Sagres Cerveja
Brewed by Sociedade Central de Cervejas e Bebidas, S.A (Heineken Group)
Style: Pale Lager
Vialonga, Portugal
In 1855 a brewer called Jansen Ceverjas started making beer in Lisbon. In the decades that followed, brewers cooperated together and by 1934, the biggest four brewers merged into a collective called Central de Cervejas. In 2008, Central de Cervejas was purchased by the Heineken Group.
The Sagres brewery is located in Vialonga, near Lisbon.
The SCC (Sociedade Central de Cervejas) produce a wide range of beers, mainly pale lagers, but they also produce a dark Munich called Sagres Preta, which has won many international awards, a Sagres Bohemia an auburn beer with an abv of 6.2%, and a Sagres Radler. Its not only beer too, they also produce soft drinks and bottled water.
Sagres Beer is one of the most popular beers in Portugal and is produced and shipped to countries all around the world, and particularly wherever there is a large Portuguese community. The beer has won many international awards, including the World Beer Competition (in Belgium way back in 1958!) and one that caught my eye on their webpage……”Reader’s Digest Trusted Brand award in 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2015″. Well that’s some achievement, wow well done Sagres!
The beer has a long-term sponsorship deal with the Liga Portuguesa Futebol, the highest level of professional football in Portugal. As a result, the league is officially called Liga ZON Sagres. Sagres are also official sponsor of the Portugal national team since 1993.
Review: 25cl Can of Sagres Cerveja: ABV: 5%
I do really like the brown bottle and the Sagres logo, its nice and colourful and stands out.
On appearance it had a dark golden colour, with a nice big sized white head that maintained very well. Some lacing. Some carbonation, fizzing away
Faint smell but nice, malty, grainy, slightly metallic, but its ok, albeit very faint.
Light to drink, very smooth, not a whole lot of tastes or flavours, but does the business.
Light malts.Light lager. Bit corny.
Drinkable, good considering it is cheap pish from Aldi. Not bad to pass the time, though can’t feel the alcohol or any real taste, but overall it wasn’t bad. I did enjoy them, and look forward to the day when I can try them out on draught on a beach in sunny Portugal. Some day, not in the far off distant future,hopefully….
Anyway cheap lager from Aldi. Nothing to blow your mind, but nice on a hot day to enjoy with some cheap beer
Starting small, they brewed very tiny batches, filled bottles by hand and sold their beers at local markets and out of the back of their beat up old Skoda pickup.
It was also along this time that they had a running battle with a German brewery, Schorschbräu, to see who could come up with the strongest beer in the world. Brewdog produced Sink the Bismark ,a beer with 41% alcohol to take the crown of the worlds strongest beer, from Schorschbräu, who had produced a 40% ABV version of their Schorschbock.
Today Brewdog is an internationally recognized beer brand, while also winning a tonne of awards and prizes for their beers. They produce roughly over 65 different beers shipping to over 55 countries worldwide,producing bottled and canned beers in a variety of styles such as ale, stout, India pale ale (IPA) and lager, some of which are also available in keg containers.
Was in there BrewDog bar in Manchester, and although the draught beer was good, the place was a kip. Fuck me, it was all over the place, was like an office, people talking and acting like dickheads, with angry staff and modern decor that didn’t really work. You know its a shit bar when you see people playing fucking snakes and ladders, that’s giving up for fucks sake! But let me put my disclaimer out there, I’m not hip enough for these kind of places.
Comes in a typical BrewDog design. The label decked out in a strong red, with usual style of distinctive lettering and logo. I do like their labels and bottle layout, its eye catching and colourful. 
Very typical of the craft beer style beers, overloaded with hops. Also got a lot of the sweet malts. 
A beer from Ethiopia??? Yeah you bet ya I’d like to try that. Apparently Ethiopia has a thriving beer industry. Well you learn something new everyday, eh!?
The beer has an interesting cover on its bottle. We get to see a medieval type knight slaying a dragon. Well of course that knight is St George, the geezer that slayed that big old dragon back in the day and I think might also have something to do with the Knights Templar (See my article on 
Aroma is faint but I got a sweet malty smell and some barely, bit tinty and lagery as well. 
The town is surrounded by numerous mountains, with the well known picturesque Benbulben looking mighty from afar, with the Atlantic also in view. 
It was the Normans who really progressed the town of Sligo with their Castle and developed the port, a port that brought so much trade and wealth to the town down through the years. But strangely enough the Normans never really controlled the town as that was left to the Irish chieftains the O Conors. 
