Spelar Det Någon Roll Vem Som Äger?

“Jättebolagen som köper bryggerier har olika intentioner. Den stora boven är ABInBev som försöker döda all konkurrens, man köper för att lägga ned eller laka ur värdet i lokala bryggeriers produkter. Det är sabotage. Andra förvaltar varumärkena så att de fortfarande gör bra öl, som Duvel Moortgat med Boulevard.” – Myself quoted in c/o HOPS

In the latest issue of c/o HOPS I am one of several brewers interviewed in the cover article.

We discuss the matter of ownership in the brewing industry. Does it matter if you are independent or not? Myself being owner of a small craft brewery and fully independent got a lot of opinion in the matter, leading to numerous quotes in the article. Some of them are perhaps not as anti-corporate ownership as you’d think.

The article can be found starting on page 42. The magazine is in Swedish and distributed in hard copy.

Link to c/o HOPS website
Link to purchasing c/o HOPS issue #24 from Humlegården

Porträttet – Danko Beer – Välkänd ölarbetare gör comeback

“Sverige har exploderat av nya bryggerier. Vägarna för att nå ut med sina öl är få och konkurrensen stenhård. Ändå väljer många att satsa. En av dem är Tomas Danko vars Danko Beer har gått från tillverkning hos andra till en egen liten anläggning. Men egentligen var det en slump.” – Robert Lagerström, Maltesen

In the latest issue of Maltesen Magazine my brewery Danko Beer is featured in a four page article.

The article can be found starting on page sixteen. The magazine is in Swedish and distributed in hard copy and prescription only although members of Svenska Ölfrämjandet can download the magazine in PDF-format. However, you can buy Maltesen over at Humlegården .

Link to Maltesen
Direct link to issue 2019-1 and the article in PDF-format
Link to PDF archive of the magazine
Link to Maltesen at Humlegården Webshop

Brewed in Sundbyberg, Sweden

“Danko Beer is quite simple really, some friends brewing beer. At our own micro brewery in Sundbyberg where we also live, in Stockholm, Sweden. This is what we do. At friends places. At brew pubs and breweries world wide. We brew beer.” – Tomas Danko (i.e. myself)

It’s taken several months of rebuilding the brewery and brewing beer, but now it’s finally time for you to drink it!

We’re having a release event 18:00 on Wednesday the 13th of March at our closest craft beer pub, Bishops Arms Sundbyberg, situated 500 meter from our brewery. That is as local as drinking beer gets.

Event on Facebook here

Danko Beer Stefans Lager

Stefans Lager is a modern take on an unfiltered keller bier, at a modest 4.3% abv so that you can have more. We’ve dry hopped it every so slightly with Mosaic and Citra. Stefan is the bar manager at the pub. His name is Stefan Lager. Yes. Really.

Please drop by to hang out with us and drink some beer together.

Enjoy!

Link to Release Event on Facebook
Link to Stefans Lager on Untappd
Link to Stefans Lager on RateBeer
Link to Bishops Arms Sundbyberg
Link to Danko Beer Website
Link to Danko Beer on Facebook
Link to Danko Beer on Instagram
Link to Danko Beer on Twitter

Hotet från hantverket!

“För åtta år sedan var alla amerikanska småbryggerier bästa kompisar men sedan dess har relationerna hårdnat. Vi är så oskyldiga i ölvärlden. Det är hantverk och trevligt, goda smaker och kärlek till alla. När branschen växte sig stor nog blev den en business som alla andra.” – Tomas Danko

In the latest issue of Maltesen magazine the cover article touches on the current trend with large brewing companies and distributors cashing in on the craft beer movement through different methods. One of the brewers quoted in the article turns out to be me, and on numerous occasions at that.

Once again several highly skilled brewers are being asked the same question in the article, I am humbled to have been included one way or the other. The article can be found starting on page eight. The magazine is in Swedish and distributed in hard copy and prescription only although members of Svenska Ölfrämjandet can download the magazine in PDF-format. However, you can buy Maltesen over at Humlegården .

