Nøgne Ø # 100 (Batch 100)

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

A hazy very dark red beer with a huge brown head. The aroma is quite hoppy - subtle, but still with a sharpness from the hop acids. The flavor is lovely quite malty sweet, with some notes of caramel to start off - I just got the thought - is this an IIPA? But soon after strong notes of hops hit me - at first just subtle aroma hops, but then the bitterness strikes - and it strikes quite hard with lots of alfa acid. The bitterness totally dries out the mouth - while the alcohol warms the throat. To me this is a little too malty and not quite hoppy enough to be an Imperial IPA - so I’ll go with ChristianSA with the style description as Imperial Brown Ale.

(Bottle 50 cl) Beautiful, dark reddish chestnut colour with a small off-white head that collapses rather fast. Almost fatty hop aroma. Loads of caramel in here and roasted malts. A sugary sweetness underlies the very marked bitterness. Very warming alcohol. Rather classical American Imperial IPA. 160905

Bottled at RBESG. Copper colour. Rich grapefruit aroma. Dry with rounded mouthfeel. Feels strikingly salty. There’s an abundance of hops and also alcohol. Lingering bitter finish. Uncompromising, and not really striving for balance, but more importantly: tasty!

50 cL bottle (batch 278, also had the original batch 100 back in 2005). Pours dark brown with an off-white lacing head. Sweet malty, slight fruity aroma. Thick chocolate and hoppy fruity flavoured. Nice dark malty and bitter finish. Very nice.

Bottle. Cloudy brown color with a average fizzy fair lacing off-white head. Aroma is moderate malty and hoppy, caramel, alcohol, chocolate. Flavor is moderate to heavy sweet and moderate bitter with a average to long duration. Body is medium, texture is oily, carbonation is soft, finsh feel is light alcoholic.

Bottle, 10.0%. The aroma has a nice and refreshing tea-like character with a little brown sugar to it. Very dark and beautiful chestnut colour. Small light brown head. The flavour is dominated by the same hoppiness as the aroma, but a bit more rough in combination with the alcohol. The aftertaste has some liquorice and of course alcohol, semi-warming. Does not seem too bitter in combination with the maltiness, but after a while the late bitterness gets rather rough and a little yeastiness kicks in. 8 4 7 3 16

Rerate after a bit over 2 years, bottle from the same batch. The flavour is much more rounded. Still very powerful hoppiness and alcohol flavour, but the bitterness has mellowed out quite a bit. A lot more harmonious than the younger beer. 8 4 8 3 17

Bottled. Brown hazy opaque colour, big brown creamy/bubbly head. Aroma of alcohol, caramel, cookies, some coffee and yeast. Alcohol, hops, some plum and fruits in flavour. Also old black coffeeish notes and roast can be found. Aftertaste is sweet caramel and alcohol along with hops. Smooth palate. Also some burnt notes in finish and aftertaste.

Bottled. Cloudy brown coloured with a creamy and lasting beige head. Sweet perfumed aroma of malts and hops with notes of alcohol. Sweet flavour with lots of maltsand dried fruits and notes of cardemomme. The flavour ends up with a long and dry hoppy finish.