Nøgne Ø # 100 (Batch 100)

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

Strange beer. Pours like a porter, dark and opaque. The aroma is sweet, dark and bitter with a hint of pine. The flavor is almost like a porter mixed with a double IPA. Lots of dark flavors to go with the color. Great amount of effervescence and full mouthfeel.

500 ml bottle from Holiday. Pours a very dark brown--almost black--color that only shows a few red highlights when held to a light. The head is khaki colored, three fingered and last a while. The aroma is strong with citrus and pine telling you that this is a big bold IPA. Biter hops greet you in the tasting forefront, followed by grapefruit, burnt malts and more piney hops. The mouthfeel is full, smooth and creamy. The finish is long and showcases more biter hops with a touch of caramel, but its the palate that really carries the day and makes this a special brew. Overall: This is one beer that malt-heads and hop-heads alike will appreciate. A very original DIPA. Recommended.

Pours a dark brown with a medium, yet quickly diminishing, foamy light brown head. Smells of mild hops, toasty malts, light caramel, raisins, and molasses. The flavor has more profound hops than the aroma let on. Definitely a distinct hop bitterness attacking the palate throughout. Also mixed in, were some syrupy malts, walnuts, and slight roast that kept the hop bitterness somewhat in control. This is exactly what it seems. A former double IPA, turned barley wine. Still it has transformed fairly nicely, and drinking quite well at the moment.

Dark brown; lingering amber head of different size bubbles. Aroma of coffee, molassas, tobacco, carob, earth, rich malts. Rich, warming, full bodied monster with big hops and malts. Rich roasted malts, molassas, bitter chocolate, chocolate syrup, burnt toast, pine resin hops...big bite finish.

Dark amber color with a small head. Heavy and excellent aroma, citric and and fresh but deep at the same time, some alcohol in the aroma. Flavor is well-balanced bitter and malty. A very distinct Nøgne Ø brew indeed, not too bitter but still enough to give it a nice touch and a maltiness that gives you warmth and deepness. Very warm aftertaste. Great beer.

Pours deep amber into a snifter. Tan micro head with excellent retention leaves sheet lacing as it slowly recedes. Very nice looking. Pine and resin aromas. Creamy, full and sticky sweet carmelized marshmallow upfront with a lasting grapefruit finish. Sweeter than a prefer, but excellent experience all-around. The burnt upfront sweetness matches the bitter finish perfectly.

Mr Goodbar Good Beer Club. Dark black IPA similar to Stone XI. Rare mix of piney hops, chocolate, roastiness, burnt. Enjoyable Full mouthfeel somewhat sticky. very good would like to try a bit more than the small sample I had

Courtesy of Degarth. He’s a pretty swell fellow. Black pour, looks like Stone XI coming out of the bottle. Light tan, creamy head, 1.5 fingers thick and mostly diminishing. Recedes to a ring of foam that stays around for the duration. Nose of very green hops, pine cones, caramel, chocolate, toffee, dark malts and fruits. Some heat is apparent in the flavor profile, along with more hops, dark fruits and chocolate. It’s not really dominant in one flavor aspect. Very unique beer in the sense that it doesn’t look anything like what is smells or tastes like with regards to how heavily hopped it is. Low astringency, creamy and slightly sticky, but not cloying. Finish is very lengthy, lightly bitter and then fading into sweet fruits to finish everything up. In the end I don’t know if this beer is trying to be a Barley Wine, a IIPA or a Strong Ale, but whatever it is, it’s damn good.