Article portrait line-up consisting of great brewers, and then there’s me

Link to Maltesen
Direct link to issue 2017-4 and the article in PDF-format
Link to PDF archive of the magazine
Link to Maltesen at Humlegården Webshop

28 – 30 sept & 5 – 7 okt 2017 at NackaStrandsMässan, Stockholm

“Nu ska Stockholm Beer & Whisky Festival bli en av världens största öltävlingar igen. Mannen som ska fixa det är Tomas Danko.” – BeerNews

I have been given the honor to once again judge beer at one of the three biggest beer festivals in the world. This is a highly prestigious competition with a high level of integrity and international profile.

The difference this year around is that I am the Head Beer Judge (previously deputy head beer judge) and also Head of Competition. I was asked to redesign the entire competition from the ground up with the aim to make the format a lot bigger and fully international. Among other things I have arranged a brand new People’s Choice Award where anyone visiting the festival can participate using the Untappd mobile app, potentially becoming the largest people’s beer competition on the planet.

Yes, there will be a ridiculous amount of beers for me and my fellow judges to evaluate.

Interviews

BeerNews.se decided to interview me twice regarding the beer competition.

Danko ska göra om Stockholms öltävling
Danko fixar världens största ”Folkets val”

Link to Stockholm Beer & Whisky Festival
Link to Stockholm Beer & Whisky Festival on Facebook

24 – 25 February at Fyrishov, Uppsala

“Vi vill få fler att bli intresserade av öl och whisky och att fler ska bli medvetna om vad de dricker. Genom att samla de främsta och mest spännande leverantörerna och producenterna tror och hoppas vi att detta blir en helg att minnas för alla öl- och whiskyentusiaster i Uppsala med omnejd.” – Ali Haddadi, Churchill Arms

I have been given the honor to resurrect my old role as Head Beer Judge. This time at the Uppsala Beer & Whisky Festival. I am looking forward to create a new annual competition with the team and once again set the highest standard in the industry.

You can watch an interview where I talk about how the competition is done, here . (Swedish)

Link to Uppsala Beer & Whisky Festival
Link to Event on Facebook
Link to Article at Pilsner.nu

Helping More People Brew Beer

“Allt för hembryggaren – Här köper man allt som rör hembryggning – från humle, malt och jäst till kapsyler och kärl. Vi har maskiner på plats för att mala malt (du får ett presentkort, se nedan) och personalen bakom kassan är duktiga hembryggare som gärna bidrar med tips och råd.” – Monks Café Press Release

Besides my daily job as brewmaster I am also head of development. That can mean all sorts of things. The last half year I have focused on improving the situation for homebrewers.

I have developed and launched a physical homebrewing shop right next to the Central Station in Stockholm (Wallingatan 38) with affiliated online webshop . It opened 25th of August. The reason for this was that I felt Stockholm lacked a serious and proper store every time I wanted to brew at home with family and friends. With the large amount of people brewing beer at home nowadays this was just something that had to be done. Now that it’s been launched I will focus on brewing beer at Monk’s Brewery and develop other projects. Stay tuned.

Premiere Opening at the Physical Homebrewing Store in Stockholm

Homebrewing Starter Kit

Another dear project of mine was to try and realise a proper but basic kit for the first homebrew. This took a lot of trial and error and was much more difficult than one would ever expect after having forgotten how to brew with just about nothing and being used to brewing within a professional environment.

It had to be accessible to anyone no matter how small an apartment you live in or how small a kitchen you have, while still be a serious malt driven experience including all proper steps of brewing. Mashing, sparging, lautering, boiling and so on.

Measuring temperatures and gravity is also essential. It had to result in a proper strong beer, even when the homebrewer ends up with poor efficiency. I discovered a lot of brewkits do not really produce anything near, say, a 5-6% abv beer. I guess that’s why they don’t supply measuring tools. I wrote a detailed homebrewing manual that is included in the kit. Maybe one day I will turn it into a book.

Homebrewing Classes

In order to fully support the homebrewing kit I am doing brewing classes at our brewery where we brew in parallell using the large brewhouse as well as the ten liter homebrewing starter kit. This is all happening simultaneously and will help educate future homebrewers by correlating the same process on both large and small scale. As far as I know this is the first time a parallell brewing class is being offered on a regular basis.

