The Beer World Cup last 8 now gets under way. Click on pictures and links to get a general review and info on the beers we will be a drinking during the Football World Cup.
Russia V Nigeria
As Uruguay didn’t qualify for my Beer World Cup last 16 (I couldn’t source any beer from Uru), I made Russia winner (Knightberg) of Beer Group A, they went on to beat Spain (Estrella) in the last 16.
Nigeria (Guinness Special Export), who came second in my Beer Group D, knocked out Carlsberg of Denmark in their last 16 match up.
Knightberg Guinness Special Export
The Guinness looked magnificent and smelt great, exactly how you would expect a Guinness to be. But the taste was a little too heavy today, especially as it was so hot and close. So the Clockwork Cherry beer I had from Knightberg was the perfect beer at the right time. I needed a nice easy drinking fruit beer, nice and smooth, and went down real well while enjoying the football. Russia edge it to go into the last 4 of my Beer World Cup!
Portugal V Croatia
Portugal (Super Bock and Gallas Cerveja) eased to the top of my Beer World Cup Group B, then went on to knock out Saudi Arabia in the last 16. An easy win since there are no beers from the Arab kingdom, a bye in essence. Croatia (Ožujskoand Bura Brew), on the other hand, came top in Beer Group D, up against heavy hitters from Iceland, Argentina and Nigeria. Then in the last 16, the Croatians when on to beat Australia (Fosters)
Super Bock up against Ožujsko to decide who makes it into the last four of my Beer World Cup. Tough battle. Superbock is a mildly sweet refreshing lager that hits the throat lovely and there is a nice bitter and sour aftertaste that lingers for a short while. It’s a very easy beer to drink.
For Ožujsko, it is a typical full bodied lager, malty, light and clean, quaffable and not bad. Nice big mouthfuls to enjoy at the start. Slightly hoppy and a little bitter but overall easy to drink and perfect to quench the thirst.
You can see I enjoyed both lagers. So this had to go down to the wire, i.e: more than one beer of each! After a few I decided that Croatia should edge it, in that its the more quaffable of the two.
Switzerland V Belgium
Switzerland (Dr. Brauwolf, Celestial Brewery, Soo. Soors Beer) easily powered home in my Beer Group E, no problem at all, and in the last 16 they beat popular Mexican beer, Corona. While Belgium (Jessenhofke and Kamil) had a tough close encounter with England (London Pride) to come top of Beer Group G, but just got there in the end as group winners. They had a some what easier time dispatching of Colombia (Club Colombia) in the last 16.
Celestial Brewery Soo. Soors Beer Dr. Brauwolf
Was a big hard fought match up between Belgium and Switzerland in my beer world cup last eight encounter.
Started off drinking some water to mentally prepare for it! Eh?
Yeah that’s right, Dr. Brauwolf’s hopfenwasser, it is lovely fresh water with some hops and citrus notes. Kind of weird, but also kind of cool. Against Jessenhofke’s PMPRNI Tripel bier, which was loaded with lovely fruits and citrus, well there was only going to be one winner and that was the Belgian blonde.
So second match up was between Jessenhofke’s Maya, a 6% Belgian blonde, against Soo. Soors Session IPA. Although both were great beers, and I enjoyed the two, I will give this first goal to the Swiss beer, as it did exactly what it said on the tin! It was very sessionable and very easy to drink. Maya certainly had more bang for its buck, more kick, and looked fantastic, but the “magic” beer won out in this opener.
Last match up and the decider was betwee n Kamil’s Moktamee, a big 75cl bottle of pure rocket fuel, against Celestial Brewery’s L’elektron Libre, an American style amber beer. I really loved both beers. Moktamee had a lovely dark purple appearance with a nice head, a hoppy tasty effort but strong enough to give it a good kick, while L’elektron Libre had a very strong caramelized malt aroma and taste that I found very interesting. Id give it as a draw to be honest. So that means the tie end 2-2 a piece and with no penalty decider I have decided to put Switzerland through to the last 4 as the range of styles are that tad bit more unique than the usual Belgians that are quite common these days. But it was damn close and a pity that two big beer nations in my world cup met so early on in the draw.
