Beer in Unique Places (Basel, Switzerland)

Brewery: Unser Bier

Location: Basel, Switzerland

Unser Bier, a term that means "our beer", was founded 10 years ago by four beer lovers that had a fondness for homebrewing. Unser Bier was first just a club for homebrewers, a place where people could go and brew beer as a hobby. Once interest was piqued the brewery was founded. Its quite a remarkable story.

Located close to both the German & French borders, Basel is an amazing place. Its the third largest city in Switzerland with a population of 190,000 (edit). Its got all the goods that make it a great European city (historic architecture, art (edit), a river, a market place, culture and heritage etc...) but apparently it needed better beer.

Currently Unser Bier produces four different beers. According to the site, which is pretty funny:

We produce four different beers and occasional specials. Our first beer was an Amber beer. We wanted to produce a beer that is quite different from the usual lager beers served in Basel. Amber is also a lager but it is not hopped; it is not bitter. Women who usually don’t like beer tend to like it.

Our next beer was a pale beer, called Blond. It’s a little more bitter than the Amber. It’s a man’s beer. Our third beer was a black beer called Schwarz. It appeals to both men and women. We had some Irish people here recently and I told them that our black beer is just like Guinness but a little bit better. They were very upset about that. Weizen, wheat beer, is our fourth.

To read more about Unser Bier, there is a great interview with one of the owners (Simone Littlejohn) on the site which can be found HERE!

Beer from here instead of beer from there.

Beer in Unique Places (Portsmouth, NH)

Brewery: The Portsmouth Brewery

Location: Portsmouth, New Hampshire, USA

Portsmouth, New Hampshire lies right over the southern border from Maine. It's known as the oldest community in New Hampshire and is the sixth oldest town in the country. 

Historically, Portsmouth was a shipbuilding and lumber town. It's location along the state's limited shoreline has always made it an important place of trade. Nowadays, its close proximity to Boston, and the fact that New Hampshire has tax-free shopping, means its a busy little town (pop. 21,000) with a lot of boutique shops. But who cares about boutique shops? This little town is also home to The Portsmouth Brewery, the oldest brewpub in New Hampshire.

Peter Egelston, who co-opened the Northampton Brewery in Massachusetts in 1987, founded The Portsmouth Brewery in 1991. Maybe you've heard of Smuttynose? Well, Peter started that as well. The two like to think of themselves as sister companies. I like to think of them as one hell of a beer producing tamdem in Portsmouth. 

You'll find a number of standard beers on tap at The Portsmouth Brewery. All of them are great and all of them are brewed on the premises. What is really convenient is that you also have the option to get them to go in growlers or bombers. You can get the bombers next door at their retail store (this is where you can also get baby clothes with hop logos on them, I kid you not...if only I had kids to dress up in hop clothes!). 

Along with the usual suspects and some guest taps from Smuttynose, you'll also find some excellent one-offs, seasonals and special releases brewed up by brewmaster Tod Mott. I was there earlier today and they had a "Sour Brune" on tap. It was out of this world. Thankfully, after a pint in the pub I found a bomber to go and will be enjoying that here at home soon. 

The Portsmouth Brewery has great food and is always busy as far as I can tell. They always have a great draught list and the place is excellent for having an afternoon pint while checking out the area or for dinner and a couple beers or for just beers...lots of them...and all of them excellent!

Oh yeah, I almost forgot, maybe you've heard of Kate the Great? It's a little Russian Imperial Stout that The Portsmouth Brewery is responsible for and was recently nominated as best beer in the country...read about it HERE!

Cheers!

Beer in Unique Places (Brooklyn)

Brewery: Sixpoint Craft Ales
Location: Brooklyn, NY, USA

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Its possible that you’ve never heard of Sixpoint Craft Ales…yet. They are located within the walls of an inconspicuous bar (Rocky Sullivan’s Taproom) in the Red Hook section of Brooklyn. This tiny little brewery makes some of the best beers in the country. If you’ve had any of their beers, you won’t argue with that statement.

