Nøgne Ø God Jul

Brewed by Nøgne Ø
Style: American Strong Ale
Grimstad, Norway

Bottle from about a year ago - Darker brown color with a nice tan head. Aroma is dominated by cocoa, nut, and some floral hops. Flavor is an interesting earthy-cocoa-nut mix with some nice hop remnants. Nice mouthfeel. Not sure why I waited so long on this one, but I should seek out a fresher bottle.

From an $8.49 bottle this unfortunately was a gusher and about 3 ounces of the beer foamed out of the bottle onto the tabletop. Once I got it under control it poured black with a light tan head and really thick lacing The nose was of ripe fruit along with chocolate and nuts. Mouthfeel creamy and slick. Flavor runs to malts and light hops. A very nice drinking beer and just a little expensive when so much of it gets lost while opening the bottle.

NorCal tasting Apr 07 - This beer seems to be a bit of an enigma to me. I can’t figure out if it’s supposed to be a spiced ale, barleywine or some sort of a strong ale. It seems to hop around in all the catergories and not really finding a home in one. The aroma mostly roasted malts and it had this bloody, irony character to it. Flavors was sweet malts, some spice like anise or cardammon with some alcohol present. I’ve been impressed by their other beer I’ve had, but this one just didn’t do much for me.

Pours dark, almost black. Coffee and dark chocolate in aroma. Salty, spicy and some liquorice. Anise flavour with salty licuorice. Coffee taste and a bit dry. Slight menthol. Medium sweet and medium body.

Bomber. Pours pretty dark with a nice fluffy tan head. The aroma hits my nose with the subtlety of a brick: dry spices, baking chocolate, and earth. Flavor is more of the same. It’s a fairly dry beer with rewarding earthy tones and tasteful spices. I get nice chocolate flavors and even some roastiness coming through. The fact that the spices were not overdone was rewarding, but they didn’t contribute a whole lot to the beer either. It’s a good beer, but I wouldn’t got out of my way to drink it again. I didn’t find it strikingly American in attitude like some of their other beers.

Bottle. Pours an amazing dark chocolate color with a thick creamy brown head. A great appearance. The aroma is light; some roasted caramel malt. The taste is dominated by a creamy chocolate and smooth roasted malt. Some spices and a bit of hops finish it out. A bit of Belgian yeast in there perhaps also. I really enjoyed this beer.

Tasted at PP bottle shop I think. A hint of oxidation. Not too sweet or too dry. Dark amber color. Little head, but some carbonation in the liquid. Some malt and caramel

50cl bottle from Beer World Largo. Appears dark brown to black with a tan head that dissipates quickly to next-to-nothing. Smells sweet with notes of caramel, dark, ripe fruit, dark chocolate. Taste is of coffee, chocolate, caramel with a troubling bitterness throughout. Medium-bodied with a bitter finish.