Drink this in

I've spent the last four days in stockholm Sweden. It's been an amazing experience, filled with firsts. Food, language, sights and beer. I'm an avid craft beer drinker and I've heard loads "hype" about European beer. Needless to say, I had been looking forward to drinking some delicious beers for quite some time. After checking into the quant hotel, I grabbed my iPhone and began searching for nearby beer bars. I wasn't looking for your everyday, run of the mill beers. I didn't want Budweiser or any sort of its European equivalent. I was searching for large varieties with even larger flavors. Coffee and oatmeal stouts, sweet and strong ales, imperial stouts, IPA's, I was looking for delicious beer that was preferably brewed in Europe.
The first and nearest pub I found in my search was a pub called Queens Head. Queens Head had a decent variety, tons of beers I'd never had, and a nice little vibe about it. Very clean, dim and a mature, but fun crowd, eager to share a few brews over conversation. As I sat at the bar my eyes raced over the menu as my mouth watered at the potential flavors I was about to embark on. It began...
I visited Queens Head one more time also on my trip, enjoying 3 pints of different stouts in all, as well as about 10 other samples of stouts, ales, and Belgian brews. Fantastic, but extremely expensive. For a standard stout in in stockholm, lets say Young's for example, pint is $12!!!! In the US this is a $6-$8 beer! That's a significant markup. When you start exploring rarer and more delicious types, the price for a pint quickly jumps to $15-$20 in no time! Many are even more expensive I visited a couple more places, my favorite being Monk's, where I enjoyed a couple stouts - one brewed in house that was VERY tasty. Bold and coffee-like with a creamy head on top of a nearly black, malty body. The second was actually from chicago's own Goose Island beer Pere Jacques. This was a fantastic beer, my favorite of the entire trip (although cost nearly $17 for a BOTTLE!!). A must try for dark beer lovers.
In summary, I learned a lot about European vs American beer in this trip... All mass produced beer, in both countries, isn't very good. Cheap beer is cheap beer everywhere. Beer in Europe is EXTREMELY expensive, so appreciate the price in the states. An most importantly, American micro brews, in my opinion, are better than European beers, as a rule. They definitely have some delicious brews, but overall, our small run brew batches out of some of my favorite breweries like Founders, Bells, Three Floyd's, are better.
So, with that said, I hope you all get the chance to come and try for yourself; make sure you save your pennies if you do! But until then, tryout what the states have to offer. There's some KILLER beers out there. And beers are great. Sharing a beer with friends and sharing stories and conversation will forever be a favorite hobby of mine. Below ill share a link to some great beers to seek out. Until then, relax, have a beer and remember to Laugh, Learn, Love and Live.

http://beeradvocate.com/lists/popular