Närke Kaggen Stormaktsporter

(bottled sampled from miketd by way of enniskillen.)black body with a nice looking dark brown head.as the head sits i get nice webbing on the glass.the aroma is really nice.i pick up marshmellows,brownies,brown sugar,roasted malts,and dark fruit.the flavor was a different blend of tobacco,alcohol,some chocolate,smoke,and dark fruit make up the flavor.now as it warms a bit the sweetness comes out,but i liked the aroma a bit more.

Tasted at the February Northern California Beer Tasting. This Imperial Stout pours an eclipse black color from the bottle. Small to medium sized foamy tan head. The aroma is chocolate and toffee, dark fruit, chocolate, oak and licorice. A very full bodied Imperial Stout. The malts are chocolate and toffee, dark fruit, licorice, oak and some bourbon. The hops are earthy. An incredibly full mouthfeel, a real tongue coater. Lots of chocolate and coffee flavors as wellas some dark fruit and vanilla. Nice balance. Good beer. Mouthfeel is very full and round. Finish is clean and smooth. Aftertaste is slightly bitter.

Big thanks to hopscotch for the opportunity to try this special brew. Pours a thickish black with bits of rusty tan head present. Sharp roast, espresso, oak and alcohol notes on the aroma. The taste was remarkable in that it was so rich and layered, which I wasn’t expecting from the aroma. Rich, burnt roasty flavors, caramel, tannins on the taste, and alcohol is virtually undetectable. A pleasure to try.

Take every flavour you have experienced in a imperial stout before, blend it perfectly and put it in a small 25cl bottle. There you go. Besides the huge array of flavours in this imperial stout one of the most impressive aspects is the mouthfeel wich is creamy yet vinous, slightly oily, thick and slick. I don’t want to come of as patriotic because that has nothing to do with it, this is simply the best imperial stout I have ever had.

Here I am, rating #200!!! Words can’t express how thankful I am to Maria and Andreas for sharing the previous lovely beers and this beer. Jess and I had a spectacular time on our Scandinavian adventure meeting all the great RBers there. Please let us know if you’re ever in NY and we’ll show you around with some awesome beer. Now that I’ve gotten rid of the sappy stuff, let me continue with a song. You guys know the words, so sing along: <P> Oh! Kaggen, please believe me
I’ll never do you no harm
Believe me when I tell you
I’ll never do you no harm <P> Oh! Kaggen, if you leave me
I’ll never make it alone
Believe me when I beg you
Don’t ever leave me alone <P> Alright, now to the ratings. First the 2006 version. <P> Pours black with tan head. Aroma is of roasted malts, honey, raisins and some rummy oak. Way more dark fruits and alcohol than the 2005 version. Taste is chocolate and raisins again, mixed ever so well. Rather oily and slick mouthfeel. Finish is somewhat boozy with more chocolate covered raisins. Delightful stuff. 8/5/9/4/18 <P> The rating I’m giving for this beer is for the 2005 bottle, because it was that freakin’ good. Pours deep black with magically appearing tan head. The aroma is heavenly; sweet chocolate, honey and the perfect amount of bourbon. If someone could turn that into a candy, they’d strike it rich. At first taste my thought was "Liquid perfection." The maltiness is off the charts but in the best way possible. Chocolate, caramel with light bourbon and vanilla touches make for a delightful experience. Palate is oily, slick, and full. Finish is predominantly chocolate and lingers almost forever. If Rick James were still alive he’d say "Kaggen’s a hell of a beer!"

Aroma has definite vanilla and bourbon notes up front. That gives way to some deep vinuous notes and bakers chocolate if you take your time. An incredible aroma for sure. The appearance is black with a deep brown head. The palate is medium to full with carbonation that is just bordering on being too high. The taste is deep chocolate, very thick roasted (almost burnt) malt. Bitter chocolate and burnt coffee in the aftertaste. Earthy and tobacco flavors throughout. Just a bit of alcohol in the flavor, but not nearly what you would expect for 10%. Very strong flavor profile.

Thanks to WeeHeavySD I finally got to try this before that bullshit Belgian Festival. We should have just gotten more beer and stayed at the hotel. Anyway, this lives up to the hype. Dark and surprisingly sweet. No alcohol detected. Just sweet, syrupy stoutness that left a nice, silken, candy coating on the palate. It must be a real pain in the ass to make this stuff because it’s pretty complex and you practically need to be fellating the brewer to get your hands on some. But, ya know, dog bless the person ready to go through the trouble. I rather enjoyed this ale. You know how it is... sometimes you hear the hype and it’s usually mostly based upon how difficult the stuff is to get. Then you try and and it’s pretty good, but not worth the hassle or the hype. This actually fits into the category of worth the hassle and the hype. Nice.

Date: 04/04/2008
Mode: Bottle
Source: Trade
Vintage: 2006

Appearance: black, fine tan head, streaks of drippy lace, tick viscous liquid coats the inside of the glass and turns it brown,
Aroma: huge dark chocolate aroma with sweet dark caramel and honey plus a touch of vanilla, a fair amount of balancing oak,
Body: big thick body,
Flavor: rich dark chocolate flavor, lots of honey and dark caramel sweetness comes in with some vanilla to enrichen the chocolate, touch of roasted adds bitterness, the oak rises up to add a whole new dimension of complexity, alcolol comes in after a while to open it up and add additional sweetness,
Overall: the thick rich chocolate rules the day with the honey and vanilla sweetness backing it up

Aroma: 8/10; Appearance: 8/10; Flavor: 8/10; Palate: 8/10; Overall: 18/20
Rating: 4.2/5.0
Drinkability: 8/10
Score: ***4