Närke Kaggen Stormaktsporter

Brewed by Närke Kulturbryggeri
Style: Imperial Stout
Örebro, Sweden

Royal Park Beer Festival. 2006 vintage. The emperor has no clothes? I’m not sure, he’s definitely not as well-dressed as he thinks, IMO. The aroma just screams coconut, to the point of not much else getting through. So bourbony - it’s completely dominant. Piney, minty American hops mixed with coffee and chocolate in the US stout style underneath. Bourbon doesn’t affect the flavour nearly as much - no noticeable saltiness or booziness, which I appreciate, but I didn’t detect any oak character either. The barrel-aging doesn’t seem to have added much besides the rampant bourbon aroma, it’s more like an imperial stout with a shot of bourbon. And the thing is it just doesn’t taste like good bourbon either, it really reminded me of white label Jim Beam. I dunno. I mean, it’s quite a nice beer, but obviously you’re gonna have high expectations with a beer like this. If this is what barrel-aged imperial stouts are all about then I’ll just stick with the plain ones I think.

(2006 bottle, at Konttori Tampere) Almost black colored, slight red colored. Little brown head. So, this is it. Aroma is excellently deep one: oaky-vanilla is dominating here, roastiness with nice hopped tone and licorice also here. Mild alcohol noticable too. Full bodied. Flavor is even better: same vanilla-oaks dominating in start, also licorice and chocolate here. Aftertaste is finely balancing with strong hops and dryness, vanilla lasts until I’m home. Alcohol covered in flavor totally. So, this was it.

2006 Bottle bought at GBBF 07. Black colour with a thin tan head. Intense choc aroma. Like the highest cocoa chocolate you can buy, plus a distinct heather aroma. A little bit of petrol and tar too. Opened with very little carbonation but carbonation is evident in the glass. I’ve had this twice before at GBBF and at RBESG and both times I was blown away by it. Serving temperature is very important. Too cold and you lose a lot of depth of flavour. Pours oily, clear dark brown. Heathery aroma is quite distinct. Lovely in mouth, but for me, the outstanding thing about this beer is the finish and is possibly the best finish I have tasted. Breath taking. It stops me in my tracks. As it warms up, the beer opens up and the aroma and finish are truly sublime. Gorgeous, lovely and I have another 2 bottles to hone my review. Heather gives it a final spicy kick. Worthy as my 4k beer.

275ml bottle (Porvoo Harvest/Dark Beer Festival 2007) 2006 vintage Jet black, espresso head. Toffee liquorice vanilla aroma soft but very powerful. Mocca and whisky taste - again very powerful, but quite mellow. whisky definitely dominates, quite alcoholic. Excellent sipping beer, not for glugging.

Bottle (Vintage 2006) at Bishops Arms, Avenyn, Göteborg, Sweden. Pours black with a slight red/brown edge and a tiny beige head. Strong cognac-like barrel notes first with wood and coconuts, thereafter roasted chocolate with notes of dark berries, and finally a mild touch of alcohol. Extremely smooth mouthfeel, and a perfect balance with a dry finish. 9/4/10/5/18 -> 4.6.

Vintage 2007 sampled at the EBF 2008. More pronounced oak aroma in this version (unfortunately), still very good though. 7/4/10/5/16 -> 4.2.

Vintage 2005 sampled together with 2006 & 2007 at SMÖF 08. Even better than the 2006 version, perhaps due to aging. My overall rating becomes 4.5

# 800. [Odense-tasting at Scheffel. A lot of thanks to Christian.]
Had some dreams to sample this wonderbrew in a few years, but it succeeded already now ......and what a brew. As cab mentioned, "It’s quite on the edge and it cannot be better." Anywhere you’ll improve it, it’ll fall. He gave it 5.0, but I’ll let a 0.1 left to the brewers of Örebro to make another superbrew. Notes of wood, vanilla, smooth roast, coffechocs, weak dried fruits, ingrediently and intense aroma of some port and oak also. Flavour needs concentration to note, caused by the complexity and I’m hoping for a refill one day!

Pours black, with a brown head. Aroma is bourbon, dark fruit, vanilla, coffee, wood, and vanilla. Flavor is bourbon, coffee, chocolate, dark fruit, and vanilla. Body is medium, thinner than I expected. A very good beer, very happy I got to try it. I wish the bottle was a little bigger, though. Thanks to Francois_Mtl for trading me this one.

Bottle on sale at the molen in Bodegraven. Jet black in color almost like oil! Various flavors, chocolate, coffee, fruit. A lot going on!! A very complex beer. I did enjoy it but I preferred the Rasputin from the molen.