Evan came to Wisconsin to visit me in early June this past summer. Early war Chain of Command and indulgence in some general tomfoolery were on the docket.
In town we have the local branch of a chain liquor store (maybe liquor paradise) called Total Wine and Liquor. We decided some libations were in order and promptly made a run to stock the drink refrigerator.
While we were on our way we got the bright idea to drink a beer from each of the major World War II combatant countries. As the name suggests, Total Wine and Liquor is well provisioned. They even have an aisle where you can mix and match six packs of different beers. Included in the deal was a relatively generous import area and we took full advantage. Some countries were more well represented while others weren’t offered in the “mix and match” deal.
After a 15 minutes of giddy beer shopping we walked out of the store with 12 beers and two big containers of cheese balls.
We then proceeded to enjoy the eclectic batch of beers over one and a half days of gaming. We thought an after action/ tasting review would be a fun idea for a “one off” article.
What follows is our completely subjective (low quality semi-professional) review of the beers. The scores are what we both agreed on at the time of enjoyment. I think the beers got better tasting and thus better scored as the evening wore on… My tactics in the games of Chain of Command however, got more daring and gusto filled. The keen-eyed will also notice that we attempted to drink them loosely in the order of their country of origin’s appearance into World War II.
Above is the group photo of the 11 different beers and our tasting equipment. We had 11 unique beers as we bought two Taddy Porters on Evan’s recommendation (spoiler it was a good recommendation.) Strangely enough, Italy wasn’t represented in the solo beer aisle besides a non-alcoholic beer. Our group of brews included a slew of different brewing styles and tastes. We figured we should kick off The June 2025 World War II Beer Sampler with a classic German brew, the black lager.
Germany – Köstritzer Black Lager
Smooth and nutty, but a little bitter. A good start to the evening.
4.5/5 – Would drink again
Poland – Zywiec Pale Lager
Skunkier than we liked but very drinkable. Tastes good but naselly and hoppy.
3/5 – Would drink again
England – Taddy Porter
Slightly sweet caramel notes. A bit of smokiness. Really tasty.
4.5/5 – Would drink again
Netherlands – La Trappe Trappist Quadruple
Sweet and strong with heavy notes of banana.
4/5 – Would drink again
Belgium – Gulden Draak Red Ale
This one was good, strong, sweet, and smooth. Unfortunately someone had washed our glasses over night and accidentally left a film of dish soap on them. We ended up dumping most of our glasses out after both noting the soapy aftertaste, having a laugh, and rinsing our mouths out.
4/5 – Would drink again (without the soap though)
France – 1664 Lager
Sweet, fruity, and skunky.
2/5 – dispite Evan’s aversion to skunky beer we would drink again.
Germany – Celebrator Doublebock
Dark complexion. Malty and smooth. A typical ‘bock.
4/5 – Would drink again
Estonia – Välk Sour Fruited Gose
Sour beers are kind of derisive. We liked the rich, spicy, fruity profile. But they aren’t for everyone.
3.25/5 – Would drink again
Japan – Kurin Ichiban Lager
Smooth, light bodied, slight hops. The Emperor would be pleased.
3.75/5 – Would drink again
England – Taddy Porter
The second showing of the Taddy was just as good as the first.
4.5/5 – Would drink again
Japan – Asahi Super Dry Rice Lager
Light bodied, clean, and smooth.
4/5 – Would drink again
United States – Bourbon Barrel Quad Belgian Quadruple
Boozy, sweet, smooth, and dark. A great night cap drink.
4.75/5 – Would drink again
We had a blast gaming and enjoying the sampling of hop and malt libations. Evan and I decided we would be doing samplings at all of our quarterly (-ish) meet ups. There are few pairings as divine as wargames and beer. But don’t take our word for it, try it yourself. Prost from Iron Dice Gaming!
Iron Dice Gaming 
Excellent post 😁
Interesting that in the end they all seemed to do pretty well!
Glad you chose a good honest Northern beer from the UK. We have a lot of good breweries over here, but the southern ones are IMHO less good as a rule.
Keep up the good work 👍
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Haha well, we didn’t say we were good critics, just critics. Sometimes beer number 3 tastes better than beers number 1 and 2 through relaxed standards 😆 Plus, good company makes things taste better.
Any recommendations for Northern UK beers??
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I’m partial to Timothy Taylor’s, Wainrights, Jennings, to name but a few. Sam Smiths was an old favourite, but I preferred the Oatmeal stout to the Taddy Porter. Not had it for years.
And Black Sheep Brewery.
There are a lot of little independent brewers springing up these days, and many of them are very good! It’s really hard to keep up with them all, but I do try 😉
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And upon re-reading, you’d drink them ALL again!!! 😜
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Well, ultimately our standards are pretty low!
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I probably shouldn’t say we need more posts like this! 🙂 Glad you enjoyed the experience! I’d never heard of Taddy Porter (even though I live in England) but I quite like 1664 (even though it appears to be not as great a favourite with yourselves)!
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We try to give the people what they want John 😜 More it is! This article has been in the hopper for a while but we will probably do it again as we were having fun pretending to be beverage critics.
I would drink 1664 again in a heartbeat. I am a little less picky than Evan who has a sensitive Michigander palate. 😆
Any other recommendations?
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I don’t drink much these days but from what I can remember Waggle Dance is nice (with a name like that you are just so going to look it up)!
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Waggle dance, now there’s a nice beer!!
👍
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Sadly gluten intolerance put paid to my beer drinking years ago. On the upside I don’t get headaches anymore when I drink gluten free beers! Peroni in a bottle is pleasant although it fails your test as it’s found in the lager side of your liquor store. Then there is brew dog vagabond again a light beer but still it’s gluten free and the alternative is to just drink cider 🙁
In a previous life I was rather partial to India pale ale worthington shield – bottled with yeast and a shelf life of about 6 weeks after leaving the brewery. Always interesting to see if the pub had maintained its stocks properly: queue frothageddon if they hadn’t. 😂 And whether the server knew how to pour it – Very very slowly with all the grouts still in the bottle. 😁
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