But its not only the two brothers, Sligo also have a bit of a long history for Irish music, and the famous Irish music competition that attracts thousands every year, the Fleadh Cheoil, was held in the town on five separate occasions, the last been 2015. This festival has to be seen to be believed as its virtually a must for anyone even remotely interested in Irish music, regularly attracting crowds in the six figures, easily becoming one of Ireland’s biggest cultural events every year. Sligo having it just goes to show how important Irish music is to the area. 
First pub of the day was The Swagman, a little bit of a walk from the train station, but eventually found it. Had a massive crowd in it which was impressive for the middle of the day but I guess the rain has people in with nothing else to do on a Saturday! Was hard enough to get a seat but did in the end. Bar man charged my phone which was gracious of him. 
Bar was doing well with food, and had the rugby on the box. Not really my type of place, I am not a huge fan of bar/restaurant combos or at least places that dont separate the two crowds, the beer drinkers and the foodies. 
Bar had a very interesting decor, traditional feel but also with a lot of Australian references, which was very interesting to look at, and overall it is a nice bar, just a bit too crowded and cramped for my liking, albeit service was efficient and quick enough which is always important!
Next up was McGarrigles Pub, a smallish pub with some pretty cool relaxed decor. I think they call this style Berlin retro or something, where the bar looks like your old living room with wall paper, lamps, old chairs, and framed pictures all around. Have certainly seen this style before, and I like it a lot, as it creates an inviting atmosphere and gets you relaxed in no time.
Seems to be a second floor as a few came in and vanished upstairs. I should have checked it out, but I was too lazy.
Next port of call was Thomas Connolly in the centre of the town. Pub has a beautiful and traditional exterior, old style and inviting. As the rugby was on, and more specifically Ireland against England, the place was packed to the rafters.
As I was wandering around I decided to pop into this bar which was off the main drag. Place was heaving and what was unusual (or normal) was that the clientele were more interested in the horse racing than the rugby, which might tell you a bit about the type of bar it was. Got a pint and sat down and rested my legs, recoup the old batteries. 
Was getting a bit hungry, so with luck I ventured into Hargadon’s bar, a lovely inviting pub from the outside, in the centre of town, which serves delicious food all day long. Lovely look decor, very old style and a traditional bar which was small but had regulars relaxing while the rest of the bar was quite narrow where there are many snugs, at the back, where people can have quiet chats and good pints, or in my case sit down rest the legs and order some food and a beer. 
The bar has been here a long time, since 1868, and as usual for a lot of these old bars it used to double up as a grocers and a place of liquor!
The place had a laid back Saturday late afternoon crowd in, wasn’t too busy as I found it easy enough to get seated. Atmosphere was good, and not loud or with music or TV blaring out. Has a real charm to it and the booths at the back are really cool.
The best thing about Mooney’s is its right beside the Showgrounds, so you will get a good dose of pre match banter with all sorts of fans congregating in and around the pub. Was here before, so know its a great place for a chat and some high jinks from the football mad Sligo fans who are always up for a laugh. It was here I met some of the Forza Rovers lads, but also got into conversation with a few other fans.
Sligo Rovers Football Club, founded in 1928, have been in the League of Ireland since 1934. The club is supporter owned and have played in the Showgrounds since their inception. Sligo is a real football town and the supporters are a loyal bunch with the Showgrounds regularly getting decent crowds for games, averaging around 2000 per home game, which is pretty decent for the LOI.
The History of the club (skip if not interested!)
After the war, Rovers went through a long period of ups and downs, mostly downs. They did come second in the league in 1951, and got to an Fai Cup final in 1970 where they lost to Bohemians, but it was a period with no titles and the odd re-election to the league, having to reapply to play in the league on four separate occasions. 
The arrival of Scouser Paul Cook in 2006 really changed fortunes for Sligo. By playing an attractive brand of football, getting them into Europe for the first time in 12 years and also into an FAI cup final, the first in 15 years, against Sporting Fingal which they lost 2-1. A game I actually attended and played out in gale force winds and torrential rain. Summer football Irish style. Building on this Cook managed to get Rovers into another FAI Cup final in 2010, this time against their hated foes, Shamrock Rovers. After a pretty dour 0-0 the victory was achieved, and their third FAI Cup, when Ciarian Kelly saved all four penalties in the shootout. A pretty amazing thing for their second choice goalkeeper to pull off!! There was also a huge crowd of 36,101 at the game, the highest attendance for 32 years, to see the FAI Cup final in the newly revamped Aviva Stadium (ex Landsdowne Road) 
If Sligo fans thought that was good then they had another reason to celebrate, as the next year they just went and done it all again, winning the FAI Cup two years in succession, another win in 2011. This time beating Shelbourne, but again winning on penalties. after the game finished 1 a piece at full time. Cook did something that was quite extraordinary to watch. Just before full time he took off his regular goalkeeper Clarke to replace him with Kelly the spot kick hero from the last final. It worked a treat as Kelly saved two penalties, with Sligo native Raffaele Cretaro taking the decisive penalty to keep the cup in the town for another year.
