Ur Bräu
Brewed by Ramseier Urbräu
Style: Landbier
Lucerne, Switzerland
The lovely lake of Lucerne, many a time I have gone on a cruise on this beautiful wonder. And on the odd occasion I have drank some Ur Bräu that does be served on the passenger boats and cruise ships.
Lucerne is in central Switzerland, and its star attraction is its massive lake, a total area of 114 km² (44 sq miles). It is very scenic with many bends and turns and one can always see the Alps far off in the distance, most of the time with snow covered peaks. Taking a cruise is the way to go, and at peak tourist time they are regular enough, and stop at various points along the lake. Or, if you prefer, you can do some laps of the lake without getting on a passenger boat at all as there are scenic walks all around the lake.
Ramseier Urbräu is an unfiltered beer made exclusively for Tavolago, the food-supplier of SGV, the ship-company of lake Lucerne (Schiffahrtsgesellschaft Vierwaldstättersee).
Review: 33cl brown bottle of Ur Bräu: 5% vol.
On the bottle you get a nice big UR logo, interesting and striking, it stands out.
On pour I get a decent frothy white head that looks good and a palish golden looking beer.
Some lacing. head sticks around.
Not a bad looker.
The smell is faint, yeasty and malty, but not strong on the nose.
The initial taste was fantastic, very crispy soothing start, very good.
Lovely deep mouthfuls, the beer bubbling away on the tongue. Malts and fruits doing the business from the beginning.
But after it settles, not so nice. Beer is a bit sour, bit bitter, too much corn and a bit metallic.
Best part is its initial mouthful. Probably a little too bitter therein afterwards. Not great actually in the final stretch.
Bitter taste in the aftertaste. Ruins the beer. Not great overall, disappointing.
The brewery was founded by Christian Weber in 1878 and takes its name after the nearby hill and castle. Karlsberg’s current owner is Richard Weber, the great-grandson of the brewery’s founder.
I love rock music and heavy metal and It’s not that I think that ACDC are a bad band or anything but truth be told I was never into them at all. If I had to pick an Aussie band then I’d go 
Nice big creamy mouthfuls at the start, a good full bodied lager taste, nice and smooth.
Down to the long shots at this stage. Sure why not, definitely makes watching the games that tad bit more interesting. Reckon Croatia will have the upper hand in this game, albeit the Danes have a decent enough defence that might be hard to break down. 
I also fancy England to do well. They should beat Colombia, and whoever they get next between Switzerland/Sweden. After that, its a confidence thing, and with Harry Kane banging them in they have a serious chance this year. 
I expect Portugal to just edge this game, two equally matched teams, but hopefully Ronaldo will be back to form for this game, as he was pretty woefulagainst Iran. 
Australia V Peru
Goals will be the objective today for Portugal, knowing that this is what is needed to come top of the group. Step forward Ronaldo so to do the business. Sure Iran are still in it, but with a well placed free kick, they soon wont be in it. 
If there will be goals and if, as I expect, Egypt will be scoring those goals then there is only one man to do that for them and that’s Mo. He usually gets his chances at the minimum on target and against a poor SA goalie that only means one thing: goals. 
Fancy England to do a Belgium and hammer Panama. They will be eager to match Belgium’s goal tally as it might make a difference in the end to who tops the Group. 
James should be fully fit for the game and rearing to get a goal to start his World Cup in earnest. 
Against England the Tunisians were quite dirty and physical, and they are the type of team that will offer up loads of frees. Step forward De Bruyne, a man who knows how to hit them. He was so close in the first game, I expect him to get it right this time. 
And I just have a good feeling that they will jinx a peno. There are a lot of penalties in the World Cup so far and the Germans are the masters of getting them, so why not?
Serbia v Switzerland
Surely to god Brazil will be on fire tomorrow, come on the fuck. Neymar has to get off the mark, surely!
Perhaps this game will be more open than the Iceland game, and so with more room to play Messi might be more in tune to score a goal. 
As much as it would be nice to see Peru do well, I dont think it will happen. France will surely be keen to lay down a marker for the tournament after disappointing in the first game. And if they do get going, Griezmann will be the man to score the goals. 
I fancy Iniesta to score, to be honest the only real value I could get as most of the Spanish players are short odds for this game!
Of course Portugal will win this game, of that there can be no doubt, and if Ronnie can score a hat trick against a team as good as Spain then logic says he should at least get one against Morocco. 
James Rodriguez made his name in the last World Cup and this time I expect him to shine again. Why not, he is pure class when he gets going. And he has a lethal strike, so yeah he might do a Ronaldo and get a goal from a free kick, he has the ability to do so. Either way, I’d fancy him to at least score a goal. 
