Copenhagen, Denmark
Date visited: July 2016
I hate Copenhagen.
View from atop the Rundetaarn
Copenhagen with its friendly people. Copenhagen with its amazing breweries. Copenhagen with its delicious food. Copenhagen with its fantastic restaurants. Copenhagen with its picturesque streets. Copenhagen with its beautiful people. Copenhagen with its endless bakeries. Copenhagen with its incredible bars. Copenhagen with its polite people. Copenhagen with its fantastic beers.
Who am I kidding; I hate that I’m no longer in Copenhagen.
The Tycho Brahe Planetarium, at the southern end of Skt. Jørgens Sø
I may be over-egging it because it was my first holiday in over a year but I absolutely loved the place. The whole city felt very relaxed and everyone was so welcoming that, although we only spent four nights there, I was all set to stay forever and never come back. That was until reality set in and I realised just how expensive it was - one downside for literally everything else being wonderful. Beer was around £8 for a large (400ml) which meant we spent most of the trip having small beers (200ml) so we didn’t spend the entirety of the trip broke and drunk. I’ll save that for when I’m back home in London, AMIRITE GUYS?
Despite only being in the city for four days, we managed to check out several of Copenhagen’s excellent bars, enjoying the sights along the way. Read our reviews of our, inevitable, top three (in no particular order):
Mikkeller & Friends
BRUS (Reviews of BRUS and Mikkeller & Friends coming soon!)
Below are some short reviews of several others we managed to fit in:
Mikkeller Bar Vesterbro
Just a short walk from Warpigs, we hit up the original Mikkeller bar in Vesterbro on our way back to the apartment we stayed at during our trip. It was on the way, would be rude not to drop in. (Sidenote: we had some incredible tacos at Hija de Sanchez on the way here, just around the corner from Warpigs. Highly recommended.) We only stopped off here for a swift half and sat outside in the sunshine on one of the benches found on the street just outside the bar. The bar itself is set in the basement of the building (I very nearly did myself in returning our empty glasses at one point; mind the step) and is very minimalist in its decor - black tiles, white walls and the standard Mikkeller teal colouring is found on the floor. We only stayed here for one on both of our fleeting visits so didn't get a proper feel for the place - one thing we did notice was the stench of sewage from a nearby drain which put a bit of a dampener on things. I had the MASTODON MOTHER PUNCHER - a farmhouse style IPA brewed in collaboration with the metal band Mastodon. It was obviously great.
Soernas Olbar
This place was just a short walk along the lakes from our apartment, we grabbed some beers and sat outside to take advantage of the views of the lake and the sunshine. On recommendation of the barman, I had a Hobo Chic from the excellent Danish brewery, Dry and Bitter. It certainly was a very bitter IPA. We didn't spend long here but imagine it gets very busy purely because of its location. A great bar for day-time drinking.
HIMMERIGET
This bar took some finding. As you can see from the image above, there is no signage so we managed to walk straight past it at least twice. Himmeregit is the sister bar of Tørst in New York. Both the brainchild of Evil Twin Brewing founder, Jeppe Jarnit-Bjergsø (twin brother of Mikkeller founder, Mikkel Borg Bjergsø, fact fans). The bar itself feels very spit-and-sawdust and almost unfinished, however, the bottle list was incredible - it seemed almost endless! If we had more time in the city, I would've liked to have come back here as despite feeling rough around the edges, the vast array of beer on offer was clearly the attraction. If you have a good enough selection of beers, does it really matter what the bar looks like? (Well, a bit but it certainly takes the edge off.)
Norrebro Bryghus
Founded by ex-Carlsberg brewmaster Anders Kissmeyer, Norrebro Bryghus was located just around the corner from our apartment and we stumbled across it completely by accident. There were around 8-10 beers on draught - I obviously went for 'Liquid Love for the Spelt MILFs' which was decent enough. Many of their beers seem to be American influenced which was interesting and different to many of the other Copenhagen bars we visited. Just don't have the fish and chips here - they were so over-seasoned with salt that I had a hard time finishing the meal. (I obviously still did.)
Banksia
A short walk from Nyhavn (probably the prettiest area in Copenhagen) is Banksia - an Australian bar. Don't worry, this is definitely not a Walkabout. Tucked away from the main streets, this bar had a fine selection of beer (and free popcorn!) and despite some of the beers I wanted being sold out, the super friendly barmen were happy to suggest alternatives - I managed to try an Estonian beer from Põhjala Brewery; a fantastic grapefruit IPA called Virmalised GF. I was surprised to find a decent beer bar in this area as it was so touristy but was glad we did as it helped break up our trek for the day and was a welcome escape from the busy streets nearby.
I love Copenhagen.
