Beer and Jyhad

New Blog - Lord of the Clog

2011-08-14T19:45:00.000+02:00

As you have noticed there has been no updates to this blog at all this year. As I have told you earlier I have lost interest in writing about beer and have been lacking time to write about Jyhad as well. This will most likely be the last entry ever for this blog but don't despair - I'm writing this mainly to tell you about my new exclusive V:tES-blog Lord of the Clog. For starters it will be mostly about me writing and sharing tournament reports but who knows what I will make up in the future. Thanks for your time here and I hope as many of you as possible will follow my new V:tES-adventuers at www.lordoftheclog.blogspot.com!

Stefan Karlsson

Tournament report - Avsnitt 4: Tjindar's List

2010-12-29T23:40:00.001+01:00

The Expectation Analysis Experiment is from now on resting and I doubt I will pick it up again. Last tournament I played I wrote an article but changed deck on the tournament day so the article was pointless, just spoiling a deck list. I have learned quite some from writing those pre-tournament articles but I feel I got it in me now when designing and choosing decks for tournaments so from now on you’ll just get simple tournament reports.

I drove solely the 280 kilometres early in the morning from Göteborg to Örebro without any real problems but it took some time due to the snow, ice and slow traffic. I was a little tired arriving at the venue but as soon that it was time for the first round I woke up. This is the deck I played:

Deck Name : Funny Form of Curruption Deck
Author : Stefan Karlsson (some credits should go to Erik Gustavsson and Alex Ek for playing their versions of the Undele-deck and sharing ideas)

3x Lutz von Hohenzoll     11 AUS DEM OBF PRE pot inner circle Malkavian:4
3x Dmitra Ilyanova        9 CEL FOR POT PRE obf justicar     Brujah:5
3x Undele                 9 CEL FOR obf pre ser magaji       Ishtarri:5
3x Karen Suadela          7 CEL POT obf pre      prince       Brujah:5

Action [3]
2x Entrancement
1x Form of Corruption

Action Modifier [21]
2x Awe
1x Daring the Dawn
5x Forced March
3x Forgotten Labyrinth
3x Into Thin Air
2x Perfect Paragon
5x Voter Captivation

Action Modifier/Reaction [3]
3x Scalpel Tongue

Combat [5]
5x Majesty

Equipment [1]
1x Heart of Nizchetus

Master [21]
1x Coven, The
2x Dreams of the Sphinx
1x Giant's Blood
1x Information Highway
1x Monastery of Shadows
1x New Carthage
1x Pentex(TM) Subversion
6x Villein
2x Wider View
5x Zillah's Valley

Political Action [18]
1x Ancient Influence
1x Ancilla Empowerment
2x Banishment
2x Conservative Agitation
1x Domain Challenge
3x Kine Resources Contested
1x Lextalionis
1x Neonate Breach
5x Parity Shift
1x Reins of Power

This is a standard Parity Shift deck with some quirks. Undele is the key minion but he is no standard star vampire as I don’t need him in the beginning. The crypt with 3x4 vampires and some Wider View works really well in this kind of deck. First I want one of the Brujahs to call early Parity Shifts and then I want the other vampires in the order and speed the game allows. Undele’s special is a killer and that is what makes it worthwhile and possible to include cards like Form of Corruption and Lextalionis in the deck. I think you get the idea so I move on to the actual report. There were 16 players at the tournament but one late arrival and one early departure made us play with 15 players all three rounds.

Round 1
Me –> Henrik Ericsson (KS bleed featuring Santaleous) –> Tomas Wallmur (Seterpenre + Anu Diptinatpa) –> Henrik Rune Eriksson (Ahrimanes toolbox) –> Anders Löf (!Ventrue grinder)
I got a dream start being able to influence quickly and call two early Parity Shifts on my prey. The strength of Santaleous special ability were soon discovered as he cancelled an Eternals of Sirius played by Tomas and to everyone’s surprise Tomas still had to burn the pool for the card. No more Zillah’s Valley for me at that point. Good thing I had Heart of Nizchetus in play so I could hide all my master cards in the bottom of the deck. Tomas got a slow start and Anders drew very few bleed cards but kept himself alive from quite heavy bleeding from the Ahrimanes. I ousted Henrik and and Tomas but then I literary went in to a wall. Anders started to bleed heavier so I needed to oust Tomas quicker than I wanted to not risk getting ousted myself. Anu also increased many of Anders’ vampires bleeds so that was yet another reason. When I hit the tooled-up Ahrimanes there were nothing left do. My library was exhausted due to too many discards and excessive use of Undele’s special and every round he had just enough intercept or wakes to stop my attempt at voting back some heavy stealth on hand. Anders was ousted and I kept a stubborn struggle for a while but the game win was Henrik’s (confusing with two players with the same name isn’t it?)
Rune GW 3VP
Me 2VP

Round 2
Isak Bjärmark Esbjörnsson (Lutz & Co Petra Resonance) –> Jonatan Sjöberg (!Nos rush) –> Henrik Rune Eriksson –> Me –> Tomas Wallmur
Isak and I became voting buddies but I had a little struggle influencing the right minions. My starting crypt consisted of one Dmitra and three Lutz and Isak’s first vampire was Lutz and there were no reason to even consider a contest. Isak got a brilliant start playing Pentex on Jonatan’s first vampire only to banish him as quick as the Pentex was removed. When he was influenced back he was banished again and Jonatan didn’t take a single action the whole game. With his back free Rune could bleed me far heavier than I could bloat and even if I did as much damage to Tomas as Rune did to me I was in danger. Isak did what he could to keep me in the game, including not freaking out when I played Parity Shift on him. There were some massive dealing including Isak playing Parity Shift on Jonatan, giving the pool to Tomas in exchange for not being bled. Tomas’ Anu offered her services to Rune’s vampires so soon after Jonatan was ousted Rune got me. Isak could then oust Rune and it looked like he would have a comfortable duel with Tomas but then we were shown what Tomas’ deck really was capable of. He increased Lutz bleed for 3 with Anu to play an Archon Investigation followed by a Daemonic Possession. Next round he did the exact same thing to Tryposa’s Kindred Spirits bleeding if I remember correctly. Very fun to see and I like it when somebody beats me at whacky deck building.
Isak 2VP
Tomas 2VP
Rune 1VP

Round 3
Me –> Adam Esbjörnsson (Girls will find thinspiration) –> Anders Löf –> Isak Bjärmark Esbjörnsson –> Ivan Marin-Rivas (Anson Ashur Tablets table control)
Again I had a good start and Adam did not. He didn’t draw any crypt acceleration and I could play two early Parity Shifts on him. Anders could build up without any real pressure and Ivan mostly blocked Isak’s actions and let me perform mine since he probably wanted to get rid of Adam’s deck. Andres slowly ousted Isak followed by Ivan and I put ridiculous amounts on pressure on Adam but as you all know his deck (a 65-card version) is a pain to oust, especially played by such a brilliant player. I got to play Lextalionis after Anders ousted Ivan and that felt really good – it is such a powerful card during the right circumstances. I had vote lock and no one were blocking my actions so I could either opt for defence of offence the following turns with Undele. Some rounds I picked Banishments up and some I picked Kine Resources Contested. Problem was that I had to play defensive a little too often to be able to oust. As soon as I did pool damage to Adam he could regain it with Liquidation, Ashur Tablets and its likes and I myself went into ousting range. The game timed out leaving Anders with the win but with ten more minutes anyone could have won.
Anders GW 2.5VP
Me 0.5VP
Adam 0.5VP

It was a nice tournament and I had three good games. I feel the deck lacks a little in offence, I should probably just add two more Kine Resources Contested or something like that. Maybe also exchange some of the more conditional votes even if I like the idea of being able to pick up whatever I need. Protected Resources should probably also be added since I think I performed one or two single bleed actions the whole tournament. The deck is master heavy as it is but Undele’s special makes that problem not being as big as it could have been. I will definitely keep working on this deck since it is both very good and fun to play. Suggestions are welcome.

I also want to thank all players and party animals for a nice day and night in Örebro. See you soon guys!

Beer 101208-101218

2010-12-19T21:02:00.001+01:00

Sigtuna Midvinternattens Mörker

Sweden
ABV: 6.2%
Rating: 2

Nynäshamns Mysingen Midvinterbrygd

Sweden
ABV: 6%
Rating: 2

Dieu du Ciel Solstice d’hiver

Canada
ABV: 9.8%
Rating: 3

Kortedala Enskilda Hinkbryggeri Arne Weisen

Sweden
ABV: 5.6%
Rating: 3

Kortedala Enskilda Hinkbryggeri Kalifens Dadelporter

Sweden
ABV: 6.7%
Rating: 4

Jämtlands Julöl

Sweden
ABV: 6.5%
Rating: 3

Ayinger Winter Bock

Germany
ABV: 6.7%
Rating: 2

Mikkeller Santa’s little Helper

Denmark
ABV: 10.9%
Rating: 2

Beer 101105-101204

2010-12-04T22:11:00.001+01:00

Dugges Avenyn Ale

Sweden
ABV: 5%
Rating: 4

De Dolle Arabier

Belgium
ABV: 8%
Rating: 3

Pencil sharpener!

Dugges Bollox

Sweden
ABV: 7.8%
Rating: 3

Kortedala Enskilda Hinkbryggeri Hopfen Schwarzen

Sweden
ABV: 7.1%
Rating: 3

Djævlebryg Son of Nekron

Denmark
ABV: 6.5%
Rating: 3

The future of this blog

2010-12-03T20:11:00.001+01:00

I haven’t made a single blog entry for more than a month and I feel its time to explain myself. There are different reasons and I better split them up in the two main categories:

Beer
It don’t take any great amount of time to write the small reviews I do but it takes time when I don’t want it to take time – when I’m enjoying my beer. It has gotten harder and harder to write about beer and it almost feels like a burden to have a notebook, or a notepad application on the phone at hand when I play cards or just have a lazy Friday in front of the TV. Last month I have even been avoiding buying beer I haven't drank before just to not having to review them. This is not fun and it really should be.
The solution is easy – from now on you will only get a picture, the data and the rating of the beer I drink. Instead I will link to Ratebeer for you to read real reviews by real beer geeks. Maybe I’ll add a comment or two when I feel like it but don’t count on it. I will instead try and write an article or two when I get the time to do so.

Jyhad
A little the same here. I have been playing less the last couple of months. I really don’t want it to be that way but I fear that it in some ways have to do with the fact that the game is not produced any more. It has been harder to get a casual game lately and for the first times in the last couple of years I have not been able to gather 4-5 players. The tournament scene in Gothenburg is also as good as dead. Where we have been stable with 10-20 players each month it’s now hard to gather more than five. For the scheduled tournament next weekend three players have signed up. I know that I really shouldn’t be writing this for the greater good of the game but this is simple and sad facts that makes writing about the game I love so much harder.
Last tournament I had an Expectation Analysis written but since only nine players showed up I decided it was not worth outing my deck so I played another one instead (and managed to end up at last place). I am still as active as I can be – had three lovely games yesterday but I will only write when I have something to say. I have noticed that my analyses of my decks are popular and that is what I will be focusing on. Maybe also some more opinion articles since I think that the community needs to be led the right way now when everything is risking falling apart. I won’t go into any details until I have sharpened my arguments here but let’s just hint that I think that there need to be something instead of the newsgroup

Well – I will keep blogging on both subjects but it will be a little different from now on. Happy drinking and bleeding everyone!

Beer 101015 -101024

2010-10-29T21:49:00.001+02:00

Slottskällan Imperial Stout
Sweden
ABV: 9%
Rating: 3

Nice sweet alcohol taste. Notes of fruit and some acidity. The Imperial Stout base is there but unfortunately the alcohol takes over.

Kortedala Enskilda Hinkbryggeri Kaiser Altbier Light (16/10)

Sweden
ABV: 2.5%
Rating: 3

A little like a weak lager but contrary to it’s big brother, Kaiser Altbier, this one actually gets fresher and hoppier towards the end and that is what saves it’s rating.

Sierra Nevada Tumbler Autumn Brown Ale (17/10)

USA
ABV: 5.5%
Rating: 3

An oily taste of toffee. Very nice body. Gets a little dull but still very drinkable with a pleasant mouthfeel.

Gulden Draak

Belgium
ABV: 10.5%
Rating: 4

Blackberry jam. Pleasant alcohol taste. A great dark strong Belgian with interesting liquorice notes.

Avery Anniversary Seventeen (20/10)
USA
ABV: 8.69%
Rating: 4

Grainy with notes of toffee. Roasted and burned, almost porter-like taste. Very good beer.

Dugges Kals Stout

Sweden
ABV: 5%
Rating: 3

Surprisingly rich in taste for its low ABV but a little too watery to resemble the kind of heavy stout I like to get a higher rating.

Dugges High Five (23/10)

Sweden
ABV: 7.5%
Rating: 4

Spicey, sweet and a nice hop taste. More than great.

Dugges Gustafs Finger (24/10)

Sweden
ABV: 5.8%
Rating: 3

Genuine bitter but far from as tasteful as Johannas Bästa. Good malty taste but the hops are a little weak.

Beer 101003-101011

2010-10-12T22:06:00.001+02:00

Dyuck Jenlain Blonde
France
ABV: 5.9%
Rating: 2

I expected kind of a French blonde but this is just dull and quite watery lager. A little extra sourness, that’s all.

Kortedala Enskilda Hinkbryggeri Kaiser Altbier

Sweden
ABV: 4.4%
Rating: 3

Nice hop scent. Very fresh and sour. A little damp after a while and much of the initial freshness is in the nice carbonation.

S:t Eriks IPA
Sweden
ABV: 5.3%
Rating: 4

Fresh well-hopped and very good. Nothing special but a very genuine taste.

Dugges Johannas Bästa
Sweden
ABV: 4.6%
Rating: 4

A bitter rich in taste with nice porter notes. Perfect to food and a great brew.

Kortedala Hembryggarförening 8 Hops IPA
Sweden
ABV: 5.0%
Rating: 2

Poor carbonation and yeasty taste. A little oily and with less hop taste than the name suggest. Far from the best from the Kortedala crew.

Beer 100925-101001

2010-10-01T23:46:00.001+02:00

Fastlagsgatans Nanobryggeri Kortedala Sommarwit
Sweden
ABV: 5%
Rating: 2
Nice colour and head. Fresh mouthfeel but unfortunately the taste is somewhat artificial. Both the wheat and hops character is hidden by this and I suspect I maybe got a bad bottle.

Traquair 2010
Scotland
ABV: 10%
Rating: 3
A decent barley wine with almond taste. Smoked and burned notes but nothing special.

S:t Eriks Pompona Porter
Sweden
ABV: 5.4%
Rating: 3
Oily. Mild with some weak burned notes. Scent and a little taste of vanilla. A nice porter but nothing special.

Kortedala Hembryggarförening Rabarberpappa Rhubarb Lambic
Sweden
ABV: 4.8%
Rating: 4
Very typical and nice lambic taste. Nice acidity and bitterness and you can sense the rhubarb in the background. Makes me long for more Lambic and that is worth a rating of 4 alone.

Kortedala Hembryggarförening OrvAle
Sweden
ABV: 4.8%
Rating: 2
Smells a little like Christmas. Spicy taste but a little lame and unpleasantly acidic.

Westgota Nidbryggeri – Dynamitardens Kardemummaporter

2010-09-24T21:17:00.001+02:00

Our own brewery’s second beer was a little of an experiment and although it didn’t turn out as good as Bonnatwist Bitter it is still an interesting brew.

Westgota Nidbryggeri Dynamitardens Kardemummaporter
Sweden
ABV: 9.7%
Rating: 3
Scents like vanilla bread with cardamom. The cardamom is even strong in taste but is accompanied by liquorice and some sweetness. Oily, almost fat towards the end but the cardamom taste gets milder and more pleasant. Too few nuances to be a great imperial porter but a very drinkable attempt.

Beer 100909-100924

2010-09-24T21:16:00.001+02:00

Mikkeller It’s Alive
Denmark
ABV: 8%
Rating: 3

Apple and yeast-notes. Unfortunately a little weak in taste but very good balance.

Cropton Imperial Stout
England
ABV: 7.2%
Rating: 3

Not bad at all for being English. Nice burned notes but a little watery.

La Trappe Tripel (20100917)
Belgium
ABV: 8%
Rating: 4

Fresh citrus and fruit aroma. Pleasant thick “Belgian” mouthfeel. Spicey and warm taste. Good with food although a little too much alcohol shines trough. Subtle notes of jam. A great beer.

Sigtuna Brygghus Mohawk Stitch
Sweden
ABV: 5.3%
Rating: 3

Coffee and a little acidic. A little watery but with good bitterness. Burned and smoky notes after a while. Perfectly fine.

De Ranke XX Bitter
Belgium
ABV: 6.2%
Rating: 3

A typical Belgian scent and aroma but taste shows much more hops than the style use to. Some citrus and flower notes. Pleasant but not complex enough to get a rating of 4.

Swedish Nationals – Tournament Report

2010-09-13T22:22:00.001+02:00

So, I played my wacky deck and had three fun games. I’m not sure if my initial prey or predator had a fun game in any of them but no one yelled at me or hit me so I pretend everyone was happy.

