Kvernknurr
Små Vesen in Aurdal, Innlandet, Norway 🇳🇴
Bitter - ESB / Strong Bitter Regular|
Score
5.03
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Små Vesen's Kvernknurr ESB is an English bitter style ale, at 6,5% ABV. A solid body hopped with English hops makes a balanced and typical English taste to the beer.
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4.8/10
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Appearance 6
Aroma 5
Flavor 5
Texture 4
Overall 4
33cl bottle. Hazy amber with a small white head. Nose is yeast & caramel. Thin palate. Dusty & fruity. Sour mouthfeel. Could be infected.
Tried
from Bottle
on 27 Aug 2008
at 13:38
3.2/10
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Appearance 4
Aroma 5
Flavor 2
Texture 4
Overall 2
(Bottle 33 cl) Courtesy of yngwie. Very hazy amber golden with an off-white head that leaves some lacework. Tart, fruity nose. Medium body with a tart fruitiness and some metal. Plenty of phenols and off-flavours. Sour and infected unfortunately. 160408
Tried
from Bottle
on 22 Apr 2008
at 13:44
2.1/10
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Appearance 4
Aroma 2
Flavor 1
Texture 4
Overall 1.5
Hazy golden with large off white head. Spicy aroma with yeasty notes. Sour flavor with chemical notes.
Tried
on 17 Apr 2008
at 13:57
3.2/10
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Appearance 4
Aroma 3
Flavor 3
Texture 4
Overall 3
33 cL bottle. Pours hazy orange with a diminishing off-white head. Light yeasty and mild spiced aroma, medium sweet malt note. Flavour is sour and medium caramel flavoured. Light yeasty note. Ends with a sour and infected flavour.
Tried
from Bottle
on 17 Apr 2008
at 01:40
6.1/10
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Appearance 6
Aroma 7
Flavor 6
Texture 6
Overall 5.5
330ml bottle. Re-rated as a fresh #4 10/4-08. Same golden orange body with a big, dense off-white head. Nice aroma of toffee, caramel and sweet malt. Flavor is caramel, toffee and balanced bitter. This is the way this beer is supposed to be. There is a hint of sourness, not unpleasant, only refreshing. Hoping this sourness will maintain at this level and not an indication of an infection on it’s way.
Nice golden body with lively carbonation and a fine off-white head. Aroma is acidulous like vinegar. Flavor is dominated by infection type sourness. This gives me problems identifying the malt and hops. This could with good will be compared with a lambic, but the body is to thin for this. Anyway this is labeled as an ESB, which is a clearly defined style and my ratings have to be based on this, anything else would be wrong. Even if I’m willing to agree with the people saying beer style regulations is a conservative way to choke the evolution, it will be to radical to accept a bitter tasting like lambic. This beer was sampled first time quite fresh, then we where told to wait because it was not matured enough. Then I sampled it again a few mounts later and now last time four mounts past best before date. The acidity is getting more distinct every time, so this has nothing to do with maturing. Sitting here sipping to this beer while writing this rating my throat is getting the heartburn. I’m sorry Små Vesen, your brewery and the staff is definitively a sympatric team, but I’m not willing to lie. This beer is wrong, hoping for a new and healthy version soon. (1-4-1-2-1)
Nice golden body with lively carbonation and a fine off-white head. Aroma is acidulous like vinegar. Flavor is dominated by infection type sourness. This gives me problems identifying the malt and hops. This could with good will be compared with a lambic, but the body is to thin for this. Anyway this is labeled as an ESB, which is a clearly defined style and my ratings have to be based on this, anything else would be wrong. Even if I’m willing to agree with the people saying beer style regulations is a conservative way to choke the evolution, it will be to radical to accept a bitter tasting like lambic. This beer was sampled first time quite fresh, then we where told to wait because it was not matured enough. Then I sampled it again a few mounts later and now last time four mounts past best before date. The acidity is getting more distinct every time, so this has nothing to do with maturing. Sitting here sipping to this beer while writing this rating my throat is getting the heartburn. I’m sorry Små Vesen, your brewery and the staff is definitively a sympatric team, but I’m not willing to lie. This beer is wrong, hoping for a new and healthy version soon. (1-4-1-2-1)
Tried
from Bottle
on 27 Dec 2007
at 08:11
5.6/10
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Appearance 6
Aroma 5
Flavor 6
Texture 6
Overall 5.5
Bottle. Golden / orange colour with a beige head. Aroma is sour, yeast, fruit. Flavour is sour, yeast, fruit, berries, citrus. Hard to say what this is. In a way it taste OK
Tried
from Bottle
on 24 Dec 2007
at 03:20
3.4/10
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Appearance 6
Aroma 3
Flavor 2
Texture 6
Overall 2.5
Bottle. (#1, cellared 3.5 months) If you stop pouring before the yeast in the bottom of the bottle, the beer has a clear pour, releasing a quite lively carbonation. The color is orange-golden, and it has a dense, but quite small, beige head. The nose has a certain sour-like touch, with chalk, fruitymess and some caramel-like sweetness. Flavorwise it is rather citric and acidic, really astringent in the mouth, with a long acidic finish. Sure hope this is not intended. There’s also a fruityness and a wee note of sweetness, but the sourness overpowers most of the other flavors. Medium body, with a slightly chalky feeling. The 40 IBUs in this one is quite well hidden. Looking forward to taste another batch of it. Batch 1 I will never buy again, as this is the third bottle with the same problem.