Probably because handling multiple brews at the same time while talking to a bunch of people is a brain melting experience to say the least. But hey, that’s how you develop yourself in the long run.

Link to Monks Homebrewing Store Online
Link to Monks Homebrewing Starter Kit
Link to Homebrewing Classes

Årets Nyetablering 2016

“Med sin satsning att etablera företaget i en av Upplands-Bros fina kulturmiljöer tillför CAP-Breweries något extra till den omdaning som hela området vid Säbyholm nu genomgår..” – Upplands-Bro Kommun

CAP Brewery was awarded Best New Established Company Award 2016 in the Upplands-Bro county. My esteemed former colleague and head brewer extraordinaire Mattias Hammenlind attended the gala and prize ceremony to receive the award. I left CAP Brewery in March 2016. However, since I used to be Managing Director and Head Brewer at CAP Brewery the last two years I’d like to think I perhaps did something right with my leadership that led to getting the award. Congratulations to Mattias, Jenny, Alli, Magnus and CAP for your hard work paying off!

Link to article at Ubro magazine
Link to announcement of winners

Beyond Mere Collaboration

“Ölkrogkedjan Monks café firar 10 år och man kan väl lugnt säga att de inte vilar på lagrarna, det kommer hända rejält med grejer under 2016 … Bryggaren Tomas Danko har engagerats som huvudbryggare på Monks eget bryggeri på Wallingatan och kommer hålla i bryggningar och bryggkurser under året. “ – Joel Linderoth, Expressen

The last two years or so I’ve had had the fantastic opportunity to build a brand new and great brewery from the ground up together with some mighty fine people at CAP Brewery. I will always be grateful to have been part of that, it was an amazing time to learn just about everything that goes on inside and outside of a proper brewery. I will always be a CAP fan at heart and consider those colleagues dear friends of mine.

New times calls for a new position, however. Now that I have recently become father to a son, the demanding role as Managing Director for a company is a bit much to balance against parenthood.

I have accepted the positions as Brewmaster and Head of Development at Monk’s Café & Brewery situated in Stockholm just a few minutes stroll from the Central Station. I will be brewing beer at the local brewpub but also develop several affiliated breweries around and outside of Stockholm as well as having the pleasure of brewing at those as well. There are other beer related ventures in addition within the company that I will spearhead in development.

Over the years I have had the pleasure to guest brew my own beer about seven times at Monk’s Café so we have a history together. Last year we did a collaboration brew between Monk’s Café & CAP Brewery at Monk’s Café for their seven year anniversary, for instance.

Another reason is that my new job will allow me to simultaneously develop other projects for the future. To be continued…

2015 Monk’s Café & CAP Brewery Collaboration Brew with new colleague and Brewmaster Charles Cassino

Link to Monk’s Café
Link to Monk’s Café on Facebook
Link to Monk’s Café on Twitter
Link to Monk’s Café on RateBeer
Link to Monk’s Café on Untappd

Vad Händer Om Öl-Bubblan Brister?

“Hantverksbryggerierna konkurrerar inte med varandra utan med de stora drakarna.” – Tomas Danko

I have been featured many times in Maltesen, however this time I am being interviewed instead of having written an article. In this six page article we discuss what the future might look like regarding the booming craft beer industry that is currently taking place in Sweden.

Many esteemed brewers are being asked the same question in the article, I am honored to have been considered worthy to be among them in this dialogue. The article can be found starting on page ten. The magazine is in Swedish and distributed in hard copy and prescription only although members of Svenska Ölfrämjandet can download the magazine in PDF-format. However, you can buy Maltesen over at Humlegården .

Questionable mugshot of yours truly as No. 2 in the lineup

Link to Maltesen
Direct link to issue 2015-4 and the article in PDF-format
Link to PDF archive of the magazine
Link to Maltesen at Humlegården Webshop

CAP Brewery & Tomas Danko

“Here we meet Tomas who gives us a behind the scene account of his Brewery.” – Noel Sheehy, Best of Booze Bar Magazine

In November last year I was approached by Noel for an interview. A few months later and the magazine is printed in hard copy as well as available online. I describe an ordinary brew day at CAP Brewery and why we make the beers that we do.

