Närke Kaggen Stormaktsporter

Brewed by Närke Kulturbryggeri
Style: Imperial Stout
Örebro, Sweden

Bottles from fonefan and another from Francois_Mtl, but I traded one away. This particular one is from fonefan. 2006 bottle. Had a PP bottle shop with deftim13, hapjydeuce, denverlogan, Sean, and Ryan. Small 25cL bottle. Lots of oaky malty aroma. A real pleasure to smell. A hint of bourbon barrel, but it’s not overpowering. Great mouthfeel. Medium to heavy body. A little bit of sting on the tongue, probably from the alcohol, which is well hidden. Some sweet brown sugar flavor. Low carbonation, but a beer of this magnitude doesn’t need much. 4.5-4.6.

Bottle (2006) from De Bierkoning, Amsterdam. To my total surprise this beer was suddenly available in the Netherlands, thank you martinboer for mentioning this! Black appearance, small brown head. Very complex nose, port-notes, wood, malts, fruit (plums) and quite some more stuff i can’t define. Sweet flavour, some cognac notes appear. Alcohol is obviously present. Great mouthfeel and long lasting bitter finish. The combination of flavours is truly unique. Really good.

2007 bottle bestowed upon me by my main man StFun – incredible Josh, never thought I’d have chance to try this one! Pours crude oil black with a thin tan head. The nose is sweet dark fruits, charred malt, ash, baker’s chocolate and coffee. The taste is ashy cocoa, toasted marshmallow, light smoke, dark roast coffee and salty licorice/light soy with some faint alcohol in the finish. Full creamy mouthfeel. Fantastic – worthy of the hype. Thanks again big J!

RBESG08 grand tasting
... and then a bottle of Kaggen came in front of me. Gotta love those grand tastings. Poured an opaque brown/black. Very stable tan head. Nose... sweet maltiness, chocolate, coffee, yeast, some alcohol. Superbly balanced taste. Roasty, smokey maltiness... woody, tannine. Liquourish. Just lovely, but still not my favorite beer.

Bottle 񢉗) shared with coyotehunter (thanks!!!) on departure for fishing. Pours thick and dark brown with a slow forming head and aromas that are spectacular. Chocolate, dark fruit, a bit of peat, wood and cream to it, with lots of chocolate milk throughout. Simply put, this is fantastic stuff and they should bottle more of it and send it all to me. Alcohol hides extremely well, flavors blend perfectly.

(2006 bottle at SOPP) Black. Medium-sized bubbly brown head. Nose has got liquorice and chocolate. Full and bit oily palate with little carbonation. Liquorice, chocolate, coffee, sweetness, Finnish Easter pudding, vanilla and whiskey in taste. Long lasting aftertaste. Simply fantastic.

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.

(6/29/08) Bottle sample at RBESG08 grand tasting in Plzen. Black-colored with a brown head. Aroma of roasted to burnt malt, some sweet chocolate notes, cocoa and some coffee. Quite dry roasted-burnt flavor of malt, cocoa and a bit of dark fruitiness. Full-bodied. Looking forward to try a more proper sample of this from the bottle in my cellar.