I took som notes when sampling it 3.5 months ago as well, and here’s what I wrote then: Bottle. (#1) Orange, hazy body, quite carbonated, with a dense, beige head. The nose is sweetish and fruity, lightly piney and peach-like. Initially it felt almost infected, but that was probably only my nose fooling me. Now tasting it, i’m wondering if maybe my nose was right. The flavor has, in addition to sweetness, fruityness and a piney bitterness, a slight sourness. The same sweet/fruity/sour and piney bitterness comes through in the finish. It’s medium-bodied and a bit more sticky on the palate than I like my bitters. After letting my nose rest for a while, and letting the beer warm up slightly, the sour aroma returned for half a second. Sometimes life’s a bitch, I really looked forward to this one.
I guess it will be a nice brew someday. In this batch though, I suspect they have been too afraid of fucking up the scheduled delivery-time on their first delivery to Vinmonopolet to pay sufiicient attention to the hygiene, or just having bad luck. Vinmonopolet is only releasing new beers every second month, why this was available almost a month before release date I don’t know. The habit of only accepting new products six times a year, and that you can’t expect Vinmonopolet to go for every product you make, is a serious obsticle for the beer diversity in this country. I certainly hope they dissapear. (Vinmonopolet that is) They don’t care about beer, they don’t know beer, and the arrangement with a state-governed alcohol-store really is an anacronism. (070813)
I took som notes when sampling it 3.5 months ago as well, and here’s what I wrote then: Bottle. (#1) Orange, hazy body, quite carbonated, with a dense, beige head. The nose is sweetish and fruity, lightly piney and peach-like. Initially it felt almost infected, but that was probably only my nose fooling me. Now tasting it, i’m wondering if maybe my nose was right. The flavor has, in addition to sweetness, fruityness and a piney bitterness, a slight sourness. The same sweet/fruity/sour and piney bitterness comes through in the finish. It’s medium-bodied and a bit more sticky on the palate than I like my bitters. After letting my nose rest for a while, and letting the beer warm up slightly, the sour aroma returned for half a second. Sometimes life’s a bitch, I really looked forward to this one.
I guess it will be a nice brew someday. In this batch though, I suspect they have been too afraid of fucking up the scheduled delivery-time on their first delivery to Vinmonopolet to pay sufiicient attention to the hygiene, or just having bad luck. Vinmonopolet is only releasing new beers every second month, why this was available almost a month before release date I don’t know. The habit of only accepting new products six times a year, and that you can’t expect Vinmonopolet to go for every product you make, is a serious obsticle for the beer diversity in this country. I certainly hope they dissapear. (Vinmonopolet that is) They don’t care about beer, they don’t know beer, and the arrangement with a state-governed alcohol-store really is an anacronism. (070813)
Tried
from Bottle
on 26 Nov 2007
at 09:51
6.5/10
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Appearance 6
Aroma 7
Flavor 7
Texture 6
Overall 6
330 ml bottle, batch #4, courtesy of Cardinal Pub & Bar, Stavanger. ABV is 6.5%. BB 03.09. When opening the bottle, the beer starts pouring out by itself. Very cloudy / murky brown colour, huge beige head. The aroma is malty and "raw", notes of hops, juniper and damp forest too. The flavour is much better than previous batches: hoppy and piney flavour, notes of juniper too, not too acidic. Distinct bitterness. Reminiscent of traditional homebrew. I’m upping it several points. Original rating: 330 ml bottle, courtesy of Cardinal pub, Stavanger. Brew nr. 1 from this new Norwegian micro brewery. Called an "ESB spesial". BB date 1.7.08. ABV is 6.5%. Thick sediment in the bottle. Orange colour, clear first, cloudy when the sediment is poured in. Large and lasting off-white head with an orangey hue. Distinctly hoppy aroma, notes of yeast, hints of oak and barnyard. The flavour is very acidic, (nearly) closer to a lambic than an ESB. Is there a severe infection problem here? I can’t believe they intended the beer to come out like this - and cellaring it will surely not help. Still drinkable, when you get used to the acidity. There’s a certain hoppy bite in the finish.
Tried
from Bottle
on 25 Sep 2007
at 16:59