Round 1
Kasper Kristensen (Ventrue Breed/Boon) –> Tomas Wallmur (Helena Advanced) –> Henrik Klippström (Euro Brujah) –> Me –> Ville Kaijasaari (Guruhi Master heavy)
Henrik was the first person to give me the idea of using Pressing Flesh together with Escaped Mental Patients back at our ECQ this year and it was extra fun to give him a taste of it. I didn’t draw any Inceptor early (I played almost 40 cards before seeing the first one) but the Agent of Powers and Abebe was enough to give the deck a good start. Soon I had graverobbed both Donal O’Connor and Nana Buruku and while my prey got low on pool the table, as expected, started to conspire against me. Kasper decided to lunge into me with three Kine Resources Contested when I was at twelve pool so I made a desperate deal with him granting him two Victory Points before I would do any damage to him so he changed his mind. This was a huge mistake and I could have dealt with the situation in two other different ways:
1. Giving him a similar deal but clearly make sure that I would still rush his minions, vote against his referendums and bleed heavily into him during the process.
2. Instead threatening him to spend my last game round (Maybe I would have survived one more turn and I could always bluff having a wake or similar) attacking him instead of ousting my prey if he voted damage my way.
Instead I went too easy on him. I ousted my prey and Tomas ousted Henrik. Tomas and argued that I should deal break but I wasn’t in the mood to do so. I play a fun deck and I have never broke a deal before so this wasn’t going to be the first time. Probably silly of me because breaking that deal would have gave me the game win for sure. Kasper was to strong in the duel since he had saved up lots of Majestys on hand, me having exhausted my library and him having minion superiority. I also made some silly mistakes but nothing that changed fact.
Kasper GW 3VP
Tomas 1VP
Me 1VP

Round 2
Magnus Löf (Lutz & Friends) –> Michael Holmström (!Ventrue sticks) –> Johan Mononen (!Salubri rush & blood deny) –> Alex Ek (Kiasyd s/b) –> Me
This round started a little like the first. I had a quick start graverobbing Lutz and diablerizing Pherydima. Problem was Alex influenced out small caps and created Nocturns so he did some serious pool damage to me so I had to play Golconda on Lutz. It looked pretty bad anyhow but Johan did his best attacking Alex, not leaving much in defence. I ousted Magnus and Johan was gone soon thereafter (or was it the other way around?). Alex drew very bad and couldn’t oust me and my last four or so pool even if I was almost tapped out. Michael killed him too and again I was in a duel where I was the weaker part.
Michael GW 4VP
Me 1 VP

Round 3
Me –> Helena Löf (Presence Weenie) –> Isak Bjärmark Esbjörnsson (Kiasyd s/b) –> Jonas Nyrén (Shambling Hordes)
I had to focus all my energy towards Helena at the start or she would have got Isak really quick. I also had to be careful with my ash heap since Jonas had Giovanni del Georgio in play and could have used his special to remove Escaped Mental Patients, making me unable to play Pressing Flesh. This wasn’t any real problem sine four of my Pressing Flesh was amongst the five last cards in the library. I had to recruit the patients the hard way and that slowed me down. I had plenty of Fake Out on hand and didn’t see any maneuvers played by Jonas so before ousting Helena I rushed and graverobbed The Arcadian but were forced to play Golconda on him to survive. I think I rushed Isak one round too late because once again I was in a duel and this time I didn’t draw any Pressing Flesh.
Isak GW 3VP
Me 1VP

The deck did quite well but it was too new to me to really shine. I will continue working on it to make it even more focused and able to really kill the whole table. It’s interesting to see that my Grandprey won all my three games, and that they all were pretty similar. My initial prey or predator (maybe with the exception of Alex in round 2) were quickly neutralized. I think I need to start spreading my attacks earlier on but the deck takes some more testing before really knowing how to play it at its best. It is a really effective concept and even if it looks like there are many moving parts it's not that hard to get the ball rolling.
First of all I think I have to increase the library to around 70 cards. I am going to remove Information Highway since I just discarded them if I didn’t draw one early. Pentex is also not needed. The times that I needed to play it were when it already looked way too bad for me. I definitely need a second Golconda and some more Sibyl’s Tongue. The rest of the library Increase will probably just be more of the already featured cards. You haven't seen the last of this, that’s for sure.

Expectation Analysis – Part 6 – Swedish Nationals

2010-09-11T20:00:00.001+02:00

I have to face fact – I have been trying too hard lately. I don’t win games anymore, not in tournaments, not even in casual play. I rarely even take victory points nowadays. So what to do at the nationals? Sure, I could play one of my “stable” decks, getting frustrated for hour after hour and getting 0gw2vp and a major headache. No thanks, not this time.
Time fur a fun deck, time to create chaos and have a good time. Don’t get me wrong, I am not playing a deck with that as the only purpose, of course I have been thinking about ousting and how to win a table. Players will get frustrated and maybe even pissed off encountering this but that has to be their problem. I am going to have fun, play my game, surprise some people and maybe even reach some success.
Here is the deck:

Deck Name : Zombie Asylum
Author : Stefan Karlsson
Crypt [12 vampires] Capacity min: 1 max: 4 average: 2.33333
2x Abebe 4 nec obf thn Samedi:4
1x Roger Farnsworth 4 OBF aus !Malkavian:3
1x Jackie 3 DEM !Malkavian:4
1x Marta 3 aus dem !Malkavian:4
1x Midget 3 DEM obf pre !Malkavian:3
1x Bloodfeud 2 obf !Malkavian:4
1x Anarch Convert 1 Caitiff:0
1x Basir 1 qui Assamite:4
1x Cesar Holfield 1 obf Caitiff:4
1x Lisa Noble 1 ani Caitiff:3
1x Sandra White 1 Caitiff:3

Library [60 cards]
Action [18]
1x Aranthebes, The Immortal
7x Graverobbing
9x Pressing Flesh
1x Sibyl's Tongue
Action Modifier [9]
7x Domain of Evernight
2x Veil the Legions
Ally [8]
7x Escaped Mental Patient
1x Gregory Winter
Combat [6]
6x Fake Out
Event [1]
1x Uncoiling, The
Master [18]
6x Agent of Power
2x Dreams of the Sphinx
1x Golconda: Inner Peace
5x Inceptor
3x Information Highway
1x Pentex(TM) Subversion

I have been fooling around with a similar but much slower concept for a while using Josette and Marge Khan but when I thought of Inceptor this turned from only goofy to goofy and doable. The idea is to bring out one or several Escaped Mental Patient(s), rush and torporise with them and redo it with Pressing Flesh over and over again. Graverob when doable and swarm bleed the table to death.
The setup is ideally very quick. Influence a !Malkavian out in round 1, recruit an Escaped Mental Patient in round 2 and start the action in round 3. The idea is to have a 1-cap with Inceptor by then and the three cards on Inceptor is Pressing Flesh, Domain of Evernight and Graverobbing. From then it should just be torporising everything and bleed with all spare actions.
Lets look at the different parts of the deck:

Crypt [12 vampires] Capacity min: 1 max: 4 average: 2.33333
2x Abebe                4 nec obf thn   Samedi:4
1x Roger Farnsworth     4 OBF aus       !Malkavian:3
1x Jackie               3 DEM           !Malkavian:4
1x Marta                3 aus dem       !Malkavian:4
1x Midget               3 DEM obf pre   !Malkavian:3
1x Bloodfeud            2 obf           !Malkavian:4
1x Anarch Convert       1                Caitiff:0
1x Basir                1 qui           Assamite:4
1x Cesar Holfield       1 obf           Caitiff:4
1x Lisa Noble           1 ani           Caitiff:3
1x Sandra White         1                Caitiff:3

5 !Malkavian and 5 1-caps. Two copies of Abebe to get another vampire that can play Pressing Flesh

Action [18]
1x Aranthebes, The Immortal
7x Graverobbing
9x Pressing Flesh
1x Sibyl's Tongue

Aranthebes is for contesting. I think you get the idea behind Graverobbing and Pressing Flesh. Sibyl’s Tongue is that last card I included since it would have been a 59 card deck without it. There should be spare actions for !Malkavians after some rounds so its just there to fetch a card I need. I don’t think I’ll have blood enough to include more copies of it.

Action Modifier [9]
7x Domain of Evernight
2x Veil the Legions

Domain of Evernight is the free untap for the Inceptor making him able to play both Pressing Flesh and Graverobbing in the same turn. It also doubles as stealth at outferior Obfuscate. Veil the Legions can be a game winner under the right circumstances and can give the Patients that crucial Stealth Rush.

Ally [8]
7x Escaped Mental Patient
1x Gregory Winter

Not everyone can be Graverobbed so Gregory Winter is there for some good old fashioned burning.

Combat [6]
6x Fake Out

Combat offence against manoeuvring decks and combat defence for my vampires.

Event [1]
1x Uncoiling, The

Scourge of the Enochians is the obvious target but cards like Anthelios also needs to go away.

Master [18]
6x Agent of Power
2x Dreams of the Sphinx
1x Golconda: Inner Peace
5x Inceptor
3x Information Highway
1x Pentex(TM) Subversion

Agent of Power is very good here. An extra Graverobbing, Pressing Flesh or Stealth? Just pick your discipline. I think the rest speaks for itself.
Of course this deck has weaknesses. Heavy prevent, combat ends or other combat avoidance will slow it down and probably kill it quick. Dedicated long range combat will also be hard to deal with as probably some other archetypes as well. As this is our national championships I hopefully will see lots of mid to high cap deck vote and bleed decks with little or none combat defence and if I do I should be able to do well if I stay alert and don’t make any mistakes.
I just got to know that V:tes is dead and this deck can be seen as a tribute. I will press Jyhad flesh for quite some time more, count on that.

Aleganten från Vidderna - Brewing

2010-09-05T23:01:00.001+02:00

I promised a little more detailed report on this brew and hopefully you will understand what we are doing in the different steps of the process. This time we brewed some sort of IPA, a hop heavy ale, using two different hops from New Zeeland and genuine Westgotisk Nidhumle donated by my father from my parent’s garden.

1. Steeping Malt
The first step is steeping some caramel malt. This is done by gently crushing the grains and making something similar to tea from it. The process goes on with 16l of water for about half an hour at 65-75°C. This gives our ale a darker colour and a base taste and sugar for the yeast to feed from.

2. Boiling
The mash is removed from the brew and heat is increased to reach a boil. When boiling starts it will go on for one hour. At the start of the boil we added some kilograms of Extra Light Malt Extract (dried processed grains) as the main sugar source and main malt characteriser. We also add the first batch of hops, called bittering hops – in this case Pacific Gem from New Zeeland. Bittering hops boils with the brew all the way to give the brew its main bitterness and the after-taste will be very dependent on these hops. Pacific Gem has a heavy bitterness and should do the job well.

After 30 minutes of boiling its time to add the second batch of hops. Extra exciting since we used our own brand Westgotisk Nidhumle for the very first time. The second batch is the taste-hops that will mostly effect the mouth feel of the brew.

After 45 minutes we added our cooling device to the brew to sterilize it. After 50 minutes we added Granulate, a decoct with the same active ingredient as Irish Moss that will eat protein making the brew clearer. We also added Muscavado sugar to hopefully give the brew some nice anise notes. After 55 minutes we added the last batch of hops, called aroma hops. We choose Riwaka from New Zeeland for this and I’m very curious about the result since it promises interesting notes of citrus and passion fruit. Aroma hops are mostly for scent and first impression but I feel it is important for the beer’s overall impression, especially for hop heavy beers like IPAs.

3. Cooling
The cooling device we use is a home bent spiral formed copper pipe that with a constant flow of cold water does the work really fast. Beer takes bad taste when being below 100° and above room temperature so it is important to get it down as quick as possible. As you can see we had to manually attach the tube to the water supply this time but we will work it out till the next brew.

4. Fermenting
Time to filter the brew into a fermentation bucket and add the yeast. We used liquid ale yeast this time. First we filtered the brew over to the bucket and then added fresh water to a total amount of 25l. Then we measured the gravity of the brew to be able to calculate its ABV when it is done fermenting. The difference in gravity shows how much of the sugar in the brew that has been transformed into alcohol by the yeast. Lastly we added yeast and shook the bucket around some to mix it out evenly. In about a week from now it is time to pour the brew over to a second bucket for secondary fermentation and maybe then we add some seasoning but we haven't quite decided yet.

Beer 100904

2010-09-05T12:26:00.001+02:00

After Brewing Aleganten från Vidderna some of the brewers at Westgota Nidbryggeri decided to go out, mix with common people and drink some commercial beer.

Avery The Maharaja Indian Imperial Pale Ale
USA
ABV: 10.2%
Rating: 2

Very heavy alcohol taste. Nice scent but the bitterness is destroyed by the alcohol. Not good at all.

Brooklyn East India Pale Ale
USA
ABV: 6.8%
Rating: 3

A little lame but still balanced and drinkable IPA.

Left Hand 400 Pound Monkey
USA
ABV: 7%
Rating: 3

Also a lame one. Notes of canned corn but still pretty okay.

Dieu du Ciel Corne du Diable
Canada
ABV: 6.5%
Rating: 4

Very Belgian in style even though it is an IPA. Well hopped and nice liquorice notes. Great balance between hops, sweetness and malt.

St. Bernadus Abt 12
Belgium
ABV: 10.5%
Rating: 4

Nice taste of fresh bread, pleasant malty taste. One of the best Belgian strong dark ales probably only beaten by Westvleteren 12 and Abbaye des Rocs Brune.

Beer 100813-100825

2010-08-29T20:50:00.001+02:00

Kortedala Enskilda Hinkbryggeri Koboldmaki Amber Weizen
Sweden
ABV: 6.66%
Rating: 4
Smell is a bit weird but taste is fantastically fresh. The melt between hops and wheat is very smooth. Apple and apricots with a nice bitterness. A real thirst-quencher.

Spezial Rauchbier Märzen
Germany
ABV: 5.3%
Rating: 3
Sweet, salt and smokey. Notes of tar and bacon. The after-taste is a little weak compared to the aroma and taste and is like a mix of lager beer and chewing tobacco. Could have had a rating of 4 but I want something from the hops as well, here it is only the malt that is doing the job.

Sierra Nevada Bigfoot
USA
ABV: 9.6%
Rating: 3
Honey, bread and hops. After-taste of almond. Fresh when its cold but it gets a little too sweet and sticky when it gets warmer. Still nice and pretty odd.

Alex Ek’s Habanero IPA
Sweden
ABV: 5.5%
Rating: 3
Fresh. Like a pretty standard IPA from the start but the heavy hop taste soon disappears and the Habanero takes over making this a bizarre spicy brew. Notes of apple. Interesting.

Dugges Lager No.1
Sweden
ABV: 4.7%
Rating: 3
A good lager with distinct hop flavour.

Hornbeer Caribbean Rumstout
Denmark
ABV: 11%
Rating: 4
A nice strong stout with taste of coffee and rum. Well-balanced with well-hidden alcohol.

Resurrection Gothenburg – Tournament Report

2010-08-14T22:46:00.001+02:00

It is getting annoyingly obvious that I am making my absolute worst results ever since starting writing on this blog. I played this deck. My reasoning wasn’t completely wrong but the deck is simply not strong enough to be reliable. It is going to be ridden of its red and yellow sleeves and placed in the pile for cards to be sorted.
13 players showed up for the tournament with Archibald showing up first for the second round so all my tables was 4-player ones.

Round 1
Me –> Isak Bjärmark Esbjörnsson (Kiasyd S/B w. Ashur and Liquidation) –> Robert Ekelund (Mistress Fanchon Baltimore Purge) –> Erik Cardell (CEL guns w. aus and pre)
This game my tooling up worked quite well but Robert took a lot of damage before he could start play his game and was ousted before I could make any serious attempts at getting Isak. I hopes for Erik to try and backoust to take the game win but he instead played both against me and Isak. He was one intercept card short of staying in the game when Isak launched and if that launch had failed I would probably have ousted Isak in my next round. With two Raven Spies and a handful of Earth Melds together with a little more than ten pool it looked pretty good for me but I made some mistakes, the most important one was not to think of Stone Travel so I got tapped out once and almost bled out. I managed to pull myself together and take him out but it was close.
Me 2VP
Isak 2VP

Round 2
Erik Cardell –> Robert Ekelund –> Jonas Alvdén (!Ventru grinder w. obf) –> Me
This game was a disaster. I drew no Earth Melds and since Robert had a slow build-up bringing out Carna and then Mistress Fanchon without crypt acceleration or a single action Jonas had an easy task in bleeding me out. I tried desperately to cycle cards, even convincing Erik to let me play Codex of the Edenic Groundskeepers followed by a Freak Drive just for cycling but it didn’t help.
Jonas GW 4VP

Round 3
Adam Esbjörnsson (Euralye and friends) –> Me –> Roger Carhult (Large cap ANI w. multiple MPAs) –> Isak Bjärmark Esbjörnsson
Also a disaster. No Earth Melds from the start here either. Adam influenced out Euralye and put Heidelberg in play. Isak also had a good start building up. I contested Heidelberg and Adam argued he needed it to use backwards to survive and I knew he was right about that. Still I sat in a poor position because I knew Adam and Roger could crush Isak together and I needed all defence I could get against Adam. Him stealing my Raven Spies with Spirit Marionette/Heidelberg was simply nothing I could allow. I made a deal with Isak to keep contesting if he would stop after ousting Adam and let me oust Roger for the duel. Isak soon got Adam and I started my long uphill trip towards ousting Roger. I was almost there so many times but when I got close he always had something to gain ground. Except for a lot of wakes and Cat’s Guidances he also played Golconda twice on his own minions. My deck were almost exhausted when there were three minutes left of the game and Isak had to deal break and sweep the table. I don’t blame him, he gave me more than one hour to do my job but I didn’t manage so the victory was his.
Isak GW 4VP

I think I need to think a little less before the tournament and a little more during it. Next tournament will be the Swedish championships and I should probably go for a fun deck and relax for once to reload my batteries. Maybe next Expectation Analysis Experiment will be a little different, time will tell.

