Närke Kaggen Stormaktsporter

Brewed by Närke Kulturbryggeri
Style: Imperial Stout
Örebro, Sweden

Colour: dark brown with a light brown head. Overwhelmingly complex and very distinct aroma of chocolate, sweet tart, campfire roasted marshmellows. Flavours of chocolate, coffee, wood, sweet tart, some dried fruits, cognac and port. Alcohol is well hidden. Exceptional. Rerate: bottled, thx to caesar. Incredible long, smooth and balanced aftertaste of dark chocolate and dried fruits. Very happy to be able to sample this one again.

Thnx to caesar for this one. Great gift for my birthday. 2006 version. Dark black colored, pours oily. Very smooth and interesting aroma, some fruits, sweetness, mocca, chocolate and some coffee. The flavor is in one word, unforgettable. Bitterness is smooth, creamy. Dark malts, chocolate, mocca, coffee and a vanilla sweetness with some hints of fruits. Great balanced and complex flavor. Really great.
Tasted at the first, great, Borefts Beer Festival 2009 @ De Molen. Ttried the 2007 and 2008 versions. The 2007 edition is a bit better then the 2008 version, but both are superb beers. Tried the 2007 also together with a small piece of homemade chocolatecake from the lady from Narke with whipped cream. It was delicious, melts on the tongue. A perfect combination!

# 800. [Odense-tasting at Scheffel. A lot of thanks to Christian.]
Had some dreams to sample this wonderbrew in a few years, but it succeeded already now ......and what a brew. As cab mentioned, "It’s quite on the edge and it cannot be better." Anywhere you’ll improve it, it’ll fall. He gave it 5.0, but I’ll let a 0.1 left to the brewers of Örebro to make another superbrew. Notes of wood, vanilla, smooth roast, coffechocs, weak dried fruits, ingrediently and intense aroma of some port and oak also. Flavour needs concentration to note, caused by the complexity and I’m hoping for a refill one day!

2006. Been waiting for a while for this one. Dark milk and bitter chocolate, toasted vanilla initially on the nose. Creamy peanut butter. A big alcohol presence that kind of distracts a bit. Pours nearly black as night with a thick dark khaki head leaving spotty lacing and a nice yellow film after a gentle swirl. Roasted malt and toasted marshmallow on the tongue initially.Bitter chocolate. Some dried vanilla, a touch of soy, peanut butter and an underlying fusel alcohol note that distracts from the overall essence of the beer. Viscous and chewy mouthfeel. An excellent example of the style... if only I could get beyond that fusel alcohol... Thanks so very much for this awesomely rare treat Brad!

Rating # 1100!! Thanx to Hopscotch for sharing this at Gumby is a Baller - Merritt Island Spring Gangsta Fling and Bling.Sweet lord this smells and looks wonderful!! The pour is a tar color with virtually no head. The nose was chocolaty, bourbon, smoke,vanilla and wood. Flavors are a popping. Chocolate,bourbon, wood,espresso, vanilla,and some dark fruit.A well balanced delight with a creamy mouthfeel. This was warming going down and finished warm.Thank you Eric!!

Poured from a nip sized 7 oz or so bottle; vintage 2006 thanks to Tyler. Dark chocolate colored pour with a thin ring of golden brown. Aroma of heavy bourbon; coconut, vanilla, honey, and brisket. Hints of strawberry, raspberry, some mulch, and scotch malt. Limited in dimensions. Flavors brings lots of bourbon influence again with vanilla and pistachio frostings; delicate and nuanced with coconut, sweet vegetables and wood. Simple, straightforward, and laid back. Meaty, sugary with wine impartation and mildy salty. Palate is tinny and soft with tepid carbonation and a full, velvety texture. Balanced; smooth, with some citrus sugars and honey-blended espresso in the finish. Somewhat underwhelming, but irrefutably well made and delicately done.

rating #300....bottle of 2006 vintage....silky smooth dark brown and almost black pour accompanied by a very thin tan head with some very nice lacing as it is swirled.....even better was the nose which, too, was velvety amooth with rich caramel and vanilla notes. the bourbon was present but did overpower the other essences. it nicely works in harmony with the rich chocolate stout characteristics.....moving on the the flavors, lots of bitter roastiness here and more of that rich chocolate sensation. some of the ba qualities also comes into play here. in my mind, the flavor was somewhat curtailed and i wished that it had more of a followthrough. finish was roasty as well.....in summary the nose was terrific and i wished the flavors lived up to those expectations set forth by the aroma. a must try if you can get your hands on it.

Bottle from the Bieres Sans Frontieres at the GBBF, so another thanks to Andy for getting this rare drop to England. (I met a guy from Sweden while I was at the bar who said he lived 30 miles from Närke Kulturbryggeri, and apart from one bottle at a beer bar, BSF was the only place he’d seen Kaggen for sale.) And after all the anticipation, a pour for me, a pour for Traci, and we begin: Brown-highlighted black, lovely rusty crema-like foam. Aroma begins with a bright dose of dried fruit: raisins, moves to dates, then figs. Now a touch of muscovado sugar, now vanilla, bananas, cardamom. Underlying all that, a building dark chocolate awareness that several sniffs in takes charge. Then eventually is replaces by rum cake. Deep sustained high-cocoa content chocolate flavor--someone playing a "chocolate" note on a grand piano and holding down the pedal. Even a minute after a sip the chocolate coats in sticky bitterness. Vanilla sweetness that is tentatively present from the beginning begins to grow, but the iodine bitterness keeps if from getting sticky. This is such an interesting beer to beer to be #1. It’s certainly a big beer, but it’s one of the most subtle, refined Imperial Stouts I’ve tasted. It doesn’t surprise me at all that this is a recipe grown out of years and years of homebrewing—it tastes like every flavor has been subtly tweaked to exactly how the brewers wish.