Sixpoint was started in 2004 by Shane Welch and Andrew Bronstein. They found the remains of a little brewery, formulated some recipes and set to work brewing beers the likes the East Coast had never seen. There is obviously more to the story but that is the quick and glamorous run down.

Sixpoint has only bottled one of their beers as far as I know and that was a Russian Imperial Stout called Bolshoi. The rest of their beers are just available on draught. They currently distribute in NYC, Long Island, some other parts of New York State and in Massachusetts. So, next time you are in Boston or NYC, be on the lookout for any of their brews.

They currently have six or so regular offerings including Bengali Tiger IPA, Brownstown Brown, Diesel (a stout), East Coast Amber, Righteous Ale, Sweet Action and SMP (a smoked Baltic Porter). They also brew some rotating seasonals and one-off beers from time to time, like their current Hop Obama (a hoppy amber ale). For more about this go HERE!

I made the trek to Sixpoint a few years back when visiting a friend in NYC. Despite being a little nervous walking through a good chunk of the Red Hook projects, what lay beyond was well worth it. Shane gave a great tour and the free pint of Righteous Ale, a hoppy rye, was incredible. If you haven’t had a pint of Sixpoint, seek one out. You will have a beer drinking experience that is rarely matched and hardly ever exceeded.

Check out the Brew Monkey interview with Shane Welch from Sixpoint HERE!

“Our logo – a unique combination of the brewer’s star and nautical star – combines centuries of rich history and holds and entirely new meaning. It symbolizes our beliefs and inspirations…”

-Shane Welch

Beer in Unique Places (Khon Kaen, Thailand)

Brewery: Kronenbräuhaus
Location: Khon Kaen, Thailand

When you think of Thailand, you probably think of other things besides beer. Who could blame you? It’s not exactly what you think of when you imagine a hotbed for brewing activity.

However, as we all know, if you brew it people will drink it. The Germans definitely knew this and their influence on brewing has been felt all over the world in places like; Mexico, Argentina, China and as I have come to learn, even Thailand.

The city of Khon Kaen (pop. 145,000), in northeastern Thailand, is famous for its silk and also for being the home to Thailand’s oldest existing microbrewery. The Kronenbräuhaus opened in 1996 inside Khon Kaen’s largest entertainment complex, “The Underground”. The complex is also home to Northeastern Thailand’s only 5-star hotel, just in case you don’t have a way home at the end of the night.

The brewery has German brewers, brewing 2 German-style beers (a dunkel and a light lager) with imported German hops and German malt. Both lagers are about 5% ABV. It's a nice little home away from home if you are a German tourist!

So, if you ever find yourself in Khon Kaen and need food, entertainment, a place to stay and some fresh microbrewed beer, look no further! You can find it ALL in one place!

Thanks to my friend Dan, who stayed at the hotel, drank the beer

and probably sang karaoke as well, for telling me about this place!

Beer in Unique Places (Honningsvåg, Norway)

Brewery: Nordkapp Mikrobryggeri
Location: Honningsvåg, Norway

Norway is home to lots of things that are followed by this familiar phrase, the world’s northernmost here. Most of these things are located in the town of Tromsø, also known as “the Gateway to the Arctic. This includes what many consider the world’s northernmost brewery, the Mack Bryggeri. Despite this claim being on the label of every beer that rolls out of the Mack Bryggeri, there is a brewery even further north. This is where the Nordkapp Bryggeri, in the tiny (pop. 2,800) arctic town of Honningsvåg, comes in.

Located in the extreme northern Norewegian county known as Finnmark, Honningsvåg is located along the Barents Sea. Due to warm currents, the port remains ice free and thus supports a fishing industry. The town also has quite a bit of tourist with cruise boats frequently stopping here in summer.

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This area has perpetual darkness in winter as well as the aurora borealis on those cold clear nights. Its also where Nordkapp Bryggeri brews their six beers, including a pilsner, 3 lagers and a Christmas ale. Their pilsner, known as Sårry Makk, is actually a playful name referring to the Mack Brewery, whose record for northernmost brewery they took away when they opened in 2000.