Winning their first league title wasn’t enough for Sligo as they shortly after got rid of Ian Barraclough in the summer of 2014, and sure enough they haven’t won or even come close to winning anything since. That’s Ireland for ya!!! 
Stadium capacity is around 5,500 with 4,000 seats, and it must be said one of the better stadiums in the League. Sligo Rovers are one of the few clubs that have made a concerted effort to improve their ground and spectator facilities with a lot of that hard work, it has to be said, down to the huge voluntary effort of their supporters. There are three stands, a club shop, plenty of parking space and the most important thing of all, a decent playing surface for good football. This is one reason why the club has such a strong bound to the town, it really is a supporters club, they virtually built it and maintained it through the bad old days, and now they have pride in what is easily one of the top grounds in the LOI. Hats off to Sligo and their fans here. 
Sligo Rovers 3 – 2 Bray Wanderers 
Barely a minute later, Sadlier once again cut back to cross in another dangerous ball which was cleared, but only to fall to Chris Kenny to thunder it home, for Sligo to take the lead. 
Sligo sat back a little after that, or Bray increased the tempo, I am not sure but either way Bray had a handful of scoring chances that they really should have scored from, some simple misses, that had the Bray supporters aghast. I know as I was sitting with them in the second half! But 3-2 to Sligo it stayed and Bray had the long journey back to Wicklow pointless, they deserved a draw but alas that’s football. 
Would like to say one thing that was a slight dent in all the positively. Seen this pig of a man throw a big pile of rubbish on the floor without a care in the world. Now I know in itself this happens at grounds, but what was shocking was there was a bin right beside him and I happened to catch the reaction of three young kids who were left gobsmacked at the sight of this. Normally i would confront someone like this, but I really wasn’t in the mood for some agro as i really had a great day so i did the next best thing i guess, took his pic and a little of his soul……I guess!! repent he should!
The brewery was founded way back in 1657 when Hans Pope was awarded a “Bräustätt” (“brewing law”) for 30 guilders and set about to brew his beer. In 1859 Josef Anton Höss buys the brewery and since then, the Hirschbrauerei in Sonthofen has been owned by the Höss family.
Had a nice frothy head and a golden yellow colour. Very clean and clear, looks great.
Pretty much everywhere in Switzerland you will find a Coop (or its rival Migros), albeit at least in North Switzerland. 
Bit of carbonation, bubbling away nicely
As there are a few discount supermarket beers in Switzerland…….Coop Lager, and Tell to name just two, Feldschlösschen have decided to get a leg in on this market with their own offering, Anker, available in Coop at a cheap price. 
Smell, none! Or very light, of a lagery aroma, disappointing. 
Wohlen is a small town of about 15,000 residents, to the west of Zurich, and in the canton of Aargau in Switzerland. Mostly a farming area it really only got going as a town after the 1800’s when it developed into a key industrial town with important rail and road links. In particular, for the straw braid industry, where Wohlen became well known all over the fashion world for its straw hats and garments. Sadly that industry is long gone in the town but the affects of that legacy is a small town that is thriving, (or not doing too badly I guess!)
First pub of the day, wasn’t a pub at all. But I was hungry, having skipped breakfast and after a nice walk around the town this place looked perfect to sit down outside, have a quick bite to eat and a beer. Was very busy for a Saturday morning, which is always a good sign. Went simple just got some chips with ketchup, and two beers. Simple but fantastic with the peppers and salt, lovely. Good friendly service and a nice place to sit outside and watch the traffic of Wohlen go by. Had two small cans of Feldschlösschen Hopfenperle, a decent enough lager. Perfect start. 
