Haandbryggeriet Dark Force

Brewed by Haandbryggeriet (Norway)
Style: Imperial Stout
Drammen, Norway

Bottle: Black color, foamy brown and low head. Full malty aroma, fruity, notes of rum plums, molasse, roasted malt and candies. Flavor is full malty, also with rum plums and cherries, molasse, roasted malt and some sweetness. Astringent, dry and roasty finish. Lovely.

Pours black with a nice coffee coloured head which leaves no lacing. On the nose aroma’s of brandy, nuts, soaked dark fruit, some smoke. Very sofly carbonated. Mouthfeel is medium with toffee malty sweetness which gives way to a dry hoppy finnish. I will drink this again. Lovely brew fro m tghe Haand guys !

Pours stout black with an incredible head--yeast came alive and took some time to settle. Flavors were rich in chocolate and roasted coffee but didn’t linger in bitterness like most stouts, perhaps due to the wheat.

Bottle from Charles Liquor shared in hotel room after EBF
Appearance : Deep black with a big brown and fluffy head.
Aroma : Hoppy with roasted malts. Fruity
Taste : Hoppy with roasted malts. Oily and resinous. Some dark fruits. Finish is roasty and hoppy.

Well, well, well. I tried this here beer a good 2-3 years ago, and didn’t really get on with it too well as it seemed marred by an overt tartness which just became too distracting and also made the drinking experience almost a bit unpleasant. I’d put this down to it being overly tart wheat, almost like a lactose sourness that had crept, perhaps it was an oxidized bottle, or maybe the recipe has changed I don’t know, but it is another beer altogether this time round. I like it! Pours black with a brown hue and a lovely red/beige coloured head that starts big a reduces to a dense but quite small covering. Aroma is very fruity, lots of dark fruits, raspberry, blackberry, plum quite vinous, then there are roasted earthy notes with some malty liquorice, Marmite, and coffee. Great nose, lots going on and somehow each aroma seems quite crisp and clear. Flavours are nicely balanced, alot of smoky toasty earth, almost tannic/chalky feel on the tongue. I know everyone else keeps quoting it, but they’re not wrong in saying charcoal, it’s spot on. Then some more dark fruit notes, extremely bitter chocolate, coffee (but oddly not that coffee-like) maybe a slight mushroominess about the beer. The smoke has a cheesy quality to it almost like a smoked Stilton or blue veined cheese. It’s a very savoury stout, perhaps it’s most unique feature is that there’s pretty much no sweetness to speak of, even in heavily hoppy stouts there’s still a tad of sweetness, but not here, this is dark, brooding "grown-up" impy stout with a moody savoury charcter. Finish is very long and pleasing with post bbq smoke lingering on the tongue, like after smoking a fat Cuban cigar, ashy, woody but flavoursome. All in all a good beer, it’s only downfall is it’s slightly overly carbonated mouthfeel, but I’m prepared to let this pass as the range of flavours here are quite unique and complex. A beer I can hand on heart say I’m 100% glad I finally retried, despite my opinions being coloured by a less than impressive initial introduction some time ago.

On Draught at Tap & Table in Emmaus. Pours a dark blach with slight brown head and very little if any lacing. Nose is strong with roasted flavors leather, bark, and malt strong as well, First sip is bitter choclate but quickly yeilds to milk choclate. More roasted malt and coffer big towards the end. Nice stuff

Bottle (US). Nose is strong coffee and chocolate, but with significant tobacco character that is unique and very impressive, as well as caramel and dark fruits. Beautiful pour, black with an initially large head fading down to a patchy but attractive thin foam. Flavor is huge. Big roastiness, caramel, and chocolate, still with tones of tobacco. Sharp coffee-like acidity and a prickly mouthfeel. This one has a lot of depth and is entirely unique, but is maybe not entirely smoothed out. I would love to see what this does after two years, because it has so much potential but is slightly muddled. Still highly enjoyable.

Black with intense foamy creamy head, instantly disspates into small creamy lacing. Aroma is malty with sour/fowl grains, some coffee, hops and smoke. Flavour is very smokey, quite bitter with burned coffee, salt liquorice and smoked/burned wood. Very intense.