The brewpub, is small and serves up some food along with whatever beers may happen to be on tap. It seems like a place that serves the tourist trade rather well during the summertime along with the local fishing community. It’s good to know that even at the ends of the earth you can find a place to sit down and enjoy a locally brewed beer.

Read an article about the brewery by Joe Sixpack HERE!

Find out all you ever needed to know about Norwegian Breweries HERE!

Beer in Unique Places (Calumet, MI)

Brewery: Red Jacket Brewing Company
Location: Calumet, Michigan, USA

The Upper Peninsula of Michigan is the part of the state that gets left off of maps. Either that or its assumed to be a part of Canada or Wisconsin. If you ask me, its better that way, it keeps the crowds away and leaves the UP nice and quiet (except during hunting and snowmobiling seasons). I went to college (NMU) in this part of the country and loved every second of it. It definitely has its similarities to Maine, the harsh winters and the rugged coastline always spring to mind. This is also the part of the country that usually stands out on the national weather map as the coldest place with the most snow cover in the lower 48. You’ve got to love winter to live up there.

Sticking out of the Upper Peninsula, like a hitchhiker’s thumb, into Lake Superior is the Keweenaw Peninsula. This is where a lot of copper was mined back in the day and one such town that sprung up in the center of that industry was Calumet. Calumet has seen a large population come and go during its history. It now boasts a population of just around 900. Along with the harsh winter, the famous pasties (as in Cornish Pasty) and the thousands of miles of empty mine shafts, Calumet is also home to Michigan’s northernmost brewery.

The Red Jacket Brewing Company, whose name comes from the original name for the town, could also quite possibly be the smallest brewery in America. Its part of the Michigan House Café and they brew just one beer, a delicious sounding Oatmeal Coffee Stout called Oatmeal Espress. The beer itself is brewed with both malt and oatmeal along with the addition of thirteen double shots of espresso at the end of the boil! Their single beer is brewed just once a week, when the restaurant is closed, by the two cooks who work there. Oatmeal Espress is brewed one half-barrel (15.5 gallons) batch at a time!

Red Jacket Brewing Company's only beer, brewed fresh every Wednesday!

To read more about this unique little brewery go HERE!

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Beer in Unique Places (Roslyn, WA)

Brewery: Roslyn Brewing Company

Location: Roslyn, Washington, USA

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About an hour and half east of Seattle is the small town (pop. 1,020) of Roslyn, Washington. If you’ve never heard of Roslyn and you find yourself driving through, it may seem eerily familiar. This is because Roslyn was the town where the show Northern Exposure did a bulk of its filming.

The familiar Roslyn Café sign is there and down the street is the show’s famous watering hole, The Brick. The Brick is actually the “oldest operating tavern under a single name in the State of Washington” as well as a tourist destination for many fans of the show. Northern Exposure’s first season ran in 1990. This was also the same year that the Roslyn Brewing Company began brewing beer. If only it was called the Cicely Brewing Company, imagine the product placement!

The Roslyn Brewing Company brews two beers and a root beer. According to their website, the brew their beer using “only the finest ingredients, including malted barley grown in the Northwest, hops grown in the Yakima Valley, and ice cold snow-fed water from the heart of the Cascades, to produce a full-bodied brew with a flavor that some say has been missing in domestic beers since the enactment of Prohibition.”

When I do my Pacific Northwest trip, whenever that is, I plan on taking a side trip out to Roslyn. I’d love to see some of the locations where Northern Exposure was filmed and definitely try some of the local beer.

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Beer in Unique Places (Juneau, AK)

Brewery: Alaskan Brewing Company

Location: Juneau, Alaska, USA

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Juneau, Alaska's capital city since 1906, is located in one of the most amazing locations on the planet. Nestled along the upper part of the Inside Passage in Southeast Alaska it is like an island surrounded by water, mountains and glaciers. This is where good beer should come from...and it does.

Alaskan Brewing Company was born here in 1986. It was, at that time, the only brewery operating in the 49th state (there are now 7 other breweries and 6 brewpubs). Being located in Juneau, without roads connecting it to the outside work, means that everything needed to brew beer, with the exception of water, needs to be delivered by boat or plane. This also means that all of the Alaskan beer drank outside Juneau needs to leave by the same means.

