Haandbryggeriet Dark Force

Brewed by Haandbryggeriet (Norway)
Style: Imperial Stout
Drammen, Norway

Sticker says batch 73, and it is one of the Shelton Brothers imports. Dark beer in my snifter with a big, foamy brown head that lasted a good long while. Nose of puffed wheat, dark chocolate and some alcohol as it warms. The body was the first thing I noticed as being markedly lighter that most impy stouts. Almost fluffy, which I attribute to the wheat. Lots of chocolate, caramel, some burnt toast, puffed wheat cereal and vanilla. Bottle says "Double Extreme Imperial Wheat Stout." Yeah, this is a good one of those.

Pours a deep black with a large foamy dark tan lacing head. Aroma of roasted malt, caramel, dark chocolate, cocoa, toffee, nuts and some vanilla. Flavor of roasted malts, some smoke, vanilla, caramel, toffee, chocolate, moderate hop bitterness, earthy notes and some spicy hop flavor.

Bottle at c-bus 10. Pours a a opaque black color with a tan colored head. Aroma is roast, oak, estery. Flavor is chocolate, roast, caramel, grain. Palate is full bodied, medium to mild carbonation, finished bitter. Decent.

There’s a lot of very challenging imperial stouts out there ("imperial" does imply some extremeness), and this is not one of them. It is very drinkable and tasty but not very challenging nor extreme. I’m grateful that I live in a world where I’m able to purchase in a store in MIlwaukee hobby-brewed beer from Norway. Appearance was a very viscous opaque black with a tan head; pretty much what I expected from a well-regarded imperial stout. Aroma was a bit roasty with some oakiness and lots of Chardonnay-wine esters. Flavor was less in-m-face than I expected, but still quite tasty. There was lots of burned-pizza-crust roastiness and a fair amount of vanilla. Mouthfeel was rather light, particularly given the style and how thick it poured, but smooth and pleasant. A mild flavor and light mouthfeel made this beer very drinkable for the style and even sessionable, but it didn’t rocket it to the top of my list of great imperial stouts. Nonetheless, I would recommend this beer; I thought it pretty good. I split this bottle with SurlySober, who is always extremely generous with his beer acquisitions. I got this bottle at Discount Liquor in Milwaukee.

500 ml; batch 93, brewed Sep 07. Opaque chocolate with a humongous, nitrogen-like head. Aroma is mostly wheat, some charred wood and brown-sugar-molasses. Initial tastes of slight bubblegum-wheat are quickly overtaken by raisin and blackstrap molasses with slight alcohol. Midway through, some char and metallic-acidic herb kick in. Long finish of earthy, green wood smoke. Creamy body is medium-heavy and just watery enough to be highly drinkable.

Bottle shared by eyedrinkale. Very dark brown beer, with a massive thick tan head. Very sticky lacing. Aroma is loaded with oak and charred grain. Salty, licorice flavour with more heavy char. Dark roasted espresso, molasses and a lingering roastiness. Fairly prominent bitterness. Unusual brew, but it works pretty well.

Bottle at Travis’ (El_Duderino) Bday party. Pours with a black body topped by a thick, tan head with a good amount of lacing. It’s slightly sweet and smokey wiht a little malt and some chocoalte. Medium to full bodied and smooth.

My Bottom Line:
A soothing malt vortex languidly reels you in with its intertwining dark chocolate, coffee beans, vanilla, blackberry jam and molasses, until you are released to a polite green hop, roasted malt and wheaty finale. This is an Imperial Stout in which complexity and drinkability coalesce.

Further Personal Perceptions:
-Towering foam slowly recedes into the black hole.
-Its big bubbles might be overbearing early on, but if you let the beer breathe its mouthfeel becomes easily manageable.
-The rich cereals provide a huggable body.
-The aroma is not quite as seductive as the flavor profile.
-That meshed-in fruitiness is truly appetizing throughout.

Bottled in May ’07.