Jämtlands Bärnsten

Brewed by Jämtlands Bryggeri
Style: Premium Lager
Pilgrimstad, Sweden

Serve in Lager glass

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Bottle, pours amber with white head. Fruity, malt, caramel aroma. Taste is moderate bitter. Good lager

The foam is thin and white. The colour is clear amber (“bärnsten” is amber in Swedish). The smell is full of malt, Challenger hops and a bit sourish. The carbonation is balanced, long lasting and just right for this kind of beer. The taste includes the characteristic Jämtlands Bryggeri-elements: A fine dry bitterness, lots of balanced malts and lots of Challenger and maybe some Bramling hops. The aftertaste is bitter and well bodied. Solid, as expected from these fine brewers!

Bottle. Pale brown body, white frothy head. Light malty aromaand a tad fruity. Medium malty flavour. Some fruitiness. Pleasant carbonation. Pretty complex for a pale lager. Light bitter finish. (Ånn, 19.03.08)

Glowing amber color with a great wild sparkling carbonation. Small creamy white head leaving thick lacing in the glass. Aroma is fresh sweet malt with caramel and a touch of grapefruit. Flavor is smooth malt with a caramel sweetness perfectly balanced with a grapefruit hoppiness. Very pleasant contribution from the boys up north in Jämtland.

After my recent trip to Copenhagen (where my rather low opinion of pilsner was not improved by drinking lots of Carlsberg) it was with a sense of mild trepidation that I prized the cap off of yet another pilsner. But I needn’t have worried, as Jämtlands has somehow managed to produce a pilsner with the many of the characteristics of an ale. Rather than the normal neutral-tasting fizzy cabbage water I was treated to a beautiful amber coloured pilsner (bärnsten means amber in Swedish) that was bursting with tropical fuits, peppary spices, caramel malt and a puff of hairspray. The signature Jämtlands aromas were all there too, as well as a cracking long-lasting bitterness. I’m not sure if this really is pilsner but if it is I’ve been converted.

A nose of citrus an hops. Taste is initially mellow and smooth and contains butter and citrus. Jämtlands hussmak takes over a bit though.

Colour towards amber, decent head. Some butterscotch in the aroma. Full malty body, reasonably bitter. Traditional after ski beer, one of the best.

Jämtlands remains one of the best breweries in Sweden and this remains one of their finest. Unfortunately most pubs, even in Jämtland (the region of origin) itself seem to no longer have it on tap and only on bottle. This beer has lots of taste of hops and the colour is none other than bärnsten (amber).

Nice colour, well balanced hop aroma and bitterness