Germany V England
Germany (Zombräu,Brauer & Co., and Döllnitzer Ritterguts Gose) might be out of the football World Cup, but they are still very much alive in my Beer World Cup, powering to victory in Beer group F, no problems there, while in the last 16 they beat Serbia (Kabinet). England (London Pride), on the other hand, just lost out in their epic tussle with Belgium, both in the football and in my Beer World Cup. But they are still very much alive in this competition, coming second in Beer Group G. and beating Poland (Tyskie) in the last 16.
Zombräu Brauer & Co., Funky trout n Pretty sperm whale!
Döllnitzer Ritterguts Gose London Pride
Bit of a tussle between Germany and England here in my beer world cup, two old foes, in pretty much everything you can think about….football, beer, war…..
First match up was between Zombräu’s Motor Oil, a nice “stout” German style, with the cocoa felling really nice on the tongue, up against England’s old reliable London Pride, the solid pale ale from old London town. Heh both cracking beers, both different styles and I thoroughly enjoyed both and for this reason I give it as a draw early doors.
Next up was Döllnitzer Ritterguts Gose, that strange German beer brewed with spices and coriander, again against LP. I have to say I am really liking these Gose’s beers, really liking them. Its all a strange style for me, but they are so easy to drink and have the “wow” factor that I have to give this one to Germany.
Last pair up was between LP and Zombräu’s Richfest Bier, a pretty strong tasting Heller Bock that looked amazing and tastes so strong, but you know the London Pride was coming into it. With its lovely amber reddish colour, biscuity aroma and flavour and better drinkabilty factor, England get a goal here! So that gave us a draw in the pair off, and taking everything into consideration I have to give it to the Germans, for more originality and more braver styles. Germany go to the last four of my Beer World Cup. Sorry England!
Colombia on the other hand, were lucky. I don’t know how they managed to win this game, as in the first half they were simply awful and then to make matters worse they lost Rodríguez who had to go off with an injury. Cuadrado was simply brutal, couldn’t even manage a simply pass all game, and spent most of the game falling to the ground. If they dont get James Rod back in time, and its asking a lot with such a short turnaround, then I can’t see them causing England too many problems. 
Rashford though, got through, from a great ball by Vardy, and really should have scored, putting it wide. That was the chance to equalise.
For me, Maguire was man of the match. every opportunity he had, he pushed forward with the ball, and was calm and collected at the back. A brilliant World Cup from him so far. 
Belgium started with much more intensity, and I guess after looking at the England game, they knew that if they get at Tunisia from the get go they might crumble early. And so they did, very early in fact, after about 6 minutes, with Hazard getting and scoring a penalty. We didn’t have to wait long for the next one, ten minutes in fact, for Lukaku to score a nice goal that was well set up. 
Tunisia got one back, but they were never at the races today. Belgium looked good, particularly De Bruyne quietly going about his business behind the forwards, making most of the build up play and assisting in a few of the goals for today. Also for me, Vertonghen in central defence has had a good world cup so far, marshaling his back four very well, a good rock at the back. 
Stones got a free header from a corner, as the Panamanian defenders were more into WWF than concentrating on how to actual defend a set piece. Then shortly after, Lingard was brought down for a penalty which Kane easily dispatched off. Lingard, again, scored a cracking curler in the tip right corner for the third goal. This was getting too easy for England. 
Started off pretty slow. Januzaj though shaked it up, scoring with a cracker of a goal, a lovely long range effort that flew in. 
Started very brightly, Deli Alli was sprightly and on fire early on, while Sterling missed a complete sitter. England were strong in attack and caused Tunisia all sorts of problems that they couldn’t cope with. Sure enough England scored early, with a Stone header not saved well and Kane with the rebound. A real poachers goal.
That penalty kind of rattled England a bit and they started to fanny around the pitch as they sometimes like to do, aimless balls and passing back and forth with no decisiveness. Always so frustrating to watch at times, these millionaire footballers so inept at playing what should be a simple game. Alli faded badly in the second, and Sterling was his usual crap self for England, and just when you were losing all hope to live, England get a corner, and to be honest you kind of felt they might jam in a goal from it. And they did. Kane again, good goal, great to get the space and England survive for another day.
But against the run of play Panama had a great chance to equalise when Michael Murillo was one v one with the goalkeeper but Courtois spreadeagled prevented a goal. 
Stones got a free header from a corner, as the Panamanian defenders were more into WWF than concentrating on how to actual defend a set piece. Then shortly after, Lingard was brought down for a penalty which Kane easily dispatched off. Lingard, again, scored a cracking curler in the tip right corner for the third goal. This was getting too easy for England. 
