List of beers and how we sourced them

This may be our last beer post until the European Football Cup in 2012. Once the list of football teams that have qualified has been published we will embark on the beer qualifying rounds.

I have promised you some information on how we sourced our beers.

Mike started off by doing shed loads of investigations about what beers are brewed in the countries competing. Our aim was to find a lager (around 5%) for each country.

First of all, we went to Tescos. Surprising what you can get there.

Then we went online to Beers of Europe - got lots there. Beeritz is also good.

Mike did a lot of googling for obscure online outlets. This yielded the Serbia beer, and the beers from Cameroon and Cote D'Ivoire (but turned out to be from Togo but close enough). This method gave us false hope, though, for Honduras. We also found a site for a store based in Elephant & Castle that looked as if it would provide some of the South American beers but they decided that they couldn't fulfil our order. I wonder if we could have sourced the beer if we went there in person.

Mike then investigated restaurants - we sourced the Swiss and Ghana beers this way.

I think we could have worked harder at locating local stores in areas with a high population from the country we were trying to source. We knew of the Korean Supermarket in Centrepoint, there must be more stores like that.

We found that some local stores (for example, Westholme Stores in Goring on Thames and the out-of-date beer shop in the Cowley Road, Oxford) have really good selections.

If we still couldn't find the right beer, we then asked lots of favours from our friends. In this way, we managed to source 2 bottles of Taedonggang from North Korea and the Slovenian Zlatorog.

And then if we still couldn't find a beer then we picked substitutes from nearby countries (some nearer than others...)

Here's the list of contestants.

If any of our readers know where to source  beers from Uruguay, Algeria, Paraguay, Chile or Honduras then please let us know!

Over and out until Euro 2012!

Algeria: could not source Alga Power Beer
Argentina: Quilmes, from Beers of Europe
Australia: VB, from Beers of Europe
Brazil: Palma Louca, from Beers of Europe
Cameroon: Castel, from www.alterafrica.com
Chile: could not source Cristal or Austral
Cote D'Ivoire: Flag, from www.alterafrica.com (but small print on the bottle says it's from Togo)
Denmark: Elephant, from Beers of Europe
England: Hop, from Tesco
France: Kronenbourg, from Tesco
Germany: Bitburger, from Tesco
Ghana: Star, from Gold Coast Bar, Brixton (who charged us a full £5 per bottle, and the bottles were out of date. Beware.)
Greece: Vergina, from Beers of Europe
Honduras: could not source Port Royal Export
Italy: Peroni, from Tesco
Japan: Kirin Ichiban, from Beers of Europe
Korea (South): Hite, from Korea Foods, Centrepoint
Korea (North): Taedonggang, from Simon. Good luck finding this one!
Mexico: Bohemia, from Beers of Europe
Netherlands: Bavaria, from Tesco
New Zealand: Speights, from Beers of Europe
Nigeria: Star, from Beers of Europe
Paraguay: could not source Baviera or Cerveceria Paraguayana Pilsen
Portugal: Super Bock, from Beers of Europe
Serbia: Apatinsko, from Vardor, Askew Road, W12
Slovakia: Zlaty Bazant, from Beers of Europe (sadly only tins available now)
Slovenia: Lasko Zlatorog, from Simon. But may be available in the UK now.
South Africa: Castle, from www.buysouthafricaonline.co.uk
Spain: Alhambra, from Beers of Europe
Switzerland: Swiss Mountain Beer, from St Moritz Restaurant, Soho (who were very charming)
Uruguay: could not locate Nortena
USA: Dixie, from Beers of Europe

The Final!!!!

We had a great time with our friends Janet and Julian and their kids in Javea, Spain - see photo below for the view from the swimming pool terrace - and anticipation and excitement for the final was palpable.....

The flight back landed 15 minutes early at 6.30 p.m. on Sunday, but frustratingly we weren't able to leave the plane for half an hour... then we had to get a bus from the south to the north terminal.... then the usual junction we take for our journey home was closed....we were getting anxious as bad luck usually comes in threes...

