Scan Magazine
Lifestyle
|
|
Columns
Scandinavian Lifestyle Summer thirst quenchers, from golden to dark Summer is fast approaching and, once again, we will be flocking to bar terraces to enjoy a tipple in the sun and watch people walk by. Excitedly, we will pack our picnic baskets with goodies and blankets for the park or a day on the beach, and we will invite friends and family for barbecues. A crisp and refreshing lager is perfect for those long-awaited sunny days, but that doesn’t have to mean bland mainstream lagers with no flavour. Actually, there are plenty of lager styles to satisfy any palate – amber lager, for instance. This sessionable style has a nice balance of malt sweetness and hops bitterness – it works fabulously with grilled meats and vegetables. Golden ale is another great summer beer. In fact, according to the Beer Judge Certification Program (BJCP), modern golden ales were developed in England
to take on the popular lagers. Golden ales are also called golden bitters, British blonde ales, or, yes indeed, summer ales. A tasty example is Oppigårds Golden Ale, the renowned craft brewery’s first beer and nowadays one of the most popular ales brewed in Sweden. Another treat to be enjoyed on the patio is Belgian Witbier. Brewed with coriander and orange peel, it has a light and refreshing vibe with spicy, herbal and citrusy notes. Berliner Weisse, with its low alcohol and high carbonation, is also a superb summer style. Often brewers add berries and exotic fruits, so no surprise a Berliner Weisse works really well as an aperitif. But summer beers don’t need to be straw, golden or amber in colour. A surprisingly refreshing and crisp alternative from the dark side is black lager, or Schwarzbier, with a lighter body than ex-
By Malin Norman
pected and high carbonation – perfectly crisp and crushable. Malin Norman is a certified beer sommelier, international beer judge and member of the British Guild of Beer Writers.
Everybody drinks natural wine in Copenhagen By Alejandra Cerda Ojensa
Scandinavians are choosing to eat more organic, locally-produced and plant-based food – and it’s now spilling over (pun intended) to the beverages, too. The natural wine trend is definitely here to stay. It was that one week when I worked at Systembolaget (the state-owned Swedish liquor store) a few years ago that I learned about natural wine for the first time. As there is no certification that defines natural wine we could only advise the customers asking for natural wine to read the labels. While some Scandinavian cities are still hesitant, Copenhagen has been on the forefront thanks to the trendsetting three Michelin-starred restaurant Noma. Today, pretty much all restaurants in Copenhagen offer natural wine. If you’ve never heard of natural wine, the non-official but kind-of-official definition is a wine produced from organic grapes with as 18 |
Issue 143
|
June 2022
little interference as possible: no pesticides, only wild yeast, and a very limited amount of sulfites. All the additives that make conventional wine consistent in colour, smell and flavour – in order to be easier to sell – are not used. The result is a cloudy, sometimes funky-smelling, absolutely fantastic wine. The taste can range from sour kombucha to a sweet Riesling flavour – and you will find it in every colour. If you haven’t tried it, I suggest you do. As I’m no longer working at Systembolaget I can happily recommend a couple of bars: for a fun wine experience (the bar is quite traditional, the staff are not) in Copenhagen, I suggest a visit to Ved Stranden 10 in Indre By or, for a more intimate experience, Ancestrale in Vesterbro is a good option. Don’t worry about being too hipster: everybody drinks natural wine in Copenhagen, even more than in the wine-producing countries.
Alejandra Cerda Ojensa is a Swedish sustainability blogger based in Copenhagen. She loves sustainable fashion, plant-based food, natural wines and music, and writes a column for Scan Magazine about sustainable lifestyle.