Ventured in and ordered a bottle of Birra Moretti, which is always nice to sip. Zanzibar looks like a very trendy lounge bar and club, impeccably clean and modern, the place looks really snazzy and cool. For the time of the day, early afternoon, naturally there were only a handful of customers, who looked like they were Italian Swiss chatting away to the very friendly barman, guess that’s why I guess was in the mood for a Moretti, which went down fine. So good I had another beer, this time a nice cold Eichhof Lager
Zanzibar is the place to be once it gets dark, as it is a club venue that promotes a lot of up and coming DJ’s and invites international dance acts to the club every month. 
Door was closed and didn’t look very inviting, but then I was early. It opened at 4 and I was there bang on time! Restaurant with terrace was doing a cracking trade next door on a lovely hot day, while I was the only customer in this, truth be told, rather tired looking bar with an old fashioned British style decor. I went for a Feldschlösschen braufrisch on tap, a Wheat Ale beer, which was fine, not as good as their lagers I think. Bar lady was friendly, but this seems like a bar that could do with a makeover. Drank and left.
On the way back to the train station, from the game, I accidentally stumbled onto the path of this bar. Looked good so ventured in. A small crowd in, with some friendly service. Had a Brooklyn Brewery lager, which was fine with the complimentary nuts that I scoffed down. Place was quiet for a rock bar, but had a chilled out atmosphere, or perhaps that was just me. 
Just before I got my train home, popped into a hookah bar right at the station. Not my usual type of place to go for a beer, but it was cool enough. Lovely decor which was very relaxing and in an Arabic style, the service was friendly. Place was quiet, but it was still relatively early. Just ordered a regular beer, a Feldschlösschen lager. Nice place to wind down for the day, lovely ambiance and a nice pint in the dimmed lights. Would have liked to stay for another beer but had to catch my train. 
Founded in May, 1904, FC Wohlen play in the Challenge League, the second highest league in the country. They say the best things come to those that wait, well the highlight of over 100 years of football came late, in June 2002 when the team got promoted to then National League B, today’s Challenge League , the second tier of Swiss football. 
Without doubt their most famous son is Ciriaco Sforza, the ex Wholen player and coach who had an illustrious career with stints in Germany with Bayern Munich, FC Kaiserslautern (when they were half decent) and in Italy with Inter Milan, a long way from tiny Wohlen. 
Nice enough little ground, a not too far from the town centre. Ticket cost me 20 Swiss Francs, and manged to get a scarf as well which was great. But even better was I somehow ended up in the VIP room, where there was complimentary wine and titbits to bite. I know it was a little bit cheeky but why not as I do consider myself at least a little bit important. The two girls behind the bar were very friendly, and were more than kind enough to fill my glass on the many occasions they got empty! 
Nice club with a lot of friendly staff, from the ticket sellers at the gate, the grounds staff directing people to their seats, the ladies in the office who sold me the scarf, to the girls in the VIP room.
For a nil niler it wasn’t the worst game I have ever seen. Some good build up play from both teams, especially from FC Wohlen while Le Mont were more concentrated on attacking from the break down. I would say though that Wohlen need to practice shooting from distance as on many occasions they were in good positions to take a shot but their players passed instead. Is that a confidence thing, perhaps but it did really irk the crowd on a few times looking at good shooting opportunities go amiss. 
Thought Wohlen midfielder Sandro Foschini was pretty decent and set up a lot of play and opportunities for his teammates, but I noticed he also grew increasingly frustrated as he seemed to be at a different level to the rest of his team, one step ahead and he was constantly creating chances that were spurned again and again. I’d build a team around him, I say! 
Wohlen was a sleepy enough town, but I did enjoy my day out here. Was well nourished with alcohol and did have a good time at the ground watching Wohlen FC play. All in all a good enjoyable day in little old Wohlen (the good weather helped too, it was a scorcher!)
La Blonde de Ch’Nord is brewed in Douai, a small city in the north of France by the Gayant Brewers.
A Bière de Garde (“beer for keeping”) is a strong pale ale traditionally brewed in the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region in the North east of France. Originally brewed in farmhouses during the winter and spring, to avoid unpredictable problems, these beers are of a golden colour, and as the name suggests the beer is to be kept over a period of time once bottled (and most sealed with a cork), to be consumed later in the year. 
Very yeasty smell, a bit metallic, quite strong but nice all the same.
The Ardennes in northeastern France, close to the Belgian and Luxembourg border, is a sparsely populated region mostly covered with dense forest, small mountains and not much else. 
High fermentation and also re-fermented in the bottle, using local spring waters this beer won a gold medal at the Concours Général Agricole de Paris in 2007, just so you know, ok. 
A good bit of lacing present.