Nøgne Ø Pale Ale

Bottle. Pours a yellowish amber with a large slightly off white head that leaves some great lace. The aroma is quiet complex. It has nice grain and caramel sweetness along with some citrus, perfume and grass notes. The taste is a great balance of sweet and bitter.The body is medium to light and it has a nice bitter finish. This is probably the best pale ale I have ever had.

Bottle. Hazy amber colour with a thick white head. Nice aroma of grapefruit hops. Lovely grapefruit hoppy flavour with good balancing malts. Nice smooth mouthfeel. Lingering lovely ’n’ light long bitter finish. I’ve had many IPAs that were less IPA-ish than this. Excellent, whether it’s a pale ale or IPA.

This, unfortunately for me, might just be my favorite pale ale to date even thought I will probably never seen it sold in the US. In fact, I find it hard to catergorize this pale ale as such, because I feel it belongs in the IPA catergory due to the high levels of hops. But I digress. This is one fantastic beer. Intense aroma of grapefruit and floral hops, woody with a tinge of sweet malt. Mouthfeel is very pleasant with a smoothness thats very hard to find. Flavor is incredibly hoppy (grapefruits, some floral notes too) for a pale ale, and it’s nicely balanced by the malts. Sad to say that unless I get it in trade, I doubt it will see the California sunshine again.

Hazy, deep golden in color with a nice frothy white head. Some fruity limes exude as your pouring. Crisp and light on the palate yet maintains a creaminess. Flavors are very nice, citrus abounds with lemons and limes. The malting is complex, featuring some biscuit and light caramel apple. Rather dry finish. This is an exquisite pale.

Pale, hazy orange/brown colour. Medium-sized, compact head. Hop & pineapple aroma. The flavour bring some dried fruits (apricot and pineapple) but most of all HOPS, HOPS and then some more HOPS. The bitterness seems to burn on your tongue forever.