Haandbryggeriet Norwegian Wood

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

Sampled at Springslicker’s Fish Fry ’09. Hazy orange pour with tan head and good lacing. Nice mild smoke aroma becomes more prevalent in the flavor but still fairly unassuming. Overpriced and a little weak.

Bottle. Smoky nose, sweet malt with caramel and chocolate background. Cloudy brownish orange with a fairly thick head and nice lacing. Smokiness is perfectly restrained, allowing malt and spice notes to come through. Pine and juniper combines with some fruit and chocolate. Very smooth palate, but with good spiciness.

Pours clear brown with a small tan head. The aroma has light malt, bright spices, toffee, clean toasty caramel malt and a touch of cracker. Medium crisp body that gets richer towards the end. The flavor starts with clean toasted malt, then the smokiness comes through followed with almost a candi sugar aspect. The finish seems to have a dry spice. This is interesting, but I wouldn’t want much.

Bottle. Moderate malt and hop smells of grain, toasted and resin, light earth for the yeast, with background notes of smoke, wood, and spice. Head is large, frothy, off-white with fair lacing and is fully lasting. Color is murky brown, with large particles. Flavor starts lightly sweet and moderately acidic, then finishes moderately to heavily acidic and lightly bitter. Palate is medium,watery, with a fizzy carbonation and finishes lightly alcoholic. An okay Traditional Ale, but a little harsh in a few spots.

Bottle from City Beer in SF. Pours a very dark brown with a lasting beige head. Aroma of smoke and wood. Flavor is roasty and smoky with dark fruits (juniper?), spices, and meaty notes. Medium-full body with a creamy palate.

there are times i am so completely sick of myself that i have a hard time leaving the house for fear of inflicting myself on others. so i sit at home, and rot, generally downloading crap and listening to music that makes normal people want to jump off a cliff. so i did that for the last who knows how many hours, finally was able to turn on a light, put the razor blade away take a shower and clean this hole up. maybe soon i’ll e able to eat. dare to dream. so i’m in my place that is now not smelling of my sweat and pity, with the cool breeze blowing in the windowws, just got back from having a few beers in public, and now i’m ready, lets see what this beer is all about.looks really dark, but i’m in an unlit room, held to the window it has a bit of copper marron filtered through. nice fluffy head with big ol’ bubbles. a sweet smoke nose that makes me smile, smells like cedar and applewood. very inviting and makes my mouth water a bit while my jaws clench in anticipation. this is shockingly good. the smoke is there, with that smoke flavor that i taste from good cold smoked salmon, with a great wheaty banana and apple flavor, a great sweet malt body that holds perfesctly against the smoke. i must pick up some salty goat cheese and a bit of salmon to try with this. the bitter smoke finish is bringing so much at me i can’t take it all in. meatyt, fruit juice(pear, apple)n light roast, sugared sugar puffs(you white trash brethren know what i mean) maple and with each taste something new, but always good. rich with a nice thick body. this is the opposite of a passage i read in a novel recently-" i was thankful for her giving me access to the solid, bland world she lived in"- emily jenkins from mr. posterior and the genius child. good book, good beer. 5 10 8 4 19

16.9 oz bottle. Pours a clear dark amber body with a large fizzy beige head that had excellent staying power due to the vigorous carbonation. The nose is a quite unique mix of light smoke, wood, light roast, and caramel malt. The flavor is subtly smoky with nutty caramel maltiness, a bit on the sweeter side with an unusual herbal note that must be from the juniper berries but I’d be hard pressed to identify it without knowing. Nice lingering charred wood, coffee, and roast notes. Mouthfeel is medium bodied with a bit too much fizzy active carbonation. A really unique interesting brew, not quite a Smoked, but not quite anything in particular either.

SpringsLicker’s Fish Fry. Sample from a bottle thanks to Butters. Fuzzy light brown, thin off white head. Aroma is woody smoke, campfire and sausage. Taste is burnt bacon, smoke, smoldering campfires.