The Expectation Analysis Experiment – Part 6 – Resurrection Gothenburg

2010-08-14T21:54:00.001+02:00

This time it was quite hard to decide which deck to play but when thinking of the probable competition I will face I decided to run a modified version of the deck I played in Karlstad some months ago. The reason for this is that I expect to see quite a lot of toolbox decks containing light combat but hopefully not any ones I can’t handle with my 21 combat ends cards. There will probably not be many fast bleed or vote decks and that should be the right environment for this me for once:

Deck Name : Earth Died Screaming
Author : Stefan Karlsson (original concept by Randal Rudstam)

Crypt [12 vampires] Capacity min: 5 max: 7 average: 5.91667
2x Doyle Fincher          7 ANI PRO aus for obf         !Gangrel:4
2x Janey Pickman          6 ANI PRO for                 !Gangrel:4
2x Celeste Lamontagne     5 ANI PRO for                 !Gangrel:4
1x Beckett                7 ANI FOR PRO cel             Gangrel:3
1x Danielle Diron         7 ANI PRO chi for      1 vote Gangrel:3
1x Horrock                6 ANI PRO vic                 Gangrel:3
1x Dr. Allan Woodstoc     5 PRO ani aus for             Gangrel:3
1x Jacob Fermor           5 PRO ani tha                 Gangrel:4
1x Mowgli                 5 FOR PRO ani cel             !Gangrel:4

Library [77 cards]
Action [11]
1x Abbot
10x Deep Song

Action Modifier [7]
2x Daring the Dawn
5x Freak Drive

Ally [1]
1x Carlton Van Wyk (Hunter)

Combat [23]
16x Earth Meld
5x Form of Mist
2x Pack Alpha

Equipment [4]
2x Codex of the Edenic Groundskeepers
1x Heart of Nizchetus
1x Laptop Computer

Event [2]
1x Scourge of the Enochians
1x Waiting Game

Master [12]
1x Anarch Troublemaker
4x Blood Doll
2x Heidelberg Castle, Germany
3x Misdirection
1x Pentex(TM) Subversion
1x Powerbase: Montreal

Reaction [10]
2x Cats' Guidance
1x Delaying Tactics
2x Forced Awakening
3x On the Qui Vive
2x Sonar

Retainer [7]
1x J. S. Simmons, Esq.
1x Owl Companion
4x Raven Spy
1x Tasha Morgan

This deck has three real weaknesses;

1. Combat with combat ends-deny (IG, Psyche, TT etc.)
2. Heavy stealth predator
3. Prey with allies

The two first weaknesses I have to live with and if I have read the meta correctly I won’t be encountering to much of them. The third weakness was my main problem when I played this deck in Karlstad and I have added more cards to deal with allies. I have increased the numbers of Misdirection and changed some Earth Melds to Form of Mists to be able to tap those annoying allies and bleed with the Codex. I have also added the underrated event Waiting Game, it can really be a killer to for example a Nephandus deck.
I have also been thinking some about how to really play this deck. I need not to waste my resources. It is tempting many times to play Earth Meld in any combat but I have to take a small beating now and then and only play Earth Meld when I risk being hurt badly or when I get the benefits of the untap effect.
I also need to be thinking before wasting my resources in bleeding heavy. I need to make sure that my Deep Songs end up where they do any real good and not just play them because I have them in my hand.
Sorry for not being that original this time but I will try and compensate that with my upcoming tournament report and it will hopefully be about four games and not just three as all previous tournament reports on this blog.

Beer 100724-100809

2010-08-10T21:14:00.001+02:00

Nöel du Baladin
Italy
ABV: 9%
Rating: 3
Sweet. Surprisingly thick body. Not very heavy but still present acidity. Strawberry notes. Bizarre.

Oppigårds Single Hop Ale
Sweden
ABV: 4.8%
Rating: 4
Pretty low bitterness for the style but still very good hop aroma. Sweet notes of honey and some mystic spicy notes as well. Very good and drinkable.

Fastlagsgatans Nanobryggeri Det Smakar Apa
Sweden
ABV: 6.9%
Rating: 4
Very bitter with notes of jam. Nice colour and carbonation. A little liquorice in the after-taste. A very good home-brew.

Kortedala Enskilda Hinkbryggeri Coconut Stout
Sweden
ABV: 5.5%
Rating: 3
Oily. Weak and dry coconut aroma although it scents a lot from coconut. A little pale in taste but its body is getting rounder and more pleasant as it gets warmer.

Avery New World Porter
USA
ABV: 6.7%
Rating: 3
Great sweet scent with heavy coffee notes. Bitter and a little rough. Unfortunately it isn’t very complex and a pretty pale standard porter.

St Landelin Mythique
France
ABV: 7.5%
Rating: 3
Typically French with a fresh taste of apricots.

Strategy – Library size

2010-08-08T22:02:00.001+02:00

I have hesitated writing strategy articles in this blog before since I don’t see myself as anything else than a mediocre player. But when it comes to balancing a library I think I have come pretty far in my thinking. I use to hear “I think you have built this deck as good as it is possible” from good and experienced players when they see my weirdest decks. Let’s just ignore the fact that they add “But you probably wont win any tournament with it.” for now and concentrate on the fact that one of my least weak feats in Jyhad is the ability to build a well-balanced deck.

All the time people build 90-card libraries and I am not only talking about inexperienced players, people still win tournaments with 90-card libraries all the time. So far in 2010 43/123 decks in the TWDA have 90-card libraries and quite some are close with more than 80 cards. The way I see it almost no library at all should contain 90 cards. The only exception I can think of right now is decks exploiting Guillame Giovanni’s ability to increase hand size by one for every location controlled.

So, what is the reasoning behind my thesis? A library of 90 cards is never exhausted (unless target of some serious mill tactics but in that way 90 cards doesn’t help either). The fewer cards to shuffle, the lesser risk of drawing big chunks of one type of a card at the wrong time. In other words, a 60-card library gives it’s player a more reliable distribution than a 90-card one. This is simple (maybe not so simple but still) mathematics. Still normally intelligent people and players that are better than me argue that 90 cards is the way to go. I understand the inexperienced player, I was there when I restarted playing Jyhad late 2007, in that he want so many cards and its painful enough to lower the desired deck-size to 90 cards but players constantly active since 1994? I just don’t get it.

At the summer of 2008 I started to build 60-cards libraries and my results improved a little. Problem was that I went from strict 90 to strict 60 and that is actually too few in many cases. Late 2008 I tried 70, 75 and 80 cards but it wasn’t until late 2009 I entered a tournament with a library of a number not dividable by 5. This is not important for this article but it shows how I locked myself thinking “I shall build a 60/70/75/80/90-cards deck”.

What I have been doing the last months is to try and build every deck a 60-cards deck and increase its numbers after play-testing if needed. This way I get the best possible distribution when testing and rebuilding my deck. I also know what amount of cards is right from experience of having just a handful cards left when winning a standard 5-player table. I break this rule now and then claiming to “know” that 60 cards is too few but I promise to be better following my own concept in the future. As a meaningless fact I can tell you that the 7 decks I have in my bag for the moment contains 60, 64, 70, 72, 73, 76 and 76 cards.

What to think of when building small decks? I try to study actual games to see how many cards of a certain type I actually need and not how many I want. Of course you always want to deflect every bleed that hits you but how many times do you want to have your hand size decreased by 1 for the bounce card, pay one blood to bounce and stay untapped or keep a wake at hand to be able to bounce? Maybe not as many times as you think. This is just one example that is possible to apply to many different types of cards. How many times do your combat deck actually need to play Taste of Vitae during a game and do you need a Blur in each round or is it okay to just hit for 2 with your Magnum some times?

Probably this is nothing new for most of you and stubborn players keeping every deck at 90 cards wont be convinced by reading this but hopefully there are some details in my writing worth taking into consideration for some of you.

Good luck fellow deck-shrinkers!

Dynamitardens Kardemummaporter - Bottling

2010-08-01T22:06:00.001+02:00

Three weeks ago we added cardamom and vanilla in the secondary fermentation of our porter. One week ago we also added coffee. Today it was time for bottling and we now only have to wait for about a month until it should be ready.

Gravity is measured and we seem to reach a pretty strong 9.7% ABV.

Some yeast is mixed with sugar for carbonation. The reason for using yeast is that with such a strong brew it can be hard to make sugar alone manage the carbonation process.

Jonas and Erik mixing the porter with sugar and yeast.

If nothing else, we are getting a great colour.

So many bottles, still so few.. We managed to fill 60 33cl bottles this time for a total of 20l.

Guest brewer – Brandon Haas

2010-07-30T20:31:00.001+02:00

I am very proud to present an article by a fellow home brewer writing about the making of his two first beer. Brandon Haas, California USA is one of the few V:tES players who also brew beer that I know of and us vampire flipping wort cookers need to stick together so here is his report accompanied by some pictures of the process:

I've been woefully negligent in publicizing my beer. So far, I've completed two batches and will be moving on to a third. I had intended to export a blog entry over to Stefan, but I've been too lazy until now. Sorry, Stefan! Here's a brief run-down of what I've done and learned so far.

Beer "Number 1"
The first batch I made was an English style bitter beer back in June. I used a recipe that I found in a beer book that seemed simple and had some help from my wife stirring, but that's about it. After a day or two, the yeast was bubbling and everything seemed pretty good. The beer did not have as high a gravity as I was looking for because I added water up to the five gallon mark, like the directions said.
For those who don't know much about making beer, gravity is the density of a liquid in comparison to water; the higher the gravity, the more sugar in the wort(pronounced "wert"). Yeast does it's magic by eating sugar and turning it into alcohol and carbon dioxide.
The brewing process is pretty simple. Add as close to five gallons of water to a pot(mine only fits two gallons, I have to add more water later) and bring it to a boil. Once the water boils, remove it from the heat and add your malt sugar, stirring until it dissolves. Return to heat and bring to a steady boil for an hour. Once you're ten minutes or half an hour in, add your hops. There are different methods/times for this, so follow your recipe.

After the boil is complete, immerse the pot in water to cool it down and have the lid on to reduce the chances of wild yeast and bacteria getting to your wort. Once cool, siphon the wort to your fermentor, a bucket with an air tight lid that has an escape valve for carbon dioxide, leaving the gunk at the bottom of the pot(called "trub"). Add water to the desired gravity, then add the yeast. Beer yeast can require some preparation, so read any directions that come with it. Store in a cool place, like your basement or a dark back room. Within a few days, the yeast will start bubbling up and leave a thick layer of foam at the top. In about another week or ten days, you have un-carbonated beer.
When the beer was done fermenting, it was also a higher gravity than I wanted, leading to a generally watery beer. Once I primed the beer, I bottled it in mostly 22 ounce+ bottles. Priming is where you add about 4 ounces of corn sugar just prior to bottling so that the left-over yeast has just enough food to carbonate the bottle, but not so much that it explodes. I gave the beer a week and a half to age, then tasted it.

Number 1 could be best described as beer-like. A slight hops taste and a clean finish reminded me of maybe Coors Light, which is basically urine made by other means. Not a bad first beer. It was drinkable, which was my only real expectation.

"Sunless Summer"
It has been a very cold summer here in Aptos, the coldest in a long time I've heard. When I started this batch, I was concerned that it might get too hot, like over 75 degrees- I never had that problem. We decided on a wheat beer because that is best during hot summer days. If I ever have one, I'll have to test that theory ;)
This time, I used a dry yeast. The process was pretty similar, except that instead of just using barley malt, I steeped some wheat grain to get the sugar out of it and added that to the mix. Once things were brewed, I added water, but only enough to get me to the gravity I wanted. As a result, the beer is strong enough and more flavorful. One concern I had was that the yeast took about four days to get started, so long that I bought more yeast to try to salvage the batch. When I brought the vial home, the beer had started bubbling and it was no longer needed.
Yield was lower, about 3.5 to 4 gallons instead of about 4.5 to 5. After talking to my local home brew supplier, I may need to aerate the wort more to get the yeast started. I should also get a larger pot for brewing as I feel like I'm wasting a fair amount of the sugar and getting small yields.
Sunless Summer is kind of funky, a mix of malt and yeast flavor that could use some balance. With a slice of lemon, it tastes much more like a hefeweizen. I'm pretty proud of this batch.
The next beer I'm going to make will be a belgian. Instead of using pure malt sugar, which is somewhat expensive, I'll use some table sugar to help feed the extra wheat beer yeast I have left over. Wish me luck!

Brandon Haas
Prince of Aptos, Caifornia

Beer 100706-100718

2010-07-20T22:39:00.002+02:00

Nynäshamns Smörpundet Porter 2007
Sweden
ABV: 6%
Rating: 4
Very fresh with great taste of chocolate. Unfortunately the nice thickness and roundness seems to have gone a little due to aging. Still a very good porter with a little oily body.

Hoegaarden
Belgium
ABV: 4.9%
Rating: 3
A nice wheat-beer with good citrus notes.

Blågul
Sweden
ABV: 5.2%
Rating: 2
Not bad for a standard budget watery lager.

Williams Brothers Summer Sun
Scotland
ABV: 4%
Rating: 3
Weak but pleasant hop taste. Like a good lager.

Anderson Valley Summer Solstice
USA
ABV: 5.6%
Rating: 3
Drinkable wheat beer with a weird bitterness. Interesting and ok.

Karlovacko Pivo
Croatia
ABV: 5.2%
Rating: 2
Very bitter lager with apple and lemon notes. Not very good at all.

Nynäshamns Bedarö Bitter
Sweden
ABV: 4.5%
Rating: 3
Flat taste but well-balanced and perfectly drinkable. Nice citrus notes.

Maltola Birra Red
Italy
ABV: ? (somewhere above 5% if I remember correctly)
Rating: 2
Somehow I get the feeling of weak barley wine with strong almond taste. Very malty but dull and not very rich in flavour.

Westgota Nidbryggeri - Finalising Bonnatwist Bitter and brewing porter

2010-07-07T13:15:00.001+02:00

Finally it was time for Westgota Nidbryggeri to brew again. And on top of that, Bonnatwist Bitter is finally ready and fully drinkable. Let’s start with my (fully objective) review of that one:

Westgota Nidbryggeri Bonnatwist Bitter
Sweden
ABV: 4.5%
Rating: 4
Strong Amarillo-taste that mixes nice with the bitter style. Notes of sweet liquorice adds to the experience and it is very well-rounded and mature. A very good first brew.

As mentioned we decided to brew a porter this time. We are going to spice it up a little in secondary fermentation but lets keep those ingredients a secret until time is up for that. As you can see a lot of malt extract and later even 500 grams of sugar is needed to give the porter its character and strength:

We used Pearl as bitterness-hop and here is what the starting stages of the cooking looked like, after steeping some chocolate malt, adding the hops and malt extract:
After 30 minutes we added Northen Brewer hops for taste and some Irish Moss for clarity:
This time we didn’t make as many mistakes cooling the wort and with the help of some ice we managed to stay on the critical temperatures for a very short time:
As you can see the brewery is now sponsored by Luana AB and here is a group photo taken during the successful brewing session:

Beer 100625-100705

2010-07-05T18:50:00.001+02:00

Nynäshamns Dragets Kanal Dubbel IPA
Sweden
ABV: 7.7%
Rating: 4
Sweet and fresh with a taste of honey. Very good hop bitterness. The biggest downside was the small bottle.

Struise Mikkeller Elliot Brew
Belgium/Denmark
ABV: 9%
Rating: 4
Very sour and fruity, almost estry. Interesting hop bitterness, not typical for this style but it harmonises great with the fruity tastes. When it grows warmer the bitterness grows stronger. A malty after-taste appears with notes of apple. Even some citrus-notes are there. A very complex brew that deserves its rating mostly from being interesting rather than very good.

Falcon Extra Brew
Sweden
ABV: 3.5%
Rating: 2
Pure Swedish folköl, the one you can get blind drinking. Standard lager.

Fastlagsgatans Nanobryggeri Premiere Draught
Sweden
ABV: 4.7%
Rating: 2
Sour apple. A little sweet also. Nice carbonation but pretty flat overall.

Kortedala Enskilda Hinkbryggeri Cascade IPA
Sweden
ABV: 5.1%
Rating: 3
Intense bitterness and good hop-taste. A little weak in carbonation and not that complex but still good.

Beer 100610-100623

2010-06-23T23:14:00.001+02:00

Klein Duimpje Imperial Russian Stout
Netherlands
ABV: 8.5%
Rating: 4
Sweet liquorice and coffee. Notes of chocolate and earth. Other notes reminds a little of the best Belgian dark ales. Fruity after-taste. Very nice.

