Närke Kaggen Stormaktsporter

[To celebrate my rating number 7500 - I choose the present number one beer, which I sampled at the RBESG 2006] A pitch black beer with a thick brown head. The aroma is very powerful with notes of malt, alcohol, chocolate, and over ripe fruits. The flavor is extremely sweet malty with lots of chocolate - bitter dessert chocolate that is, as well as notes of roasted malt, alcohol, and wood, also light notes of whiskey mixes in. The alcohol burns slightly in the throat. Nice one.

Re-rate bottled at Akkurat and at SMÖF. The flavours are now more mature and balanced. The silkyness of teh regular Stormaktsporter now combines well with all the attractive barrel induced flavours. It has grown one step further on bottles.
[Draught at Oliver Twist, Stockholm] Intransparently black, small pale brown head. Rich aroma of licorice and wood. Sweet with full body and concentrated flavour of coffee, tar, oak and whiskey. Salty finish with vanilla and chocolate as well as a fair amount of bitterness. The barrel character does not overpower the other flavours, making it more balanced than many other barrel aged beers.

(Bottle 25 cl) Pours completely black and opaque with a handsome, dense light brown head. Complex, vinous aroma with sweetish, roasted malts. Very full body with a shipload of roasted malt and notes of dried and overripe fruits. And then oak of course. Discreet bitterness with the alcohol shining through. Extemely complex and pleasant from start to finish. 260806

Special thanks to hopscotch for saving a slice of this even though we were running late for the tasting. Dark brown, muddy. Rich, tarry, boozy aroma. Tarry body, too, hot, woody with thick chewy malts. The added boozy, woody notes of the barrel interferes with what was otherwise a wonderfully malty beer.

Bottle at RBESG 2006. Black coloured with a small beige head. Roasted aroma of wood and vanilla. Roasted flavour of wood, chocolate and vanilla.