Nøgne Ø

Dark Horizon 4th Edition

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A crazy-high ABV imperial stout brewed by Kjetil “the bearded giant” Jikiun at Nøgne Ø in Norway? Fine, I’ll take a flyer on that. Oh, who am I kidding? This was packaged in a triangular prism! With, like, Viking markings and shit! How could I not?

Inspired by Avery Mephistopheles’s Stout, this is “a pain in the neck” for Nøgne Ø to brew, owing to the lengthy and unpredictable fermentation needed to reach that high target ABV. They change up the recipe every year and they brew some variants, including Red Horizon, which uses a variety of sake yeasts (Nøgne Ø apparently loves them some sake and makes their own as well). This particular edition of Dark Horizon (their fourth) uses Muscovado sugar and some sort of wacky green coffee beans treated with alfa-amylase (basically an enzyme that helps bread down the coffee). It’s clocking in at a healthy 16% ABV, but they’ve packaged it in an adorable little 8.5 ounce bottle, so let’s take on some null sets:

Nøgne Ø Dark Horizon 4th Edition

Nøgne Ø Dark Horizon 4th Edition – Pours a deep black color with a finger of light brown head. Smells of roasted malt, a little of that coffee, maybe a hint of smoke, lots of vanilla, some chocolate and caramel too. Taste features lots of that roasted malt, plenty of booze right up front, with tons of vanilla and a little caramel too. That booze returns in the finish, which also has a slight bitterness to balance all those malts. As it warms, some fruity, almost port-like notes emerge. Mouthfeel is full bodied, rich, and reasonably well carbonated. Lots of heat from the booze, and a little stickiness too. A nice sipper though. Overall, this is pretty damn good. Perhaps not the best evar or anything that hyperbolic, but certainly a worthy beer. B+

Beer Nerd Details: 16% ABV bottled (8.5 ounce capped). Drank out of a snifter on 9/6/13.

I’ve definitely seen earlier editions around, even somewhat recently, so maybe I’ll have to check that out sometime…

Nøgne Ø #100

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Since I’ve already pedantically delved into why Nøgne Ø seems to favor the use of null set symbols in their name (apparently an artifact of old Danish language), I’ll instead observe that brewery founder Kjetil Jikiun is a straight-up viking:

Dude’s also known as “the bearded giant,” and what a mighty beard it is. So very viking. Anywho, these guys are among the ranks of Scandanavian craft brewers that draw a lot of attention from American beer dorks (though local adoption of “craft” styles have decreased their amount of export). One of the interesting tidbits from the above mentioned video is that Kjetil Jikiun was an airline pilot who, inspired by American craft beer, managed to bring home some American ingredients and use it in his homebrew. He entered it into competitions, which were more strictly hewing to traditional English or German styles and gave him feedback that his brews were too powerful or too hoppy and unbalanced. Well, nuts to that, so he opened his own brewery, and along with a handful of other Scandanavian brewers, has been spreading the word of good beer to all who will listen. Which also includes a lot of American beer nerds (like myself) who pay handsomely to sample these brews.

This particular beer was originally made as their 100th batch and only distributed to their employees, but it was so popular, they had to release it commercially.

Nogne O #100

Nøgne Ø #100 – Pours a dark brown color with amber highlights when held up to the light and a half finger of light tan head. Smells strongly of piney, resiny, hops and lots of crystal malt. It feels like this isn’t quite as fresh as it could be, but I guess we’ll find out. Taste has more of that crystal malt character, perhaps of the darker variety, along with some other more chocolate or toasted type malts. Faded hops come out to play in the middle and finish, which isn’t quite bitter, but there’s just barely enough to balance out the big malt character. Mouthfeel is surprisingly well carbonated with tight, smooth bubbles. Definitely a big beer, plenty of booze, a little stickiness in the finish. Overall, a solid American style barleywine, I kinda wish I got a fresher bottle, but them’s the breaks. B though I suspect a fresh bottle would garner a higher rating… It’s clearly very well made, but I can really feel that faded hop character.