Kortedala Enskilda Hinkbryggeri – Premiere Porter
Sweden
ABV: 8.4%
Rating: 3
The first beer from my friends nano-brewery. Tastes a little like port wine. Alcohol is well hidden though and notes of liquorice shows when it grows warmer. The alcohol also starts to taste a little more. Well-rounded and a good first brew.

De Molen Rasputin
Netherlands
ABV: 10.7%
Rating: 3
Fruity and rough. Strong alcohol taste. Oak notes. A pleasant beer but far from the best from De Molen.

Hornbeer Black Magic Woman
Denmark
ABV: 10%
Rating: 4
Very nice oak character with pleasant coffee notes. Great bitterness. You have to focus to feel the rum taste but it is somewhere in the background. Pleasant smokey after-taste.

De Molen Hemel & Aarde
Netherlands
ABV: 9.5%
Rating: 4
Very smokey. Coffee, oak and tar notes. A little liquorice in the after-taste. A very good imperial stout.

Mikkeller Black Tie
Denmark
ABV: 11.5%
Rating: 3
Port wine, alcohol and liquorice. When it grows warmer it tastes a little more like a real porter. Weird brew.

Tommy Bohlin Inte Här Längre – Tournament Report

2010-06-21T23:30:00.001+02:00

Another tournament to add to the list of failures. 14 players showed up in Örebro with what probably was the most high quality decks per player I have ever seen in a tournament. Not a single deck I encountered was anything but a potential tournament winner. This is what I played. Very fun to play and very much headache in all of the games.

Round 1
Me –> Anders Löf (Nosferatu with Dominate and Gehenna Madness) –> Tommie Hjerén (Nephandus) –> Adam Esbjörnsson (Gabrielle di Righetti toolbox) –> Henrik “Rune” Eriksson (Kiasyd S/B with Bruise)
I had a quite big crypt and wasn’t able to put more than one Gargoyle in play. At the start I was able to bleed some but Anders beat me up with his animalism combat. Rune was pretty aggressive early and I thought he would be ousted by Adam not bloating more and tapping out but unfortunately that didn’t happen. Adam played safe against Tommie who was building up pretty good. Rune’s constant bleeding and Anders’ defence was more than I could stand for so I was the first kill on a slow table that eventually timed out.
Adam GW 2.5VP
Rune 1VP
Tommy 0.5VP

Round 2
Adam Esbjörnsson –> Erik Löf (Malgorzata Toolbox) –> Isak Bjärmark Esbjörnsson (Malkavian Weenie Auspex with Madness Netwok) –> Me
I knew from the start that this were going to be a difficult table. I couldn’t create any Gargoyles and I could hardly bleed Adam but had to focus on making Isak waste his blocks and reaction cards on blocking me so Erik could put enough pressure on him. Adam played defensive and Erik did his best. I knew I had a hard time surviving and vampire after vampire went to torpor from Isak’s Magnums. I stayed in the game longer than I thought I would but still I was the first to be ousted in a game that was doomed from the beginning. Maybe, just maybe, if I would have lunged all out forward I might have had the chance of a VP and who knows what more but that is just speculation. I don’t feel I made any mistakes in the game but I have to think more about it.
Isak GW 3VP
Adam 1VP

Round 3
Alexander Båskman (Salubri G6 Toolbox) –> Joakim Nauclér (Lawfirm) –> Me –> Erik Löf –> Anders Löf
This is one of my quickest Victory Points ever. I influenced out Bryan Van Duesen in two turns and bled with him for 7 with Govern the Unaligned + Conditioning and influenced out Heinrick Schlempt and two Tupdogs turn three. Erik had a bad crypt draw and only with the help of Information Highway he now managed to bring Malgorzata to play. He had also invested in Monastery of Shadows so he had only 10 pool left. Turn four my first Tupdog bled for one untapping with As the Crow and then rushed Malgorzata to torpor with Raking Talons. Bryan bled for 7 again and the second Tupdog and Heinrick bled for one each for the oust. Joakim was quite agressive and my six new pool plus some more were soon gone. My momentum worked and soon I had both Anders and Alex within oust range. Alex only had two pool and two Salubri on the table. He couldn’t play any Villeins because Anders had put The Rising in play. I played Pentex Subversion on Alex untapped Salubri and bled Anders out. I had two untapped minions and no +bleed on hand so I bled for one twice but he played My Enemy’s Enemy on my second bleed and survived. He had two Villeins on hand now so he had almost 15 pool at the end of his turn. Now it was a quite open game but Joakim was more effective than me and Alex defended good so I was ousted. A nice way to end a weekend of Jyhad although a game win would have been fun.
Joakim GW 3VP
Me 2VP

I made a quite poor performance but I still believe in my deck. 66 cards are 6 too many and I will tighten it down even further. I never played Skin of the Chameleon so it will probably leave the deck. When it comes to stealth I should add one or two Mirror Walks and maybe a Seduction of two. I can reduce the amount of bleed cards and remove a Create Gargoyle and two Dominate skill cards. I will tinker with this deck soon and probably play it on a tournament again soon.

Weather Control – Tournament Report

2010-06-20T22:57:00.001+02:00

14 players gathered in Karlstad for what was to be another epic failure for your favourite expectation analysis experimenter. You can see my deck and read about my hopes and thoughts before the tournament here.

Round 1
Fredrik Larsson (Ventrue princes grinder) –> Johan Mononen (Saulot Valeren Combat) –> Me –> Adam Esbjörnsson (Cryptic Mission without Cryptic Mission) –> Ronnie ? (!Malkavian S/B)
Fredrik put some pressure on Johan early on and deflected almost any bleed Ronnie made. This made it possible for me to bleed Adam with what I had almost every round. Me and him contested Heart of Nizchetus from the start and we were both low on pool. I had three vampires out and Adam had four + two allies, I hade several opportunities of ousting him but I always failed in the end missing a card or to at a crucial point. This was very frustrating and for example I had to play Pentex Subversion twice on the same Nephandus Mage. Fredrik ousted Johan and Adam ousted Ronnie and I tried desperately to survive but was ousted after some more rounds.
Fredrik GW 4VP
Adam 1VP

Round 2
Isak Bjärmark Esbjörnsson (Anson with weenie PRE) –> Me –> Fredrik Larsson –> Jonas Peltomäki (!Brujah long range combat)
My first vampire was Pentexed by Isak and he bled me for 10 the round thereafter. He only had Presence weenies in his starting crypt and his deck worked like a Presence weenie deck so I struggled to survive while Fredrik bloated a lot. Me and Jonas tried and stop Isak from ousting me but he was simply too quick. Game over early.
Fredrik GW 2VP
Isak 1VP
Jonas 1VP

Round 3
Alexander Nilsson (Imbued) –> Alexander Gyhlesten (Madness Network / Reversal of Fortunes) –> Jonas Peltomäki –> Me –> Jonas S (Ventrue Grinder)
As one might suspect, early game was all about Alex G’s trick deck. It didn’t work perfectly but he managed to get more turns than the rest of us. Alex N was also tooling up quite good and I did some damage to Jonas S to be hopeful for at least one Victory Point. Alex G was close to oust Jonas P but made a mistake and transferred out a new vampire going low on pool. Alex N saw his opportunity and ousted Alex G. Jonas S was low on pool and he didn’t know Deep Song’s card text fully so I could rush his only untapped Vampire to tap him and then bleed twice with the Codex for my oust. Alex N now played Millicent Smith and unfortunately the game was stuck running the wrong way because of Alex G’s Reversal of Fortunes. Me and Jonas S, who was in a really bad position, decided to work against Alex N. He definitely had the combat to take care of the imbued and I had no real way of dealing with them other then bleeding, bleeding and bleeding. I had to burn Danielle Diron to get rid of Millicent Smith so Jonas could act with his single vampire. Alex put out a second Millicent Smith and I this time had to burn one of my 5-caps. Jonas couldn’t stop the Imbued and I got stuck in a hopeless duel with only two vampires against his four hunters. Too bad.
Alexander N GW 4VP
Me 1VP

The main problem with the deck this tournament was the inability to handle allies. In the first and third game that was what killed me. If I could have tapped Adam’s allies I would have ousted him and probably at least one more prey. In the third game I would have won if I could have passed the Imbued some way. The second game were just one of those games that you lose and those games do happen.
If anyone has some suggestion of how to handle allies with the deck – feel free to comment. I will let it rest for a while and rebuild it in the future. It is very fun to play so I don’t want to give it up.

The Expectation Analysis Experiment – Part 5 – Tommy Bohlin Inte Här Längre

2010-06-20T21:11:00.002+02:00

The second tournament of the weekend takes place in the Dominate-Mecca of Sweden – Örebro. Why not give the locals a treatment of their own trade and play a Dominate-heavy deck?
The following deck is an old favourite of mine that has had many incarnations and now makes use of the brand new Lilith’s Blessing for blood gain and extra discipline-cards:

Deck Name : Bahari Blockheads
Author : Stefan Karlsson
Crypt [12 vampires] Capacity min: 1 max: 7 average: 3.25
------------------------------------------------------------
4x Tupdog                 1 POT VIS                 Gargoyle:3
1x Bryan Van Duesen       7 DOM THA aus pre         !Tremere:2
1x Reverend Blackwood     6 DOM THA obf      bishop !Tremere:2
1x Selena                 6 AUS DOM THA             !Tremere:3
1x Kurt Strauss           5 DOM aus tha             !Tremere:2
1x Brooke                 3 dom tha                 !Tremere:2
1x Ember Wright           3 aus dom                 !Tremere:3
1x Saiz                   3 aus dom                 !Tremere:3
1x Heinrick Schlempt      2 tha                     !Tremere:2
Library [66 cards]
---------------------------
Action [16]
7x Create Gargoyle
7x Govern the Unaligned
2x Scouting Mission
Action Modifier [16]
4x As the Crow
3x Bonding
4x Conditioning
3x Mirror Walk
2x Skin of the Chameleon
Combat [8]
6x Raking Talons
2x Roll
Master [17]
1x Anarch Troublemaker
1x Coven, The
7x Dominate
3x Lilith’s Blessing
1x Misdirection
1x Pentex(TM) Subversion
2x Villein
1x Wash
Reaction [9]
6x Deflection
1x Delaying Tactics
2x On the Qui Vive

This is a bleed deck with some stealth and some combat. The real strength lies in that you can recruit a Gargoyle as an action that costs 2 pool, give it a Dominate skill-card and no blood, wait for your untap phase, tap Lilith’s Blessing, give it a second Dominate skill-card and 3 blood. 66 cards might seem low but this deck actually isn’t card consuming at all. 60 would probably have been enough.
There are several decks that are able to cause me problems, the ANI/PRO-deck I will play in Karlstad the day before this tournament is one example. Block decks in general is my greatest concern. If I get blocked a lot I have to be patient and focus on making the Create Gargoyle actions happen somehow. I also don’t want to appear a big table threat witch is quite hard not to if this deck works smoothly. The rate you bring out vampires with Dominate is really really high if you are not disturbed too much. Some table-talk and deal-making skills will come in handy. The great amount of pool damage this deck can do is it’s strength and should be enough to reach the finals and with a seating not next to any block decks I should be able to have momentum enough to win.
Let’s take a look at the different parts of the deck:

Crypt [12 vampires] Capacity min: 1 max: 7 average: 3.25
------------------------------------------------------------
4x Tupdog                 1 POT VIS                 Gargoyle:3
1x Bryan Van Duesen       7 DOM THA aus pre         !Tremere:2
1x Reverend Blackwood     6 DOM THA obf      bishop !Tremere:2
1x Selena                 6 AUS DOM THA             !Tremere:3
1x Kurt Strauss           5 DOM aus tha             !Tremere:2
1x Brooke                 3 dom tha                 !Tremere:2
1x Ember Wright           3 aus dom                 !Tremere:3
1x Saiz                   3 aus dom                 !Tremere:3
1x Heinrick Schlempt      2 tha                     !Tremere:2

The Tupdogs are great, both for crypt acceleration and rushing softer targets with Raking Talons. With the right openining crypt you can even trick the table that you are playing the Tupdog-deck and hopefully keep them from bringing out any minions at all. The reason for going with group 2-3 instead of 3-4 is because it is actually at least as good and contesting risk is reduced a fair bit. I expect half of the decks at this tournament to include Keith Moody for example.

Action [16]
7x Create Gargoyle
7x Govern the Unaligned
2x Scouting Mission

The main reason for not going all Govern the Unaligned is the potential surprise in a Gargoyle playing As the Crow between a Govern and a Scouting Mission.

Action Modifier [16]
4x As the Crow
3x Bonding
4x Conditioning
3x Mirror Walk
2x Skin of the Chameleon

Some minor stealth both for the !Tremere and the Gargoyles is working very well.

Combat [8]
6x Raking Talons
2x Roll

Mostly a threat but it’s always níce to get rid of some minions and wasting your opponents actions on rescuing and hunting. Roll is a great card here that works both as combat defence and offence.

Master [17]
1x Anarch Troublemaker
1x Coven, The
7x Dominate
3x Lilith’s Blessing
1x Misdirection
1x Pentex(TM) Subversion
2x Villein
1x Wash

This deck had plenty more blood gain masters before Lilith’s Blessing. Maybe I should have included one more copy of the Blessing but it is not a catastrophe if I don’t draw it early. 7 Dominate cards should be enough and hopefully not too many. Villein is also an addition that works good with the Blessing.

Reaction [9]
6x Deflection
1x Delaying Tactics
2x On the Qui Vive

Pretty standard and should save me from the meanest actions.

The Expectation Analysis Experiment – Part 4 – Weather Control

2010-06-19T18:59:00.003+02:00

It’s time for a great weekend of Jyhad and I will be travelling around Sweden’s biggest lake Vänern to attend Weather Control in Karlstad on Saturday and Tommy Bohlin Inte Här Längre in Örebro on Sunday.
I know nothing of the meta-game in Karlstad other than that many players from Örebro will attend the tournament. A deck that can handle a little of each feels like the right way to go so I decided to play my version of Randal Rudstam’s Deep Song / Earth Meld deck.

Deck Name : Ack Värmeland du Sköna (a deep song)
Author : Stefan Karlsson (original concept by Randal Rudstam)
Crypt [12 vampires] Capacity min: 5 max: 7 average: 5.91667
------------------------------------------------------------
2x Doyle Fincher          7 ANI PRO aus for obf         !Gangrel:4
2x Janey Pickman          6 ANI PRO for                 !Gangrel:4
2x Celeste Lamontagne     5 ANI PRO for                 !Gangrel:4
1x Beckett                7 ANI FOR PRO cel             Gangrel:3
1x Danielle Diron         7 ANI PRO chi for      1 vote Gangrel:3
1x Horrock                6 ANI PRO vic                 Gangrel:3
1x Dr. Allan Woodstoc     5 PRO ani aus for             Gangrel:3
1x Jacob Fermor           5 PRO ani tha                 Gangrel:4
1x Mowgli                 5 FOR PRO ani cel             !Gangrel:4
Library [77 cards]
----------------------------
Action [11]
1x Abbot
10x Deep Song
Action Modifier [8]
2x Daring the Dawn
6x Freak Drive
Ally [1]
1x Carlton Van Wyk (Hunter)
Combat [23]
19x Earth Meld
2x Form of Mist
2x Pack Alpha
Equipment [4]
2x Codex of the Edenic Groundskeepers
1x Heart of Nizchetus
1x Laptop Computer
Event [1]
1x Scourge of the Enochians
Master [11]
1x Anarch Troublemaker
4x Blood Doll
2x Heidelberg Castle, Germany
1x Misdirection
2x Pentex(TM) Subversion
1x Powerbase: Montreal
Reaction [10]
2x Cats' Guidance
1x Delaying Tactics
2x Forced Awakening
3x On the Qui Vive
2x Sonar
Retainer [8]
1x J. S. Simmons, Esq.
1x Owl Companion
5x Raven Spy
1x Tasha Morgan

The trick should be well-known by now. Rush untapped vampires with Deep Song to either tap them or to force them to tap by blocking. Play Earth Meld to remain untapped yourself and bleed, preferably with Codex of the Edenic Groundskeepers and other bleed enhancers. This deck is also a pretty decent light wall with Raven Spies and the high number of Earth Melds.
With no doubt this deck will die to Potence combat and pure stealth bleed but can handle most other deck types if played right. To win Saturday’s tournament I have be careful with my actions. 19 Earth Meld might seem like a lot but I can’t waste them on unneccecary actions or blocks. It is tempting to go all out with the Deep Song – untap – bleed combo but I have to be patient and wait for the moment while my prey is low on defence and launch at full strength. This is a tough call to make but I have to trust my instincts and skill and if I stay alert I should be able to perform well and win the tournament with this deck.
Let’s have a look at the different parts of the deck:

Crypt [12 vampires] Capacity min: 5 max: 7 average: 5.91667
------------------------------------------------------------
2x Doyle Fincher          7 ANI PRO aus for obf         !Gangrel:4
2x Janey Pickman          6 ANI PRO for                 !Gangrel:4
2x Celeste Lamontagne     5 ANI PRO for                 !Gangrel:4
1x Beckett                7 ANI FOR PRO cel             Gangrel:3
1x Danielle Diron         7 ANI PRO chi for      1 vote Gangrel:3
1x Horrock                6 ANI PRO vic                 Gangrel:3
1x Dr. Allan Woodstoc     5 PRO ani aus for             Gangrel:3
1x Jacob Fermor           5 PRO ani tha                 Gangrel:4
1x Mowgli                 5 FOR PRO ani cel             !Gangrel:4

I don’t see any real use for the pro-weenies that use to be part of this deck. Originally I had two copies each of the six ANI/PRO-vampires but I have realised that not all of my minions needs to be able to play Deep Song at superior so I switched three of the duplicates to cheaper ani/PRO-vampires.