Japan, on the other hand, are not a great team but what they lack in ability they make up in determination and heart and I am sure they will not stop for the 90 minutes. With this in mind I can see them scoring a goal. And if that is the case then it has to be K Honda, their start player to score (who else?). And I have a strong vision of a penalty too, as they did get a penalty in the last world cup (as far as I can remember!) 
Poland are a very cynical team and like to take a tumble or three, and in Robert Lewandowski they have a bit of a cunt up forward who goes down with the slightest touch, and I would figure that Senegal will be like most African teams, tough tackling and a bit all over the place defensively, so with all this in mind I feel Senegal might get a red card in the game.
Will be a tight game, and for long periods I can see both teams cancelling each other out, but I would imagine that Sweden’s aerial ability should see them through for the victory, and they probably will be all over Korea from set piece play. Sweden knocked out Italy for fucks sake, so I would be very disappointed if they couldn’t handle Korea, even if the Red Devils have Son Heung-min up front.
Belgium are a team that I am looking forward to seeing. I am sure they will come out of the blocks rearing to go, and with Panama as their first game, I see a big win for the The Red Devils (RD number two today!)
England have a young but very attack minded team, with Harry Kane in their line up, I cant see how they wont score a few against Tunisia. 
I fancy Brazil to do great things in this World Cup, to make the final at the minimum. But I think Switzerland, with their decent defence, might cause them a small hiccup at the start. Remember the Swiss also beat Spain at the start of W Cup 2010, and the Spanish ended up winning the thing, so they can throw a spanner in the works for sure. And the Swiss also got Xherdan Shaqiri who can muster up some magic, if bothered, hopefully today he might get his finger out of his ass. 
Expect Costa Rica to continue where they left off at the last World Cup, hopefully with more goals and more great counter attacking football that won them so many admirers in 2014. Serbia are muck so I wouldn’t be surprised to see CR grab a few here. 
Do not rate Australia at all. In the Confederations Cup they were truly awful to see, no technical ability with a lot of plodders in the team. Not only that but they carry on the great Australian sporting tradition of whinging a lot. That is not going to work against a French team that will be fired up to put on a show, especially after the feast of football we were served last night between Spain and Portugal. Now its France’s turn and I am 
And if, as I expect, France will win and win handily, then you would fully expect that the goals would come from their usual strike partnership of Antoine Griezmann and Olivier Giroud. 
And if Argentina are to score three goals, then surely Messi will be on the end of one or two of them. Also if Ronaldo can score a free kick, I’d bet Messi will copy him today, and even hotter prospect when you consider that Messi usually gets the better return from scoring on free kicks than Ronaldo’s one out of 50 efforts in international 
I reckon Peru will be a little overawed in their first World Cup outing since ’82, while Denmark, for me, are a serious outfit with a quality team that could propel them into the last eight. I really fancy this Danish team to go far in the tournament, and with C Ericksen they have a player that can turn a game on its head. This is an easy bet for me, Denmark to win their opener, and with relative ease. 
Nigeria are another team that can start slow too. Up against a very strong Croatia team they might get punished for this. Modric will run the show from midfield and, with a team of decent strikers, I expect Croatia to just nudge this game, possibly score in the last ten minutes or so to nick it. 
I think this might be a close game but you know what……I actually fancy Iran to sneak this one. They do have that Alireza Jahanbakhsh fella who was top scorer in Holland and with the recent controversy over their kit and football boots or rather their lack of, it might bring them closer together as a group. I am also thinking Carlos Queiroz might have a few tricks of his sleeve as well. So for all those reasons and that I dont know much about Morocco I will lump on Iran to win. Risky but fuck it, lets do it. 
In a World Cup the best advice I always say is back the World Class players to score, as usually they do, that’s why they are world class! Problem with Suarez is he is also a world class cunt, so if he doesn’t score he could just as easy get himself sent off, but its worth a punt for him to score against what shouldn’t a strong Egyptian defence.
This has a draw all over it, really it does. I would be well surprised if it is anything but a tie. If there are goals then I’d expect Ronnie to be on the score sheet too, that is the basic law of averages, better than that law in fact!
I know Russia are muck, and I actually think they might not get out of their group, but how bad must they be not to beat SA at home in their own World Cup, seriously?
The Golden boot is generally won by few goals, so why wouldn’t the winning team’s strikers not be a bad punt here? All three German strikers listed are sure to get on the scoreboard a few times during the month.
