I've decided to drink one beer from every country in the world. I know it's a tough job, but someone's got to do it. And that someone is me. The rules: I have to drink the whole beer, I have to photograph it to prove that I've done it, and it has to be an official, commercially produced beer (no homebrews). The only countries I can skip are ones that don't produce beer (haven't found any yet).

Monday, December 3, 2012

Countries 1 - 20: Thoughts so far

OK I've now reviewed 20 different beers from 20 different countries. What are my thoughts so far?

1) There are basically two kinds of beer in the world: commercial beer, and craft beer. Commercial beer is made by big companies in factories, and within each type of beer (ale, lager and pilsner), they all taste almost exactly the same (the vast majority are lagers). Craft beer is made by beer nuts, with love, and almost always tastes great.
2) The difference in price between commercial and craft beer is not very much, but the difference in taste and quality is enormous. I do not therefore consider there to be much point in buying commercial beer (I now only do it for the blog and only if I cannot find a craft beer from that country).
3) The "new world" countries are producing some amazing craft beers, that rival or beat the "old world" European countries. The amazing Epic Hop Zombie from New Zealand is a case in point. Australia and USA are not at all far behind.
4) Picking a beer for Australia is going to be extremely difficult, if not impossible. There are so many good ones. (My local pub, The Union, has regularly rotating taps of extremely good Australian craft beer so I am currently very spoiled for choice).
5) Some countries you would think would be difficult to find beers for, e.g. El Salvador, are not (their crappy Cantina beer is now turning up everywhere). Other countries you would think would be easy (e.g. France) are actually very difficult (are there any French beers in the world? Anywhere? Ever? I can't find a damn single one).
6) I have a long way to go but I doubt I will encounter a beer worse than Taiwan Beer. It's so awful.
7) There are many, many countries in the world. It's not an easy quest. But I'm having a great time.

Saturday, December 1, 2012

#20: Cyprus

Cyprus is a small island republic in the Mediterranean, mainly known for being a battleground for an ancient dispute between Greece and Turkey as to who owns it (don't the Cypriots get a say in any of this?). It's certainly not known for making beer, so when a Cypriot beer turned up on a menu in a new Greek restaurant in Sydney, I obviously jumped at the opportunity.

Keo is as far as I can tell the main beer brand in Cyprus, and to me, it tastes quite a lot (like, really a lot) like the Greek beer Mythos which I did for this blog a while ago. Basically, another pretty generic straw coloured European lager. It worked pretty well with the tasty Greek meal I was eating it with, but if I went back I would probably choose another more interesting beer.


Name: Keo
Country of production: Republic of Cyprus
Style: Lager
Taste: Pretty bog-standard cheap European lager, reminiscent of Mythos
Cost: around AU$5.00 per bottle
Availability in AU: Low
Cred: Medium to high
My score: 5 out of 10 ancient struggles for national identity