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.

Time to start on the European backlog. Courtesy of Reakt. Thanks! I don’t know why I didn’t take notes on my phone, I should have, but I just wanted to enjoy the beer without thinking too much. If someone wants to share another one with me so I can take decent notes, I won’t mind. So from very hazy memory.... Aroma of chocolate and caramel, seemed a little hot even with some years on it. Beautiful palate. Only the third best beer I had that night however.

Dark black with tan thin head. Aroma of chocolate and oak. Damn this is good, and I say that expecting to be let down as though this beer was all hype. Has a bit of a strange flavour for an imperial stout but it’s really fantastic. Full creamy and chewy body with a nice light feeling with the carbonation despite the coating ability of this thicker stout. Missing is the sometimes annoying charred bitter and astringent malt character, surprising given the coffee flavour towards the end. Finishes out with chocolate and a bit of soy. Really well done and a very good stout.

Thanks to fordest for sharing this one. I was worried the hype wouldn’t live up to the beer. I was wrong this is an excellent imperial stout. Strong aroma of roasted malts, some wood, and sweetness. Flavors were excellent.

Thanks to WeeHeavySD for the taste of this one at the Woodshop#3. Nice, thick and roasty with coffee, cocoa and good balance of sweet fruitiness. Very complex, would like to have had more but hey, I lucked out as it was. Good stuff!

2005 vintage in bottle sampled at Akkurat in Stockholm, Sweden. Pours pitch black with thin dark brown foam head. Aroma consists of roasted chocolate maltiness, coffee, toffee, caramel and loads of tart oakiness and bourbon. This beer is extremely smooth and quaffable. Roasty flavor up front with smooth creamy center and sweet bitter dry finish. Flavor dominated by excellent oak and bourbon flavors that are balanced with chocolate, coffee, toffee, caramel and a dry hop finish. Excellent! Lives up to the hype and the $65 price tag.

Skillfully produced beer. At first the oak-barrels came through a little too much, but after just 10 minutes sitting around the smoothness and complexities really shown through. All in all a top notch brew I wish I could get more of.

Bottled at RBESG 2006 Black with thin brown head. Chocolate nose with notes of whisky, fish, alcohol, wood, higher alcohols, and powdered chocolate. Somewhat acidic. Chocolate flavour with notes of wood, alcohol, fruits and viols. Bitter and smooth. Truly world class.