Nøgne Ø Dugges Sahti

Brewed by Nøgne Ø
Style: Traditional Ale
Grimstad, Norway

Pours a deep copper color, with a medium off white head. Really unique nose, lots going on. Earth, sweet malts, hops, and honey are all evident. The flavor was pretty cool on the taste buds as well. Got a lot of herbal and earthy notes as in most traditional ales, with some fruity sweetness and tart honey notes. Very interetsing and tasty ale, a little underrated I think.

Sampled on 11/6/09. This traditional ale pours a dark orange gold color from a 50cl bottle. Medium sized white foamy head. The aroma is malt, juniper, honey, spicy and sweet. A medium bodied traditional ale. The malts are fruity and sweet, orange, orange peel, juniper and spruce. The hops are herbal. Lively carbonation with lots of little bubbles showing throughout the taste. An interesting blend of malt, hops and spices. Hides the 11% alcohol very well. Mouthfeel is full and round. Finish is clean and smooth. Aftertaste is slightly sweet.

Vintage 2008 (brewed 2008-09-16, batch nr. 382). Serving date: 2009-03-16. Best before: 2013-09-16. Served in snifter. Amber colored, very hazy with plenty of floaters in the liquid. 1 cm slightly off-white head that leaves minimal lacings. A very fresh and somewhat tart smell. Plenty of honey and newly cut flowers. Hard to tell what aromas come from the hops considering all the stuff they brewed this one with, but I still think I can detect some distinct hop aromas here. Plenty of yeast with a Belgian character. Some herbs. A very powerful taste of honey hits the palate. Lots of floral flavors, almost a little perfumy. Some pine-forest is noticeable, but the juniper twigs they brewed this one with is hardly detectably. Plenty of Belgian yeast. Some herbs, soft candy and caramel. All in all, its very sweet, but still rather round and soft. Quite good, actually. The finish is characterized by an almost complete lack of bitterness. Instead, here are plenty of warm and spicy alcohol, some honey residuals and bread-like malts. A very good mouthfeel. A successful combination of a rather full body, creamy texture and plenty of carbonation. Towards the end, when the carbonation decreases, it almost feels chewy. Excellent. This is a not your average kind of beer. It’s definitely interesting and to a great extent quite good, so it’s a rather successful experiment. It is well composed and nothing seems really out of place. However, I think I would have liked the alcohol to be somewhat less prominent, and perhaps the honey is a little too much in some sips. Also, I think it would have been nice if both the juniper twigs and sea wormwood they used in the brewing were more noticeable. But all in all, quite tasty, and most definitely interesting. Serving type: bottle

Bottles. Purs a deep amber with some hazyness and yeast sediment, Nice slightly offwhite head that disappears pretty quickly leaving some very nice lacing. Strong aromas of floral honey plus pepper and other spices that i couldn’t exacly place. Perhaps this is the Juniper berries. Really interesting and nice aroma. Strong honey plus floral and pine flavours. Also some spices that I once again couldn’t place and a little alcohol. Slightly sweet on the finish with some bitter though definately not from hop. Relativley dry and crisp on the finish. Not really something I have tasted before and not something I would drink often but definately a nice beer for every now and then.

Speckled rufous with golden highlights. Thick and rocky white froth exhibits stellar retention. Earthy and expressive honeycomb and banana bread nose with whispers of spruce tips, stewed peaches, leather and plasticlike phenols. Soft, snug carbonation. Immediately dense with a tacky wave of jammy esters lightly dusted with textural malt and honey-drizzled biscuits. Perceptible pear syrup and stewed apples tarnish some of the brightness by contributing minor flabbiness. Pronounced honeycomb richness (wax and all) prolongs the body’s weight before being gracefully cleansed by peppery alcohol and cooling juniper. Despite the prominent sweetness, the beer is not remotely cloying or medicinal. Closes with some chalky yeast grip, though fairly brightly fruity and jammy with a honeyed-banana twang trailing alongside a waning banana bread, black pepper, and grapefruit blend. The bottle I drank a few months ago was marginally superior, for this is now somewhat dull/tainted by oxidation. Still has an uncannily polished honey character which is teeming with bright floral notes and scarcely a nip of sweetness. Nøgne Ø brews some fun and interesting rustic styles of beer, and I’ve always loved them for that.

Bottle, 50cl. Pours a slight unclear amber beer with an offwhite head. The aroma is berries, spices and honey. The flavor is spices and berries. The palate is sweet with some alcohol. Overall an interesting beer.

Bottle. Pours an average, foamy, white head with a murky, deep golden body. Aroma is of honey and woody, piney forest. Interesting yeast phenols in the flavor, along with more honey and a touch of alcohol. Some unidentifiable, miscellaneous spices and light warming alcohol. Light-medium body, lively carbonation and a super dry finish. Fun, refreshing, and better than the sum of its parts.

This poured a hazy amber color and had lively carbonation. It’s light on the tongue and has a slightly sweet flavor with some herbal notes.