Fortunately the fridge was still working and the contestants were in prime condition

The hard disc recorder had also done its job, so all that remained was to defrost Ali's famous chicken curry from the freezer, boil some basmati rice, and plump up the cushions on the sofa.

But on to the main event - the beer finalists............

Slovakia was first and the judges were in unanimous agreement that Zlaty Bazant was on cracking form, fully justifying its place in the final. Denmark next and Elephant packed the punch it had trumpeted throughout the competition. It was a hard decision and most of the beer was finished before the result was announced.......... Zlaty Bazant was the deserved winner of the Boxbeck Football World Cup 2010 Beer Competition!

So it's all over now, but the memories will linger as we plough our way through all the "losers"....

Thanks for following us and look forward to seeing you all again when we commence our preparations for the European Cup in two years time.

Hasta Luego!!!!!

ps We will publish the list of contestants and suppliers shortly

Zlaty Bazant rules!

Apologies for the delayed post. We have been busy celebrating Mike's birthday and preparing for a little trip to Spain. Sadly, we will be flying back from Spain when the Football World Cup final is on. It would have been fun to have seen the football final in Spain. Bet our friends will be doing their best to persuade us to stay!

So we know who the football finalists are. But which beer is sitting in the Boxbeck fridge, awaiting its match with Denmark (Elephant)?

Well, it's none other than my favourite, Slovakia (Zlaty Bazant)! It faced off against Mexico (Bohemia) on Wednesday. On the tasting, I was surprised that Mexico made it to the final. It just shows that lagers basically all taste the same and it's down to your mood on the day. So Zlaty Bazant was the easy winner.

We have found out that Zlaty Bazant is now only available in tins, rather than bottles. How disappointing. We had been planning to stock up (once we've worked our way through all of our losers, which will take months, if not years).

Of course, some if you will be anxiously awaiting the match for 3rd place (France (Kronenbourg) vs Mexico (Bohemia)). But, guess what, we won't have any 3rd place play off. What's the point? They've lost! You don't get the losing Wimbledon semi finalists playing off for 3rd place, do you? So you will never hear it from us how Kronenbourg matches up head to head with Bohemia. You will just have to try it yourself..

The blog will be a little quiet now until the Beer Final. And after that we will publish a post about how and where we sourced our beers in case any one wants to emulate our competition for the Euros or next World Cup. We might even have a post on Quilmes (seems they are a football team as well as a beer. What a great combination), to try to win our free beer from the Other World Cup Beer Competition.

Hasta luego!

Penalty shoot out!

Denmark (Elephant) met France (Kronenbourg) yesterday in the first semi final. The two beers were very different. The Elephant threatened to out muscle Kronenbourg, as it has done to previous competitors. But Kronenbourg stood its ground, its more refreshing style backed with well balanced flavour. So we had to go to a penalty shoot out for the first time this competition. We had been considering blind tastings but clearly that wouldn't work with two such different beers. So we resorted to old faithful - the toss of a coin. Heads - it would be France. Tails - it would be Denmark (Elephants do have tails). Mike flipped the coin. And Denmark goes through! Bad luck France.

Review of second two quarter finals

Well Saturday was a glorious day for a barbecue.  The coals were burning just right, the sausages were blackening nicely and the lamb chops and sweetcorn were waiting patiently on the sidelines. Where were the assistant judges?

Paul and Evelyn made their journey to the tasting arena by mountain bike - a 1 hour journey from Reading. Admire their outfits in this photo - perfect to get everyone in the mood for the big match on the TV at 3 p.m. - Germany v Argentina. Notice the balanced support for football teams. Paul politely failed to gloat when Evelyn's team was trounced.

Evelyn also told us much about Quilmes - for a later blog. In the meantime, admire the excellent Quilmes shirt.

Alan and Helen motored over from Little Stoke, Helen hobbling in on crutches after an unfortunate fall - an extreme measure to avoid being the designated driver, but worth it given the bucketful of tempting beers on offer.

