Nils Oscar Julöl 2007

Formerly brewed at Nils Oscar
Style: Belgian Strong Ale
Nyköping, Sweden

Draught at Stockholm Beer Festival. Cloudy nut brown. Concentrated earthy orangey aroma. Medium sweet and near full bodied. Roasty with plenty of orange. Lovely soft malt and an intriguing mix of flavours of earth, licorice and fruit. Salty licorice finish. Really, really good with highly concentrated flavours.

[Bottle from Risky-Finn.] Wow, very nice bottle with plenty of aromas at the best temperature. Notes of brown sugar, berries, sweet spices, "black" chocolate and with a wonderful feeling in the mouth.

Bottle. Pours a deep dark brown colour with a nice light brown though short lasting head. The aroma is bustling with spices, smoke, herbs, liquorice and roasted caramel. Good and filling bit sticky mouthfeel. The flavour has a strong roastiness, bitter chocolate and coffee, smoke, liquorice, dark fruits, some herbs, alsohol and bitter hops. Very roasty and spiced sweet bit dry finish. A really tasty brew indeed just bustling with Christmas. Would defenately go great with Scandinavian Christmas dishes.

Bottle 33 cl. Average thick creamy head that mostly lasted. Clear flat looking body with a mahogany color. Fair display of lacework. Aroma of dusty grain, lovely bread, prunes, date, toffee, toasted malt and a hint of floral notes as well. Also notes of chocolate and liquorish can be found in the sniff. Over the palate a hint of smoke, liquorish and almost coffee like notes as well. I can even pick up the feel of the blackcurrant. Nicely round and yet full bodied with an average carbonation and somewhat thick texture. Moderated sweet flavor with good counter bitterness. Finish off with a light sweet coffee and smoked and roasted feel that lingers. Excellent and almost like a porter I would say.

50 cl bottle. Dark brown color, small beige head. Roasted and sweet malt, coffee, hops and hints of yeast. Complex, exiting beer.

Bottle. Pours a clear golden colour with small short lasting head. Aroma is spicy and roasted of coffee, but still sweet. Flavor is much of the same with roasted malts. Also has the required X-mas spicy feel, but it is dominated by coffee.

Stored for one year. At home. Brown/red colour. Aroma: roasted, spicy, bread, roasted seeds. Flavor: licorice, light, a bit smoke.

Re-rate from bottle, pasteurised. Pours out in a clear reddish mahogany colour with a silky tan-coloured lace. Plenty of dark fruit like prunes, dates and figs with notes of fudge, almond, mild butter,mild anise, red currant, sweet licorice, subtle cinnamon and subtle alcohol. Full if a bit clean (hence filtration) flavour of anise, nutmeg, dad es, dried cherries with mild dancing spiciness of cinnamon and nutmeg. Vinous finish of black currant, moist ed leaves, muscovado sugar, toasted malts and mature red grapes. Strangely, despite it’s a filtered nor bottle-conditioned, this is a minor masterpiece IMHO! Probably the most impressive (and it’s filtered!)and most delicate offering from the Nils Oscar Julöl edition launched for several years! Classy stuff! Hopefully it will gain further in a year or two. I will definitely stock a case of this.!Light years better than the unfinished example I’ve sampled at SBWF-------as you can read or if make a sense....................... Draught at SBWF. Hazy dark brown with a large creamy beige foam. Yeasty aroma of raisin, caramel, earth and milky chocolate. Sweet malty, sugary and yeasty flavour of fudge, raisin, figs, milky chocolate and licorice. Medium to full-bodied. Long malty warming finish with touches of sweet coffee, fudge, figs, yeast and alcohol. Felt a bit sugary and unrefined but still has potential:7 Ap:3 Fl:7, P:3 Ov. Imp:15 T:3.5