Kamil
Brewed by BierenVanBegeerte
Berchem, Belgium
Bieren Van Begeerte is a Belgian brewery that focuses on specialty and custom made beers.
Founded in 2001. Beginning small, in the centre of the beautiful medieval city of Antwerp, and with a lot of trial and error, but fire in their belly, they started to produce some very tasty beers that seemed popular with the general public.
Kamil was their first baby! Proving to be a success leading them to expansion and a movement to a bigger brewery to Berchem on the outskirts of Antwerp. Onward and upwards!
Since 2001, Bieren Van Begeerte have always relied on their own recipes with hop varieties that is grown with great care on their Lints hop field. As small-scale micro brewers, they value local quality produce with the best sourced ingredients resulting in beers that stand apart from the rest. Modern creations in a classic type beer market.
Review: 33cl. Bottle of Kamil, a Belgian ale: 6.5% ABV
Lovely clear yellow coloured beer, with a nice smallish white head, looks ok. Some carbonation and good lacing. Head maintains.
Smell is nice with sweet malts, and a bit citrusy, a strong enough smell and piercing on the nose
The smell is pleasant.
Initial taste is hoppy, a very hoppy taste, typical of a Belgian ale, hitting you at the start. Sweet and bitter.
Nice n tasty, lots of flavours and strong tastes.
Hops are not too overbearing though, nice and light enough to appreciate.
Full of tastes, getting the barley, the wheat, the fruits, and, of course, the hops.
When you look at it you think it will be nice and calm, it looks lovely and unassuming but boy do the looks deceive, quite hoppy when you get into it. The calm before the storm so to speak!
A typical strongish Belgian ale, nice and tasty. A good beer to sip and enjoy.
Review: 75cl. Bottle of Kamil Greenstone, Strong Belgian Ale : 8% ABV
In a nice long brownish bottle, the Greenstone is a collaboration brew done with De Proefbrouwerij.
A bottle fermented beer that uses organically grown barley malt.
Had a lot of carbonation on the pour, took a little while to settle. But amongst all the froth emerged a lovely white headed beer with a nice dark hazy orange colour. It was very appetizing on the eye.
Naturally it had good lacing, and the head maintained throughout (even if my sanity at drinking so much beer and watching the football didn’t!).
Top marks for appearance, it looked magnificent.
On the smell I got a very fruity aroma, of oranges and apples.
For the taste, I got a very strong hoppy beer, quelle surprise its a Belgian! The hops are strong and it is bitter, but they are manageable enough to enjoy, and actually add to the experience of this beer.
Strong, nice to drink over time, and with the 75cl bottle you have that time needed to fully appreciate this beer.
A strong beer, with the spicy flavours, the hops, grains, the citrus, and the organic barley, all swirling around in your mouth, balanced and making this beer a particular favourite. Its playing a rock n roll tune with my taste buds.
Full of tasty hops and very bitter. Great big mouthfuls to enjoy, and my head was buzzing a little after it, but my mood was pleasant and I was just happy to have enjoyed a good long beer.
Review: 75cl. Bottle of Moktamee, Belgian Ale: 6.5% ABV
Moktamee is a specialty beer coming in a big 75cl bottle.
The appearance is one of a very dark amber colour with some reddish hue, and a nice white frothy head that does stick around.
Some good lacing on the glass too.
Looks great, in fact looks better than that, looks majestic. A very good looking beer.
Has a hoppy enough smell on the nose.
Oh my, the taste is very hoppy, very bitter, the hops making a very strong impression on the tongue.
Nice big mouthfuls swilling around, lovely stuff, the barley, the wheat and toasted malts doing the business.
Bit strong too, a good strong Belgian beer.
Perhaps not overrun with a lot of unique flavours, but I thoroughly enjoyed it while I watched the football. Very hoppy but very manageable though, and it had me buzzing by the end of it. Loved it.
It was when Italian born Alessandro Zecchinato lived and worked in Dublin, Ireland that he got a love of the craft beer movement and seeing the potential of the market decided to try and bring some craft beer innovation to Croatia. But why Croatia? Well, he also met Veronika Becker in Ireland, fell in love and married her! Veronika was born in the former Yugoslavia, can speak Croatian, and so had experience of the region. With Claudio, a close friend, they all studied the industry inside and out and received a lot of useful information from Irish and Italian breweries, both big and small, and so in March 2015 they founded Bura Brew d.o.o. 
A golden ale that is unfiltered and bottle-conditioned. With a nice looking logo on the bottle, looks like an Inca design not sure of its relevance to Croatia. 
On the taste, it hits you from the start, the hops. Manageable hops, a light bitterness, not too strong making the beer not bad to sip on and slowly enjoy.
A new and exciting artisan brewery in the historical heart of Lisbon, Portugal producing beers that are both innovative and different to the mainstream. Try the Gallas Beer!
Inaugurated in 2018 by brewer Gustavo Gallas, the beer that bears his name is the result of his love for brewing high quality beer for many years. Here beer is made according to the old traditions, with dedication, passion and totally handcrafted processes all with the best locally sourced ingredients from the beautiful and sun land that is Portugal. 
Christ on a bike, this beer is just full of carbonation, a lot of it! This all results in a huge frothy white head that takes a little while to settle. After all that we get a pale yellow looking beer that looks ok. Later the colour goes a bit hazy and cloudy. 
Once again a nice logo and bottle, certainly catches the eye for sure, as this time we are treated to a bikini clad lady on a beach, images of relaxing on a beach with a nice cold cool beer at hand.
The aroma was intense, a really lovely smell, very fruity and really strong on the nose. Got citrus hops. It had the “wow factor”, was really nice and exotic. It smelled like a grapefruit.
