8.1

Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 9 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 7.5

Bottled - dark pour with red brown tinges, fairly heady. Lots of chocolate malts and coffee but not overpoweringly so. Some breadiness and yeast - very complex and good.

9.1

Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 9 | Flavor - 10 | Texture - 10 | Overall - 9.5

Oh boy, what a beer! Pours with a large, thick, creamy, foamy, frothy, tan head with brown highlights that settles right down to a ring around the edge of the glass and no lace. Color is an opaque very dark brown. Aroma is complex with different spices, malts, cocoa, roasty, and toffee. Flavor is very similar and adding to that some fruitiness and some bittersweet flavors. Lots going on. Body is excellent and so is carbonation. Finish is a little boozy and fairly long with almost all the characteristics hanging tough. Good sipping beer although it’s good enough to take some mouthfulls, but the alcohol gets a little too bold. So, not quite a session brew. Update: aromas are cocoa, roast, dates in molasses. Easy sweetness balanced by just enough bitter and soft carbonation. Supermelo. Aged extremely well.

7.2

Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 7

Svart, uten skum. Aroma av lakris, brødskorpe, kaffi og sjokolade. Smak av karamell, lakris, tobakk.

7.6

Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 7.5

(Bottle, vintage 2013) Dark brown colour, almost black, with creamy beige head. Malty, roasted nose with notes of black rye bread, coffee, liquorice, juniper berries, tamarind, treacle and hints of smoke. Malty, roasted, slightly vinous taste with coffee, sweet liquorice, juniper berries, caramel, tamarind, a touch of smoke, tar and a balanced coffee bitterness in the finish. Full body, with a certain sweetness. Really tasty and quite powerful, still in excellent balance. Very nice.

7.3

Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 8

Keg at Craft. Dark brown, almost black. Aroma is chocolate, bit of smoke, dark fruit (blackberry maybe), touch of spice, bit milky coffee. Taste is very fruity, with a whiff of smoke. Bit sweet too.

7

Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 8

Bottle picked up from Oslo Airport, drunk at Christmas Eve. Dark hazy brown, some foam but not much. Nose is a bit herbal, malty and some spices there. Taste reveals some spices first, sweetish-malty-herbal overall feel, some smoked character there as well. Christmas and bacon-filled sturdy ale, spicy and herbal. Can't say that I like it too much but overall good at what it is.

6

From backlog. 0,5 litre Bottle, gift from a friend. Almost Black with light brown head. Roasted malts, hops, spices, yeast and smoke.

7.5

Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 8

16.9oz bottle. Thin beige head. Deep black-brown body. Roast, rye, peat smoke...a lot going on and without any ingredient list I am pretty much just going off my palate. Really great mouthfeel like the majority of Haandbryggeriet beers. Sweet and spicy, but still in the beer realm, not filled with juvenile adjuncts, so a big win in my book. Like someone else said, a hell of a Christmas beer. Has some reminiscence to Anchor OSA but takes it to the next level. Solid.