Haandbryggeriet Norwegian Wood

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

Aroma is great. It has a lot of smoke, juniper indeed, perhaps pine, some roasted malts even, wood. Nice and complex. Hazy, brown coloured with a medium, beige, lasting head. Taste is quite bitter and has smoke, juniper/pine, some maltiness. Leaving a dry, pleasant and lingering finish. This is truly remarkable stuff.

Bottle (Batch No. 70, brewed March 2007). Good robust smoked aroma, woody with chocolate malt. No sign of juniper. Deep mahogany pour with a huge, excitable, spoonable, rocky, creamy, - perfect -, beige head. Taste is more urned than smoked, though the latter is there residually, with creaking planks of wood and dusty yeast. Dry but not overly so, with just a slight herbal edge that isn’t juniper but does compliment nicely. Medium body but kinda blase and uninterested in the feel. Solid and darkly satisfying but doesn’t knock my socks off.

Maybe it was all the other exceptional stuff I was drinking but I didn’t get much more than smoke. Like drinking a liquid steak, it was actually meaty. Aroma has much more smoke than the taste. The smoke overpowers any remnance of fruit.

A dark ruby pour with lots of darkness, a persistant tan head, aroma reminded me of a wood fire, some berries, dry and oily smoke fragrances, hints of candy sweetness and malt, smokey wood and dark bread flavor, taste of faint brown sugar that quickly disappeared, there is a wood taste in the finish, flavors of roasted malt, some dry bitterness on the tongue that has a faint bitter chocolate flavor, smoke and wood sticks to the tongue, burnt flavor here and there, smoke flavor pretty much dominates, lots of carbonation and prickly in the mouth.

Murky Peach Brown Color with Sandy Head. Solid Smokey Aroma with Undertones of Sweet Berry. Heavy Bodied. Dry and Creamy Mouthfeel. Smoke Dominated the Flavor Profile with Undertones of Dark Malt, Chocolate and Perhaps a bit of Caramel...with Some Balancing Notes from Juniper Berries. Dry, Thick, Smokey Aftertaste. Ends Quite Balanced, Making it Quite Alluring to Keep Imbibing. Very Nice Traditional.

Poured an amber color with a small, off white head that left nice lacing on the glass. Aroma of caramel, light smoke, a bit of juniper, burnt leaves, banana, and smoke, roasted malts as well. Taste was sweet, with caramel malts, up front, light chocolate, berries, with wood, and smoke in the finish.

Milky thick brownish orange color. Light bacon aroma mixed with juniper. The smoked wood flavor really kicks in the back of the palate. Light meaty flavor throughout the body. Burnt and dark cocoa flavors. Long lasting head. Damn good for a smoked bier.

16.9oz bottle. Top knotch stuff. Thick chocolately opaque brown color. Full bodied all out smoke flavor. Rich and satisfying. The juniper gives the beer a nice spicy touch, which leaves a pleasant herbal aftertaste. Expensive at 7.99+ a bottle in the store, but well worth trying if you a fan of the rauch.