Närke Anders Göranssons Bästa Rököl

Bottle, 6.3%. Salami-like smoke aroma, like good spegepølse. Quite dark brown colour, unstable head. The flavour is nicely smoky, quite like whisky. A little salty. Good mouthfeel and a very good smokiness.

courtesy of Per - dark brown colour and a giant foamy pale beige head; solid smokey nose (close to an Islay whisky) with aroma of honey, wood and pine needles; tart and sweet with a robust malt body; the finish is rather dry with long notes of smoke and caramel - a great beer

500mL bottle, via rickgordon, shared at Kennett Square Brewfest after-party 2006. Pours a clear dark copper under a fizzy light brown head that faded to a thin film. Aroma is full of smoked malt with some delicious smoked meat notes. Very sharp and clean. Flavor is just great, with in your face smoke and moderate maltiness. Finishes with a moderate bitterness and a long lingering campfire smokiness. Mouthfeel is medium bodied with very soft fine carbonation. Finishes lightly dry. Overall, this was quite a great Smoke beer. It really was up there with some of the classic brews I’ve had from Aecht Schlenkerla, not on par, but up there. Who would have guessed that this was from Sweden? These guys at Närke are really putting out quality stuff. Hopefully they will step up bottling efforts and get more of this stuff out to the world.

Draught at Akkurat, Stockholm. Dark ruby, very small head. Strong Gotlandsdricke-like juniper smokey aroma. Sweetish with notes of honey Near full bodied with clean mouthfeel. Like a cleaner, carbonated more well organized Gotlandsdricke. Many seem to prefer this winter version to their regular Rököl, but I find it a bit heavy on the honey.
Earlier Rating: 3/1/2005 Total Score: 4.4
Draught at Akkurat, Stockholm. The second beer already this year made from Mackmyra smoked malt, this one’s top fermented I believe. Mahogany colour, creamy head, somewhat hazy. Strong peaty whiskey-like smokey nose. Full bodied with rich, vinous malt character, heavily woody/smokey. Surprisingly dry. Grassy, tarry finish. A fantastic attention grabber!

500 ml bottle. Dark, dark red – almost black body with a nice beige head. Aroma is quite strong smoked. I find elements of smoked bacon and grilled mackerel in aroma. Very pleasant, you may enjoy the flavor alone for a bit before sipping the beer. Flavor is of course smoked malt, and very well balanced indeed between malt and bitterness. It’s also rather light in a way, but more balanced then e.g. Aecht Schlenkerla, which I find a bit thin. A real campfire beer to relax with.