Link to article high resolution jpg
Link to article att Issuu.com
Link to Issue No. 1# 2015/2016

Nordic Brewing – Brewing Nordic

“CAP, vars bryggare Tomas Danko och Mattias Hammenlind bjudit oss på fantastiska öl tidigare i andra bryggeriers skepnad, gör öl som verkligen är värda att testa – inte bara för att de är nya utan för att de är bra.” – Joel Linderoth, Expressen

After having lived and brewed beer in Belgium it was time to come home to Stockholm, Sweden. It was obvious that I had to keep brewing beer for a living, it just has to be done.

I am now Managing Director and Head Brewer at CAP Brewery situated in Bro right outside of Stockholm city. We brew 30 HL batches with an annual production volume of 3000 HL. You only get one chance in life to build a brand new craft brewery from the ground up. That is, unless you have the money yourself to start your own brewery. Which I don’t.

Link to CAP Brewery
Link to CAP Brewery on Facebook
Link to CAP Brewery on Instagram
Link to CAP Brewery on Twitter
Link to CAP Brewery on RateBeer
Link to CAP Brewery on Untappd

India Pale Ale With a Belgian Twist

“Cloudy pale orange, creamy gead. Rich aroma of elderflower, citrus and marmelade. Mid dry with soft mouthfeel and solid body. Tropical fruits, the slightest hint of marzipan and grass. Lovely malt depth and rich, seemless flavours, where hops and yeast induced flavours come together perfectly. Mid bitter finish. A real winner!” – omhper @ RateBeer

Years ago I brewed a couple of times at Monk’s Café Brewpub in Stockholm together with Head Brewer Charles Cassino. After I came back from Belgium, having worked there brewing beer at De Struise Brouwers, I was asked to do a couple of collaboration brews once again. We made two beers together.

Monks Cassino vs Danko DIPA, a Belgian Double IPA at 8.2% abv.
Monks Cassino vs Danko Belgo IPA, a Belgian IPA at 7% abv.

They were sold under various names, hence the multiple links per below.

Link to Monks Cassino vs Danko Belgo IPA on RateBeer
Link to Monks Cassino vs Danko Belgo IPA on Untappd
Link to Monks Danko Loves Us! on Untappd
Link to Monks Cassino vs Danko DIPA on RateBeer
Link to Monks Cassino vs Danko DIPA on Untappd

Struise Danko Power IPA – Another beer brewed by yours truly

“Hazy amber orange with a creamy off-white head. Smells of pine resin, herbal hops with a touch of rye and black bread, nicely hoppy. Tastes of raw pine, creamy malts, faintly herbal, bay laurel, touch caramel,… Solid body considering the ABV. Nice beer.” – 77ships @ RateBeer

“Probably the cleanest session pale ale you ever gonna get from Struise.” – Untappd

During my stay in Belgium working at De Struise Brouwers I was given the amazing opportunity to brew my very own beer and collaborate together with Head Brew Master Urbain Cotteau. I figured since they tend to brew very strong and bold beers why not let’s try and see how the brew house handles a low alcohol thirst quencher.

The beer is called Struise Danko Power IPA and is a 3.5% abv Session IPA.

Disclaimer: I did not get to name it, nor did I get to decide on the bottle label art. I don’t mind the outcome though.

Link to Danko Power IPA on RateBeer
Link to Danko Super Power IPA on RateBeer
Link to Danko Power IPA on Untappd

De Struise Brouwers – Brewing With Attitude

“We never ignore new developments, not because we want to be fashionable, but because we want to do better.” – De Struise Brouwers

I decided to leave the video game industry and do something more sustainable with my life. Audio for games consumed my entire being for the last six years, although I’ve already been professionally active in the industry for over twenty two years. It was time to do the other thing, which to everyone who knows me well comes as no surprise.

Brewing beer.

So I moved briefly to Oostvleteren in the West Flanders of Belgium to brew beer with the best.

De Struise Brouwers.

