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Gothenburg
Mar. 7th, 2020 11:02 pmAs I mentioned, we had three days to kill between Nordic Fuzzcon and Gdakon so we spied an opportunity - to visit three new Brewdog bars. We were always destined to go to the Malmo one as this was where Nordic is, but with Gothenburg and Oslo within striking distance, we thought we would make a road trip north and fly to Gdansk from Oslo. Conveniently, this also meant that we got the chance to stay with our friend Mooie in Gothenburg, like we had done five years ago. We had visited the Gothenburg Brewdog at that time too, but this was before the days of the Intergalactic Beer Visa so we had to go and do it again. Plus, as he kindly let us stay at his place overnight, we weren't having to pay for a hotel.
We had booked the same train as Mooie, the 12:01 Snabbtåg out of Malmo. This meant that we had to check out of the Clarion at around 11:30am. We were actually more well organised than this, leaving the hotel with more than enough time to walk to the nearby railway station and grab a delicious foccacia on the concourse. We then ambled over to a grey train that was so sleek it looked like it had come from Gotham City rather than Gothenburg City (lols). We had booked a first class seat as it was barely any greater expense than standard, and we were delighted to discover that a great number of furries had done the same, making this something like the Furry Express. Sadly, as we had all booked our tickets at different times, we were all sat in random spots across the carriage but I was with Wolfie at least and after the challenge of storing the luggage due to the sheer number of fursuits on board, we settled down for a pleasant two and a half hour journey. The complementary tea and biscuits were divine.
The journey itself was pretty standard and soon we were deposited in the familiarity of Gothenburg. Striding out of the railway station, it was amazing just how much I remembered, particularly the triangular red building near the main bridge over the water. However, we had arrived with complication as Mooie had left his house key in the hotel drawer in Malmo. This meant that he had to ring the hotel and ask them to post it as well as call his landlord asking them for a spare key. This proved to be more involved than we had anticipated as after boarding the familar tram and taking the familiar route back to his suburb, once outside his flat we had to wait for about twenty minutes while some specialist men came and fitted a whole new lock. Awkward.
Once in, we hung around Mooie's for a short while just chilling and chatting before heading back into the city, arriving at the centre just as it was getting dark. I was ravenous at this point so before we had gotten the tram at Mooie's stop, I called off at his local shop for some crisps. Anyway, the plan was for a night of moderate drinking, as we had had a fair bit at Nordic Fuzzcon, with Brewdog the absolute top priority. However, remembering that all we had was a foccacia and a packet of crisps, we thought food would be wise first. It was a toss up between a pizza place and a craft beer burger bar called Restaurant 2112. Both were very near each other, down a side street (Magasingatan) off the main drag, and so it didn't matter too much that the pizza place was closed because it was a Monday. Still, this meant we got to try 2112 and their excellent burgers, not to mention some of their excellent craft beer that was brewed specially for them. It was certainly a great start to the evening aside from the bloke on the table next to us who ordered a load of small dishes back to back and masticated loudly, but you can't have anything. The waitress was really friendly though and we were delighted with the service, as well as the general rock and roll vibe, with the place being part-owned by Peter Iwers (bass) and Bjrn Gelotte (guitar) from In Flames. The burgers meanwhile were excellent, but I did have a fear that Mooie wouldn't be too happy with us eating beef considering he's a cow furry. He was, fortunately, fine with it but I did have to ask.
Brewdog was next, which conveniently was just around the corner. I remember it being quite far out from the city centre last time, but clearly it wasn't (although reaching it by ferry like we had done last time may have given that impression). The toilet that was bedecked in pony motifs has sadly gone, being replaced by wallpaper of bacon, which doesn't sound anywhere near as appealing as you would expect when you are in close proximity to it. Meanwhile, the bar itself was a little quiet and clearly struggling as it's a little out of the way. Still, we got our stamp, our chat and our beer and enjoyed it together.