It wasn’t that long ago that beer, all beer, was banned in the tiny North Atlantic island. Due to religious reasons, alcohol was not allowed, for fear of its corrupting influence. This was changed in 1933 in a nationwide referendum where 57.7% of the voters approved of lifting the ban. But before we congratulate common sense, beer was only to be allowed if it had an alcohol content not more than 2.25%. Of course this just led to a thriving black market in stronger strength beers smuggled into the country and also beers sold by home brewers that were laced with strong spirits. Finally in May 1988, the government passed legislation legalizing beer above 2.25% ABV. The lifting of restrictions on beer is celebrated as Beer Day on March the 1’st, a day that all beer lovers on the island hold dear. Since then beer, wine and spirits are sold widely and consumed as in any other country. 
Located just 60 miles south of the Arctic circle in the fishing port of Akureyri is the brewery Einstök Ölgerð (Einstök Beer Company). Tapping into pure fresh water that comes directly from prehistoric glaciers flowing down from the majestic Hlíðarfjall Mountain and ancient lava fields, Einstök are able to produce top quality craft brews.
On taste, fuck me, found the initial taste very hard hitting and very hoppy. It this really a regular pale ale? Tastes more like an IPA, fuck me. I think they called it an Arctic Pale Ale to differentiate between the two. Its their own creation, a Viking version of a pale ale!
I have to be honest, I dont think they actually played much decent football at that tournament, a lot of it was smash and grab stuff. But to be fair to the Icelanders, it wasn’t a tournament with a lot of quality on show. We did learn though, that this team can compete and can beat the top teams. And they will never give up, playing right to the 90th minute and beyond. Which goes to show you that a team which such a strong work ethic always have a chance. I guess that’s why we love watching them. 
They have a tough group though. Argentina, Nigeria and Croatia, three teams that are no pushovers. The only thing with Argentina is that they are notorious slow starters and Iceland might just catch them cold on the first day. After that I’d imagine they might be a bit too clever for Nigeria, and would be well able to match them physically. Last match against Croatia they might just need a draw, but it might be hard to keep Modric and co quiet for 90 minutes. I expect Iceland to go close but at the moment my head says that Argentina and Croatia will just shade it. The fact I didn’t mention any players shows that its the team and their cohesiveness that is the main thing for Iceland, but sometimes you need a top star to change a game and that’s where I feel in such a tight group could be where they come up short. But I could be wrong, and like so many people in the last Euros, Iceland just might prove us all wrong. Again! 
In the ancient ruins of Macchu Picchu, Peru, thousands go every year to experience the spiritual lands of the ancients in the hope they to can drink some special beer from the brewery Backus y Johnston, at the the seat of the Inca empire. Using pure mountain water sourced from the nearby Andes this beer was founded in 1911. Ok not quite way back in time, but good enough for me and for the general masses who have made it Peru’s number one beer. 
On October 1, 1908, Ernesto Günther, and a group of investors, founded the Cervecera Alemana in the ancient city of Cusco. Their bottled brew proved a hit. Over time they changed their name to reflect local traditions, increased production and grew in popularity. By 2000, Backus and Johnston, the largest brewery in Peru, came a calling and took over the company. 
On taste, oh its not great, tasteless, I am not getting anything substantial at all. A slight taste of the barely and caramel, on the initial taste, but that’s basically it, flavourless and has no bite to it with only the slightest bit of an aftertaste. Very dry in the mouth too. 
“Fosters, the Australian for lager” or so they say, but is it really? I am sure we all have heard the stories at this stage that Aussies dont actually drink Fosters. Its like a funny weird game the company play with the public, the more people cotton onto this “fact” the more they flex their “Australian credentials” via advertisements and sponsorship of all things Australian. 
With this initial success, the brothers sold the company to make a quick buck and the company eventually ended up in the hands of the Carlton & United Breweries company. These days it is owned by the international brewing giant AB InBev, and its biggest market is in the UK (second only to Carling), distributed by Heineken International who own the European rights to the brand (SABMiller for the US and Molson in Canada) 
If I was surprised about the look, then I was shocked with the smell. There was none, NONE! Completely odorless. Pretty neat trick I think.
I’d expect them to canter in their group. Switzerland and Serbia are muck and Brazil will play some samba football putting them to the sword. Costa Rica might give them some game, but also wont have a chance of an upset. Nine points and lots of goals should see them ease into the second round where they might get to probably play Mexico. Belgium or even England in the last eight might be interesting but you would imagine that Brazil would edge them to make the semis. Might get France/Portugal/Spain in the semis to set up a possible final with Germany and a chance to really set the record straight. Now wouldn’t that be some final?
All eyes will be on Neymar, coming into the World Cup at 26 and in peak physical fitness, this really can his World Cup. I am also looking forward to seeing Liverpool ace, Roberto Firmino, and also Gabriel Jesus of Man City. Both players having great seasons in the EPL. Both the whole squad looks decent and although my heart skipped a beat when I saw the name Fred, rest assured it is a new younger Fred who plays in Ukraine with Shakhtar Donetsk, phew!
Messi they wouldn’t have even made it out of their group. Getting hammered 6-1 recently by Spain and only just about getting qualification (once again thanks to Messi in the last game) doesn’t bode well for this years games. They already lost to group rivals Nigeria recently as well. 
But you can never discount Messi. The 5 time World Player of the year will surely once again drag his team kicking and screaming over the line. I expect them to get out of the group, just about. With a tough second round game against either Denmark or France that might cause issues to them, and if they get trough that they have Spain or Portugal in the last eight. It wont be easy and it seems every game is a challenge. I don’t think they can do it as Sergio Aguero is carrying a niggly injury and Gonzalo Higuain is a crock of shit.