I also fancy Brazil to get to the final, but 21/10 is no bet here. So I have doubled it up with a name the finalists bet, ie-Brazil & Germany, and also a winning double chance of Brazil or Germany, which means only one of the two have to make the 
Other wise, I expect both Portugal and Spain, even after sacking their manager, to have decent World Cups. All four teams to get to the
Otherwise I have just done some long shot forecasts
There is a quiet confidence with this England team and the manager has also done very well to blood the team with a lot of new young players and letting some big names retire early. This is an England team without the big stars and big egos of English teams past. Wayne Rooney is finally gone, thank Christ, and there are no Beckham, Gerrard, Lampard, Owens type players to raise expectations. Ok Harry Kane could arguably fill that bracket, but he is still relatively unproven at international level, and with him we have Raheem Sterling, Marcus Rashford, Danny Rose and Dele Alli, a bunch of players who have had good seasons with their clubs the last few years, and who if they gel together can propel England far in this World Cup. 
They are in a relatively easy group. Ok Belgium are tough, but England should have too much for Tunisia and Panama, and I’d fully expect them to come out of the group without too much bother. Their last game against Belgium should be a great head to head to see who gets to play either Colombia, Senegal or Poland in round two, all beatable teams for England either way. But after that it is either Brazil or Germany in the last eight awaiting, and both teams are tough to break down. But the good thing for England is that Southgate has the team well drilled on penalties, a nice change from previous managers who didn’t think it necessary! England should get to the last eight, but after that they might need Kane to hit the form of his life to go beyond that. 
Coming in some very eye catching logos, Zombräu, definitely have an interesting concept and story behind them. The names of the beers stand out too, with titles such as “MotorOil”, “Voodoo”, “Macumba” and “Insbierator”, all with themes related to the spiritual underworld.
I can certainly can see the attraction in these beers. Experimenting with exciting new styles, they are very unconventional in their style and approach, so much so that they consciously violate the purity law that German beers hold so dear. Breaking rules and doing something new, I love it! The traditional Bavarian wheat beers and lagers were a thing of the past, here they tried to do it differently. No beer styles are off limits. they brew IPA’s, Stout, Porter, Red Ale, Belgian beers and some specialty wheat beers, and more. Easy to see how spending time with Brewdog, one of the brothers (Tobi) came back a changed soul full of creative ideas and an action plan. In the beginning of 2013, Giesinger Bräu in Munich gave them an opportunity to brew a 5 hl brew of their finest IPA in their brewery, and the rest the say is history. Now the boys have a collection of beers, bottled and on sale ready to dominate the World, one town at a time.
On pour get a nice frothy head, with a very cloudy golden orange coloured beer. A good bit of carbonation resulting in quite a big white head. 
The logo for this one has a sleepy village and a church, with a nuclear power station in the background. Impending doom perhaps? The calm before the storm?
Aroma was strong, definitely could smell the bourbon aroma. I found it quite strong on the nose, also got some smokiness and an earthly feel from the beer. 
Motor Oil, what a great name for a beer, and especially for a stout, very good. “200% Stout, Guaranteed satisfaction” written on the bottle, ok I guess but a 100% would be good enough for me!
On the taste, I get the chocolate, the dark malts and the caramel, some licorice 
On pour get a nice frothy white head with a beer that has a lovely hazy amber-ruby colour. It really is a lovely looking beer, very nice.
So for this World Cup can we expect more of the same? They might, but probably not. They got Spain and, European Champions, Portugal, with Morocco propping up the group. The only silver lining is that they get to play Morocco first, knowing a win is vital if they have any chance of making the second round. Playing Spain in the second game will be simply all about damage limitation, but if they get the result in the first game then they could try for a point that might be good enough for them in the last game against Portugal, provided they do some sort of defensive number on Ronnie. Perhaps Carlos Queiroz might have some useful tips for this game to pass onto his players? He certainly did a great job in the last world cup, assembling a very well drilled team. I would like them to do well, but I cant see it unfortunately. 
They have got a new coach Mladen Krstajić, after dispensing with Slavoljub Muslin who got them into the damn thing. So sure enough it takes time for the new coach to get his ideas across as that can be seen with their intermittent form in the friendlies. I dont know what the Serbian FA want, the manager did very well to get such a rubbish team into the World Cup, and if they are playing so poorly then surely the senior players should get a kick up the backside rather than sack the coach? 
In a group with Brazil, they wont win it. but they have a chance against Switzerland and Costa Rica for sure and could sneak into the second round without too much hassle. If so then its Germany up next, but remember they did beat them the last time they were in the World Cup, 1-0 in 2012, a result that at the time few expected, so maybe perhaps lightning could strike again? I doubt it though! 