Action [11]
1x Abbot
10x Deep Song

Should be the right amount. Abbot is great but I don’t feel like drawing my second copy in a game where I only control one !Gangrel.

Action Modifier [8]
2x Daring the Dawn
6x Freak Drive

Daring the Dawn is a must if I encounter No Secrets from the Magaji or for dealing that killing blow in a desperate situation.

Ally [1]
1x Carlton Van Wyk (Hunter)

Well, he fits the block and annoy-theme.

Combat [23]
19x Earth Meld
2x Form of Mist
2x Pack Alpha

I added some extra Earth Melds as a final change. 19 is a lot but they never seem to jam my hand and in this way I can afford discarding some if needed.

Equipment [4]
2x Codex of the Edenic Groundskeepers
1x Heart of Nizchetus
1x Laptop Computer

Nothing special. The extra copy of the Codex is a must.

Event [1]
1x Scourge of the Enochians

Weenies is a problem for this deck so this is also an auto-include.

Master [11]
1x Anarch Troublemaker
4x Blood Doll
2x Heidelberg Castle, Germany
1x Misdirection
2x Pentex(TM) Subversion
1x Powerbase: Montreal

Some tap-n-bleed tech and some bloat. Heidelberg makes me bleed for a lot two times per turn without playing Freak Drive.

Reaction [10]
2x Cats' Guidance
1x Delaying Tactics
2x Forced Awakening
3x On the Qui Vive
2x Sonar

Just enough wake to be able to be tapped out sometimes.

Retainer [8]
1x J. S. Simmons, Esq.
1x Owl Companion
5x Raven Spy
1x Tasha Morgan

The Owl Companion can be a fantastic asset but one copy has to be enough.

Asguresh deck - playtest

2010-06-03T18:18:00.001+02:00

Yesterday I was able to test the latest version of my Asguresh deck and once again I was reminded on how hard it is to play a rush deck.

Peter Kärrberg (Brujah bleed, bruise and vote) –> Me –> Alex Ek (Ventrue Princes with sticks) –> Lars Helmfridsson (Giovanni Powerbleed) –> Mattias Thörnkvist (Black Hand Assamites with Hand Contracts)
I had a terrible start with no Concealed Weapons on hand and Peter playing two early Zillah’s Valley. As an extra bonus he influenced out Count Germaine so my weapons would be useless against him. I tried to equip with a Magnum but Alex blocked me with Second Tradition so my only option was to cycle cards rushing backwards and using my additional strikes and presses to hit Peter’s Potence-vampires for 1 over and over again. Fortunately he wasn’t able to hit me back as hard as he wanted but he managed to reduce my pool a bit.
Meanwhile, Lars put heavy pressure on Mattias and he had just the right combat defence cards at the right moments to survive Mattias' rushes. Alex bloated and brought out several vampires. He played Parity Shift, taking pool from Lars and giving some to Mattias to make him stay in the game. Lars was starting to be in trouble, being bled by his predator and rushed by his prey. It now seemed like my prey was about to grab the first VP.
At the right moment my cards started to flow. Mattias felt a little safer so he could start rushing Peter’s vampires. I could concentrate on rushing Alex’ five or so Dominate-vampires. This is where Lars grabbed the opportunity and bled Mattias out with just the cards he needed on his hand. With the help of Dragonbound, Tension in the Ranks and Codex of the Edenic Groundskeepers I could then oust Alex.
Now the game came to an interesting state. I was low on pool and Lars and Peter was low on minions and blood. Lars again showed excellent combat defence, this time with Promise of 1528, and I didn’t manage to oust him before Peter got me. It then looked like it was his game but in a miraculous way Lars survived and bled Peter out for the Game Win.
Lars Gw 3Vp
Me 1Vp
Peter 1Vp

The deck worked nice when it started to work. I should not have influenced out my fourth minion and I would probably have had won the table. I had to play 20 or so cards until I reached the first Concealed Weapon and there is really nothing I can do about that but hoping for a better draw next time. There sure were situations where I missed not having Auspex so the idea to get some bounce, wake and intercept in the deck is still there but I still feel it will be very hard to get the combat module effective enough with more elements to the deck. I have to think about it and hopefully I’ll keep you updated as this deck develops.

Beer 100526-100602

2010-06-03T16:59:00.001+02:00

Amager Rugporter
Denmark
ABV: 8.5%
Rating: 3

Heavy alcohol. Coffee and a nice rye-taste. After-taste of salt liquorice. Pretty decent.

De Molen Molenbier
Netherlands
ABV: 9,2%
Rating: 3

A little like a barley wine or even a port wine. Almond. Acidic, I sense hints of sour milk. This brew is not very drinkable until it reaches a higher temperature, then it actually gets pretty good.

Zlatopramen Half n Half
Czech Republic
ABV: 4.8%
Rating: 2

Sweet and bitter in a boring and predictable way.

Hantverksbryggeriet Munken
Sweden
ABV: 9.5%
Rating: 3

Smells fruity and heavy alcohol. Tastes a lot of yeast. Fruity and acidic. Pretty nice.

Oppigårds Inwit
Sweden
ABV: 4.5%
Rating: 2

Lime, wheat and a little weird barn-taste. Strange smell of curry. Boring and just bad. Since this was the winner of the Swedish nationals of home-brewing in 2009 I suspect that my bottle might have been infected.

La Rullés Estivale
Belgium
ABV: 5.2%
Rating: 4

Very nice hop bitterness and great body despite the relatively low ABV. Well-balanced and thirst quenching.

St. Sylvestre Bière Nouvelle
France
ABV: 8%
Rating: 3

Strong with a distinct apple-taste. A standard blonde and perfectly fine.

Bonnatwist Bitter – Beta-taste

2010-05-23T01:38:00.001+02:00

Yesterday it was time to open up the first bottles of Bonnatwist Bitter for an exciting tasting. All five of us, including our new member Jesper, gathered at Erik’s place to finally get a first sip of what hopefully is the beginning of a great era.

To our amusement it tasted quite good already. We knew we had added too much brewing sugar for a bitter but the carbonation wasn’t disturbing. It tasted little like a bitter with a (bonna)twist of strong Amarillo taste. When this have been on bottles for a month or two more hopefully it will be a really good brew. I’ll keep you updated.

Contrary to the doubt my face is expressing, I’m actually enjoying it.

Westgota Nidbryggeri has a logo

2010-05-23T01:37:00.001+02:00

Our new member Jesper designed this logotype that is a modern version of our region’s heraldic symbol. You can see the original below:

Beer 100517-100521

2010-05-22T13:11:00.001+02:00

Maredsous 8
Belgium
ABV: 8%
Rating: 3
Pretty acidic and not that bitter. Maybe that is because I have aged this bottle in an earth cellar for about two years from purchase, maybe not.Notes of fruit. Pleasant but a standard Belgian ale.

Alesmith IPA
USA
ABV: 7.25%
Rating: 4
Nice bitterness and a well-balanced IPA. Nothing more to say really.

Herslev Aspargesøl
Denmark
ABV: 5.5%
Rating: 3
Smells Asparagus. Tastes Asparagus. Wheat character. Very strange but not bad.

Struise Black Jack
Belgium
ABV: 7%
Rating: 3
Acidic with notes of orange. A little coffee in the after-taste. Perfectly fine.

Duvel Tripel Hop
Belgium
ABV: 9.5%
Rating: 3
Sweet, fruity and yeasty. A little acidic with subtle stable notes. Apple. A little like a good standard Duvel. Surprisingly little hop bitterness.

North Coast Brother Thelonious
USA
ABV: 9%
Rating: 2
Almond and artificial sugar. Like a synthetic Belgian Strong Ale.

Port Brewing Santa’s Little Helper
USA
ABV: 10%
Rating: 4
Coffee. Very nice bitterness. A little acidic and hints of juniper. Notes of smoke. Pretty strong alcohol-taste but still very good.

Slottskällan Angel’s Share Hornig
Sweden
ABV: 6.9%
Rating: 2
Tastes iron and wheat. Rough to drink. Lager-bitterness shines trough and the only positive thing is some notes of blueberry jam.

Tokens Röklakritsporter
Sweden
ABV: 6%
Rating: 2
Smells like Jägermeister and that is not a good thing. Tastes like salt and reed. More like a gueze than a porter. Lime notes. Acidic as hell. Not good at all but the weirdness saves this brew from a rating of 1.

Stone Ruination IPA
USA
ABV: 7.7%
Rating: 3
Very bitter. A little too bitter for me and after all I might not be a real hop-head since I would have liked it a lot sweeter. Av very fresh taste with notes of newly baked bread.

Asguresh deck – second draft

2010-05-19T22:24:00.001+02:00

So I finally got some time to trim this deck and this is the version I’m planning on trying out for a couple of games now. I have seriously considered adding Auspex as some of you friendly comments suggested but I feel its not the way to go. If Asguresh would have had superior Auspex some bleed bounce would have found its way there. As it is now I fear that the deck would lose potential and become more toolboxy adding the block-angle and I don’t think it would actually survive most games. The fifth copy of Asguresh is simply there for the opportunity of putting the first Nagaraja-deck on the Twda. Well, here is the updated list:

Deck Name : Asguresh skjuter skarpt
Author : Stefan Karlsson

Crypt [12 vampires] Capacity min: 4 max: 6 average: 5.16667
------------------------------------------------------------

5x Asguresh            6 CEL NEC aus   Nagaraja:5
2x Titi Camara         5 AUS CEL pot   Osebo:5
2x Idrissa             4 CEL aus       Osebo:4
1x Elizabeth Conde     5 CEL FOR pre   Ishtarri:4
1x Michael diCarlo     5 CEL obf qui   Assamite:4
1x Fairuza             4 CEL pre       !Brujah:5

Library [72 cards]
---------------------

Action [11]
9x Bum's Rush
2x Fleetness

Combat [39]
3x Blur
6x Concealed Weapon
4x Flash
2x Infernal Pursuit
6x Psyche!
7x Pursuit
3x Side Strike
2x Sideslip
6x Taste of Vitae

Equipment [9]
7x .44 Magnum
2x Codex of the Edenic Groundskeepers

Event [1]
1x Dragonbound

Master [12]
5x Blood Doll
2x Fame
1x Haven Uncovered
1x Heidelberg Castle, Germany
2x Powerbase: Luanda
1x Tension in the Ranks

Beer 100509-100515

2010-05-16T14:03:00.001+02:00

Eriksberg
Sweden
ABV: 5.3%
Rating: 2
A dull standard lager.

De Molen Hel & Verdoemenis
Netherlands
ABV: 10.2%
Rating: 4
Coffee. Pleasantly acidic. After-taste of strawberry. Surprisingly few different tastes for an Imperial Stout but still very good.

Schloss Eggenberg Samichlaus Bier Helles
Austria
ABV: 14%
Rating: 1
High alcohol and very high sweetness. Actually not drinkable at all, reminds more of sherry than beer. Malty with vanilla and spicy notes but everything is hidden behind the repulsing sweetness. Maybe my bottle is damaged with oxygen, I have aged it for more than two years in an earth cellar so hopefully for Schloss Eggenberg’s sake that is the case.

Struise Pannepot Grand Reserva 2006
Belgium
ABV: 10%
Rating: 3
Brandy-taste with a liquorice after-taste. Much fruit in the flavour. Pleasant but little too much alcohol. It gets a bit milder as it grows warmer and it is a very complex beer that shows raisin and juniper notes towards the end. Too bad it’s not as good as it could be.

Emelisse Imperial Russian Stout
Netherlands
ABV: 11%
Rating: 5
Smooth with well-hidden alcohol. After-taste of juniper. Chocolate with a light acidic note. Hints of oak. Smoke, almost like pipe tobacco. An extremely well-balanced beer. Subtle fruit notes as it grows warmer and the juniper gets stronger. Apricots. This is close to perfection.

Cracked Kettle Amsterdam - Purchases

2010-05-13T13:25:00.001+02:00

I went to the Netherlands this week for a work-trip and I just had to stop somewhere to get some good beer while I had the opportunity. I knew we were going to do a lot of car travelling and I had De Molen in mind but the schedule was simply too tight to be able to get there. The shop Cracked Kettle was my second choise but it didn’t look like I was going to make it there either. I was lucky and talked my hungry travel-companions into waiting in the hotel-lobby before going to the restaurant when we got home after a long day. I also talked our driver into driving me to the store where I spent a quick 10 minutes.

I really fell in love with the store at first sight. The manager was a really nice guy that understood my dilemma getting some really good beer in that short amount of time. Even better was that he played my favourite country artist David Allan Coe in the store and when I commented on it he was amused and told me not many customers know who that is. I now knew I would be leaving with some great products. Below is what I got:

De Molen Rasputin, De Molen Molenbier, De Molen Hemel & Aarde, De Molen Hel & Verdoemenis

Struise/Mikkeller Elliot Brew, Struise / De Molen – Black Damnation, Struise Black Jack

Port Brewing Santas little Helper, Emelisse Imperial Russian Stout x 2, Klein Duimpje Imperial Russian Stout

And Cracked Kettle didn’t live up to its name, not a single bottle was destroyed during the flight.

Asguresh deck – Help needed

2010-05-08T16:59:00.000+02:00

Deck Name : Asguresh skjuter skarpt
Author : Stefan Karlsson

Crypt [12 vampires] Capacity min: 4 max: 6 average: 5.08333
----------------------------------------- 4x Asguresh 6 CEL NEC aus Nagaraja:5
2x Titi Camara 5 AUS CEL pot Osebo:5
2x Idrissa 4 CEL aus Osebo:4
1x Elizabeth Conde 5 CEL FOR pre Ishtarri:4
1x Laecanus 5 CEL obt pre Toreador:4
1x Michael diCarlo 5 CEL obf qui Assamite:4
1x Fairuza 4 CEL pre !Brujah:5

Library [78 cards]
----------------------------------------- Action [12]
10x Bum's Rush
2x Harass

Combat [40]
5x Blur
7x Concealed Weapon
2x Infernal Pursuit
8x Psyche!
8x Pursuit
3x Sideslip
7x Taste of Vitae

Equipment [10]
8x .44 Magnum
2x Codex of the Edenic Groundskeepers

Event [2]
2x Dragonbound

Master [14]
6x Blood Doll
2x Fame
1x Haven Uncovered
2x Heidelberg Castle, Germany
2x Powerbase: Luanda
1x Tension in the Ranks

I have tried this deck a couple of times and usually it does quite well but sometimes it just dies before it gets started. I think the basic concept is good but the deck needs some optimizing and that is where I need your help.

Asguresh is a fantastic vampire for a Celerity gun deck, his special ability can counter virtually any form of combat or combat defence. The deck is built around him so advices like “Go for Anson/Ashur instead” are pointless. The reason for having duplicates of Titi and Idrissa is that I want to be sure to bring at least one Laibon to the ready region to be able to play Powerbase:Luanda.

Codex of the Edenic Groundskeepers is very good for actually ousting and not only bringing a shitload of vampires to torpor. The Master package seems about right but when I’m efficient in combat sometimes I jam on Masters. Infernal Pursuit is one of the latest additions to be able to cycle some away. Where I feel I need the most help is the Combat-section. I don’t have much experience playing gun-decks and I have a hard time getting proportions right.

When you help me trim this deck think of it as the deck that will win EC2010. Many thanks in advance!

Beer 100427-100501

2010-05-01T22:24:00.000+02:00

Oppigårds Starkporter

Sweden

ABV: 5.9%

Rating: 4

Fresh and a little fruity. Pleasant coffee notes. Pretty acidic with late notes of chocolate. Very nice over all.

La Rullés Triple

Belgium

ABV: 8.4%

Rating: 4

Fresh, spicy and fruity. Notes of vanilla and after-taste of sweet licorice. Very pleasant and drinkable.

BrewDog Trashy Blonde

Scotland

ABV: 4.1%

Rating: 3

It's like a bitter wheat beer. Notes of citrus and other fruits. Pretty standard for being BrewDog and therefore a little disappointing. Boring bitterness but drinkable.

Pauwel Kwak

Belgium

ABV: 8%

Rating: 3

The flavour is like a classical Belgian dubbel but the after-taste is estry and a little sour. A little lame and boring but ok.

Founders Breakfast Stout

USA

ABV: 8.3%

Rating: 5

Chocolate and coffee. Thick and pleasant in the mouth without making you thirstier. Nice wooden notes that increases as it grows warmer. This is a perfectly balanced and drinkable imperial stout that I could enjoy every day. Too bad Systembolaget has withdrawn it because of the kid on the label. It's nice to drink a really really great beer again, I have to do this more often.

