7.5/10
—
Appearance 8
Aroma 7
Flavor 7
Texture 8
Overall 8
Clear orange beer with a good thick, just off-white head, leaving some lace. Again an unbelievable solid whack of yeast, clinging to the bottle, but menacingly inching to get out. Creamy nose with American hops in the background, coming more and more to the fore, grapey in character. Bitter and flavourful American hops, citruspeel, flowery; and a good cookie malt back-up. Finish is dry hopbitter. Strangely enough, the hopbitterness keeps building up, seemingly unaffected by warming up. Medium bodied, slight but unmistakable slickness. In the aftertaste, I seem to get toasted whitebread. Another proof that this Norwegian newcomer excells in making light, but extremely tasteful beers - something I usually link with British brewers - but in several styles at that. Their yeast blobs are incomparable.
Tried
from Bottle
on 02 Jan 2005
at 07:05
7/10
—
Appearance 8
Aroma 6
Flavor 7
Texture 8
Overall 7
Good dark-beige head, slightly irregular on nearly totally black beer. Creamy, chocolatey nose, dark & burnt malts. Burnt malts, and typical sourish taste, fortified by carbonations. Tad of bitter chocolate, grainy. Some acid/roast burn, well bodied, but thinned by the acids. Good, but nowhere exceptional porter.
Tried
on 01 Jan 2005
at 13:27
7.3/10
—
Appearance 8
Aroma 7
Flavor 7
Texture 8
Overall 7
Very dark brown, nearly black beer; good dirty-beige head, with big collapsing bubbles. Sweet, blackcurrant-like nose, bit meaty aroma, or like dusty animal fur. Obvious oatmeal taste, roasted/burnt grains, bit sweet, cola-like undercurrent and again faint fruity flavour, not unlike blackcurrants. Faint liquorice. Medium bodied, slightly syrupy. Bready aftertaste, once more black cardemom. They buy this by the shipload in Grimstad? Good oatmeal stout, sweet but nowhere cloying. Quite agreable.
Tried
on 01 Jan 2005
at 07:38
7.8/10
—
Appearance 8
Aroma 7
Flavor 8
Texture 8
Overall 8
Slim yellowish head, soon gone, over deep-dark chestnut/mahogany beer; beautifully bottom-sticking yeast. Chocolate & piney nose; slight burning notes, as heated, full-chocolate sauce; burnt grain. Pure, piney & dark chocolate flavours, not heavy but very perfumed. Touch of black cardemompeel, and also some mineral saltiness. Medium bodied, warming feeling without ethanol character. Simply superior for a 4.5 % ABV beer. How does one say "my humblest eulogies" in Bokmaal? Big thanks, B., A. & P.!
Tried
on 01 Jan 2005
at 01:19
7.3/10
—
Appearance 8
Aroma 7
Flavor 7
Texture 8
Overall 7
Nearly black beer; creamy beige head, quite stable. I nearly swallowed my Adam’s apple, when at the end of the bottle, the yeast left the bottle in one loud splash. Nose of black cardemoms, sweet frying fat (zoete lies), leafy, even earthy. Again baadi elaachi , some leafy, and chocolatey notes; typical stout-like malt flavours, but without the associated acidity. The little salty touch is there, however, as well a discreet malty sweetness, getting almondy warming up. Quite carbonated, medium bodied, slightly viscous texture. Another excellent beer from this Norse brewery. The Dolle Brouwers from the High North?
Tried
from Bottle
on 01 Jan 2005
at 01:12
6.8/10
—
Appearance 8
Aroma 7
Flavor 6
Texture 6
Overall 7
Little creamy, beige head; virtually black beer, opaque. Very herbal nose, mint and something conifer-like, nearly iodine, jumping out of the glass; cardemom and cloves. Bitter, but these are no hops, little dark malt, and loads of spices, making it, before anything, harsh-bitter spicey. Well bodied; long spicey aftertaste, nearly inkmushroom-like. This is shocking. I can well believe the set-off for "Julekraker" can be optimal, but short of these, this is a bit much. Way too much. Original it is, no doubt.
Tried
from Can
on 01 Jan 2005
at 01:07
7.3/10
—
Appearance 8
Aroma 7
Flavor 7
Texture 8
Overall 7
Nearly black beer, reddish shine; medium amber-crème head. Creamy-vanilla nose, liquorice. Very stout-like, liquorice, finish more bitter than slight sweet-sourish main taste. The vanilla here shows its oakwood origins. Ends sweeter, warming up, getting a bit Cola-like, and also getting more and more clovey. Well-bodied, warming but alcohol not obvious. Good, but severe Christmas ale. Doesn’t fall in the spicey "Underlig" trap.
Tried
on 01 Jan 2005
at 00:49
6.5/10
—
Appearance 6
Aroma 7
Flavor 6
Texture 6
Overall 7
[At Jyske Øldage 2004, Kolding] An unclear orange beer with a nice off-white head. The aroma is sweet and dominated by hops. The flavor is sweet hoppy and quite dry all the way thru, but especially in the end. An OK IPA, but I’ve tasted better.
Tried
on 25 Dec 2004
at 15:31
6.6/10
—
Appearance 8
Aroma 7
Flavor 6
Texture 6
Overall 6.5
A red-brown beer with a disappearing head. The aroma is extremely spicy and sweet with cloves standing out. The flavor is also very sweet and totally dominated by cloves. There is a lot of Christmas in this one - maybe a bit too much for my liking.
Tried
on 05 Dec 2004
at 16:03
7.2/10
—
Appearance 10
Aroma 6
Flavor 7
Texture 6
Overall 8
A red-brown beer with a brown head. The aroma is sweet and spicy especially with notes of cloves. The flavor is also sweet spicy with cloves and chocolate standing out as the most dominant.
Tried
on 05 Dec 2004
at 16:00