Nøgne Ø # 100 (Batch 100)

Brewed by Nøgne Ø
Style: Imperial/Double IPA
Grimstad, Norway

Bottle. So to add to the confusion of the labeling versus the intended style versus the unusual malt profile for said style that makes some believe a new style on ratebeer should created...this tastes like an imperial stout to me. Aroma of some hops (grassy? maybe some pine?) on a chocolate milk base. Flavor of that chocolate milk with a mildly roasted character and a somewhat bitter finish, but always as a lovely addition to that crazy chocolate milk, more turning it to semi-sweet chocolate milk, gloppy with lots of intense cocoa. Creamy, silky, a pleasure to quaff.

This is a wonderful beer. So full of personality. Hoppy, sweet, malty complex and a joy. Beautifully structured appearance with a full and lasting head. Very strong too. It lasted me well over half an hour, as I just sat their and became increasingly impressed :o)

Pours deep mahogany brown with a huge sturdy creamy tan head. The aroma has deep nutty dark caramel brown ale style malt, citric earthy hops, citric / earthy hops and fairly sweet candi sugar like traits. Medium / thick body with semi-soft carbonation. The flavor starts like the aroma, but is a bit sweeter with some alcohol presence and dirty hops. The finish dries out and has thick barley wine style malt with earthy hops. This is a good beer, but strikes me more as a barley-wine has stated on the bottle than the IIPA as it is listed here.

Summary: IIPA? Barleywine? Imperial porter? Whatever it is, it’s tasty. Aroma: Aromatic and citric hops are complemented by dark fruit and roasted malts and a bit of gumball. Appearance: Darkest brown, opaque, with a billowy tan head that leaves sheets of lace. Flavor: The hops are there in a big way, coniferous and citric, but they are nearly overmatched by a huge spectrum of roast malt flavors, molasses, cola, caramel, aniseed; it’s not until the finish that the lingering hoppy bitterness is clearly distinguishable. Palate: Softly creamy from the carbonation, caramelly thick moments, warming in both an aromatic and an ethanolic way.

DEEP dark brown, with a beige head. I saw the editor’s note, but still this is the darkest IIPA i have ever seen. Aroma of dark malts, tinges of caramel chocolate, and a sweet grassy hops aroma in the background. Flavour is quite hoppy, some nice grassy, and citrucy notes. After tasting the beer i can see what they are talking about it being an IIPA. Its very hoppy, and bitter, but it has a huge mouthfeel and a creamy maltiness that is a touch roasty and smoky.Really to me this is a hybrid between an IIPA, an american barley wine, and a porter.

(Bottle, Batch 360, on 2008-10-04) Deep dark brown. Hazy. Big almost white head. Grassy and hoppy nose with some malty notes. Full bodied palate with quite lot of carbonation. Malts, grass, bitterness, salty liquorice, salty flavours in general and some chocolate. Long lasting bitter and malty aftertaste.

Thanks to Hellbilly for this one. Dark brown pour with khaki head and thick drippy lace. Floral pine hop aroma combined with alcohol. Complex flavor chocolate malts, hops, and dark fruit. well balanced and alcohol is extremely well masked

Picked this up at Suprbrugsen Supermarket, Skagen, Denmark had this outside Frank (Camper) at Radjberg Mile campsite near Skagen 19-09-08 Pours very dark brown in fact almost black, its really quite dark brown, off white head completes that particular picture. What an incredible dark, hoppy, creamy fandabidozzie beer ’cwm by ar my lord this stuff is bloody marvellous’ deliciously sweet, warming and very moreish, marvellous, bloody marvellous Many moons ago I recall an audio football commentary where Norway had beaten the mighty England ’chuckle’ the commentator had gone into overdrive, ’Maggie Thatcher your boys took a helluva beating’ ranted the delirious commentator. It really was quite a fantastic piece of commentary as the commentator brought up all manner of names to thrown at the crestfallen English giants. Well for some bizarre reason this beer reminds me of that commentary, I haven’t got a clue why it just seems like Nognes sticking their fingers up to the rest of the European producers and saying beat that, it really is quite a fantastic beer.