Haandbryggeriet India Pale Ale

Brewed by Haandbryggeriet (Norway)
Style: India Pale Ale (IPA)
Drammen, Norway

Vinnmonopolet, Oslo. Amber body. Slight head. Hoppy nose, sweet and fruity too. Full-bodied. Taste of malts, fruit. But not enough hops. Too thin of hops for a proper IPA. Bitter finish. Okay, from an otherwise excellent brewer.

(Bottle, batch 159, on 2009-02-18) Pale amber and cloudy. Medium sized and quickly disappearing white head. Fruity and hoppy aroma. Full bodied and dry palate with lot of carbonation. Malts, fruitiness, bitterness, bit of pine resin and bread in taste. Malty and bitter aftertaste.

Bottle. Poured amber with beige head. Funky aroma. Taste is fruity, with hops and that funk. Finished just as bad as it started, did not enjoy.

This is a strange one. The best feature is the nice carbonation. Other than that, I’ll just echo what others said kinda barnyard, earthy, sour - it did have almost brett like characteristics.

Having been disappointed by their Double Dose IIPA, I had low expectations for this one and I was not surprised at the general confusion from this pint. The colour is dismal...a murky cloudy brown with hardly any nose. Their is a nice active head on this thing that lasted throughout the drink, which was a good point. The taste, however, cancels out any positive points...where to start? Fist of all, it’s not hoppy enough for me...but then again, these guys seem to be aiming more for a UK-styled IPA so I can at least cut them some slack..however, they forgot one key thing: to make it drinkable! Tastes like the muddy colour it is...earthly and cloddy, rainwater, some slight toffee tastes, some bitterness, slight sourness...but mostly rainwater and mud. Not much of as finish to speak of... Can you tell that I did not appreciate this one? Batch #159 for anyone who cares.

Bottle from Liquid Solutions. Hazy amber color with decent beige head. Aroma is damn barnyard over hop! Medium body with decent carbonation. Brett it is. Not a sour infection sort of thing. A barnyard sort of thing. Whew. There’s malt and hop, but the brett is the main thing. Finishes more like a hoppy saison than an IPA. Very good.

Very dry. Earth, dirt. Some brett, surprisingly. A little cloudy. I am not sure if the brett should be there. Medium palate, but this is a dry beer.

Bottle poured a lightly hazy copper with a small lasting ivory head. Aromas of apricot, peach, orange, light carmel and light earthiness. Palate was light to medium bodied and crisp. Flavors of earthiness, carmel, orange, apricot and light grassiness with a crisp lingering bitter fruity finish.