Westgota Nidbryggeri - Bonnatwist Bitter, Part 2 - Bottling

2010-04-27T20:24:00.000+02:00

Yesterday the yeast had done its work and it was time to start bottling. The brew smelled nice of Amarillo hops when we opened the bucket. First we used a hydrometer to see how much sugar that had turned into alcohol and if our calculations are right Bonnatwist Bitter will have an ABV of 4.1%. We mixed a small amount of the brew with brewing sugar for it to carbonate while on bottle. We then pumped the rest of the brew into the mix in a second bucket. Then we started pumping the brew on bottles sterilised primary in an ordinary oven. We filled 54½ bottle, most of them being 33cl and some 50cl. The bottle cap-tool worked out fine and everything is now stored and should be perfectly enjoyable in about two months. We will gather and open a bottle or two already in about ten days to see what it tastes like. In that amount of time it should be fully carbonated and drinkable. These are exciting beer times!

Beer 100420-100424

2010-04-24T17:24:00.002+02:00

Fuller's India Pale Ale

England
ABV: 5.3%
Rating: 1
This is the first beer in a long while that I didn't finish because it simply tasted too bad. Old damp water would have tasted better.

Staropramen
Czech Republic
ABV: 5%
Rating: 3
A good pilsner with more hop bitterness than your average lager.

Flying Dog Gonzo Imperial Porter
USA
ABV: 7.8%
Rating: 4
Pretty strong juniper scent. Pleasant roasted after-taste with heavy notes of coffee. There is a hint of licorice in the foreground. The after-taste grows smokier and my imagination creates a note of bacon. Very good with a sharp sourness not always seen in porters.

Mikkeller The American Dream
Denmark
ABV: 4.6%
Rating: 3
Very bitter and leaves a rough feeling in the mouth. Fruity but those notes drowns in the bitter hops. Very interesting but I would have liked the hops a little more subtle.

Mikkeller Single Hop East Kent Golding IPA
Denmark
ABV: 6.9%
Rating: 2
Bitter in a mild way. A little flowery in its taste but unfortunately it leans more towards perfume than freshness. Hard to drink.

Belgian Dubbel

2010-04-17T12:01:00.001+02:00

Alvinne Hop Trilogy Simcoe

Belgium
ABV: 7.1%
Rating: 4
Bitter. Fruity but not sweet. Earthy notes. My memory tells me this is not really as great as the other two in the trilogy but still fully deserves its rating.

Duvel
Belgium
ABV: 8.5%
Rating: 2
Very distinct alcohol taste. A little too carbonated. Fruity without any interesting notes.

Westgota Nidbryggeri - Bonnatwist Bitter, Part 1 - Brewing

2010-04-11T19:00:00.010+02:00

So after only drinking for a while its time to enter the world of beermaking. The idea started on our Belgian beer trip and the same bunch who travelled then today gathered for our first experiment.

Left: Lars, pot stirrer.

Right: Me, document-ation.

Left: Erik, brewing host

Right: Jonas, brain

First time we decided to make it simple. We use a Black Rock Bitter homebrew kit, exchanging the yeast, adding spray malt instead of sugar and hopping it up for taste and aroma.

Left: Beer Kit
Right: Spray malt

Right: Granulate and Amarillo hops
Below: Yeast

We cooked about 10 litres of water together with 30g of Amarillo hops and 2x500g spray malt for 15 minutes. We then added the beer kit and 30g more hops for another 5 minutes of cooking.
The time-consuming part was to cool the brew down. We quickly added more than 10 litres of cold water to reach a total of 23 litres. That way we avoided the critical temperatures but the cooling from 38 degrees to room temperature took a long time even though the barrel was surrounded with cool water.
Now it is time to let it ferment for two weeks before bottling and then another two months before it is ready to be consumed. I have a feeling Bonnatwist Bitter will be interesting but probably a little too bitter and we have to keep in mind that this is our first attemt.

Tournament losing deck archive - Spell of Life

2010-04-10T11:55:00.001+02:00

This is the deck from my second tournament. Lords of the Night were the latest set and I experimented mostly with decks from the four independent clans at the beginning of my career. What you are about to see is a really hopeless Spell of Life-deck and maybe it is even worse than the Ravnos Toolbox I played at my first tournament.

Deck Name : Spell of Life
Author : Stefan Karlsson

Crypt [12 vampires] Capacity min: 3 max: 10 average: 7
------------------------------------------------------------
1x Nakhthorheb 10 OBF PRE SER Follower :4
1x Neferu 9 OBF PRE SER THA dom nec 2 votes Follower :4
1x Porphyrion 9 CHI OBF PRE SER for Follower :5
1x Arnulf Jormungandr 8 OBF PRE SER aus cel Follower :5
1x Cagliostro, The Gr 8 OBF PRE SER nec pot Follower :4
1x Sundervere, The De 8 AUS PRE SER THA obf Follower :4
1x Ogwon 7 OBF PRE SER for Follower :5
1x Seren Sukardi 7 OBF SER THA pre Follower :4
1x Ankh-sen-Sutekh 6 PRE SER obf Follower :4
1x Renenet 5 OBF PRE ser Follower :4
1x Marla Kenyon 4 PRE ser Follower :4
1x Reverend Djoser Jo 3 pre ser Follower :4

Library [90 cards]
------------------------------------------------------------
Action [30]
2x Form of Corruption
5x Legal Manipulations
3x Mesu Bedshet
5x Social Charm
12x Spell of Life
3x Temptation

Action Modifier [16]
2x Cloak the Gathering
2x Faceless Night
2x Forgotten Labyrinth
6x Lost in Crowds
4x True Love's Face

Action Modifier/Combat [3]
3x Swallowed by the Night

Combat [15]
5x Majesty
5x Staredown
5x Unholy Penance

Master [15]
2x Blood Doll
1x Crocodile Temple, The
2x Dummy Corporation
2x Effective Management
1x Minion Tap
2x Obfuscate
2x Opium Den
1x Temple Hunting Ground
2x Vessel

Reaction [11]
2x Dread Gaze
5x Ecstasy
2x On the Qui Vive
2x Wake with Evening's Freshness

This time I at least managed to get one victory point and that was in the only game where I managed to pull the actual spell off. According to Sten Düring who won that table I would actually have taken a game win if I hadn't kept any minions untapped and instead bled forward with full motion. He was probably right but I was too newborn to make decent calculations back then.
I remember being owned by Seeds of Corruption and bleeds being bounced all way round at a table where I was playing the only deck without Dominate. The third game I don't remember at all othre that that I actually played a Dread Gaze to everyone's surprise and joy. I also remember that people were actually scared of my deck and the Spell of Life and few had seen a deck with it before. That of course I didn't use to my advantage, it instead made me an early table threat. I am bad at manipulating tables now but I was a disaster then. Hopefully I will keep learning.

Beer #100

2010-04-10T11:19:00.001+02:00

I was very selective while choosing which beer to be #100 on this blog and fortunately I had one of my old favourites at home.

La Trappe Quadrupel
Netherlands
ABV: 10%
Rating: 4
Estry, fruity and fresh scent. Dark and powerful taste. Sweet licorice. Very well-balanced and thick. It reminds quite much of Abbaye Des Rocs Brune and I have to say that that is a little bit better than this. Not as great as I remembered it but still a fantastic beer.

Last easter beer of the year (and its still silly)

2010-04-09T21:26:00.001+02:00

Dugges Påsköl
Sweden
ABV: 6%
Rating: 3
Nice bitterness and interesting porter notes where coffee is the most distinct. A little to strong alcohol-taste.

Sigtuna Easter Ale
Sweden
ABV: 5.6%
Rating: 2
Smells great of fruit and hops. Unfortunately it tastes like a bitter lager. At the end it gets sweeter and nicer but it is still boring.

Swedish ECQ 2010 - Tournament report

2010-04-04T20:03:00.001+02:00

If you have read this you know what deck I played and what my goal was. As some of you already know the tournament didn't go that well for me. Here is what happened:

Round 1
Alex Gyhlesten (Euralye & friends) -> Robert Doktorow (Weenie Presence) -> Me -> Ola ? (Blood Brothers Kiev Circle bloat and bleed)
This game I never really had a chance. I was bled heavily, Pentexed and Mind Numbed to death. Alex had a terrible crypt draw (his first 6 vampires were 4xEuralye and 2xKieth Moody) and he didn't get Heidelberg Castle. Ola put some pressure on him as well. Robert had his back free and got an easy table sweep.
Robert Gw 4Vp

Round 2
Daniel ? (Tzimisce toolbox) -> Isak Bjärmark Esbjörnsson (Girls will find..) -> Tomas ? (Giovanni powerbleed) -> Me -> Jonas ? (Some kind of Brujah Celerity combat)
Also a quick game for me but this time some of my destiny was in my own hands. Tomas was early scared of Isak and he tried to deal with me deflecting bleeds to him. This was a really difficult moment for me because I had no Deflections in my hand. Of course I couldn't out that but on the same time pretending to be willing to accept the deal in a near future could be my only rescue of being bled out by his four vampires. I told him I would like to see how the game turned out for a while before making my decision and I got an easy round. I tried desperately to cycle cards because a single deflection would probably have given me my first vp as Jonas didn't do anything and started to go low on pool. However I saw no Deflection and in the following round I was bled out. Tomas then drew very few bleed cards and he couldn't oust Jonas before Isak ousted him and then Isak had an easy drive home.
Isak Gw 4Vp
Tomas 1Vp

Round 3
Me -> Ralf Lammert (Legacy of Pander) -> Magnus ? (!Salubri wall) -> Randal Rudstam (Ani/Pro tap&bleed&block) Mikael Grane (War Ghouls)
Ralf got a good start being the only voter on the table. Magnus was low on pool and it was a critical moment where I decided to go all out against Ralf. He played three Telepathic Misdirecions in that round and Magnus was defenately withing ousting range. I played a Delaying Tactics on Ralf's Kine Resources Contested the following turn but he then outed his first Conservative Agitation and the first Victory Point was his. The War Ghouls kept rushing me but my famed Arcadian only went to torpor once because I drew all Fae Contortions at the right moments and he didn't play any manoeuvres. I actually killed two War Ghouls with Earth Swords and Target Vitals to my predator's great surprise and annoyance. Randal played very good and he blocked almost everything Ralf did. Mikael did his best rushing and bleeding my but I survived his rushes and deflected his bleeds to Ralf and when my library got near to the end I managed to oust Ralf. Randal then got Codex of the Edenic Groundskeepers (a card he borrowed from me before the tournament) and with Heidelberg Castle he could easily bleed out both Mikael and me. I made a mistake not destroying the codex with the Anarch Troublemaker while I could but I doubt that it should have had any impact on the results.
Randal Gw 3Vp
Me 1Vp
Ralf 1Vp

Even with a pretty quick and powerful deck that I played I didn't manage to succeed with my goals. There is nothing really wrong about my deck although I'm going to change some minor things in it. The two Taste of Vitae is going to be another Deflection and another Conditioning. I never used the tastes in the tournament and there is room for more bounce and bleed. The real problem is that this deck is not quick enough when facing many other destructive and quicker decks. It also has problems facing wall decks and if it contained more stealth I would maybe have had a chance of a game win in the last game. Perhaps there is room for a Shadow Play or two in the deck. Since I also was almost out of cards in the last game it maybe should go up to around 80. I will modify the deck slightly and keep it and try again.
I feel I learned some during the tournament and hopefully I will be able to bring that knowledge with me and become a better player. In the first round I couldn't do anything but not many first preys of a good weenie presence deck can. In the second round I should probably have been able to talk the table into letting me survive long enough to oust my prey. The third game's mistake together with my library being ousted made it an impossible task at the end.
Even if I was ousted very early in the two first games I had a fun tournament and hopefully I will return stronger next time.

Beer update

2010-04-04T13:32:00.000+02:00

Sigtuna Vårweizen

Sweden
ABV: 5%
Rating: 3
Very little wheat taste because the American hops takes over. A little too sweet but odd and still nice.

Mikkeller Jackie Brown
Denmark
ABV: 6%
Rating: 3
Like a rough dark lager with some porter notes of coffee, chocolate and tobacco. Sweetness grows as it gets warmer.

Victory Storm King Imperial Stout
USA
ABV: 9.1%
Rating: 3
Very nice porter smell. A bit acidic and pretty much coffee taste. Licorice and bread notes appears when it grows warmer. It is a little hard to drink mostly due to its sourness but it is still interesting. Soft apple notes are somewhere in the background.

Mikkeller Single Hop Nelson Sauvin IPA
Denmark
ABV: 6.9%
Rating: 4
Very fresh taste. Bitter and sweet. An odd flowery taste from the Nelson hops is really interesting. Notes of passion fruit. A very well balanced IPA.

Ölfabrikken Porter
Denmark
ABV: 7.5%
Rating: 3
A lot of coffee, a bit of licorice and notes of citrus. As it grows there is a taste of high cacao chocolate. Very interesting porter but unfortunately it is a little too sour. It gets a little smoother as it grows warmer.

The Expectation Analysis Experiment - Part 3 - Swedish ECQ 2010

2010-04-04T09:18:00.003+02:00

This time the expectation analysis will be a little different. Since the ECQ will be a quite big tournament, at least big for me I have set my goal to that of qualifying instead of winning. Last year I played a !Salubri breed/suicide burn-deck for a total of 1.5vp and an epic failure. The year before that I managed to get 1gw 5vp and that was 0.5vp short of qualifying. Never mind, qualifying is extra interesting this year since there is actually a slight possibility that I will be able to attend the European Championship.
The Swedish ECQ is a quite odd tournament in that you will be facing top decks and top players mixed with odd decks and players that play the game just once a year. In other words you have to be prepared for everything.
So my goal is to get at least 1gw 6vp and I figure a bleed deck that doesn't die just because it sits next to a combat deck will do the trick. Kiasyd seems like the right choice with both great combat avoidance and the ability do deal some casual damage. This deck is not really the most creative I have created and you may even call it boring but I like to play it and even if the stealth/bleed/bruise-archetype have been around for a while I can still surprise some with the tricks up my sleeve.

Deck Name : Stormöte i Pysslingklubben
Author : Stefan Karlsson

Crypt [12 vampires] Capacity min: 5 max: 8 average: 6.83333
------------------------------------------------------------
2x Arcadian, The 8 DOM MYT OBT chi for Kiasyd:5
2x Pherydima 8 DOM MYT NEC obt pot bishop Kiasyd:4
2x Omme Enberbenight 7 MYT OBT cel dom priscus Kiasyd:4
2x Roderick Phillips 7 DOM MYT cel obt tha Kiasyd:4
2x Isanwayen 6 DOM MYT OBT Kiasyd:4
2x Dame Hollerton 5 DOM OBT myt Kiasyd:4

Library [75 cards]
------------------------------------------------------------
Action [13]
9x Govern the Unaligned
4x Gremlins

Action Modifier [16]
2x Bonding
5x Conditioning
2x Seduction
2x Shroud of Absence
5x Stone Travel

Action Modifier/Combat [7]
7x Fae Contortion

Combat [11]
5x Earth Swords
4x Target Vitals
2x Taste of Vitae

Master [13]
1x Anarch Troublemaker
1x Coven, The
2x Dreams of the Sphinx
1x Giant's Blood
1x Great Symposium
2x Grooming the Protege
1x Misdirection
2x Pentex(TM) Subversion
2x Vessel

Reaction [12]
6x Deflection
2x Delaying Tactics
2x On the Qui Vive
1x Redirection
1x Wake with Evening's Freshness

Reaction/Action Modifier [3]
3x Aura Absorption

I have tried to make it as tight as possible with no unnecessary or just-for-fun cards. I think the list speaks for itself but the idea is to get some minions in play and then bleed. Some occational damage dealing and maybe a block or two during the way to victory.
A deck like this should be able to take one game win out of three if I play it correctly and don't repeat last years cold and fever. I will probably not be able to make a table sweep so I have to grab some victory points in the other games as well. Play-testing has shown that this deck can do that even if it is bled heavily or beaten down early in the game so I should be able to reach my goal.
Let's have a look at the different parts of the deck:

Crypt [12 vampires] Capacity min: 5 max: 8 average: 6.83333
------------------------------------------------------------
2x Arcadian, The 8 DOM MYT OBT chi for Kiasyd:5
2x Pherydima 8 DOM MYT NEC obt pot bishop Kiasyd:4
2x Omme Enberbenight 7 MYT OBT cel dom priscus Kiasyd:4
2x Roderick Phillips 7 DOM MYT cel obt tha Kiasyd:4
2x Isanwayen 6 DOM MYT OBT Kiasyd:4
2x Dame Hollerton 5 DOM OBT myt Kiasyd:4

This is the part where I have not optimized the deck and that is actually a choice I've made. I suspect there will be some contesting risk for Kiasyd group 4 at the tournament and Pherydima will be everyone's star. Therefore I have skipped Quincy the Trapper in favour of brand new Arcadian where the extra copies of Pherydima should have been. He is a good vampire on his own and I don't feel I desperately need Pherydima's special ability to be successful.

Action [13]
9x Govern the Unaligned
4x Gremlins

Maybe one or two Gremlins should be extra copies of GtU but the card is really nice and who knows when you need destroying Talbot's Chainsaw?

Action Modifier [16]
2x Bonding
5x Conditioning
2x Seduction
2x Shroud of Absence
5x Stone Travel

Action Modifier/Combat [7]
7x Fae Contortion

Reaction/Action Modifier [3]
3x Aura Absorption

I instinctively feel 5 Conditioning is too few but I know from experience that they become early game discards if they are too many. Also, with only five I have to think before I use them and that is good and maybe even responsible. The rest is cheap, effective multi-purpose stealth that really makes the Kiasyd shine as a stealth/bleed deck.

