France V Belgium
Synopsis in red
Beers: Semi Final Beer World Cup:
France (Kronenbourg 1664) unfortunately didn’t even make it out of my Beer World Cup Group C in a relatively tough group with Denmark (Carlsberg), Peru (Cusqueña) and Australia (Fosters), while Belgium had a good run in my Beer World Cup, winning Beer World Cup G, with beers from Jessenhofke and Kamil, beating Colombia (Club Colombia) easy in round two, but their good run was ended by some Swiss heavyweights, Celestial Brewery, Soo. Soors Beer, Dr. Brauwolf, in the last 8. So we have Switzerland instead of Belgium today.
Russia V Switzerland
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. Then in the last eight they met Nigeria (Guinness Special Export), who came second in my Beer Group D.
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 in the last eight they had a tough battle with Belgium (Jessenhofke and Kamil) just coming out by the skin of their teeth!
Celestial Brewery Soo. Soors Beer Dr. Brauwolf
Read who qualified for my Beer World Cup last 4 here
Was an epic battle with a few twists and turns
First off had a Dr.Brawolf Red Ale, and although it was full of carbo, when it settled down it was very good, lovely and so smooth to drink. Enjoyed it. Then I had a Soo.Soors Swiss Ale, another very smooth beer, nice and crisp and again a very enjoyable beer to experience. I had the two Swiss beers in competition against the Knightberg Brettness which came in a huge 7l corked bottle, and took me quite a while to drink. Although the two Swiss beers were good, very good, the Russian Brettness was EXCELLENT, like a good red wine, full of tastes and fruity flavours and even though there was a lot of it to drink I wish I had more of it! One nil to Russia here.
Next battle was between Celestial Beer’s Le Dermier Ciel, a New England IPA, whihc was fine and got the basics right, was hoppy and very good to drink. Against Knightberg’s Hefeweizen, which had a very intriguing aroma and taste. The wheat smell and taste was very strong but very pleasurable, and it felt more like good nourishment than a regular beer, it definitely had the wow factor too, so I also give this one to the Russians. Two nil and straight into my beer world cup final! Wasnt expecting that to be honest as the Swiss trio have had solid beers all month, while the Russians have dipped a little recently after a great start, but today they had two brilliant beers that I will definitely be checking out again.
PreGame:
Belgium V Brazil: From the start the excitement was built up, the national anthem of Brazil belted out by the players and the crowd, great to see.
And that passion transferred to the pitch as Brazil started well, with Thiago Silva missing a sitter that hit his knee and went mad wide. Should have scored the opener.
Fernandinho then scored a bad own goal to give Belgium the lead somewhat against the run of play. A quick corner hit his arm and went in, was very unlucky for Brazil
Brazil came back strong with both Coutinho and Marcelo having shots well saved by Courtois in the Belgian goal.
But once again Belgium struck on the counter, with a superb goal by De Bruyne shooting to the corner from just outside the box, what a great goal from a very classy player. This was starting to look worrying for Brazil, 2 down inside half an hour. It was all from a quick break from a Brazilian corner, Lukaku doing most of the running to by pass midfield and give it to Keven to work his magic.
In the second half it was all Brazil, attack after attack by the team in the famous yellow shirts. But Courtois was on the top of his game, and saved well from Coutinho and his lovely curler.
When Douglas Costa came on it made a huge difference in the game, the man was simply breathtaking, and we must wonder why we only got to see only about 30 minutes of him all world cup! He lifted the tempo even higher, and Brazil started to have some real good chances. Renato Augusto took one of those chances with a lovely headed goal to bring Brazil back into this game. Was a good goal with a great pass from Coutinho. But Augusto should have got the equaliser when he was set up again by Coutinho, but this time not hitting the target, tsk tsk. Coutinho himself was superbly set up by Neymar, and had the whole goals to shoot at but instead blasted it wide. Again a decent chance not taken. And then we had the final chance from Neymar with a lovely curling effort that was heading for the top corner, or so we thought, until Courtois pulled of the save of the tournament to tip it over the bar. Brilliant goalkeeping from a goalie in the best form of his life
By the end Belgium hung on, just about. I have to say I take my hat of to Martinez, their manager, he has them well coached, and every players knows exactly what they have to do on the pitch, a really well drilled operation. Plus it looks like they are enjoying their football too, which always helps..
France V Uruguay: Perhaps not the most entertaining of games, but France just did enough to get into the last four of the World Cup.
It started off very lively with both teams going hell for leather the first 20 minutes or so. It wasn’t a bad opening half as Uruguay with their defensive hard to break down style which is dangerous on the break up against a French team that likes to build slowly from the back, it was a real contrast of footballing styles.
