<i>Bottled at RBESG ’07, thanks Kalli! </i> Clear amber colour. Refreshingly dry with lovely firm, nutty malt. Near all flavours derives from roasty malt. There’s butter and wood. The mouthfeel is light but firm and the finish carefully salty. By far and away the best Icelandic beer I’ve ever had!

The second beer from the first microbrewery in Iceland, this time a czech dunkel. The ingridients list is the same is in the pilsner version; Saaz hops, imported malt from the Czech Republic, water and yeast. Anyway ... Pours a dark red colour, very firm but thin head. Whole lot of lacing! More aromatic than the traditional Kaldi, small hints of hops, grass and malt. Taste is a bit dry, hints of dried fruits, malt, those distinguished saaz hops, small hints of nuts and biscuits. Very pleasant and smooth palate, nicely balanced carbonation. I like this very much, extremely good session beer. I think I like this a wee bit more than the traditional Kaldi, but I´ve found that it varies from batch to batch. This reminds me a bit of the first Kaldi batch which was quite exceptional, but perhaps the reason between batches is that the brewery is expanding and getting bigger because of it´s popularity. I havent visited them yet, definetly something I have to do during the summer. I also cant wait until they have their beers in 0.5l bottles (currently in 0.33l bottles) and draft versions of their beers. I beleive both beers would score well over 4.0 from draft. Hopefully they will keep up the good work and be a bit more experimental when they get bigger. I wouldnt mind getting a good doppelbock before christmas or a hefeweizen clone for next summer, oh well, they are at least well on their track and easily the best brewery in Iceland

<i>My Bottom Line:</i><br /> This accessible Dunkel’s bready pils malts form a chewy, drinkable body where roasted nuts and fruity caramel chit-chat with the herbal Saaz hoppiness until the very end of the sip. No world-stirring topics are undertaken, but a pleasantly honest moment is spent, and that’s all it takes to proclaim "goodness", really.<br /> <br /> <i>Further Personal Perceptions:</i><br /> -A veil of foam tops the reddish copper.<br /> -The nose of this one is not as well developed as their Pilsener’s.<br /> -This very much tastes like their Pilsener with a simple dark malt addition for colour and a slightly different flavor character; not that that’s a bad thing.<br /> <br /> <b>Bottle; 12.08.07.</b>

Pours a nice deep and dark reddish brown. Thin head, but persistent enough with some lacing. The aroma has roasted, somewhat smokey and sweetly thick toffee malts. The smell reminds me a bit of a bigger porter... the Mini Me version. It’s much thinner than I expected and really a refreshing beer. I’ve never been much into the Dunkels or, not counting Baltic Porters, the darker lagers in general, but this is an easily approachable beer. Mostly smokey malts in the flavour with the hops being more noticable in mouthfeel and the aftertaste. It’s funny, but along with some lingering smokiness (again I think of much bigger beers for what flavours I notice, but of course there isn’t a lot of them) there is a hint of grass or even some mountain herbs, I’d venture. What the aftertaste really reminds me of is picking norther crowberries in the fall. There’s interesting stuff going on here, but I would like the beer to flaunt it some more and that mouthfeel is on the thin side for my tastes. Still,in my mind Kaldi is the indisputed top of the Icelandic brew chain.

Pours a three finger cream head that stays leaving a good lace. Deep mahogany color. Light-medium carbonation and medium bodied. Piney, malty nose. Flavor is roasted/burnt caramel, slight bitter finish. 330ml bottle 246 ISK ~ $2.95 Vínbúőin Hvolsvelli, Iceland. From my notes - 7/22/2008.