Head Brew Master Urbain Cotteau and myself mashing in early in the morning

Link to De Struise Brouwers website
Link to De Struise Brouwers on RateBeer
Link to De Struise Brouwers on Wikipedia
Link to article at beertourism.com

Ölstilarnas Svarta Guld – Stout & Porter

“Med 2250 belgiska öl under bältet är det ingen underdrift att kalla Danko belgofil. I detta nummer skriver han tillsammans med Skrubbe om ölstilen Porter/Stout.” – Quote from c/o HOPS Magazine

I’ve co-written an article about Porter and Stout together with Jens Skrubbe. You can read the twelve page cover article in the third issue of 2013 of the c/o HOPS beer magazine. The magazine is in Swedish and distributed in hard copy.

Link to c/o HOPS
Link to Jens Skrubbe’s blog

Pubrunda Amsterdam

“Jag blev ombedd att på sedvanligt Maltesen-manér beskriva en ölpromenad i stan, så det var lika bra att plocka på sig tangentbordet, iPaden, kameran och plånboken för att kliva ut i solen och spankulera omkring en dag.” – Quote from article

I’ve written an article about the specialty beer pubs in Amsterdam. You can read the four page article in the third issue of 2013 of the Maltesen beer magazine. The magazine is in Swedish and distributed in hard copy and prescription only although members of Svenska Ölfrämjandet can download the magazine in PDF-format.

Link to Maltesen
Direct link to issue 2013-3 and the article in PDF-format
Link to PDF archive of the magazine

26 – 28 sept & 3 – 5 okt 2013 at Nackastrandsmässan, Stockholm

“This is one of the most important beer festivals in the world.” – A Sweden Attraction

I have the honor of once again being deputy head judge at one of the three biggest beer festivals in the world. This is a highly prestigious competition with a high level of integrity and International profile. It is a tough task but someone has to do it.

Link to Stockholm Beer & Whisky Festival
Link to Stockholm Beer & Whisky Festival on Facebook

Brew Wharf vs Danko II (Danko Kong) – another real ale made by yours truly

“Clear and bright refractive amber-gold with a small white drool of head. Smells like a somewhat grassy light hefe – pretty solid, not much alcohol. Taste – yep, noble hops, hefeweizen sweetness, interesting scotch peat and mineral tang overlay – one of the most tantalizing beers I have had this trip. Light body, a real “tang” To it, but quick-finishing. Good stuff.” – Harry Heatherington

For the seond time I was invited by brew master Angelo Scarnera to brew a collaboration beer at the Brew Wharf brew pub in London.

I created the recipe and brewed 820 liter of this beer at the brewpub in May this year, and it was available on cask a few months later. The pump clip pictured to the left was designed by Veronica Tenglin, who also participated working on our brewing day.

The beer itself is a summery take on an otherwise very traditional Belgian Blonde ale style using noble hops and fermented using live Chimay yeast, 5.2% ABV.

Link to Brew Wharf vs Danko entry at ratebeer
Link to the brewpub Brew Wharf in London
Link to pump clip in high resolution

Felsmaker i Öl – This Shit is a Science

“Tomas Danko, vän och gästskribent, öldrickare av rang, tillika vice huvuddomare på Stockholm Beer & Whisky Festival tillika Belgisk admin på Ratebeer, reder ut en del trendiga begrepp som vi nog alla kan ha nytta av att lära oss. Han kan sin sak, det lovar vi. Korka upp en öl, mys ner dig i soffan och förkovra dig. Det är en rejäl bit text att bita tag i!” – M2 @ Manker Beer

I’ve written an article, or is it a rant, on current buzz words regarding off-flavors and bi-products in beer and how some beer journalists, bloggers and forum warriors tend to have an opinion on those with no fundamental knowledge to base it upon. To remedy this I explain what some of these words mean in terms of flavor, smell and what causes them. Read up on diacetyl, oxidation, DMS, 2,4,6-Trichloroanisole and more. The article has been published on one of the biggest beer blogs in Sweden, and caused quite a stir.

Link to Article at MankerBeer.com
Link to Mankerbeer at Facebook.com
Link to MankerBeer.com