Haandbryggeriet Dark Force

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

Bottle. Dark brown, almost black with a rich light brown head. Smoked malts and licorice aroma with some fruity notes. Tastes smokey and sweet, with coffee notes. Not to mention chocolate. Soft as velvet. Looks dark and dramatic, but soft and with a cheeky spirit, Norwegian at its best.

500ml from Sam’s, Durham. Mike at Sam’s made an excellent joke when calling this Norwegian black metal beer. I reckon that’s about right. Dank inky pour with mild carbonation and a decent head (gobs of yeast sitting atop like fjords). Dense and smoky, with some notable funk tartness from the yeast, gives this one a lot of character beyond the usual impy stouts. The price makes it just a bit of a reach, but it’s very tasty.

Bottle pours black brown with a milk chocolate head that peals away in lace. The aroma is chocolate, coffee, and yeast? The flavor has a dark sweetness followed by a dry quick finish - nothing lingers. Perhaps some lactic notes played in the middle. Not sure where to go with this. Thinking it needs to warm... Clove note here and there. Finding the wheat somewhere in the roasted base. As it warms I can taste more of the wheatiness. OK, this is a wheat beer, let’s just agitate the yeast and pour the rest in the glass... Yes, more clove. I’m seeing it. This is all making sense to me now. She has opened herself to me and exposed her inner being. She is beautiful. She sings and dances in my mind and leaves me wishing for a younger and more single age. She is dark, smooth, carries herself so well, and knows she is top notch. There is nothing better than attitude.

1pt 9fl oz bottle from West Lake View Liquors. Batch no 73, brewed April 07. Pours a dark black with a thick brown soapy head that laces down in patches. I’m surprised by this nose. Really smokey when it first pours but that dissipates to the bakers chocolate, roast, and nutty malts. A slight sweetness comes out as it warms. Medium bodied, nice creamy carbonation. But the flavor doesn’t last long. Burnt malts. Charred. Bakers chocolate. Chocolate malt shake. Finishing bitter and roasty. The alcohol warmth also comes through as it warms. The bitterness lasts awhile and begins to taste old and stale. But overall a pretty good beer.

Bottle.

A fascinating beer, against the usual grain in many ways. First of all it pours with a big beautiful cafe-mocha head bubbling up in my snifter - unexpected. Second, the dominant notes in the aroma are blueberrries and smoke. Some baker’s chocolate in there, some cigarette ash, other berries, cut pears. Third, the mouthfeel. Thin. Surprisingly thin for the style and ABV, but actually kinda nice to sip on. The flavors are maybe not quite as surprising give the aroma, but this too is unusual. The smoke is particularly prominent (as with Norwegian wood, but of course less so). Nice juicy blackberry notes, again some dark berry-like chocolate with the pleasing bright acidity of say a Kenyan coffee. Yeah, I pick up a little bit cigarette ash in the flavor as well, but it’s subtle enough and covered in enough berry-juice sweetness not to put me off. (Very different from the super-dry Peche Mortel that couldn’t cover these notes).

It’s maybe not perfect, but it’s a heck of an interesting beer. Huge points for being out of the ordinary and yet enjoyable to drink. On the downside, I’ve got to admit that I started to fatigue on the second glass. Not a good sign where drinkability is concerned.

First impression - wheat imperial stout? wait...what? Really? Hmm. Thanks to DenverLogan for bringing this along to PP Bottle Shop to share with wetherel, deftim13, Sean, Ryan and myself. For what its worth, its an interesting beer. Great looking pour with lots of head. Chocolate cereal aroma with some sawdust notes. Intensely roasty nose in the flavor with a lightly sour, tangy finish that was not all too pleasing. Dry palate; it lacks the complexity of barely-brewed imperials, but it gets my points for the intrigue in its own right.

I’ve been looking forward to trying this since I was once offered it as part of a trade, but got other stuff instead. Logan brought this nice rarity to PP bottle shop. Thanks Logan! Tasted with deftim13, hapjydeuce, denverlogan, Sean, and Ryan. Looks great. Pitch black with a dark tan head. That’s where the goodness ends. Over-roasted grains makes it taste like cigarette butts. Very dry. Not bad, but not good. Gets a better after sitting.

Poured black color with a very large tan head. Wheat and roasted malt aroma. Notes of chocolate with some light smoke. Wheaty citrus notes. Roasted with a bitter finish over the wheat citrus. light-medium body. Actually a thin finish.