R Torres nearly got his country’s first world cup but badly missed at the far post. Good enough for the cunt, what a shit captain, in everyone’s face throughout most of the game and couldn’t control either himself or his team. But that goal came in the end to Baloy, on a sub, and with a well struck goal put himself into his country’s footballing history books. 
There is a quiet confidence with this England team and the manager has also done very well to blood the team with a lot of new young players and letting some big names retire early. This is an England team without the big stars and big egos of English teams past. Wayne Rooney is finally gone, thank Christ, and there are no Beckham, Gerrard, Lampard, Owens type players to raise expectations. Ok Harry Kane could arguably fill that bracket, but he is still relatively unproven at international level, and with him we have Raheem Sterling, Marcus Rashford, Danny Rose and Dele Alli, a bunch of players who have had good seasons with their clubs the last few years,
Tunisia: Their squad doesn’t show much to excite. A few players from the local Tunisian league and quite a few that play in France, but no stand put player. Added to this fact is that they will also be losing their main striker to injury, Youssef Msakni, the top scorer in the qualifying campaign, and that further dents any chances they might have had. In a group with Belgium and England I am sorry to say I dont expect a whole lot from Tunisia. Even in the Panama game, where they might be already out at that stage, they might struggle. I fear for them, I really do, sorry Tunisia!
That penalty kind of rattled England a bit and they started to fanny around the pitch as they sometimes like to do, aimless balls and passing back and forth with no decisiveness. Always so frustrating to watch at times, these millionaire footballers so inept at playing what should be a simple game. Alli faded badly in the second, and Sterling was his usual crap self for England, and just when you were losing all hope to live, England get a corner, and to be honest you kind of felt they might jam in a goal from it. And they did. 
Starting small, they brewed very tiny batches, filled bottles by hand and sold their beers at local markets and out of the back of their beat up old Skoda pickup.
It was also along this time that they had a running battle with a German brewery, Schorschbräu, to see who could come up with the strongest beer in the world. Brewdog produced Sink the Bismark ,a beer with 41% alcohol to take the crown of the worlds strongest beer, from Schorschbräu, who had produced a 40% ABV version of their Schorschbock.
Today Brewdog is an internationally recognized beer brand, while also winning a tonne of awards and prizes for their beers. They produce roughly over 65 different beers shipping to over 55 countries worldwide,producing bottled and canned beers in a variety of styles such as ale, stout, India pale ale (IPA) and lager, some of which are also available in keg containers.
Was in there BrewDog bar in Manchester, and although the draught beer was good, the place was a kip. Fuck me, it was all over the place, was like an office, people talking and acting like dickheads, with angry staff and modern decor that didn’t really work. You know its a shit bar when you see people playing fucking snakes and ladders, that’s giving up for fucks sake! But let me put my disclaimer out there, I’m not hip enough for these kind of places.
Comes in a typical BrewDog design. The label decked out in a strong red, with usual style of distinctive lettering and logo. I do like their labels and bottle layout, its eye catching and colourful. 
Very typical of the craft beer style beers, overloaded with hops. Also got a lot of the sweet malts. 
Was planing on having a taste of this beer for a long time. Always stands out in the supermarket with its very interesting name, and its conspicuous label of what I guess is the ‘Hobgoblin’.
There is no doubt that this beer stands out with its very amusing logo, inspired by the local myths and legends of the ancient Wychwood forest.
I found it very hard to drink to be honest, one to sip, definitely not for a session, that’s for sure, for me anyway, lol.
Charles Wells Brewery was founded by Mr.Charles Wells in Bedford, in the east of England. A family brewery dating back to 1876, and now incorporating the brand Wells & Young, with a history of brewing distinctive beers, from the well-loved Bombardier, Young’s, Courage and McEwan’s ranges through to their quirky brews such as Banana Bread Beer and Double Chocolate Stout. They also run a chain of successful pubs, 200 and counting…..
This unique brew combines all the traditional ale recipes of the brewery with the subtle flavour of ‘Fair trade’ bananas, creating an intriguing and flavorsome pint. In 2002 the banana bread beer was awarded “Beer of the Festival” at CAMRA’s London Drinker Festival
A beer with banana, tastes like beer with banana! But its lovely, very smooth, doesn’t taste a lot like beer at all. Very sweet, but still smooth enough to drink. A bit of caramel noted as well.