Alaskan currently brews around 10 beers, including their flagship Alaskan Amber and a new IPA. One of their most amazing beers, and the only one I've been lucky enought to drink, has to be their Smoked Porter. It has consistantly won awards since its inception 20 years ago. The malt for the Alaskan Smoked Porter is smoked with alder wood, the same wood used to smoke Alaskan salmon. Its amazing stuff!

This is another place on my long list of places to visit (and have a beer) in Alaska. One day...

What I would do for a case of this stuff!

Beer in Unique Places (Newfoundland)

Brewery: Quidi Vidi Brewing Company
Location: St. John’s, Newfoundland, Canada

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For most of Newfoundland’s history, it was not part of Canada. It was a British colony and then a self-governing “dominion”. Newfoundlanders went to the polls in 1948 to decide whether or not to become a part of their closest neighbor. 51% said yes and 49% said no. So, in 1949, with much debate still on the table, Newfoundland became Canada’s tenth province.

Newfoundland has always intrigued me. So much so, that I tried to make it part of my honeymoon plans. Unfortunately, it was just too far away and we stuck with Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island (both of which my wife and I really enjoyed). “The Rock”, as it is affectionately known by those from Newfoundland, is a place like no other. Its home to the first European settlement remains in North America, its own caribou herd, its own language dialects (there is a even a very large book of Newfoundland English), the oldest street in North America and its also home to Quidi Vidi Brewing Company.

The brewing company gets its name from the Quidi Vidi (most commonly pronounced kidd-ee vidd-ee) neighborhood in Newfoundland’s capital city St. John’s. QV is Newfoundland’s largest and oldest microbrewery. It was started in 1996 and presently brews six beers. Their seventh beer plans to be very unique.

From the Quidi Vidi Brewing Company website:

A truly unique beer made with a distinctive ingredient; iceberg water harvested from a glacial ice source, Icebergs off the coast of Newfoundland. Quidi Vidi original Iceberg Beer™.

Along with the Greenland Brewhouse, there will soon be two beers in the world brewed with iceberg water!

I do hope to get up to Newfoundland sometime soon and definitely check this place out and try out their beers. The location looks incredible!

Also, if you’ve never heard the band Great Big Sea, they are a great band from Newfoundland.

Cheers!

Beer in Unique Places (Fremantle, W. Australia)

Brewery: Little Creatures Brewing Company

Location: Fremantle, Western Australia

A little over 10 miles down the Swan River from Perth is the small harbor town of Fremantle, Western Australia. Just being located on the Indian Ocean doesn't really make Fremantle all that unique, its more the fact that nearby Perth, the capital of the state of Western Australia, has been dubbed the world's most isolated city. This makes Fremantle isolated by association.

Fremantle is a really nice little town (pop. 7,600). I had the chance to visit this past summer and the very first place I went for food and drink was their pride and joy, Little Creatures Brewing Company. Their Pale Ale has been growing in popularity since the brewery first started brewing back in 2000. Before it was a brewery, the building housed a boat shed and a crocodile farm!

The Little Creatures name was inspired by the Talking Heads album and refers to the yeast (or little creatures) and their role in beer making. Along with an unforgettable name, the brewery has some excellent beers. The flagship pale ale is nice and floral and not over the top. They also brew a pilsner, Rogers Ale (a light ale) and a unique beer called Bright Ale. They also brew a cider called Pipsqueak.

If you are ever out in Western Australia, pay a visit to Fremantle. Check out an Aussie rules game at the Fremantle Oval, go to the Fremantle Market, tour the prison, see Bon Scott from AC/DC's grave and by all means go to Little Creatures and have a few pints!

Why don't all beers come in pint bottles?

