Danish Beers

[Susan in FL]

Does anyone else have an interest in beers from Denmark? We were first introduced to them when our "Danish son" Morten first came to live with us about 10 years ago as an exchange student. We bought Carlsberg by the case and drank it regulary for that entire year. It pretty much became our everyday beer, as distinguished from the microbrews and homebrewing we were trying at the time.

At some point in time, what we bought started coming from Canada, and what a difference it made. ...Not good. Recently, we learned that Carlsberg didn't renew the contract or whatever, and when we can find it now, it is made in Denmark again. We're on the lookout!

From the last time Morten was in Denmark he brought us some other Carlsbergs, and we enjoyed tasting these. Still, I think my favorite is the standard that is sold here.

Another we are enjoying now is Tuborg, apparently brewed by Carlsberg, especially during the hazy hot and humid daze of Florida summer. I love it. We're finding it pretty regularly in our area. The only problem is that it's often Tuborg Gold, and we don't like that nearly as much. When we were in Denmark, we tasted different kinds, including the Christmas Brew and the Royal Danish Strong.

I'll try to remember to write some tasting notes next time.

[Brad Ballinger]

When I was in Denmark (1992 -- got married there), my beer of choice was Tuborg Green Label. I haven't seen it outside of Denmark. I can find Carlsberg and Carlsberg's Elephant Malt Liquor with relative ease. Tuborg Gold can be had on occasion, but, as with you, it's not a favorite of mine.

My wife (fiance at the time) and I toured the Tuborg brewery while we were there. Tuborg bottles Carlsberg.

Tuborg and Carlsberg are the beers we came across waaaaay more than any other in Copenhagen.

I once heard that the Danes are fourth worldwide in beer consumption per capita (behind Germany, Poland, and Britain). Don't know if there's any truth to that or not, but it was certainly my experiences that the Danes love their beer.

[mtigges]

I once heard that the Danes are fourth worldwide in beer consumption per capita (behind Germany, Poland, and Britain).  Don't know if there's any truth to that or not, but it was certainly my experiences that the Danes love their beer.

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No doubt they're up there, but I can't believe any top four in this stat that doesn't include either Belgium or Czech Republic.

I believe it's Czech, Germany, Belgium. After that I'm not sure.

[Susan in FL]

Brad, you got married in Denmark...! That surely qualifies as a Danish connection.

I don't know if that ranking on beer consumption is true either, but same here about my experience. The Danes we hung out with surely love their beer!

Green label... sounds familiar. I'll ask Morten about it. We once drank Danish beer out of a green plastic bottle.

[babyluck]

Mr. babyluck was an exchange student in Maribo, Denmark, and came home with a love for many things Danish, most of all Tuborg. He can't stand Carlsberg and it drives him nuts that it is everywhere and Tuborg isn't. Even at the Scandinavian festival we attended a few years ago.

We found it at a deli in Asolo, Italy, and he was in heaven. I thought it was OK but I don't like pilseners as a rule.

[slbunge]

Several years ago I worked with a guy from Denmark who was working in the US for a year while his girlfriend was in graduate school. One of my fond memories of his year here was when he 'smuggled' bottles of Tuborg Christmas beer (don't know the official name) back with him when he returned to the US after the holidays. I have craved that beer many times.

I was in Denmark during the summer of 2001 and my favorite quickly became Tuborg green label. Perfect drink for a lingering conversation at a cafe in Copenhagen. I've stopped looking for it in the US. I had one when we were in Amsterdam a month ago and it was as I remembered.

Curious why it isn't exported to the US.

[Brad Ballinger]

Damn. Seeing that can of Tuborg Green Label is both pleasing and frustrating. Carlsberg is not the same. Tuborg Gold is not the same.