Combat [11]
5x Earth Swords
4x Target Vitals
2x Taste of Vitae

I think this is enough to do the damage I need to do at the right moments. Hopefully I will even be able to frighten some with an early heavy hit.

Master [13]
1x Anarch Troublemaker
1x Coven, The
2x Dreams of the Sphinx
1x Giant's Blood
1x Great Symposium
2x Grooming the Protege
1x Misdirection
2x Pentex(TM) Subversion
2x Vessel

Great Symposium is a wonderful card but I don't want to include any extra copies. It works very well late game and is no necessary early draw. The rest of the master module is pretty standard and Dreams of the Sphinx is really really helpful in this deck.

Reaction [12]
6x Deflection
2x Delaying Tactics
2x On the Qui Vive
1x Redirection
1x Wake with Evening's Freshness

I hope 7 bounce cards is enough. The same goes for the 3 wakes. Earlier versions of the deck had more of them but I just ended up discarding.

I really hope and believe I will be able to reach my goal this time. This is a good deck and I hope I am good enough player to handle it right. Don't wish me any luck because when you are reading this the tournament has already happened.

GothCon 2010 Annual Draft - Tournament report

2010-04-03T08:08:00.003+02:00

30 players showed up for this event and we drafted 4 boosters of Third Edition and 4 boosters of Keepers of Tradition in 3 pods of 10 players each. The 8 booster draft was actually my work annoying the organizers about having a draft without recursion making it harder to build a good deck. I had decided to build a Malkavian before we started and stuck to that plan even if it probably wasn't the best. I could have drafted an Excellent Lasombra deck from the cards I saw during the drafting of the four first boosters. Here is all the cards I drafted:

Crypt [25 vampires] Capacity min: 3 max: 10 average: 6.56
------------------------------------------------------------
2x Ankou, The 10 AUS DEM OBF Malkavian:5
2x Lord Fianna 8 AUS DEM OBF cel pro Malkavian:5
1x Melinda Galbraith 10 AUS CEL DOM POT PRE obt cardinal Lasombra:4
1x Mictlantecuhtli 10 ANI FOR POT THA pre pro Gangrel:5
1x Konrad Fleischer 9 ANI AUS DOM FOR tha !Ventrue:4
1x Ariadne 8 ANI FOR PRO chi Gangrel:5
1x Carlak 8 CEL PRE dom pot prince Brujah:5
1x Conrad Adoula 8 DOM OBT POT ani cel Lasombra:4
1x Stavros 7 AUS OBF PRE dem priscus !Malkavian:4
1x Drusilla Euphemia 6 AUS OBF dem vic !Malkavian:4
1x Frere Marc 6 PRO THA aus for !Gangrel:4
1x Humo 6 ANI POT obf obt !Nosferatu:4
1x Joseph DiGiaccomo 6 PRE aus dom for Ventrue:5
1x Ryszard 6 CEL OBF pre pro bishop !Gangrel:4
1x Tears, The Dark Pi 6 AUS DEM PRE cel !Toreador:4
1x Arthur Denholm 5 AUS DEM obf Malkavian:5
1x Frank Litzpar 5 OBF ani for pot !Nosferatu:4
1x Luc 5 OBF dem vic !Malkavian:4
1x Paul Calderone 4 cel pot pre Brujah:5
1x Portia 4 for pre pro Ventrue:5
1x Andre LeRoux 3 aus Toreador:5
1x Kalila 3 aus obf Malkavian:5
1x Lynn Thompson 3 cel pot Brujah:5

Library [63 cards]
------------------------------------------------------------
Action [11]
1x Dark Mirror of the Mind
1x Dive into Madness
2x Kindred Spirits
2x Loki's Gift
1x Political Struggle
1x Revelations
2x Sleep of Reason
1x Total Insanity

Action Modifier [8]
1x Elder Impersonation
1x Faceless Night
1x Mask of a Thousand Faces
1x Perfect Paragon
1x Private Audience
1x Serenading the Kami
1x Telepathic Vote Counting
1x Veil the Legions

Ally [3]
1x Courier
1x Escaped Mental Patient
1x Young Bloods

Combat [12]
1x Acrobatics
1x Blur
1x Chiropteran Marauder
2x Kraken's Kiss
1x Meld with the Land
1x Reality Mirror
1x Rego Motus
1x Resilience
1x Sacrament of Carnage
2x Torrent

Equipment [2]
1x IR Goggles
1x Monocle of Clarity

Event [1]
1x Unmasking, The

Master [12]
1x Anarch Revolt
1x Asylum Hunting Ground
1x Frontal Assault
2x Gangrel Conspiracy
2x Major Boon
2x Rack, The
3x Zillah's Valley

Political Action [5]
1x Dogs of War
1x Political Stranglehold
1x Templar
1x Toreador Justicar
1x Ventrue Justicar

Reaction [8]
1x Delaying Tactics
1x Guard Dogs
1x Legwork
1x Shattered Mirror
2x Telepathic Misdirection
1x Voice of Madness
1x Wrong and Crosswise

Retainer [1]
1x Charnas the Imp

And here is the deck I built:

Deck Name : The Ankou eats the world but is never influenced out
Author : Stefan Karlsson

Crypt [8 vampires] Capacity min: 5 max: 10 average: 7.375
------------------------------------------------------------
2x Ankou, The 10 AUS DEM OBF Malkavian:5
2x Lord Fianna 8 AUS DEM OBF cel pro Malkavian:5
1x Stavros 7 AUS OBF PRE dem priscus !Malkavian:4
1x Drusilla Euphemia 6 AUS OBF dem vic !Malkavian:4
1x Arthur Denholm 5 AUS DEM obf Malkavian:5
1x Luc 5 OBF dem vic !Malkavian:4

Library [40 cards]
------------------------------------------------------------
Action [8]
1x Dark Mirror of the Mind
1x Dive into Madness
2x Kindred Spirits
1x Revelations
2x Sleep of Reason
1x Total Insanity

Action Modifier [5]
1x Elder Impersonation
1x Faceless Night
1x Mask of a Thousand Faces
1x Telepathic Vote Counting
1x Veil the Legions

Ally [2]
1x Escaped Mental Patient
1x Young Bloods

Combat [4]
1x Acrobatics
1x Chiropteran Marauder
1x Meld with the Land
1x Reality Mirror

Equipment [2]
1x IR Goggles
1x Monocle of Clarity

Master [10]
1x Anarch Revolt
1x Asylum Hunting Ground
1x Frontal Assault
2x Major Boon
2x Rack, The
3x Zillah's Valley

Political Action [1]
1x Political Stranglehold

Reaction [8]
1x Delaying Tactics
1x Guard Dogs
1x Legwork
1x Shattered Mirror
2x Telepathic Misdirection
1x Voice of Madness
1x Wrong and Crosswise

When I built the deck I had 9 useful vampires to chose from so it was all good. Too bad only that I only had 32 usable cards in my library. I had to put in 8 junk or corner case cards to reach the limit of 40. As I always do in draft I didn't expect this deck to do anything good at all but I was wrong (and a little lucky) this time.

Round 1
Caroline Hyll (mixed - lots of minions) -> Me -> Isak Bjärmark Esbjörnsson (ventrue/gangrel something) -> Tom ? (Malkavian with Presence) - > Magnus ? (Lasombra something)
I brought out Arthur Denholm and Stavros. My Anarch Revolt did some damage and my deck survived pretty well until midgame where Caroline grew too strong and it was just a matter of time until I should be ousted. Magnus had a hard time with Tom's stealthed bleeds and was the first to go. Isak went low on pool and with two Telepathic Misdirections on hand I saw my chance of ousting him before being ousted by Caroline but instead I had to use one of them for intercept to block a back ousting vote from Isak. Guess what I replaced it with? Yes, Delaying Tactics. Caroline Bled me out, some deal attempts were made but nothing more happened before time limit was exceeded.
Caroline 1.5vp
Tom 1.5vp
Isak 0.5vp

Round 2
Henrik Ericsson (Malkavian featuring Mary Anne Blaire) -> Me -> Joakim ? (Sha-Ennu) -> Torbjörn ? (Lasombra)
This time I got Lord Fianna in play and soon he performed Dive into Madness for a premanent bleed of 2 at 1 stealth. I also got the Anarch Revolt on the table in my first round doing some damage to the whole table. My prey and grandprey played a little too defensive I think, being short on intercept, and I managed to oust them both pretty easily. Henrik bloated like crazy with Mary Anne and it was not until the duel I started blocking him. He had a Muddled Vampire Hunter in play and it was hard trying to keep all my vampires at 4 or more blood all the time. However Fianna and his dived madness was too good not to succeed and I had intercept at hand at just the right times to block Henrik's attempts at removing Dive into Madness.
Me gw 4vp

I got the 8th place and that was more than I hoped for so for once I am happy with my result.

Tournament losing deck archive - Ravnos Toolbox

2010-03-26T23:40:00.000+01:00

Since I'm a collector by nature I off course have saved all my old deck lists and I got the idea to share with you my very first tournament deck.
To give you the correct perspective I figure I give you my background to this game. Me and some friends played Jyhad and then V:Tes when it was released and I kept buying some boosters now and then up to Original Sabbat. We never really played any real or competitive games and the vast majority of games I played was duels with my friend Lars. I also vaguely remember some insane games with like 9 players at the local gaming club in Karlstad. What I want to tell is that I never got any real experience in what the game is really about back then.
So late 2007 Lars moved to Göteborg where I live and we talked about this old game and our duels. My table-top gaming friend Mattias overheard and told us that Jyhad where still played and even still supported to our great surprise. We quickly bought some cards and started to play slowly understanding that this was a game for 4-5 players. I played Gangrel and Ravnos back in the days so my first buy was the Ravnos starter deck from Lords of the Night. In January 2008 it was time for my first tournament experience and the following deck is what I played:

Deck Name : Ravnos - Magnum Reality
Author : Stefan Karlsson

Crypt [12 vampires] Capacity min: 3 max: 8 average: 6.16667
------------------------------------------------------------

3x Vasiliy Vasilevich 8 ANI CHI for pro Ravno:5
2x Kiradin 8 CHI DEM FOR ani pot Ravno:4
2x Chavi Oraczko 7 ANI CHI FOR nec Ravno:5
2x Callirus 5 CHI FOR ani Ravno:4
1x Brian Thompson 4 ani chi for Ravno:4
1x Marion French 3 ani chi Ravno:4
1x Neel Ramanathan 3 ani for Ravno:4

Library [90 cards]
------------------------------------------------------------

Action [10]
4x Mass Reality
3x Restoration
3x Sensory Deprivation

Action Modifier [9]
6x Fata Morgana
3x Freak Drive

Action Modifier/Combat [7]
3x Mirror Image
4x Occlusion

Combat [20]
5x Carrion Crows
6x Indomitability
4x Rolling with the Punches
2x Soak
3x Taste of Vitae

Equipment [9]
5x .44 Magnum
3x Camera Phone
1x Treasured Samadji

Master [17]
2x Blood Doll
1x Fortitude
1x Fortune Teller Shop
1x Giant's Blood
1x Kumpania
2x Minion Tap
1x Park Hunting Ground
2x Path of Paradox, The
4x Svadharma
2x Vessel

Reaction [15]
3x Cats' Guidance
5x Ignis Fatuus
2x Instinctive Reaction
2x On the Qui Vive
3x Rat's Warning

Retainer [3]
2x Raven Spy
1x Tasha Morgan

There is so many faults with this deck I really don't know where to start. First of all it is a Ravnos Toolbox, an archetype known of bleeding some, blocking some, cursing some, fighting some and not taking any victory points. Do I need to tell that I didn't get a single victory point during the tournament? Second of all my card collection was very limited so I couldn't build exactly the deck I would have built if I had unlimited card access. It is also a hopeless 90-card deck with some really weird choices. The whole Magnum / Mass Reality thing is really bad idea and I smile while looking at the deck list.
I remember parts of my first game clearly. My prey was Max Widén and my predator was Erik Torstensson. Max was doing great and ousted his two first preys pretty quickly. I remember trying to deal with Erik to leave me alone to oust Max when he got low on pool but Erik refused. Then Max suddenly saw no chance of a game win because Erik had tooled up well and he wanted to self-oust to leave the table with no game win. The judge didn't let him and I understood nothing of this whole mess and was ousted quickly thereafter.
However this first tournament made me want to play more and since then I have been playing in 23 more constructed tournaments, only scoring one win, and I still enjoy it very much. I am in the mood to make an improved version of this tacky deck and try and play it today but I don't know if it's worth the effort. Please share your ideas as comments if you have any because it would be great fun to actually make something out of this. And remember, I have 23 more tournament losing decks to give you so shout if you want more. This is not the worst one, trust me.

Catching up again

2010-03-26T22:30:00.000+01:00

Westvleteren Blond
Belgium
ABV: 5.8%
Rating: 4
A great mix of fruity notes and hoppy bitterness. Perfectly carbonated and the freshness from the hops makes this beer more interesting than most other beer of this style. If only all blondes were like this..

Mohawk Rye IPA
Sweden
ABV: 7.5%
Rating: 3
Very bitter smell. Smooth and bitter on the same time. The rye gives this beer a little odd taste and makes the hop taste a little less sharp. Perfectly drinkable.

Jämtlands Påsköl
Sweden
ABV: 6%
Rating: 2
Very pale bitterness and way too carbonated. Boring.

BrewDog 77 Lager
Scotland
ABV: 4.9%
Rating: 3
A standard lager but with a more distinct hop taste. Nice.

Grebbestad Lager
Sweden
ABV: 5%
Rating: 1
Like drinking a half-decent lager after the bottle have been open for some hours. Completely meaningless.

Catching up

2010-03-23T22:09:00.000+01:00

Time to sum up the weekend and the monday Jyhad-beers:

Struise Kloeke Blonde
Belgium
ABV: 6%
Rating: 2
Smells like foam-banana. A quite distinct stable-taste (maybe this is a bad infected bottle?). I can sense notes of lime as the stable-taste gets weaker but it is not enough. This beer is also too carbonated for me and it is not very drinkable.

Abbaye des Rocs Triple Impériale
Belgium
ABV: 10%
Rating: 4
Very nice, sweet and strong. Great yeast-taste and that is hard to acquire. Notes of raisin and liquorice. A nice burned after-taste. Not as good as AdR's Brune but very close.

Alvinne Gaspar
Belgium
ABV: 8%
Rating: 3
Hoppy and acidic. A nice sweetness matures but nothing special at all.

Alvinne Balthazar
Belgium
ABV: 9%
Rating: 3
Smells like cinnamon but actually the spices used are ginger, coriander and cardamom. It is very spicey and I can at least pick ginger and cardamom out. A very odd brew but nothing I long for drinking again.

Alvinne Melchior
Belgium
ABV: 11%
Rating: 4
Tastes like sour apple but is still very sweet. Heavy alcohol taste in a good way. Odd, nice and drinkable despite its strength.

Sigtuna Röd Påsk
Sweden
ABV: 6.2%
Rating: 4
Very hoppy and bitter. Grows sweeter and smoother as I drink. Tastes a lot from Amarillo hop and this is a good brew.

Oppigårds Easter Ale
Sweden
ABV: 5.3%
Rating: 3
Smells nice and hoppy but tastes bitter and almost damp. The taste gets smoother after a while and it becomes a perfectly drinkable beer but still pretty dull.

Easter beer (yes I know its silly)

2010-03-19T20:26:00.000+01:00

Nynäshamns Pumpvikens Påsköl
Sweden
ABV: 5.8%
Rating: 4
A very drinkable ale with a hoppy dry bitter after-taste. Burned notes mixes well with the food I had to it and it is a great thirst quencher.

Mikkeller Hoppy Easter
Denmark
ABV: 6.6%
Rating: 3
Citrus and hops. A little to thin after-taste drags the rating down together with the fact that you can sense some notes of soap. At least if your drinking buddy tells you it tastes like soap. Dull but okay to drink.

Saturday Night Specials

2010-03-14T22:06:00.000+01:00

Westvleteren 8
Belgium
ABV: 8%
Rating: 3
Smells and tastes a little like apple cider. A little too heavy alcohol taste that grows milder. Also a little spicy. This is an okay beer but not close to the 12. It was more than half a year ago that I had one of these and I remember it as much better than it is now.

Schneider Aventinus Weizen-Eisbock
Germany
ABV: 12%
Rating: 4
Not being a fan of frozen beer this is a positive surprise. Scents of smoke and banana and tastes even more of banana. Even some oregano is there and it is very drinkable. Sweet and fresh at the same time.

Dupont Avec les Bons Voeux
Belgium
ABV: 9.5%
Rating: 3
A smell of stable and bacon. Taste of citrus and heavy alcohol. Pretty fresh and a typical French strong beer. Nothing special at all.

Stone Vertical Epic 09
USA
ABV: 8.5%
Rating: 3
Coffe and jam. A little too sweet for my liking but still drinkable.

Nøgne Ø Porter
Norway
ABV: 7%
Rating: 3
A little too mild to be a porter for me. Nice notes of juniper berries, coffee and licorice but I want more than just subtle notes in a porter. Still drinkable and ok.