Beer in Unique Places (Invercargill, NZ)

Brewery: Invercargill Brewery
Location: Invercargill, New Zealand

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New Zealand has became a little too well known for that whole Lord of the Rings thing. There is a lot more to the country than just Hobbit movie locations, granted the scenery is pretty breathtaking. But, let us not forget that New Zealand has also given the world Sir Edmund Hillary, bungee jumping, electric fences and the band Crowded House (and you thought they were Australian).
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Divided into two islands, New Zealand’s North Island is home to the southernmost capital city in the world, Wellington. It’s South Island is home to New Zealand’s southernmost brewery, located in the town of Invercargill. If you were to look at map of New Zealand, you’d find the town of Invercargill all the way at the very bottom of the South Island. Not surprisingly, its the country’s southernmost and westernmost city and has a population of just over 50,000 people.
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The Invercargill Brewery was started in 1999 by father and son Gerry and Steve Nally. Originally it was situated in an old dairy barn but due to growth, it moved to downtown Invercargill in 2005. The brewery, also a cidery, brews five year round beers and one cider as well as some specialty beers. Check out their brews HERE! The Smokin’ Bishop, a smoked bock, sounds pretty interesting. Too bad it would probably take me 5 days to get to Invercargill to give it a try!

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Cheers!

Beer in Unique Places (Faroe Islands)

Brewery: Föroya Bjór
Location: Klaksvík, Faroe Islands

About halfway between Norway and Iceland you will find the Faroes, a group of islands that are an autonomous province of Denmark. Despite this political tie, the Faroes are very much their own entity.

The 49,000 or so people that call themselves Faroese, speak their own language, have their own national soccer team and maintain their own customs and culture. Thus, its very fitting that they should also have their own beer. This beer is brewed by Föroya Bjór in Klaksvík.

Klaksvík is on the island of Borðoy, one of 18 islands that make up the country. With a population of around 4,650, it is the second largest city in the Faroe Islands. The brewery makes 12 different lagers and ales, including a few of the relatively popular pilsner varieties that seems to be the staple of the Nordic countries. But along with those, they also brew; Green Island Stout, Maltöl (a sweet malt drink with a max ABV of 1.5%), a beer called Black Sheep and several seasonals. They have also recently brewed St. Brigid Ale and an IPA (thank you for the update Einar).

In the Faroes, like in other Nordic countries, the beeer and alcohol taxes are high, very high. I have been told that the Faroe Islands' beer tax is 3x that of Denmark. Nonetheless, it has to be an absolutely amazing place to visit and of course sample the local beers!

Skál!

Thank you to Einar Waag from Föroya Bjór for providing some much

needed corrections to my previous post.

Beer in Unique Places (Yukon)

Brewery: Yukon Brewing Company

Location: Whitehorse, Yukon, Canada

The Yukon is a vast and sparsely populated place. Its bigger than California with a total population of just over 31,000 hearty souls. Its home to Canada's highest mountain, one hell of gold rush and the grueling Yukon Quest dogsled race. In Yukon's capital, Whitehorse, you'll also find the territory's one and only brewery, the Yukon Brewing Company.

Whitehorse gets its name from the White Horse Rapids, which were said to look like the mane of a white horse. The rapids have since disappeared under Schwatka Lake due to a dam which was completed in 1958. Nonetheless, Whitehorse maintains its name and with a total population of around 20,000, it accounts for two-thirds of the entire population of the territory.

The Yukon Brewing Company brews eleven different beers, seven of which you can find outside the territory and four just available in Whitehorse. One beer of note is their Discovery Ale, a honey pale ale brewed with local fireweed honey.

If you are ever in the area be sure to go by for a tour and some samples. One day I'll drive the Alaskan Highway and stop by...one day.

Check out all of Yukon Brewing's beers HERE!

I'll take some of the Midnight Sun Espresso Stout please!

Yukon Brewing's Yukon Red, I love the packaging

Beer in Unique Places (Fox, Alaska)

Brewery: Silver Gulch Brewing and Bottling Company

Location: Fox, Alaska, USA

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Ten miles north of Fairbanks, in the historic district of Fox, Alaska, stands “America’s Most Northern Brewery/Brewpub”.

