Sigtuna Midvinternattens Mörker
Sweden
ABV: 6.2%
Rating: 2
Nynäshamns Mysingen Midvinterbrygd
Sweden
ABV: 6%
Rating: 2
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
Sweden
ABV: 6.5%
Rating: 3
Germany
ABV: 6.7%
Rating: 2
Mikkeller Santa’s little Helper
Denmark
ABV: 10.9%
Rating: 2
Sweden
ABV: 5%
Rating: 4
Belgium
ABV: 8%
Rating: 3
Pencil sharpener!
Sweden
ABV: 7.8%
Rating: 3
Kortedala Enskilda Hinkbryggeri Hopfen Schwarzen
Sweden
ABV: 7.1%
Rating: 3
Denmark
ABV: 6.5%
Rating: 3
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) 
An oily taste of toffee. Very nice body. Gets a little dull but still very drinkable with a pleasant mouthfeel.
Gulden Draak 
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)
Spicey, sweet and a nice hop taste. More than great.
Dugges Gustafs Finger (24/10)
Genuine bitter but far from as tasteful as Johannas Bästa. Good malty taste but the hops are a little weak.
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
