Huvila Arctic Circle Ale

Bottle. Pours hazy tawny with an average, fizzy light brown head, mostly diminishing with spare lacing. Aroma is heavy malt (bread, cookie, caramel, nutty), average hop (herbs, grass), average yeast (earth, leaves) with notes of plum, date, dust, and juniper. Medium bodied, alcoholic texture, lively carbonation, and a metallic finish. Average duration, moderate sweetness, acidity, and bitterness.

Pours reddish bronze with a sudsy tan head. The aroma has creamy toasted malt, light doughiness and a slick woodiness. Medium slick body with light carbonation. The flavor begins with dry caramel with some woodiness, dry spiciness and some oxidation that doesn’t really detract too much and fits in okay. The finish has a dry pininess (not hops) and toasted malt with an odd flavor that is probably the juniper twigs. An interesting beer that’s worth giving a shot.

50 cl bottle graciously given to me by beastiefan2k. Pour is a cloudy brown ruby with nice settling building up a dense 3 inch tan head. Head falls slowly with minimal lacing. Aroma is sweet fig, cocoa malt and lively juniper earthiness. Interesting nose, soft and fresh. Taste is more skewed to juniper and wood, with the grassy somewhat sweet fig behind that. There is a real nice straw element in the finish which finishes crisp and dry. As it warms, I get some of the cocoa from the nose in the taste. More like dry baking cocoa. Palate is medium bodied, with a fair amount of carbonation. There is a warming alcohol sensation to the finish which comes across a bit odd with the dryness. Overall an interesting complex beer, thanks for giving me this Eugene.

Bottle. Pour is very deep dark brown with a medium white head. Aroma is toffee malt, brandy, dried fruits, dark berries, and lightly spicy. aroma is similar to an old ale, but maybe just a bit brighter. Flavor is a bit odd up front. Alternates between sweet malt and a bitter crab-apple-like flavor. Simultaneously sweet and bitter. The sweetness begins to wane in the middle where the dry berry/ apple flavor begins to take over. Finish is very dry and bitter; not acrid though. Like the bitter flavor of tree bark (if you have ever spent time in the woods camping/ hunting/ or whatever, and put a small twig in your mouth to chew on; that’s the flavor). It’s woody, but not like a barrel. Actually very pleasant stuff, not boring for sure. Guess I should have bought more when I had the chance.

1 pt. .9 oz bottle (from Liquid Solutions) served in shaker- poured a non transparent black when held to a light source with shades of dark brown, no carbonation, aroma of malt, 24hr pot coffee aroma (trust me, there is a difference), and bones. Hits the mouth with a very high medium body, the malt is just too overpowering, omg, OMG.... (shakes his head and says, "I GOT THIS"). Malt is on the high end when the soul of the brew comes out to play, hard in the middle, but still puts up a fight, finish lingers badly, and in the bad way, slapnuts. No heady words here, just that it could have been better. I picture me in a long forgotten rest way cabin, and I dreampt (sp? )I found this brew. Yeah, dream. Dream what could have been too little, too late for late for me...

Sweet, malty and spicy with a tinge of juniper. I really like juniper and Sahti, so I just wish that there was a stronger juniper character if anything. The beer pours a purplish brown, translucent but quite dark, with a creamy off-white head. The aroma is spicy and malty with notes of hops and juniper. It’s more along the lines of an English Strong Ale with a bit of holiday spice. The malt has a really nice flavor, like a good barleywine. There are fruit notes, raspberries and plums, mixed with brown sugar and rum. The juniper is light and woody. The hops (or maybe it’s just bitterness from the juniper twigs) are relatively strong. There’s a fair bite in the aftertaste. The mouthfeel is full and round. A very enjoyable little nightcap.

Bottle 50 cl. Courtesy of oh6gdx. Clear orangey brown with a rough beige head. Sweet aroma of burned caramel, nuts and alcohol. Quite full-bodied, burned caramel, nuts and brown sugar. Fairly hoppy finish. Very solid English Strong Ale. 240709

Bottle. Head is initially average sized, frothy, light brown, mostly diminishing. Body is dark brown. Aroma is moderately malty (toasted bread/nuts, caramel), lightly to moderately hoppy (resin, orange/grapefruit), with notes of toffee, vanilla. Flavor is moderately to heavily sweet, lightly acidic, lightly bitter. Finish is lightly to moderately sweet, lightly acidic, moderately bitter. Medium body, watery texture, lively carbonation, lightly alcoholic. Hard to tell if the evergreen character is from hops or twigs or both, but regardless this just isn’t that exciting.