Aass Juleøl Premium

Brewed by Aass Bryggeri
Style: Old Ale
Drammen, Norway

Bottle. Immediately after popping the cap, a heavy aroma of malty sweetness, some roasted malt and dried fruits escapes the bottle. It pours a nice ruby copper body, clear, with a small, firm beige head. Prunes, sultana raisins, dark grapes, caramel and some alcohol fill in the blanks in the aroma. It’s quite effervescent, full-bodied and with a pleasant warmth from the alcohol. The flavor has roasted malt, raisins and prunes, fruity and slightly piney hops and some alcohol. As the beers warms up, some mocha occurs. The finish has a nice lasting bitterness to balance the sweetness. A quite complex beer that is in the same league as Julebokk from their competitor Ringnes. It’s maybe a bit evident on the higher alcohols, but really pleasant and works nicely as a by-the-fire beer, or with some nuts and a slice of cheese. Don’t let it get too warm, as some notes of cooked vegetables then shows up. (081212)

Bottle: Clear red colour, with a nice head. Aroma of lots of malts, caramelly, citric,oboy, dry fruits and a typical alcy nose in the end. Flavor had a smouth creamy mouth feeling, mixed with caramel,dark choclate. medium body,and a short to medium finish.

33 cl bottle. Very dark brown color, nice bege head. Aroma is dark malt, dried fruit, caramel and chocolate. Flavor is sweet malty, caramel, dried fruit, chocolate, some alcohol. Nice!

330ml bottle at home. Very nice deep russet coloured body under a slowly diminishing, off-white head with laceworks on the glass. Smell of dried fruits. Quite rich flavour of dark fruits and sweet, dark malts. Soft carbonated. Well integrated alcohol. Medium to full bodied. Enjoyable on a Saturday in the dark Arctic winter night. A welcome new addition to the Norwegian selection of Christmas beers [Tromsø, 06.12.2008].

Bottle. Dark ruby red with a big tan head. Malty aromas with a combination of banana and chocolate. Tastes caramel, with hints of chocolate as well as fruit. A bit hard on the tongue, little carbonation. An interesting new entry on the traditional Norwegian Christmas beer scene, though I suspect it is more influenced by the highly alcoholic Christmas beer from Ringnes than the craft brews from neighbouring Haandbryggeriet.

330 ml bottle, ABV is 9%. A strong top fermented Yule/Christmas beer from Aass, nice. Very dark brown colour, creamy and lasting tan head. Pleasant aroma of dark malts, caramel, brown sugar and oak, hints of Christmas spices. Full and rich mouthfeel. The flavour is malty sweet with loads of caramel, also notes of chocolate, to some degree balanced by acceptable hops. A decent barleywine, will go better with fruitcake and nuts than the traditional Norwegian Yule/Christmas dinner.

Dark, almost black. Dark fruit, a little sourness, alcohol edge. Puzzling beer, I don’t know what they have aimed at. Not very balanced. The potential of a good beer is in there somewhere.

330 ml bottle. Huge airy, mostely diminishing tan head. Clear, brown colored body with a ruby shine. Sweet fruits and nutty malts to the nose. Also a strange scent of bubble-gum and perfume. Taste is sweetish and acidic-fruity, with some caramellish malts, papery or maybe cardboard-ish hops. Notes of fruit-candy. Slim body for a 9% beer. Very unusual, but goes well down.