Beer and Jyhad night again

2010-03-12T23:02:00.000+01:00

Brewdog Bashah
Scotland
ABV: 8.6%
Rating: 4
Black as sin hoppy as hell is what the name is supposed to mean and it is a fair description. It has a very odd taste that is sort of a mix between Porter or Imperial Stout and an IPA. A pleasant aftertaste of tar that gets more hoppy as it grows warmer. Surprisingly easy to drink and very original.

Sierra Nevada Harvest 2009
USA
ABV: 6.7%
Rating: 4
The first taste is cider. Pear cider actually. It has some lager bitterness in its after-taste but it soon goes over to a more hoppy bitterness. Sweet and pleasantly fruity.

Nynäshamns Bötet Barley Wine
Sweden
ABV: 9.1%
Rating: 3
Very heavy alcohol. Distinct plum taste and very yeasty. When it hits the right parts of the tounge it shows nice port wine notes but when it hits the wrong parts it tastes almost like it is poured before the yeast is ready. Interesting but hard to drink.

What to really do with the unnamed

2010-03-10T17:23:00.000+01:00

Finally I know what deck to build with the unnamed. All good ideas start with Clan Impersonation and this time the unnamed will impersonate a Malkavian. We then put Madness Network in play. As support vampires we use Ariel and Azrael with a decent Auspex package including plenty of Eagle's Sight to be able to block actions in all players turns. When they block they make sure to stay on close range and play Blissful Agony at superior to get the blocked minion to enter combat the unnamed. The unnamed of course have an Abombwe skill card by now and plays heavy combat using Protean, Celerety and his built in 2R agg strike to burn the opposing minion. He then plays Taking the Skin: Minion. Now he can bleed twice and the first bleed is with Flurry of Action and the second is free of choice. This will grant you 4 pool and some damage to your prey in every player's round and a guaranteed table sweep since this is such a small chain of cards needed to pull the combo off. Good luck and let me know if I have missed something!

New experiences back home

2010-03-06T20:44:00.001+01:00

I have had some beer this week but I havn't had time to write about them since I've been busy covering BBT - 2010. Now this blog has reached almost realtime again and who knows, maybe some post will even be about Jyhad in a near future. Here is what I have had this week:

Young's Double Chocolate Stout
England
ABV: 5.2%
Rating: 3
Not that surprising it tastes like chocolate. I also sense some vanilla and coffee notes but other than that nothing special.

Alvinne Struise Pipeworks Pipedream
Belgium
ABV: 7.5%
Rating: 4
It actually smells like lager but when you taste it it shows a real hop bitterness. The bitterness soon grows milder and the different flavours of hop takes over in a smooth and pleasant way. I really like this and slowly realises that I'm becoming a hophead.

Dugges Brandmästare Andréns Törstsläckare
Sweden
ABV: 2.8%
Rating: 3
Very easy to drink. Malty, a little hoppy with a bitter lager after taste. Great for being a low alcohol beer but compared to stronger beers of its kind it is not much of a competitor. Probably the best folköl in the world makes it worth its rating.

BBT 2010 - What I brought home

2010-03-06T20:31:00.000+01:00

I had to be very selective when I bought beer to bring home since I was only allowed to check in 20kg of luggage. I managed to bring 19 bottles home and none broke during the trip and the bag weighed only about 22kg which no one took notice of. This is what I got:
Alvinne: Hop Trilogy Columbus, 2 x Melchoir Mackmyra Oak Aged, Hop Trilogy Simcoe

De Struise: Pannepot Grand Reserva Vintage 2006, Pipedream, Klokke Blonde

Abbaye des Rocs: Bruin, Tripel Imperiale, Nounnette, Bruin (again)

Fantôme: Fantôme

In de Vrede: Westvleteren Blond x 2, Westvleteren 8, Westvleteren 12

La Trappe: Quadrupel, Bockbier, Quadrupel (again)

When I write this I have already emptied the Pipedream and an Abbaye de Rocs Bruin and given a La Trappe Quadrupel to my father. I plan on maybe having the Westvleteren 8 later tonight so if I don't get to Systembolaget fast all physical evidence of this trip will soon be gone. Over and out and hope to be able to write about new beer trips in a not too far future.

BBT 2010 - La Trappe

2010-03-05T22:39:00.001+01:00

We had to visit La Trappe since they are the first Trappist Abbey to open up their brewery for a tour. Actually we didn't see any of the brewing process and it felt like a more sane version of a'Chouffe. We didn't even see a single monk. However, the Abbey is a nice place and it was an interesting tour.

La Trappe Bockbier
Netherlands
ABV: 7%
Rating: 3
Burned malt. Tastes a little like a heavy Eastern European dark lager but not as carbonated. A bitter after-taste. I would have liked it if it would have had something that stood out but it is a good beer that don't leave any real impression.

BBT 2010 - In de Vrede

2010-03-05T22:16:00.000+01:00

You don't get closer to the most exclusive brewery in the world, Westvleteren Abdij St. Sixtus. I have been here once before and that was the first time I tasted their lovely and by some named as overrated beer. In de Vrede is nothing special in itself but they serve the beer we are there for and nothing else really matters. Unfortunately I was the driver this day and had to limit my consumption. A Swedish guys overheard us speaking Swedish and it turned out he was there waiting for his 48 bottles of Westvleteren 12 that he had ordered and he had drove there for that sole purpose. We told him about the nearby De Struise Brouwers and he got the address for a drive over there. He told us that he was a home-brewer and he promised me some bottles of his next batch since he only lives 50 kilometres or so from me. We'll see if he remembers it and contacts me or if it just was talk.
Westvleteren 12
Belgium
ABV: 10.2%
Rating: 5
This beer is rated number one in the world by many and I find it nothing but fair. It is a classical Belgian strong ale with mild licorice and chocolate notes and it is perfectly smooth to drink. Too bad it isn't that often I get my hands of one though.

BBT 2010 - Kulminator, second visit

2010-03-05T21:23:00.000+01:00

Friday night it was time for some more aged beer at Kulminator. First I tried an oak aged La Trappe that the monks had brewed for some sort of anniversary and Dirk had bought what they had left after the celebrations. Not aged but worth buying since it is probably not available anywhere else.

La Trappe Quadrupel Quercus
Netherlands
ABV: 10%
Rating: 4
Less fruity than the standard Quadrupel and more rough. A pleasant note of sweet licorice shines trough and I notice that this is also a little sweeter than the standard Quadrupel. As it grows warmer the alcohol starts to taste in a nail-polishing way but that's actually not bad but interesting. Good but not as great as it could have been ageing one of the best beer in the world on an oak barrel.

Gouden Carolus 1987
Belgium
ABV: 8.5% (?)
Rating: 3
I had to try something really old and this is a beer that has been aged for 23 years so it should fit the criteria. When taking a sip from it it is like you let a mouthful enter your mouth but only swallows half of it. It's like it is vanishes into thin air when it contacts oxygen. Intersting. It's also very dry. Unfortunately it's not very drinkable and this is the turning-point in my life where I decide aged beer is nothing for me.

Gouden Carolus Christmas
Belgium
ABV: 10.5%
Rating: 4
The heaviest licorice-taste I ever tasted in a beer. It's a little like drinking licorice allsorts (the candy) and you just have to like it.

BBT 2010 - d'Achouffe

2010-03-04T21:56:00.000+01:00

This was the big disappointment of the trip. Disappointment is the wrong word but after visiting 4 small breweries this gigantic complex felt like an abomination to mother earth. What just some days ago should have been interesting was now just like visiting a factory. Sure, the guide was good and kind to us speaking English a little even if the tour we went with were in Dutch and everything was professional. But seriously, how interesting is that?

The worst part of it was the tasting afterwards. We were led to some kind of smokey local bar playing this terrible song. We drank up and left for the long trip back to Antwerp.Mc Chouffe
Belgium
ABV: 8%
Rating: 2
A very mild and quite tasteless beer. Dull.

Chouffe Houblon Dobbelen IPA Triple
Belgium
ABV: 9%
Rating: 4
Tastes surprisingly much like a good IPA. Alcohol well hidden and not much of the Belgian style showing.

La Chouffe
Belgium
ABV: 8%
Rating: 3
A pleasant fruity standard Belgian ale. Nothing special.

BBT 2010 - La Brasserie Fantôme

2010-03-04T20:58:00.001+01:00

Expectations were high when we reached La Brasserie Fantôme and we entered a very cosy building. The Fantôme himself, Dany, showed us around in his brewery. You could see that he is a hard-working man and a real enthusiast. Unfortunately for us he seemed to be in quite a hurry and the tour was very quick. I don't blame him though, he seemed to have a lot of work going on.

His wife then took care of us for some tasting of their beer and it was a relaxing and interesting experience. Fantôme experiments a lot with spices and according to me that's only positive. Too bad I didn't like all of his experiments but my guess is when Dany gets it right it will be fabulous. The whole place is very likeable and I hope to return there some day for more bizarre experiences.

Fantôme
Belgium
ABV: 8%
Rating: 4
A nice smell of Abricots meets the nose as it is poured. It tastes of a fruity yeast and you can sense some classical ale far away but the taste of this brew is unique. As it grows warmer it tastes a little like artificial strawberry. In a good way. What holds it back a bit is that it has very little after-taste.

Fantôme Chocolat
Belgium
ABV: 8%
Rating: 3
A chocolate beer that doesn't taste like chocolate. Instead it tastes like banana. It has a bitter after-taste and gets rounder as it grows warmer. More fun than good actually.

Fantôme Fleur de Bomal
Belgium
ABV: 8%
Rating: 3
This is bizarre for real. It scents and tastes like pencil sharpening. Very spicy, mostly oregano but even some other spices. I just now found out that oregano is actually used in this brew so I give myself an extra golden star for my developing tasting skills. It is a smooth beer but also a little sour. Also more fun than good.

Fantôme Hiver
Belgium
ABV: 8%
Rating: 2
The saison-brew for the winter. It smells like strawberries but unfortunately it tastes like canned mushrooms. It's acidic with a sour after-taste with hints of sweet licorice. Since I was scared of mushrooms when I was a kid and still have problems with the taste this beer is nothing for me. I guess it deserves a better rating but I can't honestly give it that.

BBT 2010 - Abbaye des Rocs

2010-03-04T05:24:00.001+01:00

New day - new adventures. This day we travelled to the south of Belgium and our first stop was Abbaye des Rocs. No one seemed to know we were coming even though I had been in mail contact with them but they welcomed us for a detailed brewery tour and some tasting without hesitation. The language barrier was a major problem since none of us speak any real French and none of them speak any real English. Still it was very interesting and they patiently answered our attempts at questions so it was a really pleasant visit.
The brewery had a very rustic feeling to it and the dungeon-lift to the basement was a story in itself. A great start of day two.

Abbaye des Rocs Blanche des Honnelles
Belgium
ABV: 6%
Rating: 3
Wheaty. A little mild but not wimpy at all, rather well-balanced. Notes of citrus. A good standard beer.

Abbaye des Rocs Nounette
Belgium
ABV: 7%
Rating: 3
Very sweet. Dry but smooth in mouth and throat. Great taste but nothing special enough to reach a rating of 4.

Abbaye des Rocs Montagnarde
Belgium
ABV: 9%
Rating: 3
Sweet and a little sour. Tastes a lot from coriander. A little dull but fully drinkable.

Abbaye des Rocs Brune
Belgium
ABV: 9%
Rating: 4
Licorice and vanilla. Pleasant round taste with hints of ginger. Very nice and very close to a rating of 5.

BBT 2010 - Kulminator, first visit

2010-03-01T21:57:00.000+01:00

In the short time I have been knowing about Kulminator expectations had grown big. Kulminator is such a rare thing as a pub that specialises in aged beer. The owner Dirk has some reputation for being a bit odd and judging when it comes to his customers so all these circumstances together made me feel almost like executing a pilgrimage.
I was both disappointed and satisfied after my visit. Dirk was not grumpy at all, rather the opposite and the rumours about his wife being bullied around seemed to come from thin air. There were some cats sneaking around and the restroom's smell wasn't the best but apart from that the place was clean and smoke free.
I think my main problem is the clientèle. Students in uniform and loud-mouth American world champions have never been my first pick of company and I know that I'm ignorant when writing this. But I still write it since it makes me sad that I'm a person who loves beer that dislikes persons who loves beer. It's a strange world isn't it? Anyway, this is not Kulminator's fault but it clouds the experince a bit.

At least I had some interesting beer:

Witkap Dubbel 2000
Belgium
ABV: 7%
Rating: 3
I was warned by Leen about it being very sour and I thought "What the heck, I have been drinking infected Witkap with a pure stable taste so I should be able to handle this.". It was actually a pretty interesting beer with a sharp lime taste. It was very sour as Leen told me but taste actually became more well-rounded as it grew warmer. Nice but not worth ageing for ten years.

Dominus Dubbel 2001
Netherlands
ABV: 6.5%
Rating: 3
Tastes like blackberry jam with a very weird bitterness that I can't describe properly with words even if I would try in Swedish. Notes of citrus and the blackberry taste transforms to raspberry as it grows warmer. Interesting but a little to strange.

BBT 2010 - De Struise Brouwers

2010-02-28T23:43:00.000+01:00

The Alvinne guys called De Struise and warned them four thirsty swedes were on their way so we were welcomed with open arms. Their new locals are in an old school and for the first time in my life I had a beer-tasting in a class room. Urban and Carlo were very informative and a pleasure to listen to. We were there for more than one and a half hour and extended their official closing time. We had some great beer and in the first day of our trip we had visited what I believe is the two most experimental breweries in Belgium. We couldn't have had a better start!

Struise Pannepeut 2007
Belgium
ABV: 10%
Rating: 3
A nice taste of wild strawberries. Rough in a nice way but little or none after-taste. A round taste but nothing special.

Struise Pannepot 2008
Belgium
ABV: 10%
Rating: 4
A powerful stout with a heavy and nice taste of chocolate. Strawberry notes finds their way trough the heavy base. Earthy notes and a weird kind of acidic after-taste makes this beer stand out.

Struise Pannepot Grand Reserva 2005
Belgium
ABV: 10%
Rating: 4
Even more fruity than the younger Pannepot but with a lighter alcohol taste. Pretty similar but a little more powerful and a little sweeter.

De Molen / Struise Black Damnation
Netherlands / Belgium
ABV: 12%
Rating: 4
Very well hidden alcohol. Heavy taste of coffee and smoke with notes of salt and tar. Pleasantly acidic after-taste. We were told that this nice brew is now maturing on whisky casks (I don't remember if it was Mackmyra but I think so) and I'm really looking forward to tasting the result of that.

BBT 2010 - Restaurant ´t Rusteel

2010-02-28T22:28:00.000+01:00

After some serious testing at Alvinne we were more than hungry and we were directed to Restaurant ´t Rusteel for dinner. They have their own house brewery and I tried one of their beer. Unfortunately it wasn't as good as their food.

Brouwkot Manten
Belgium
ABV: 6%
Rating: 2
A pretty dull double. Weak in taste and the only slightly interesting thin was the caramel after-taste.

BBT 2010 - Picobrouwerij Alvinne

2010-02-28T09:54:00.003+01:00

The first stop of our Belgian Beer Trip (furthermore referred to as BBT 2010) was a really lucky one. We didn't know what to expect and none of us had been drinking any of their beer before. After struggling a bit finding our way there we finally arrived at this very small brewery and was welcomed by Davy and Glenn. We were directly led upstairs to their cosy tasting room and offered our first beer.

We thought we would be there for max one hour but we were there for more than three since they genuinely seemed to enjoy our company and interest in their beer. We had eight different beer from them and many of them were really good. We actually tasted more than eight of their beers but the ones not listed below was either too small samples to rate or work in progress.
A great brewery run by real enthusiasts and very worth a visit. If Davy or Glenn is reading this, we won't forget our promise - an Oppigårds Amarillo Spring and some more surprises will be posted to you shortly.

Alvinne Hop Trilogy Centennial
Belgium
ABV: 7.1%
Rating: 4
A very bitter and hop-tasting beer. It's like an IPA without the sweetness but it's very drink- and enjoyable anyway. A rare and appealing experience.

Alvinne Chelmsford Oak Smoked Porter
Belgium
ABV: 5.1%
Rating: 3
A smooth and drinkable porter with notes of caramel. A little tame and not my style of porter but still ok.

Alvinne Cuvee Freddy
Belgium
ABV: 8%
Rating: 4
Heavy alcohol taste in a good way. It has an after-taste like from a good lager but the beer itself is very acidic. A very pleasant and also rare experience.

Alvinne Bolleville
Belgium
ABV: 10%
Rating: 4.
Distinct notes of apple and coffee. A round taste and very drinkable with a well-balanced bitter after-taste.

Alvinne Melchoir Mackmyra Oak Aged
Belgium
ABV: 11.5%
Rating: 5
Apple and vanilla. It's like it's melting in the mouth and throat. A perfect balance between bitterness and sweetness. Perfect!

Alvinne Melchoir Bourgogne Oak Aged
Belgium
ABV: 11.5%
Rating: 3
Much more fruit than the Mackmyra one and much more alcohol taste as well. Not close to as good but still a nice base.

Alvinne Mano Negro
Belgium
ABV: 10%
Rating: 3
Smokey but a little too mild really appeal to me. After-taste of Tar.

Alvinne Hop Trilogy Columbus
Belgium
ABV: 7.1%
Rating: 4
Tastes and smells heavy of hops. Extremely bitter but still very drinkable. A great end of a pleasant visit.