But I wonder if it would be the same if it had to go through any alterations in production in order to be imported into the U.S. I mention this because I've drank two bottles of Poland's Zywiec side by side -- one imported into the U.S. and sold at retailers, and the other "imported" into the U.S. by a friend returning from there. I had pleny of Zywiec (and Okocim) when I was in Poland, and loved them. But the stuff you can buy here just isn't the same. So that might happen with Tuborg Green Label. I don't know.

[slbunge]

Damn.  Seeing that can of Tuborg Green Label is both pleasing and frustrating.  Carlsberg is not the same.  Tuborg Gold is not the same.

But I wonder if it would be the same if it had to go through any alterations in production in order to be imported into the U.S.  I mention this because I've drank two bottles of Poland's Zywiec side by side -- one imported into the U.S. and sold at retailers, and the other "imported" into the U.S. by a friend returning from there.  I had pleny of Zywiec (and Okocim) when I was in Poland, and loved them.  But the stuff you can buy here just isn't the same.  So that might happen with Tuborg Green Label.  I don't know.

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I think that the US version of Zywiec is decent enough. What I wonder is, that is the driver for a change in recipe for this market. Perhaps I'm naive about the regulations, but Tuborg green seems the sort of beer that would be fine for export.

[Soren Nielsen]

Being a Dane myself I of course had to add a post to this thread..

The two major brands are as already mentioned, Carlsberg and Tuborg.

Carlsberg was launched in around 1847 and has been producing the classic "Carlsberg Pilsner" since 1904. Carlsberg is pretty well known worldwide, and through recent massive purchases in especially eastern europe and russia, it is now one of the world's largest breweries.

Tuborg started as an independent brewery in the late 1800's and merged with Carlsberg in 1970 - Tuborg is now a subsidiary of Carlsberg and thus brewed by them.

In Denmark the question about which one is better has almost religious proportions. I find Carlsberg better suited for enjoying with food whereas Tuborg is a fresher beer perfect for enjoying in the sun.

Generally I think they both are very good, but as far as I know the ones available outside of Denmark are brewed under contract by local breweries and the ones I have sampled do not taste as good as the originals.

10 years ago it was hard to find any other brands in pubs, but the public interest for foreign beers has flourished recently and a wide selection from especially Britain and Belgium is now available almost everywhere. Modern Danish supermarkets now has anywhere from 20 to 50 different brands .

This development has recently led Carlsberg to launch four pretty interesting beers:

- Bramley Wit, inspired by Belgian wheat beer

- Brown Ale, inspired by British traditional ale

- Dark Lager, a recreation of an original Carlsberg beer from 1850's

- Saaz Blonde, using Saaz hops from the Czech republic.

All in large vintage bottles. I doubt that these are exported though.

An interesting note is that both brands produce quite a few special brews for the holidays. For instance, every Easter and Christmas Tuborg launches special editions with a higher abv and these are tremendously popular especially with the youth - on the date of the Christmas beer release the pubs are flooded.

Cheers!

[babyluck]

I once heard that the Danes are fourth worldwide in beer consumption per capita (behind Germany, Poland, and Britain).  Don't know if there's any truth to that or not, but it was certainly my experiences that the Danes love their beer.

←

No doubt they're up there, but I can't believe any top four in this stat that doesn't include either Belgium or Czech Republic.

I believe it's Czech, Germany, Belgium. After that I'm not sure.

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I was intrigued, so I did some digging. I found several different sources for the years 2002-2004 in worldwide beer consumption per capita by liter. The Czech Republic ranks first on the '03 list and not at all on the other two, which must mean that for some reason they were not included in the study. According to their PR, they are still, and always, #1.

The lists are hard to compare, but here are the summarized rankings:

Czech Republic

Ireland/Germany/Austria (varies from year to year)

Belgium/Denmark/UK

Australia/US

The Danish data has an important notation--it does not include border sales, which must be huge, as anyone who has taken the ferry over the North Sea (a.k.a. "Party Boat") can tell you.

Sources:

Brewers of Europe

nationmaster.com

realbeer.com