The deadlock was finally broken in the 40 minute when a beautifully weighted free kick from Griezmann found the head of Varane, who scored with a lovely header to put France one up.
Uruguay responded quickly, and Stuani had a header expertly saved one handed by Lloris, who was full stretch to prevent the goal, brilliant. The follow up was booted over the bar by Godin, who might have used a cooler head to chip it into the empty net!
In the 60th minute Griezmann took a shot to nothing which somehow Muslera let slip through his fingers into the net. An embarrassing goal to let in, considering how well he has played at this years World Cup. That was pretty much the game over, as, without Cavani, Uruguay could not score two goals to get back into this game.
France did enough to get to the last four but they need to up their performance today against a very well drilled Belgian team if they want to make further progression. I think I might go with Belgium, but only just.
Great start to the game from both teams, Pogba to Mbappe but Courtois quick off his line, A Hazard shot which Varane just headed over. Alderweireld then with a tight angled shot that seen Lloris saving superbly, up the other end Pavard seeing his shot well saved by Courtois. If anything it was the goalkeepers that were the busiest in the opening exchanges.
At half time I would have said that Belgian were bossing it a bit, especially in the centre with Kevin pinging the ball around, so France on the 51st minute kind of scored against the run of play, when Umtiti headed to the back of the net from a corner, one nil to France.
This fired up the Belgians, and again Lloris was called into action to save from Witsel this time. But for all their huffing and puffing Belgium really couldn’t break the France back line which was well marshaled by Pogba, of all people! France managed to hold out for a memorable victory against a very good Belgium team.
Music to get you in the mood
V The Kids – Bloody Belgium (Belgium)
Have a feeling Mexico will push on from the Germany game and hit the ground running, up against a Korean team with nothing to offer, this could be a whitewash. 
Great goal by Lozano, brilliant to get the drag back and the space to rifle it home. Excellent move from the back, and in three lovely movements he was in.
The Korean goalkeeper, Cho Hyun-Woo, has to be commended for keeping his team in it, as he made about 3 or 4 top class saves, one a point blank save from Berg.
R Márquez made an appearance and proceeded to have a brain freeze gifting the ball to Min, who should have done better. Corona came on and I was wondering what Porto got for their 10 million, as he barely made a forward run at all, tripping up over the ball at times. Anyway Korea pulled one back and Mexico held on, just about. 
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. 
SAB over time came to dominate not just South Africa, but most of the continent of Africa, and through a series of acquisitions and joint ventures throughout the 1990s, SAB gained a foothold in various countries in Africa, Eastern Europe (Hungary and Czech Rep.) and Asia (China and India). This was a definite process of a company from a “developing nation” buying breweries from countries that had similar geo-political, infrastructural and business issues. Success in these emerging markets showed that SAB could venture into the “Developed world”, such as in Italy and the US. Working in South Africa and in developing countries first was very beneficial as it helped the company come up with numerous innovative ways to deal with lack of infrastructure, supports, and skill shortages. It also made the company more open to take risks. The company also invested in other lucrative markets, such as running hotels and casinos, and diversified into the food industry (coffee, tea, and food products), manufacturing and retail (including green grocers, furniture factories and stores, shoe factories and stores, and clothing stores). This was a company that had its nose in every nook and cranny of SA society!
Back to Castle Brewery. Castle Lager sponsors a host of sporting teams and events, from the main sponsor of “Bafana Bafana”, the national football team, to the South African Cricket Team, the South African Rugby Team, ie, the “Springboks”, and a host of others. 
Has a nice piercing smell of sweet corn, and a lager type aroma, very malty, grainy and lemony. Ok on the nose.
A beer from Ethiopia??? Yeah you bet ya I’d like to try that. Apparently Ethiopia has a thriving beer industry. Well you learn something new everyday, eh!?
The beer has an interesting cover on its bottle. We get to see a medieval type knight slaying a dragon. Well of course that knight is St George, the geezer that slayed that big old dragon back in the day and I think might also have something to do with the Knights Templar (See my article on 
Aroma is faint but I got a sweet malty smell and some barely, bit tinty and lagery as well. 
The Nigerian product is very different to the stuff you would buy back in Dublin. The product essentials are the same, branding and trademarks, but the inside of the bottle is different. Instead of barley, it’s typically brewed with locally harvested maize or sorghum, producing a more bitter taste which is more suited to the African palate. It is also sold in ice-cold liter-sized bottles with a 7.5 percent alcohol content boasting a higher content compared to the roughly 4-5 percent found in Guinness draught and Guinness Extra Stout.
Comes in the well known dark bottle, Guinness Special Extra Stout is a beer with its own unique taste. Can I find the classic Guinness taste in this Foreign Extra version?
