Nøgne Ø Dark Horizon Second Edition

Formerly brewed at Nøgne Ø
Style: Imperial Stout
Grimstad, Norway

No head, red-shot fully opaque brown-black beer. Alcohol, liquorice, drop , fusels, bananaester, aftershave. Chocolate, coffee, alcohol & fusels, fruity esters, wood, liquorice and red, dried fruit. Very well-bodied, slick, alcoholwarming, velvety texture. Seriously good beer, but in all honesty, I preferred the First Edition. Huge thanks to Glenn for sharing!

Bottled(500ml). -Courtesy of heavy (huge thanks!), shared with him and Doggythedog.
Deep black coloured, medium sized dark brown head, light smoked nose with touch of alcohol and chocolate. First of all alcohol is a way too exposed here. Roasted malt, pleasant coffee and chocolate taste with touch of licorice and spicy salty finish. Step back in comparison with First edition. Batch No. 03660

Bottle (served by oh6gdx on new years eve -- thanks!) Totally opaque black, with medium-sized brown head. Heavily roasted malts, strong espresso, licorice and alcohol dominate aroma and flavor. Dryish, slightly sour and alcoholic aftertaste. Full bodied, lightly carbonated, with a dryish mouthfeel. A bit overkill, perhaps -- rough around the edges. Alcohol bit too dominant for my taste. Hopefully gets rounder with age. Prefer 1st edition myself.

Bottled. Pours quite the same as the 1. edition, black soy sauce with a really small dark brown head. In all the other qualities this one loses to the 1. edition quite sovereignly. Aroma is really salty liquorice, coffee and burnt, boozy alcohol. Taste is not that much of alcohol, even though it’s there, present. Slightly harsh on the palate, not even near the creamy, silky mouth feel that 1. edition has. Taste has also salty liquorice and coffee, which is the dominating feature of this beer. This is, actully, the best side of this beer, there’s some really nice, maybe the best so far, coffee aromas in the aftertaste. This one really doesn’t arouse these cheers of joy and quiets of pure content like the 1. edition, at least not yet. I’ll chech this out again with some more age.

Bottle from City Beer in SF. Jet black color with a brown head. Aroma is coffee, roast, and alcohol. Flavor is more of the same - strong coffee, dark chocolate, a little dark fruit, and alcohol very noticeable on the finish. Full, somewhat boozy palate. Good stuff but could probably use a little more age.

Huge huge thanks to heavy who shared it with me and ogivlado after a friend of his brought a bottle from Trondheim. Poured a black body with a small, thick light brown head that stood there for awhile. Strong nose of alcohol and coffee, light smoke. Fine sweet taste of instant coffee (or of that which stays in the filter). A bit overwhelming, alcohol quite noticable, some chocolate. Slightly salty going to the aftertaste, a bit dusty. Very warming. Roasty. Some raisins. Quite a bit cruder than the 1 but could be lovely with some age.

I don’t know what to say about this one. I was very underimpressed. I think the price is what got me. Luckily it was my friends. Let’s see what happens with age but there are so few complexities now that I am not sure what will happen? Hides the alcohol very well. Medium bodied. A hint of chocolate and coffee, leaves the scene though with no aftertaste to speak of. I will hopefully remember to re rate this one when I try it again in a couple of years.

Bottle #14613 from Binny’s Beverage Depot in Orland Park, Illinois: My bottle’s marked at 17.5% ABV as opposed to the listed 16%. It pours an intensely dark brown body, clear mahogany at the edges, with a short-lived bubbly brown head. No lace. The aroma is strong cold coffee, alcohol, licorice, and bitter (not bittersweet) chocolate. Very creamy, if hot, mouthfeel. The flavor is pretty much like the nose but had the edition of burnt brown sugar and even more alcohol. Oddly, its easy (hence dangerous) to drink. The finish is sticky sweet dark malt and a sharp alcohol burn. Pretty decent stuff.