Nøgne Ø # 100 (Batch 100)

Brewed by Nøgne Ø
Style: Imperial/Double IPA
Grimstad, Norway

[Bottle, 1 year old] Strong, malty aroma is a bit toffeish, earthy, citrus and pine. Strong flavor of malts, toffee, fruits, citrus, earth, grass and pine. Dry, bitter finish. Palate is very thick, very smooth and bitter.

Pours with a large, light brown, really thick and creamy head covering a pitch black body. Great retention and really perfect lacing. Aroma is of citrus hops, cinnamon, tangy and toasted toffee elements, and a richness or spiceyness that I can not place. Taste is sweet and very nicely balanced. Strong malty IIPA-Barely Wine hybrid, this beer is in a class of its own. Creamy smooth mouthfeel with light bubbles and a slight warming. On a side note, 61* seems a bit too warm for this beer, maybe 56-58 would be a bit more to my tastes. Great all arounder. It is maltier, sweeter, and spicier than most IIPA’s I am use to; I can’t wait to try more Nogne products.

Pours a dark reddish brown with a tall long lasting tan head. Aromas of dates and medicinal hops. Flavors of strong pine hops, dried cherries, and bitter roasted malt. Quite smooth, with well concealed alcohol. This is a very enjoyable beer that seems to be able to fit in as both an IIPA and barley wine.

Editor’s note notwithstanding, this seems to lean more towards barleywine in my estimation. At any rate, this is one tasty beer. Pine and dried fruits in the aroma. The flavor explodes with dried fruits: dates and apples. Nice.

Bottle. Pours dark brown with a one finger mostly lasting off-white head that leaves good lacing. Aroma of citrus and pine hops with notes of caramel and dark fruit. Taste is the same as aroma with a hint of roasted malt. Medmium mouthfeel with a moderate amount of bitterness and well hidden alcohol. After pouring the beer it looked more like a BW then an IIPA but the American hops let themselves be known in the aroma and flavor. Very good.

A lightly murky brown ale with a thin frothy moka head. Interesting alcohol aroma, not very hoppy for the style, but light butterscotch and sweet chocolate. In mouth, very pleasant I2PA, with subdued piny hops, licorice, roasted malts, sustained hops bitterness, all very classy. Rich and lasting. A good if offbeat I2PA. Bieropholie private imports. BB 15-07-2011. Marries well with smoked provolone, less so with goat cheese.

Deep copper color, big head. Beautiful aroma of pine needles and sap. The piny hops come through in the taste as well, along with juicy malts and some alcohol. A well-crafted beer, but not a personal favorite.

A reasonably vigorous pour produces a four-finger thick, darkish tinged, tan colored head in my Tripel Karmeliet tulip. The beer is a deeply concentrated, burnt amber color that just shows a deep, clear, concentrated ruby hue if held up to the light. This smells of sticky hop character even as I am pouring this beer. A closer inspection confirms this with notes of candied citrus peel, sweetened berry notes, sweet pine sap, orange blossom honey, a soft herbal reek that can lean towards garlic chive at times as well as a touch of menthol aromatics. As is typical with my experience of the new breed, hoppy northern European beers there is still a substantial malt backbone here that contributes a deep toasty grain character, and nice whole grain bread aromatics.

Hoppy from the first taste, this has a bracing bitterness that becomes more astringent and aggressive through to the lingering, bitingly hoppy finish. Lingering herbal notes, menthol, concentrated pine sap, bright bergamot, ruby-red grapefruit, tangerine, ample lychee form the biggest part of the flavor profile, but supporting hop-derived notes of light cured leather, some tobacco flavors, garlic chives and milkweed are also noticeable at a much more subtle level. The malt contributes lots of chewy, viscous body to this brew as well as some light toasted-almost-roasted touches in the finish, hop supporting caramel character, and some malty crushed cracker flavors in the middle that get drowned out by the caramelized malt sweetness by the finish. As the beer warms up in my glass it smoothes out just a bit with some of the harsher hop notes and the bitterness becoming a bit softer and a touch more integrated.

Definitely on the thick side of a double IPA, indeed more in line on this front with a Barley wine, but it certainly plays the hop card in spades as this is clearly the dominant character, even despite the interesting malt depth. This is one of those beers that really needs to warm up (even though it only started at 50°F / 10°C, it was still a bit too cool) and perhaps even breath a bit in order to lose a bit of the sharp, astringent hop edge. This really is just insanely hopped, though I find it quite enjoyable. I definitely am enjoying the depth the mares otter malt adds and even the slight roasted note from the chocolate malt is a nice addition.

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