Nøgne Ø # 100 (Batch 100)

My 100th rating on RateBeer, and what could possibly be better than a bottle of #100 from Nøgne Ø? 50cl bottle from Barley Wine. Batch 326. It poured a dark brown colour with a big beige foamy head that settles down slowly in the glass. It has a spicy aroma that mells of citrus, cinnamon, and pine trees. The flavour is complex and tastes of roasted malts, coffee, alcohol and spices. It has a long aftertaste.

Pours a luxurious amber from the bottle with a malty off-white head of foam. Caramal and cream dominate both the nose and flavor, but neither manage to masque the alcohol in this one. Notes of red grape and cinnamon. Highly drinkable.

22oz. bottle. Poured very dark, with a little brown showing through on the edges. Nice tan head. Dark fruity aroma, lots of malts. Very rich, slightly sweet with a nice hop bitterness in the finish. A very smooth beer, quite excellent.

Fruity fresh and hoppy aroma temptates to taste this dark and a little reddish beer. Flavor is heavenly complicated and still perfectly balanced. Warming alcohol doesn’t disturb the flavor. Aftertaste lasts long

Even though the barleywine label is just for the US, this has all the stlye characteristics of a barleywine. I have no idea how long this bottle had been sitting on the shelf, but this has very little carbonation left in it. An extremely well layered nose, sticky and viscous this just coats the glass, leaving a dark brown tannic coating over the edges. Thick on the palate, with lots of maltiness, liquid vitamin yeastiness, layers and layers of dark fruits, brown sugar and cinnamon, with that finish of dusty graham crackers. Different, and not a double IPA IMO.

Date: 08/02/08, 50 cl bottle courtesy of CelticBrew, and shared with him,Doboy, and Steve E.

Aroma - Roasted grain, molasses, , dark fruits, burnt sugar, pine

Appearance - Opaque brown/black with mahogany highlights, but almost no head or lace.

Flavor - Lots of malt flavors ranging from dark fruit sweetness to caramel type flavors, and balance coming from an increasing piney and citrusy hop bitterness.

Palate - Full body, light carbonation, mildly astringnet, dry

Overall - Well balanced, many layers of aroam and flavor. It seem that Nogne O almost never fails to please.

Bottle, batch 282, bought in Ebeltoft. I tasted this for the first time in Arendal 3 years ago, and have tried it again at several occations. It remains to be one of my favourites

This beer has a lot going on, frustrating to go through my notes since they seem like the scriblings of a madman. If aged for a suitable amount of time this gets sweeter but if you drink it straight away the bitterness is overwhelming. I like the alcohol warmth in this, worked especially well in the winter. God bless for extreme brews sold locally, the alcohol monopoly system can at least do something right here.