Beer Nerd Details: 10% ABV bottled (500 ml). Drank out of a snifter on 11/16/12. IBU: 80. Hops: Columbus, Chinook, and Centennial.

Nøgne Ø continues to be interesting to me, and I really can’t fault them for this old bottle as it sat in my (unrefrigerated) cellar for quite a while, which probably accounts for the faded hops. I’ll probably try some more stuff from them at some point, provided I can scrape together enough shekels to buy them. In the meantime, I just had another beer from a different Norwegian brewery that I thought was really fantastic. Look for a review, er, next week? When I get to it, okay?

Mikkel’s Black Tie

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Continuing to make my way through the cellar, I finally cracked this beauty open. An imperial stout brewed with honey and smoked barley, then aged in Scotch barrels for 4 months, I don’t know what the hell I was waiting for, but I’m glad I finally got to this:

Mikkeller Black Tie

Mikkeller Black Tie – Pours a thick, syrupy black color with a finger of brown head. That’s a really deep black color, no real brown detectable. Smell is filled with sweet Scotch aromas, a little roasted malt, and some vanilla oak character too. The taste hits with a ton of roasted malt character (perhaps some of this comes from the smoked barley or maybe even the scotch), and that’s maintained throughout the entire taste. A pleasant and well balanced sweetness keeps things interesting and the Scotch, vanilla, and oak flavors are highlighted in the finish and aftertaste. As it warms, these flavors intensify and melt together. Mouthfeel is very thick and chewy, coating your mouth, and yet this is surprisingly approachable. Dangerously drinkable stuff for such a high ABV beer. I don’t think I would have guessed at how strong this beer is, except that there’s a bit of that alcohol warming factor (which comes up especially since you can drink this pretty quickly). Overall, this is a well balanced, complex stout. Another winner from Mikkeller. A-

Beer Nerd Details: 11.5% ABV bottled (500 ml). Drank out of a snifter on 3/16/12. Brewed at Nøgne Ø. (Label has a slot for Batch #, but it’s blank – I bought it sometime in mid-2011 though.)

That Mikkel guy sure knows his stuff. If you’re willing to pay the premium, it’s often worth the stretch. I’ve got a barrel of his barleywine in my cellar which I plan to get to in the next couple weeks as well.

Nøgne Ø Peculiar Yule

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This was essentially my Christmas Eve, holy-crap-look-at-all-these-presents-I-have-to-wrap, beer. I actually wasn’t expecting to pick this up, but I had to make a trip to my Aunt’s house, and wouldn’t you know that she lives right near a Delaware liquor store that happens to have an awesome beer selection. I was actually surprised it was open, but then, business appeared to be booming. Anyway, a few beers caught my eye, including this one:

Nogne O Peculiar Yule

Nøgne Ø Peculiar Yule – I’ve noticed bottles from this brewery for a while. They’re very well designed and apparently have a decent reputation, so when I saw their holiday ale, I figured it was time to give Nøgne Ø a shot. Me being the nerd that I am, I always thought it had something to do with the null set, but apparently the brewery name is old Danish for “Naked Isle” and is a reference to an Ibsen poem. Pours an opaque, very deep, dark brown, almost black. Solid finger or two of head with lots of lacing. Cinnamon dominates the nose, but there’s some malty sweetness there as well, and you get some bitter hoppiness as it warms as well. Taste starts off sweet and spicy (The cinnamon is in there, but it doesn’t overwhelm like it does in the nose, so you get some more complex flavors here), but it ends on a note of dry hoppy bitterness. Indeed, this hoppiness character seemed to grow as I drank, including some citrus notes. It’s certainly not a hop-bomb or anything, but it’s there, and it’s something I haven’t seen (er, tasted) in, well, any of this year’s winter seasonals (save Sierra Nevada’s Celebration, which, as I mentioned in that post , has nothing really wintry about it). A good amount of carbonation and a medium body make for a very drinkable beer. It doesn’t blow me away, but it’s pretty damn good and while it has a warming spiciness to it it, it’s a nice change of pace from other wintry beers. B+

Beer Nerd Details: 6.5% ABV bottled (500 ml). Drank out of a tulip glass.

I hope everyone had a great holiday!