Møllebyen Triple Pale Ale

500 ml draught at the brewpub. Dark amber colour. A little haze, not that that makes much of a difference as the beer is beautiful to look at with its red and yellow hues. Sweet malty and grainy aromas. Aroma is mostly malts, but there are some distant grassy and straw-like English hops. Smooth texture, malt, then an explosion of pungent sharp hops. Not that they are that strong, just that they sneak up on you and attack you while you are content with the wonderful malty sweetness. A hint of banana at the front of the palate, but very subdued. Lightly sour hop flavours. Malts fall more into the background especially in the finish.

Small offwhite head. Hazy brown body with light carbonation. Sweetish clean slightly hopped aroma with caramel notes. Surprisingly mild aroma. Taste is initially light, dry, honeyish malts. Followed by a bitter, complex taste of lightly roasted malts, and citrusy floral hopes with fruity caramelly notes. Smoky, dusty taste lingers. Some alcohol heat. Very difficult to analyze because it is so harmonic. Good, and rather subtle. (0.5l draft.)

On tap at the brewpub, and from bottle courtesy of the brewer. Clear, golden with an off-white head. Piny aroma with malt, some caramel and citrus. The flavor is piny as well, with maltyness comingg stronger after a while. Medium to full body and a long, dry and bitter finish with malt in the background. For a Norwegian brewpub, this is certainly one of the hoppies available, but hey, the brewer is an American. Keep it up David! (061124 from bottle) (061121)

Special bottling. Dark golden colour with an off-white head. Aroma is sweet, malt, fruit, hop. Flavour is hop, dry, alcohol, fruit. Bitter finish.

Special bottling (thanx David). Golden, light brown body with moderate head. Aroma somewhere between an American pale ale and IPA (aromatic hops, citrus). Flavor is fresh, lively and hoppy with a long delicious and bitter finish. An interesting and surprising crossover beer.