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Owned and operated by “life long Alaskans”, Silver Gulch Brewing and Bottling opened its doors in 1998. The brewery’s origins are rather similar to other breweries and brewpubs in the US. An avid homebrewer, in this case the brewmaster of Silver Gulch, Glen Brady, starts small with typical 5-gallon homebrew batches and starts brewing bigger and bigger batches. Silver Gulch now brews with a 24-barrel system (that’s 750 gallons), has a state of the art bottling line and along with its restaurant and bar employs over 40 people. It’s known locally as “the Epicenter”.
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Fox was originally established as mining camp along the banks of Fox Creek back in the early 1900’s. The latest census show Fox with a population of around 300 people. I can see why its known as “the Epicenter” as it is possibly employing about a fifth of the eligible work force in Fox!

Silver Gulch brews some incredible sounding beers, check them out HERE! I'd love to sample the Sourdough Oatmeal Stout, one of their specialty beers.

This spring, Silver Gulch will be opening an outdoor Beer Garden, to allow “the loyal fans of Silver Gulch beer and cuisine to bask in the afternoon/evening sun while enjoying a pint of hand-crafted beer”. That’s got to be a pretty special place to have a beer!

Fairbanks Lager from Silver Gulch Brewing Company

Beer in Unique Places (Gotland)

Brewery: Gotlands Bryggeri

Location: Visby, Gotland, Sweden

Off the southeast coast of Sweden, almost right in the middle of the Baltic, is the island of Gotland. On the west side of the island is Visby, a little (pop. 22,600) medieval town that is a UNESCO heritage site. Within Visby's ancient town walls lies the picturesque Gotlands Bryggeri. 

Owned and operated by Sweden's largest brewer, Spendrups, the Gotlands Bryggeri produces specialty and test market beers. From what I could gather, they do bottle a few beers including Wisby Pils and a Belgian-style ale called Wisby Klosteröl.

I had the chance to visit Gotland way back in 1995. It was an amazing place, an island that lives and breathes history. I wish I hadn't been so young and naive about beer! I would have loved to have sat in this beautifully restored little brewery and had a pint.

Read what the great, late Michael Jackson (a.k.a The Beer Hunter) had to say about the Gotlands Brewery HERE!

Gotland's coat of arms

Beer in Unique Places (Guam)

Brewery: The Great Deep Brewing Company

Location: Hagåtña, Guam

The very thought of Guam always conjures up visions in my head of an island lost in the vast expanses of the Pacific. I’ll actually never forget the day I saw a car with a license plate from Guam. It seemed so out of place in that grocery store parking lot in suburban Philadelphia.

It was interesting to learn that Guam has a microbrewery, The Great Deep Brewing Co., that makes some beers that wouldn’t be out of place at your local brewpub.

The Great Deep Brewing Co. is Guam’s first craft brewery. It opened in 2001. In 2006, its original location was destroyed by fire and its now opened up again in a new location. The brewery is a part of the Mermaid Tavern and Grille in the island’s capital city of Hagåtña, which has a population of about 1,100. Great Deep Brewing has also established (or is establishing) Guam’s first homebrew club.

Check out Great Deep Brewing’s beers HERE!

Guam is an “organized unincorparted territory” of the US and is the southernmost of the Mariana Islands in the western Pacific. It’s had a long history of colonization, most recently by the US military (TGD even brews Marine Corps Drive Oatmeal Stout). The total population is around 175,000 and mail is delivered to Guamians by the US postal system. Guam has two official languages, Chamarro and English.

the new Mermaid Tavern & Grill (and The Great Deep Brewing Co.)

Beer in Unique Places (Wales)

Brewery: Bragdy Gwynant

Location: Capel Bangor, Wales

Beer (cwrw in Welsh) is not all that unique to Wales. The Welsh are quite fond of beer (I found this out while living in Swansea, Wales for year while in college). Wales is the home of Brains Brewery, brewer of some excellent beers, including a beer brewed in honor of poet and writer Dylan Thomas. It was also where the first beer outside the US was canned and it can also lay claim to its own style of beer, braggot (a beer brewed with equal parts honey and malt).