Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 6 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 7
Bottle. Dark brown colour with a beige head. Aroma is dry, juniper, hop, caramel. Flavour is hop, caramel, fruit, dry, juniper, roasted Light bitter finish. Pleasent beer.
MiP (20366) reviewed Porter from HaandBryggeriet (Norway) 18 years ago
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 8
Bottle, 6.0%. Batch#23. Fresh-ground coffee and chocolate aroma. Black colour, seemingly hazy. Small light brown head. The flavour is quite roasted with some malt bitterness and creamy notes. It finishes a little yeasty. Medium mouthfeel. Nicely flavourful and quite drinkable.
yngwie (24278) reviewed Dark Force (9%) from HaandBryggeriet (Norway) 18 years ago
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 7.5
Bottled. A deep brown beer with a medium tan head leaving some nice lacings. The aroma has a certain wood-note that I first suspected to come from the Norwegian Wood I tasted at the same time, but I didn’t find that to be the answer. It has roasted and burnt malt, some chocolate and vanilla as well. I found the woody notes in the flavor as well, followed by a heavy roasted flavor, vanilla and bittering hops. Full-bodied beer with a long bitter finish with both hop-bitterness and chocolate-bitterness. Some alcohol as well. A well-composed beer from Haandbryggeriet. Rating: 7-4-8-4-15-3.8. 070317
On tap at Olympen. It pours a black body under a minimal-sized tan head. Licorice and molasses starts the aroma ball, followed by burnt malts, hints of dried fruits and some alcohol in the far back. Dryish, yet sweetish mouthfeel, warming and full-bodied. The flavor has quite a lot of molasses and licorice, but also the burnt malts found in the aroma. Alcohol and bitterness chimes in towards the end. Mostly of the burnt kind, the bitterness. Overall, a fine beer indeed, but more emphasized on the burnt flavors than I prefer. A beer I return to every now and then anyway. 091113
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 7.5
500 ml bottle. Slightly hazy red-brown body with a decent beige head. The aroma is extremely complex, starting with juniper and wood, light roasted malt with a discreet touch of smoke and yeast. The smoke is more present in the flavor, together with juniper, bitter fruit (maybe juniper berry?), yeast, roasted malt and some bitterness. The very pleasant juniper taste remains in the finish.
Beer5000 (11295) reviewed Dark Force (9%) from HaandBryggeriet (Norway) 18 years ago
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 6 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 7.5
500 ml bottle. Black body with a rust-brown head, head is small, dense and fast disappearing. Aroma is coffee, mocha, grapefruit and overripe apples. Flavor is surprisingly light, sweet, roasted, coffee, dried prunes, a fruity bitterness and roasted malt. Rather sweet and very fruity finish. Not an average stout, balanced, not heavy but rather fruity bitter. Refreshing actually.
Beer5000 (11295) reviewed Porter from HaandBryggeriet (Norway) 18 years ago
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 7.5
500 ml bottle. Hazy dark brown body with a big brown head. Aroma is sweet malt, slightly roasted and chocolate. Flavor is roasted malt, coffee, mocha, not very bitter and a bit fruity. Quite light porter.
Ungstrup (52110) reviewed Pale Ale from HaandBryggeriet (Norway) 18 years ago
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 6 | Flavor - 6 | Texture - 4 | Overall - 6
Bottled. A hazy orange beer with a thin beige head. The aroma is sweet hoppy which gives it notes of both grass and grapefruit, but also with a note of caraway seeds. The flavor is sweet malty with light notes of caramel, grass, and grapefruit, leading to a dry and rather bitter end. I find the body thin - maybe due to lack of residual sugars.
Sigmund (14587) reviewed Dark Force (9%) from HaandBryggeriet (Norway) 18 years ago
Appearance - 10 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 8
500 ml bottle, bottle conditioned. (Sample at Ølkulinarisk Aften, Kristiansand.) Pitch black colour, moderate brown head. Both aroma and flavour are dominated by roasty malts, chocolate and leather. A good beer, but a little too sweet for me.
Rerate bottle, courtesy of Cardinal pub, Stavanger: The sweetness seems not as dominant this time, it is quite well balanced with the hops and heavily roasted malts in a bitter finish. The appearance is top notch, a very fine and lasting brown head. I also get some "plums" in the aroma this time. Clearly a "must-try" imperial stout! I’m "upping it" a few points.
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 6 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 6.5
500 ml bottle, bottle conditioned. Brewed with juniper and smoked malts. Dark brown colour, creamy head. The aroma is dominated by smoke (beechwood?) and oak. The flavour is very smokey and woody, with notes of hickory and tar. Dry finish.
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 8
Bottled. I were lucky enough to have a pre-release taste at a beer-dinner where Haandbryggeriet kindly donated a crate of this one and the other new beer, Dark Force. It poured golden-brown, almost completely clear, with a nice beige head, leaving nice lacings as well. The wooden aromas started escaping the beer immediately, and was followed by some smoke, roastyness, juniper-fruityness and bitterness. It has a smoked and woody flavor, with juniper, roasted malt, bitterness, fruityness and something reminding med of the smell of the sleeper on a railroad track. It has a medium to full body and a long bitter finish. There’s a distinct juniper note in the finish as well. It’s a quite complex beer with lots of flavors and aromas from a Norwegian conifer forest. My favourite from Haandbryggeriet. (070317)