to be very similar, so why not enjoy them at their grandest scale. I went twice and I’d go again at the drop of a hat. Check out my experience.

‘t Arendsnest in Amsterdam, loved it

Us guys at Brewdog, I miss it so bad

If you can’t have fun at Delirium Cafe, just suicide yourself now

I went to a lot of fantastic pubs in Europe, but these are the standouts from a beer perspective. Let me know if you think there’s somewhere else I need to go, I only need an excuse…

Cheers,

Chris

I visited some of my gracious extended family in Stockholm last weekend. I wasn’t sure what to expect of Sweden since you don’t hear too much about it in regards to tourism. I was thoroughly impressed with Stockhom. It’s an amazingly beautiful city featuring picturesque architecture amongst the small islands that makeup the centre. It’s exceptionally clean and I didn’t see any homeless people, which I found shocking coming from the hobotowns of Vancouver and, to a lesser extent, London. And just as you may have heard, Swedish people are generally blond, tall, tanned, and athletic looking. If that’s your sort of thing, you might consider them really, really good looking. To top it all off, Sweden has its fair share of quality craft brewers. If not for the seven months a year of cold and darkness, it just might be the perfect place. It’s a bit expensive too, but then you get what you pay for.

Look how pretty Stockholm is

In Sweden, the liquor industry is intensely government regulated (even Absolut was owned by the Swedish government until recently), even more so than in Canada. Only beer less than 3.5% ABV can be sold in grocery stores, all other liquor is sold in government stores called Systembolaget. I went into one to check it out. There are no shelves of wine and beer for people to grab and take to the checkout. There are only showcases to let you know what they have. Once you’ve made up your mind you order from a counter where the clerk goes into the back and assembles your order for you. I’m guessing they don’t get many shoplifters. Unlike in Canada where cold beer and wine stores exist to sell you alcohol at inflated prices after the government liquor stores close, Swedes just can’t buy liquor on Sundays. This is not cool, but at least the stores have a good selection of Swedish and international beer for sale.

The counter at Systembolaget

Behind the counter at Systembolaget

The beer showcase at Systembolaget

We ended up eating dinner at a cool restaurant that had an extensive craft beer list featuring mostly Swedish beers. The restaurant was called Bakfickan and the food and beer were delightful. I don’t remember what the beer we had was called, but it was tasty. I had a really hard time with the Swedish language, reading it, pronouncing it, and remembering any instructions whatsoever. We North Americans absolutely butcher Swedish, which I feel bad about because most Swedes speak excellent English with very little accent (the Ikea commercials back home are a giant lie). If you were wondering, the food in Stockholm is like what they sell at Ikea, except that it is of much higher quality. I had meatballs with lingon berry sauce at Bafickan. We also ate a lot of cold water fish and shrimp in Sweden, often with a dill mayo type sauce. We found the food in Stockholm to be delicious in general.

Craft beer at Bakfickan

Our last stop in Stockholm was to Akkurat, a very highly rated beer bar. They had an impressive array of beer available on cask, on tap, and in bottles, including many Swedish beers and top quality stuff from around the world. We went Swedish, but again I have no idea what it was. It was good though. This place is a must stop for any beer lover passing through Stockholm.

The bar at Akkurat

Stockholm is rad; you should visit it.

Cheers,

Chris

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