Aroma: 8 | Appearance: 9 | Mouthfeel: 8 | Flavor: 8 | Overall: 9

(700 ml bottle, bought in Denmark). Copper colour, slightly hazy, moderate head that doesn’t last very long. Lovely aroma of dark fruits and spices. Malty and slightly spicy flavour, could have been more complex but is still very good. Pleasant aftertaste. They have used Saazer hops for this beer, nothing wrong with that, but additional hop varieties would probably have brought the beer closer to "perfect". Still, quality is of course lightyears ahead of what most people know as "Carlsberg".

Aroma: 6 | Appearance: 5 | Mouthfeel: 5 | Flavor: 5 | Overall: 5

330 ml can, bought in Tenerife. Pale golden colour, decent head. Sweetish fruity and grassy aroma, notes of maize (corn) too. Flavour is watery and "neutral" with some tolerable hops in the finish. Acceptable as a thirstquencher, but not much more.

Aroma: 8 | Appearance: 7 | Mouthfeel: 5 | Flavor: 6 | Overall: 6

(700 ml bottle, bought in Denmark). Murky brown colour, large tan head. Surprisingly weak initial aroma - Hallertauer with faint notes of malts, spices and brown sugar. Improves a bit as the beer warms up. Flavour is much stronger, fuller and richer - but unfortunately also too sweet. Spices (coriander, aniseed, cardamom and more?), molasses and plenty of malts. The brewers have obviously used far too much brown sugar. They have also missed the target completely with their choice of hops - Hallertauer Mittelfrüh in a strong Belgian ale, WTF? I’m not a hops expert, but this beer obviously needs hops with more character, and in larger quantities. And PLEASE, less sugar to get rid of that syrupy mouthfeel!! Acceptable as a dessert beer, but not with the main Christmas meal. Incredibly, Carlsberg claim (on the rear label) that this beer has a "DRY(!!) and light ACIDIC structure". Who wrote that? Winnie the Pooh? Better luck next year, Carlsberg!

Aroma: 7 | Appearance: 6 | Mouthfeel: 4 | Flavor: 5 | Overall: 5

(500 ml can, bought in Sweden). The Falcon Bayerskt version with the lowest ABV. Dark golden / amber colour. Malty, refreshing, decent for a beer as low as 2.8%.

Aroma: 7 | Appearance: 6 | Mouthfeel: 7 | Flavor: 6 | Overall: 6

330 ml bottle, bought in Denmark. Not bad - not outstanding. Amber colour, malty sweetness in aroma and flavour, not very complex, a drinkable Christmas beer but no masterpiece.

Aroma: 6 | Appearance: 6 | Mouthfeel: 6 | Flavor: 5 | Overall: 6

330 ml can, bought in Tenerife. Named Wuld Pilsen, Quality Premium Beer. Crystal clear and very pale golden colour, lasting foamy head and nice lacing. Fruity and grassy aroma. Soft mouthfeel with a very subdued flavour, very moderate hops. No offensive side-flavours detected. A tolerable industrial pale lager for the Spanish sun.

Aroma: 6 | Appearance: 6 | Mouthfeel: 4 | Flavor: 4 | Overall: 5

330 ml can, bought in Tenerife. Apparently Estrella del Sur originally was brewed (since 1959) in Sevilla, in one of the breweries bought and closed by the Damm group. Damm have kept the brand. Not to be confused with the 0.9% stronger Estrella Damm. Extremely pale crystal clear straw colour. Large and lasting foamy head. Pleasant fruity sweet aroma. Bland and uninteresting flavour, some faint unpleasant "boiled" sidenotes. Forgettable.

Aroma: 6 | Appearance: 7 | Mouthfeel: 6 | Flavor: 7 | Overall: 7

2 liter mock ceramic (glass, actually) swingtop siphon ("growler"), as "Neuschwansteiner Das Echte", bought at Ole Simon, Sandnes, Norway. Pale golden colour, a faint haziness. Large to moderate head. Pleasant aroma of aromatic hops. Flavour is a typical standard helles: moderate malts, moderate hops, grainy notes, easy drinking, nothing unpleasant but nothing really remarkable either. Nice enough, but the siphon was more impressive than the beer.

Aroma: 8 | Appearance: 9 | Mouthfeel: 6 | Flavor: 7 | Overall: 7

750 ml corked "champagne" style bottle, packed in metal gift box. Now available in Norway (Vinmonopolet). Very dark reddish brown colour, slightly hazy. Moderate tan head. Very nice aroma of Christmas spices, oak, raisins, old sherry, toffee and treacle. Flavour is very malty sweet, plenty of caramel and some spices, hints of smoke, tart/bitter finish. Fizzy mouthfeel - due to the aggressive carbonation and tart finish this beer was not a "silky smooth" experience for me. I actually preferred du Bocq’s Regal Christmas to this one (haven’t tried them side by side, though). R.C. is also somewhat less expensive.

Aroma: 6 | Appearance: 7 | Mouthfeel: 6 | Flavor: 7 | Overall: 7

500 ml bottle, now available in Norway (Vinmonopolet, bestillingsutvalget). ABV is 5.6%. Golden colour, large to moderate white head. Nice grassy aroma of aromatic hops (in America it would probably be known as "skunky", sic), some flowery notes too, hints of honey. Easy drinking, the pale malts are fairly well balanced with the moderate hops, some alcoholic sweetness. Does not carry its 5.6% supremely, but this is another OKish German beer - not one I’ll search out again, though.