Of Copenhagen: Julebryg

There were several serendipitous surprises in Copenhagen. Long-time readers, real-life friends, and those who listen to gossip know that your correspondent is a fan of beer. Not that this puts me in very exclusive company, but I'm not drinking the beer to assert my individuality - I'm doing it to get wasted. Oh, I mean I like the taste.

Anyway, mid-November brings the annual rollout of Danish Christmas beers, apparently a quasi-holiday in its own right. One expat I was talking to there claims that they used to always introduce Tuborg Julebryg (that's Danish for Christmas Beer, if you're not good at picking up clues from context) on a November Wednesday, with marked increase in workplace absenteeism the Thursday after. The story then claims that the school system complained to Tuborg because so many teachers were showing up hungover/drunk/not at all/etc on that day, and being good corporate citizens, Tuborg moved Christmas Beer Day to Friday.

So anyway, they like the special Christmas beers, and your correspondent happened upon a small festival with a jazz band and a bunch of tents with samples of various micro- and not-so-micro-breweries' Yuletide offerings. There were definitely some younger folks there, but I would say the majority of the crowd were of more advanced years, as pictured above. We heartily endorse any culture whose older people come out for beer tasting fairs on chilly November days. I hope I'm doing likewise if I ever get old.