Haandbryggeriet Romjul

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

Hazy red brown beer with a lasting tan head. Bready malt, with a touch of roast, coming together in a rather odd way. Malty sweet flavour with tart and astringent notes.

50 cL bottle@fonefan/Brugmansia’s Cnudde tasting. Pours hazy brown with a lacing off white head. Light fruity and spiced aroma. Flavour is fruity and spiced. Ends light herbal and spiced. Off.

(on bottle, thanx to Yngwie and Gunnfryd) Hazy, dark rusyred, white head. malted nose, some grapes too. Thin bodied, short carbonated. A small hoppyness in the finish.

Bottle. Clear dark brown colour. Sweet caramel malty aroma. Rather thin mouthfeel. Well toasted bit spiced malty and chocolate flavour. Bitterish toasty finish with slight chocolate.

Bottle @ thewolf tasting.
[thank you Yngwie/Gunnfryd]
Pours a nice reddish brown - a fine creamy beige head on top. Rather quickly becomes a thin film. Aroma is sweet, light roasted caramel, some fruity plums and raisins. Light mouthfeel. Flavour is quite dry, some chocolate and a bit of dried fruits. Light spiciness as well. Really a nice Brown Ale.

Bottle. Pours a nice, reddish brown body with some clouds, and a small, beige head on top. Rum-raisin, sweetness, some roasted malt and caramel and a wee touch of yeast on the nose. Dry in the mouth, sweet in the background, roasted malt, caramel and hops in the flavor. Medium body. Quite bitter finish with roasted malt. The hoppy bitterness comes stronger towards the very end, lifting the experience slightly. A nice brown ale. Rating: 6-4-6-3-13-3.2. (080108)

Bottle, #102. It pours an unclear brown body with a reddish hue and a small, creamy beige head. There seems to be a little sourish note to the aroma, which mostly consists of roasted malt, caramel and dried fruits. Maybe rum soaked raisins instead of dried fruits? Or maybe some port-like scents? Not really sure what it is, it’s quite volatile and in the background. Maybe it’s the wheat playing a trick? Flavorwise it follows the same path as the aroma. There’s a tiny sourness I don’t remember from half a year ago, followed by caramel sweetness and roasted malt. No, it’s not sourness, it’s a little oxidation going on, both in aroma and flavor. There’s also some notes of yeast, and a weak, pleasant hoppy bitterness doing some work towards the end of the flavor. Medium body. Lasting finish with roasted malt, some sweetness, and both coffee-like and hoppy bitterness. A quite complex beer with good drinkability. If you don’t like oxidation, it probably should be drank fresh, but I really enjoyed it the way it tasted eight months after bottling. Went down easily in the summer heat. (080723)

Bottle. Red brown colour with a beige head. Aroma is roasted, hop, fruit. Flavour is roasted, dry, hop, malt, caramel. Quite nice to be ABV 4,5 %.

500 ml bottle, thanks to Ole_R. Like all Haandbryggeriet beers it is bottle conditioned. ABV is 4.5%. Malts include wheat malt and Münchener malt. Batch No. 102. Brewed Oct. 2007, BB date March 2009. Mahogany coloured beer, hazy when the sediment is poured. Moderate beige head. Moderate aroma of malts, bakery and chocolate, hints of spices. The flavour is fruity and slightly acidic, with distinct notes of Münchener malts. The finish is spicy with a sharp bitterness. Not a bad beer, but it somehow seems a bit unbalanced - the flavour elements don’t blend together very well. I am not sure if this is a recipe worth repeating next year.