We didn't fancy staying too long here, but with our minds blank, we didn't know where else to go either. In the end, we headed over to Ol Republikan, simply because it was a place I remembered from before. It too was close, which was convenient as Wolfie still had his limp so we had to keep walking to a minimum. As we walked, we crossed one of the canals, which looked beautiful with the street lights reflecting in its water, not to mention seeing one of the arty Gothenburg sculptures further down. We then ducked down another side street and into Ol Republikan, darting the bitterly cold February evening for its warm embrace. It was very much as I remembered it, with us sitting on the terrace upstairs as opposed to downstairs this time. We had a couple of beers and were cheered to discover that Mooie knew the bar staff, which was the case in our final bar of the night too, one of the Bishop's Arms pubs. These are quite ubiquitous throughout Sweden, and we had been in a few before, but this basement one was new to us and Mooie described it as 'my local'. It was certainly a nice bar and good to see quite busy for 11pm on a Monday evening, so we settled by the bar to sample some of their wares. While here, we spotted a weird collection of offcut wines they had in of varying types and also got chatting to an Irish lady and her gentleman, both of whom were quite pissed. They were pleasant enough, but I was quite happy that we had to get our next tram from outside the main cathedral pretty soon after they had started speaking to us, meaning we bid them a hasty farewell.
Once we got back to Mooie's, we ended up sitting up some more, sharing some more specialist beers that Mooie had as well as finishing off the ones I had bought in the Systembolaget in Malmo for Nordic Fuzzcon. We introduced Mooie to the Chin Review and he showed us the fantastic house he was once going to buy, while we generally just chatted and relaxed until beyond 2am. We had drunk far more than we had intended though, but I guess that is always the case with a night out with Mooie, and it was a fantastic evening all the same. It was sad that we had to leave the next morning, as we were booked on the 12:50 bus to Oslo, but Mooie was a gentleman and went back into Gothenburg with us to catch our service. It had snowed overnight, making carrying all of the luggage challenging, but everything seemed to be running and we got to the bus station with an hour to spare. This meant we had time for some breakfast, which Mooie kindly bought as thanks for us buying his beer the night before, and we ideally sat in the restaurant eating our salami and brie sandwiches (with red pepper in for some reason) just wiling the time away. It was a pleasant way to end our short stay in Sweden's second city.
We had booked the same train as Mooie, the 12:01 Snabbtåg out of Malmo. This meant that we had to check out of the Clarion at around 11:30am. We were actually more well organised than this, leaving the hotel with more than enough time to walk to the nearby railway station and grab a delicious foccacia on the concourse. We then ambled over to a grey train that was so sleek it looked like it had come from Gotham City rather than Gothenburg City (lols). We had booked a first class seat as it was barely any greater expense than standard, and we were delighted to discover that a great number of furries had done the same, making this something like the Furry Express. Sadly, as we had all booked our tickets at different times, we were all sat in random spots across the carriage but I was with Wolfie at least and after the challenge of storing the luggage due to the sheer number of fursuits on board, we settled down for a pleasant two and a half hour journey. The complementary tea and biscuits were divine.
The journey itself was pretty standard and soon we were deposited in the familiarity of Gothenburg. Striding out of the railway station, it was amazing just how much I remembered, particularly the triangular red building near the main bridge over the water. However, we had arrived with complication as Mooie had left his house key in the hotel drawer in Malmo. This meant that he had to ring the hotel and ask them to post it as well as call his landlord asking them for a spare key. This proved to be more involved than we had anticipated as after boarding the familar tram and taking the familiar route back to his suburb, once outside his flat we had to wait for about twenty minutes while some specialist men came and fitted a whole new lock. Awkward.
