Haandbryggeriet India Pale Ale

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

Dark amber color, ok head and carbonation for the style. Very good complex aroma with flowers, grapefruit, cinnamon and berries. Hoppy taste throuout, but not so one-dimensional as IPAs often turn out. Medium body and a long, lingering finish. One of my favorite IPAs. Far ahead of Nøgne Ø IPA.

Bottled from Vinmonopolet, Oslo. Cloudy brown coloured, small off-white head. Very fruity nose, some malts. Pleasantly bitter flavour, fruity notes remain. Very nice, not overly-hopped thirst-quenching IPA. Could drink this all evening. Good!

3rd LCRBM. Grapefruit and a hint of licorice in the aroma. Strong, oily hopbitter flavor. Loads of grapefruit. Long earthy and oily hopbitter aftertaste with blackcurrant. Raw, but very nice.

Delicous. After a disasterous start that included the bottle oozing onto my lap the beer really calmed down and was a true treat. Nose wasnt much to brag about, it actually reminded me of the smell from a glass of beer afte not finishing the whole thing and cleaning it up in the morning. But the flavor really took off with nice juicy hops alll over and a nice malt backbone that balanced this bad boy out. Dark caramel color on the pour with huge head, probably also from whatever made this bottle gush.

Bottle from Capone’s. Pours turbid dull orange with 3-finger off-white head and great lacing. Nose is resiny hops, pineapple, spicy yeast, and funky, female feety notes. Tastes resiny hoppy, with mango, pineapple, tangerine, some earthy, floral, and funky notes throughout. Very complex palate and a very unique flavor profile make this one an interesting, Belgian-flaired take on this style.

Hardly any head; what’s there appears to be finely laced. Aroma is quite faint when cold, but has a mix of malts and citrusy hops. Taste is quite big, yet very clean and smooth (extremely harmonic). Again malts and citrusy hops with some metal notes. Metal notes grow stronger when warm. Finish is bitter, but not very. Very nice! A light, highly drinkable, and still interesting IPA. A nice complement to the stronger ones from Nøgne Ø. (This is also the only IPA approved by my girlfriend, which says something about the drinkability.)

50cl bottle from Vinmonopolet, batch 39. It poured an amber orange colour with a big white creamy head that settled down fast in the glass. Aroma is fruity and hoppy with notes of apricots and a hint of yeast. The flavor is slightly acidious and bitter and tastes of apricots, hops, and peppers. It has a lingering aftertaste. 50cl bottle from Vinmonopolet. Batch 138. Brewed 2008-02. Best before 2010-02. Re-rate from batch 39. Appearance is the same as before. The aroma in this batch is much weaker and smells mostly of old wood and faint hints of yeast. The flavour is also a bit off compared to the old batch. Some bitterness, but not much. A bit hoppy and notes of apricots. It has a short aftertaste. This batch is not their best. I’ll leave the ratings for the old batch.

courtesy of Laurent Mousson - hazy amber colour with a persistent beige head; dusty and very flowery hoppy aroma, resiney; slightly oily, medium-bodied and robustly bitter; dry and long very bitter flowery hoppy finish