To reward the assistant judges a taster of Taedondang was poured.  This stimulated the taste buds prior to the main events and was surprisingly popular, despite its very poor performance in the group stages.

It was a close contest between Germany and Mexico, but Bitburger was not quite up to the challenge and lost narrowly 5-4 to Bohemia.

Next was Slovakia versus the only remaining African country in the competition, Cote d'Ivoire.  Flag put up a spirited performance but Zlaty Bazant (crazy name crazy beer) was pronounced the resounding winner, with a score of 5-4.

Two interesting semi-finals to come:

1. The contest of the traditionalists -

France v Denmark (Kronenbourg 1664 v Carlsberg Elephant). Will the superior strength (7.2%) of Denmark carry the day?

2. The battle of the newcomers -

Mexico v Slovakia (Bohemia v Zlaty Bazant) - this is anyone's to win, but the smart money will be on Slovakia

Happy drinking!

Review of first two quarter finals. No "Hand of God" in this contest!

Yesterday we were back to the beers and football after a few days off. We watched the Uruguay - Ghana match on the TV and any guilt I felt about allocating Uruguay that dreadful, out of date Patagonia brew disappeared after their outrageous, deliberate hand ball that robbed Ghana of their victory. Pah. We will now boo and hiss at Uruguay, and open a celebratory bottle of Ghana (Star in a bottle) when they lose.

But on to the contest that this blog is all about - the beers!

Contrary, to the tweet (Mike says that he was tired & emotional after a hard week at work), Denmark (Elephant) out muscled Honduras (sub Cristal from Cuba) 5-4. The Elephant was just more than the Cristal could handle. I think a lot could depend on the weather. Yesterday was cooler than it has been. On a hot day (perhaps more typical of Cuba & Honduras than Denmark), the Cristal would be better to drink than the Elephant. But every cloud has a silver lining - Honduras's loss is Alan's gain, as he will be able to have a bottle or two of his favourite tipple today as we do not need to hang on to any more Cristal for the semis and finals.

The second quarter final shows how commercial beers can really be quite good. You may recall I told you how Grolsch reached the semis of the Boxbeck European Beer competition two years ago, much to my surprise. Well, this time it's the turn of Kronenbourg. France (Kronenbourg) beat Australia (VB), in a fairly conclusive 5-4. The VB was surprisingly tasteless compared to the Kronenbourg.

So in the semis, we will have Denmark (Elephant) vs France (Kronenbourg). It will be interesting. On a very hot day my money would be on France....

Must dash - have to prepare for the BBQ for the judging panel for today's quarter finals.

Quarter final preview and Roddy's cocktail secrets

I can't believe that the quarter finals are upon us, starting tomorrow.

Friday's matches are:

• Denmark (Elephant - the contentious competitor) vs Honduras (sub Cristal from Cuba). I expect the strength of the Elephant to overwhelm the more delicate Cristal.

• France (Kronenbourg) vs Australia (VB). I think this one is too close to call, and much depends on our mood at the time.

On Saturday, the judging panel will be joined by Paul, Evelyn, Alan and Helen. Paul and Evelyn know lots about beer. Alan and Helen have been having lots of practice. Not only will we be assessing the quarter finalists, we will also take the opportunity to share some of the more unusual losers - we fully expect the 2 litre Apatinsko Serbian beer to be consumed. The matches on Saturday are:

• Germany (Bitburger) vs Mexico (Bohemia). Now, Bitburger has had a bit of an up & down tournament. So the result all depends on how it shows on the day.

• Slovakia (Zlaty Bazant) vs Cote D'Ivoire (sub Flag from Togo). I shall be rooting for the Zlaty Bazant! The Flag has also been having an up & down tournament, so this one should be close.

Good luck to all the quarter finalists. Mike will tweet the results and we will continue to post match reports.

Now to Roddy's cocktail secrets. To get your guests into the party mood, make sure that you stiffen the Pimms with a little extra gin! And to make a great champagne cocktail (see blogs passim), always soak the sugar cube in bitters.