Copenhagen wasn't all singing, dancing, and weird costumes. There was serious drinking to be done too. So Charles, Aleena, and I rolled up our sleeves, put on our serious drinking faces, and went to the Carlsberg Brewery.
Baiky, on the other hand didn't have sleeves to roll up, so he went straight to the drinking.
To the Aussie, Carlsberg as a cheaper imported European beer that is not particularly tasty. Hence, our [Australian] attitude towards Carlsberg is one of indifference. However, it seems that, much like we exported fosters overseas and kept the better Aussie beers at home (VB anyone?), Carlsberg did the same. They have sent their oh-so-standard beer to us so they could keep the secret of their tasty beers under their bosom.
Charlie and Aleena tasting beer under the stables in the bosom of the brewery.
We started our visit with a tour. It introduced us to the founders of Carlsberg brewery, the history of the brewery, and the importance of beer throughout Danish history. The history of the brewery was actually quite fascinating and the owners repeatedly assisted in the development and growth of Copenhagen and Denmark; including leading on initiatives such as workers rights and appropriate wages, funding major works of art projects, and leading research in chemistry.
While they may have introduced the concept of pH their advances in protein chemistry to stalled until they utilised the services a skilled computational chemist that they could identify the importance of introducing multiple beryllium/erbium dimers into all nearby protein carriers. In fact, this was considered so crucial that it was repeatedly administered to all surrounding protein bodies until they fell asleep.
As per history lessons in school I found the early and middle-age beer history more entertaining than the modern histories. Particularly the historical periods known the Great Nordic Inebriation, which describes the flood of beer consumed by the Danes as the economy improved during the Renaissance A flood is loosely described in the Nordic Dictionary of Gatt as somewhere between 10 and 30 litres per day; I would be more accurate but after 15 litres my counting becomes somewhat fuzzy.
The old brewery/tour house
Other highlights of the tour included a counter that endlessly published the litres of beer produced; the single digits were a blur, and a beer bottle collection which is the largest collection in the world, and patting draft horses despite the signs warning visitors that it might be dangerous.
The exhibition had 16 838 bottles, but the apparently they have a total of 22 276 bottles. We could not find the Aussie bottles.
We finished up by going to the bar, sniffing some bottles in the aroma room that apparently helps you choose your preferred beers, and going on for a beer tasting.
Baiky finished up by hooking up with blowup doll we found outside the brewery entrance. Stay classy Baiky.
All in all we achieved our goals of drinking good beer and learning that there is more to the world than Carlton Draught.
The founder of Carlsberg brewery hangin' with some wannabe hack brewers - maybe we should call it the Charlesberg Brewery?