Once in, we hung around Mooie's for a short while just chilling and chatting before heading back into the city, arriving at the centre just as it was getting dark. I was ravenous at this point so before we had gotten the tram at Mooie's stop, I called off at his local shop for some crisps. Anyway, the plan was for a night of moderate drinking, as we had had a fair bit at Nordic Fuzzcon, with Brewdog the absolute top priority. However, remembering that all we had was a foccacia and a packet of crisps, we thought food would be wise first. It was a toss up between a pizza place and a craft beer burger bar called Restaurant 2112. Both were very near each other, down a side street (Magasingatan) off the main drag, and so it didn't matter too much that the pizza place was closed because it was a Monday. Still, this meant we got to try 2112 and their excellent burgers, not to mention some of their excellent craft beer that was brewed specially for them. It was certainly a great start to the evening aside from the bloke on the table next to us who ordered a load of small dishes back to back and masticated loudly, but you can't have anything. The waitress was really friendly though and we were delighted with the service, as well as the general rock and roll vibe, with the place being part-owned by Peter Iwers (bass) and Bjrn Gelotte (guitar) from In Flames. The burgers meanwhile were excellent, but I did have a fear that Mooie wouldn't be too happy with us eating beef considering he's a cow furry. He was, fortunately, fine with it but I did have to ask.
Brewdog was next, which conveniently was just around the corner. I remember it being quite far out from the city centre last time, but clearly it wasn't (although reaching it by ferry like we had done last time may have given that impression). The toilet that was bedecked in pony motifs has sadly gone, being replaced by wallpaper of bacon, which doesn't sound anywhere near as appealing as you would expect when you are in close proximity to it. Meanwhile, the bar itself was a little quiet and clearly struggling as it's a little out of the way. Still, we got our stamp, our chat and our beer and enjoyed it together.
We didn't fancy staying too long here, but with our minds blank, we didn't know where else to go either. In the end, we headed over to Ol Republikan, simply because it was a place I remembered from before. It too was close, which was convenient as Wolfie still had his limp so we had to keep walking to a minimum. As we walked, we crossed one of the canals, which looked beautiful with the street lights reflecting in its water, not to mention seeing one of the arty Gothenburg sculptures further down. We then ducked down another side street and into Ol Republikan, darting the bitterly cold February evening for its warm embrace. It was very much as I remembered it, with us sitting on the terrace upstairs as opposed to downstairs this time. We had a couple of beers and were cheered to discover that Mooie knew the bar staff, which was the case in our final bar of the night too, one of the Bishop's Arms pubs. These are quite ubiquitous throughout Sweden, and we had been in a few before, but this basement one was new to us and Mooie described it as 'my local'. It was certainly a nice bar and good to see quite busy for 11pm on a Monday evening, so we settled by the bar to sample some of their wares. While here, we spotted a weird collection of offcut wines they had in of varying types and also got chatting to an Irish lady and her gentleman, both of whom were quite pissed. They were pleasant enough, but I was quite happy that we had to get our next tram from outside the main cathedral pretty soon after they had started speaking to us, meaning we bid them a hasty farewell.
Once we got back to Mooie's, we ended up sitting up some more, sharing some more specialist beers that Mooie had as well as finishing off the ones I had bought in the Systembolaget in Malmo for Nordic Fuzzcon. We introduced Mooie to the Chin Review and he showed us the fantastic house he was once going to buy, while we generally just chatted and relaxed until beyond 2am. We had drunk far more than we had intended though, but I guess that is always the case with a night out with Mooie, and it was a fantastic evening all the same. It was sad that we had to leave the next morning, as we were booked on the 12:50 bus to Oslo, but Mooie was a gentleman and went back into Gothenburg with us to catch our service. It had snowed overnight, making carrying all of the luggage challenging, but everything seemed to be running and we got to the bus station with an hour to spare. This meant we had time for some breakfast, which Mooie kindly bought as thanks for us buying his beer the night before, and we ideally sat in the restaurant eating our salami and brie sandwiches (with red pepper in for some reason) just wiling the time away. It was a pleasant way to end our short stay in Sweden's second city.
