Nøgne Ø # 100 (Batch 100)

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

Pours a hazy brown color with a tan head. Aroma is dark malt, roasty, and some resinous citrus hops. Flavor is malty, caramel, roasted malts, and a bitter resinous hops finish.

Bottle. Aroma gives our a potent yeasty bread. Alswo some chocolate roast. Dark brown body with dark chocolate head, decent lacing. Flavor had an alcohol wollaop and for the most part yeasty wheat grains. Roasted malts are also present but alcohol hits hard. Body warming effect good session beer.

Brown, with a tan head. Aroma is piney hops, with some roasted malt and chocolate. Flavor is piney hops, roasted malt, chocolate, and alcohol. Nice creamy body.

Dark reddish amber, huge tan head. Stunningly beautiful. Kinda roasty aroma, pine, sweetness, juniper, you name it... Complex. Flavor has a ton of hops with a dark maltyness around there somewhere. Not nearly as sweet as the aroma promises. There’s the pine again. Feels like sucking a branch of a christmas tree. Not that I have tried. Exciting finish leaves you with a dry feel without much of the bitterness one might expect. I gotta give it a re-taste in, say, six months and see how it ages. Very promising so far.

Deep black-amber color with a thick then thin foamy whitish head. Notes of grassy cookies. Great hardy mouth feel and smooth complex finish.

Bottle via Maria in trade. Pours a seep sienna /umber with minimal head. Nose is malty sweet. Some sediment at bottom ob bottle Full body is accompanied by a flat dryness of hops that is melded well with the undulating malts from just after first mouthfeel to finish. Nuttiness of acorns mixed with earth as sublte points in body. Aftertaste is light tangy hops that last and tingle the gums.

Dark chestnut. Thick cakey off-tan head clings nicely and displays excellent retention. Nice medley of spruce tips, grapefruit, apricot, pinesap, airy phenols and cocoa-tinged malt. Gluey yeast and hints of aspirin somewhat tarnish the brightness. Butter toffee is muted. Expressive carbonation. Body is full and well rounded. Gooey sappiness immediately blankets the palate, but is gorgeously pierced by a lush and powerful surge of chocolate fudge and velvety cocoa. Lustrous dab of anise quells the sweet resins and heavy residuals with a dry and spicy earthiness. The fiercely oily center is partially lifted by a poignant pine-laced spiciness from the hops. High concentration of resins never overtire the palate thanks, in large part, to the clean attenuation. Nuanced spicy-hop layers also help allay the relentless resinous assault. Grapefruit imparts some flabbiness, however, despite the crisp maltiness and poignantly-spicy hop derivatives. Yeastiness slightly weighs down the palate, as well, but doesn’t obscure a whole lot of the brightness. Finespun phenols compensate nicely. Finishes intensely spicy with a clean afterglow of minty alcohol which echoes the conifer-hop-laden crescendo. Dark malt remains delightfully snappy beneath the omnipresent sappiness, as vibrant notes of fudge, bitter cocoa, and milk chocolate linger, though the hops unfortunately eventually topple the lingering malt. This is a bit kitchen sinkish in some ways, but, unlike so many American(ized) heavyweights, some finesse is what sets this apart. Gotta love the spectacular head retention, soft and tight carbonation, as well as the unfiltered state which imparts ample fullness. That said, even as a hophead, the hops happen to overwhelm the malt subtleties, which is too bad considering these are some of the cleanest-extracted malts I’ve experienced in a long time. Very good beer, but a few minor adjustments would catapult this into world-class status.

bottle (tasting hosted by after4ever) - pours dark brown with cream colored head and nice lacing; loud aroma mix of hops, sugars, alcohol and spices; drinks a little bitter at first, but the hops settle nicely with the sweetness; the great argument beer of the night over the classification; regardless, a very tasty beer and one to enjoy many times over