Haandbryggeriet Norwegian Wood

Brewed by Haandbryggeriet (Norway)
Style: Traditional Ale
Drammen, Norway

IBF 07 A tasty dark ale with just a hint of bark. If trees made beer, this is what it would taste like. And then I would drink all of the tree. Bless any brewery that experiments in alternative methods or ingredients.

500 ml, Batch 72 brewed April 2007. Clear dark brown-copper with a lasting three-finger head. Aroma is spicy-sweet hickory smoke and light banana. Flavor is mesquite smoke, caramel, earthy-peppery spices, dried cedar, char, dark roasted walnut, and light alcohol. Great aftertaste of peppery-sweet smoked bacon. Medium body is dryish and has a slight chest-warming effect. Only complaint is it is too bubbly-frothy in the mouth for my tastes, but this is still a very good brew.

[Batch #72] Pours a deep clear, but very dark, ruby brown with a large foamy tan froth on top. Great aroma, smokey bacon and pineapple, sweet teriyaki, hickory with notes of candied cranberries. This is Thanksgiving in a bottle... smoked turkey jerky with juniper-berries on top. Really a great flavor. The light smoke and tangy berries meld so well together, with the berries being the stronger of the two, especially in the finish. Light glassy body with lots of large, but soft, carbonation bubbles. Lots of campfire and berries in the finish.

Batch 72, bottled April 07, imbibed July 08. Pours red/brown with a huge beige head. Aroma is lightly smoked and a bit spicy, with woody and nutty notes. Medium body. Flavor is burnt wood, smoke, earth, and grassy hops. The finish is dry and just a bit bitter. Very well put together, never over the top, just a very drinkable and tasty beer.

19.07.2008. 0.5 l. Batch148, brewed march 08, BB march 10. Almost without head. smokey smell. Spiced with Juniperus. Sharpe hoppy taste, aftertaste is short and bitter. 29.05.2009, 0,5l Bottle, Batch 209, brewed february 09, BB february 11. More carbonation then the last test, with yellow-brown head. Lovely roasted malty aroma. Very nice.

500ml bottle from monopoly outlet, Oslo. Pours hazy brown with small offwhite head. Faint aromas of woodfire and us hops. Wonderful smoky taste, not too much like those german ones, and a bit fruity. Fantastic...

500ml bottle at The Rake, with renffisch, duff and harrisoni, 17th May 2008. Bottle was from batch 66, brewed Feb 2007. Dark reddish amber with a solid whitish head. Very unique and wonderful aroma - pine, juniper, wood smoke, herbs. Utterly lovely smoky malt flavours, balanced by a dry, lingering hoppiness. Not too heavy either. A very different, very, very enjoyable beer.

Thanks for sharing Sick_boy. Pours with a slightly cloudy, deep amber body topped by a thick, quickly disappearing head with lots of lacing. It’s smoky and malty with a slight sweetness and a little hop character. Medium bodied and very tingly from the carbonation.