Copper colour with lasting head. Aroma and flavour have a little bit of sweet caramelised tropical fruit. Also some spicy bready notes.

Norwegian DIPA from a 50 cl bottle bought at Bierhalle Deconinck; apparently a Nögne Ö classic, having been in existence from before Hansa acquired this acclaimed brewery in 2013, and originally a home brew by a guy named Jan Halvor Fjeld, who was lucky enough to see Nögne Ö commercialize his recipe already in 2010 after winning a home brewing contest. Egg-white, very moussy, frothy head, fairly thick and retaining well, leaving behind some ’dots’ of lacing, over a warm orange blonde beer, as good as clear initially but still with a very slight haze to it, turning equally misty but still attractively warm orange - near to amberish - with sediment. Citrusy, malty and lightly ’dank’ aroma of fresh orange peel, mandarin, tamarillo, biscuit, moist cigarette shag, sweetish plum tomatoes, white pepper, dried mango cubes, juniper ’leaves’, whisky, ginger, dry marihuana, withering dill, hints of chicken stock, old potatoes, dried rosemary, bitterroot liqueur, minerals, fresh wormwood leaves, green algae, rainwater, something very vaguely sweaty. Clean, measured fruitiness in the onset, nothing overly expressive, hints of dried peach, unripe green banana and a dash of tamarillo, restrainedly sweetish and dito sourish but neither of them coming to full force, medium carbonated with a slick, very oily (almost ’glueish’) mouthfeel. Biscuity malts provide basic but again clean and measured sweetishness underneath a growing hop presence, which finally - or early on, better put - amounts to a very resiny, piney, wormwood-like, thorough bitterness lingering on for a long time, releasing piney and ’dried’ grapefruity aromas retronasally. The malt sweetishness, having acquired a vaguely toasted accent by this time, is almost completely blotted out by this hop bitterness while a whisky-like alcohol presence announces itself, adding further wryness on the root of the tongue. Oily hop bitterness lingers along. Decent example of a classic West Coast DIPA, the type of beer American geeks raved about in the last years of the previous century and early years of this century, but feeling a tad obsolete in this day and age - prompting me to wonder what the lifespan of all these new American beer types is, now that NEIPA is all the new craze and even BIPA seems to be on the road to oblivion. Clearly inspired by the ’cleanness’ and piney, resiny hop oil bitterness of legends like Pliny the Elder, and in that segment, whether it remains relevant today or not, this one performs well, though I have to say that I would probably have been more impressed by a beer like this several years ago than I am now; feels a bit ’understated’ in its hop expressivity, aromatically at least (because the bitterness is certainly there and well in balance with the maltiness). But that may be just me after all those NEIPAs of the past few years...

Clear copper amber body med foamy tan head. Resiny caramel aroma. Resiny and floral flav with caramel. Med full bod mod carb 7/4/7/3/15 3.6

Double IPA d’un IBU de 100 pour une densité de 18,3 °Plato et un titrage alcoolique de 8,5 % Abv. Voici le programme de cette Two Captains. Couleur blond vénitien foncé (EBC aux alentours de 31) et une mousse blanche nappant juste la bière...Rien d’exceptionnel, mais acceptable. Premier jugement qui restera de vigueur tout au long de la dégustation pour une IPA plutôt simple, imparfaite, mais agréable. Le nez présente des arômes de caramel, d’agrumes de caramel, de thym et une point de résineux. Classique mais efficace. L’attaque se positionne sur un triptyque caramel, agrume et amertume. D’un bon équilibre, celui-ci pêche par son manque de complexité. D’autant plus que la seconde bouche est la stricte continuité de l’attaque, avec tout de même une présence d’arômes de mangue venant se rajouter. La troisième voit l’amertume s’affirmer. Cependant, la sucrosité étant relativement importante, l’impression d’amertume est atténuée (eu égard aux 100 d’IBU), rendant d’ailleurs cette Two Captains d’autant plus facile à boire. Une arrière bouche simple, sur les fruits jaunes et le caramel équilibre quant à elle de façon satisfaisante l’ensemble. L’alcool est malheureusement trop peu présent pour contribuer à l’affirmation des saveurs (un titrage alcoolique un peu plus élevé serait plus adéquat) et le sucre à l’inverse un peu trop présent. Le final, d’une bonne longueur tout de même, apporte uniquement de petites notes de résineux et manque d’envolée. O Captain! My Captain! Davantage de poésie aurait été de bon aloi.

From bottle with HF at Cardinal 12.08.16. Slightly dark golden. Fine white head and lacing. Strong aroma of tropical fruits, papaya, marmalade, dried fruits and a variety of citrus. As complex as an American IPA can be.

Batch 937, pantu 12.3.2013. Punertavanruskea, samea olut jossa runsaasti leijailevia hiivapartikkeleita. Kiva puolen sentin pysyvä tiheä vaahtokerros oluen pinnalla. Tuoksu eksoottisen hedelmäinen ja havuinen höystettynä karamellisella maltaisella rungolla. Yllättäen havaittavissa kuitenkin myös jonkinlaista virhetuoksua: multaa/maata ja ikävää vihanneksisuutta. Maku vahvasti karamellisen maltainen. Tuoksun eksoottinen hedelmä ei ole maussa niin vahvasti esillä, vaan karamellisuus jyrää yllättävän vahvasti. Lisäksi mukana havuisuutta ja hieman greippisyyttä.Loppumaku varsin katkera ja havuisen greippinen sekä hieman tuhkainen ja tunkkainen. Suutuntuma aika täyteläinen. Ei tämä ihan täysin onnistunut tekele ole; hedelmäisyyttä olisi saanut olla enemmän ja toisaalta virhearomit olisivat saaneet jäädä pois.

0,5l from tap. Bottled 08.04.2016. Amber hazy colour, medium big white head. smells peppery, spices, caramel, resiny, ok smell. full body, soft carbonation, slick mouthfeel. tastes herbal, resiny, caramel, light sweetness, light exotic fruits, peppery. finishes medium bitter with notes of resin and light exotic fruits. overall good one, but tastes rather heavy and a but oldish.