There are many beers I have never tasted. There are also beer brewing countries, I have yet have no contact, whatsoever. Tonight it's time to visit Norway, our beloved neighbour (border between the North of Finland) and another Scandinavian country with viking heritage (I have adoration for some viking stuff, mainly Finnish viking metal like "Turisas"). I have never visited Norway, I don't know any Norwegian people (except of course some "celebrities" via tv, like some cross-country skiers and singers - both pop singers and black metal bands :D), I don't know if I even have ever used anything made in Norway. Until tonight.
Here is double IPA from Norway. This is highly regarded among beer enthusiasts (at least Finnish ones, or so I have read), so I'm a bit shamed, that I have not tasted any of this Norwegian breweries' beers before. Nøgne Ø (http://www.nogne-o.com/) is known of its quality beers. I visited their website earlier and was amazed, that they are now also the first European brewery to make traditional Japanese Sake! Well, they seem to know what they are doing :)
It seems, that "the enthusiasts" review these beers with brewing batch number in mind, so this one is 469 - quite old batch, actually (almost two years old). I poured this one slowly and head is almost non-existent after couple of minutes. I guess the temperature is right, this was in my cellar, not in fridge. I sipped once, and felt this is strong - as it is, 10% vol - and also had a warming sensation. I'm gonna enjoy this with my late supper, so I hope it will not affect my judgement.
But hey, let's not forget that I'm "Homer Simpson of a beer reviewing world". I don't know the specs - and don't fuckin care. I don't understand any EBU-scales or hop-brands or shit like that - I just taste the drink of the people and say what comes to my mind :)
Food is great, at least. I'm having grilled halloum cheese with pepper (spiced halloum), grilled eggs, creamy black beans with soy and some spices like mediterranean herbs, white pepper and garam masala. I'm a vegetarian, you know - but with milk and egg products in the menu. What about this dark double IPA? Well, it has nice taste, I can taste the alcohol as well as hops. There is some kind of citrus as well, at least when sniffed thoroughly :)
Is this good beer then? Well, I don't complain. It doesn't still give me that extra special "wow", which I occasionally get from some of the greatest beers I have tasted. Maybe this is not for me or maybe this is just odd batch or too old, I don't know. This is still ok, very much so. But there is some lack of character here and when the food is better than beer - though I think beer is an essential part of a great supper - then there is something slightly wrong, maybe...
Well, after eating most of my plate, i sipped a good chunk of this "liquid bread" and it started to feel better already :) Maybe this is like that Primordial song "As Rome Burns", where you have to wait and build the momentum (and Primordial is actually Irish band - had to mention, that you don't mix it with those Norwegian blackies :D). Maybe I was too harsh earlier. Or not.
This feels good though. This has prospect. I want to taste other batches too. I know, beer should not be judged by one bottle, that you know nothing about. Where has this beer been the last two years? I guess that large part of it has been in cellars somewhere, but also in storage and finally in shop shelves, that are usually very poor for beer storaging (too much light and warmth, at least in Finnish Alko).
Maybe this is their worst batch of the lot and they decided to ship this somewhere far away to some beer geeks, who bow to their work and drink this like a nectar from the beer brewing gods, no matter the actual taste :) Well, I don't think so. Beer enthusiasts seem to me as cruel and judging people - while they should be laughing and having fun as they drink this marvelous drink, that is best you can put in your mouth.
I have to end this review by copy-pasteing the welcoming words from the breweries' website, because it makes me raise my hat to these former home brewers and micro brewers:
"Nøgne Ø was created by two home brewers.
Unable to stay at home we started Norway’s first microbrewery for creative brewing. Some times, when we get a momentary glimpse of sanity, we ask ourselves what we have achieved.
We think we can say that we have achieved some level of fame, at least locally and among dedicated beer geeks around the world.
But more important - before we started Nøgne Ø most Norwegians did not know much about beer styles like IPA, Porter or Amber.
This has for sure started to change, and we do feel that we have contributed to what you can call a renaissance of Norwegian beer-culture.
Diversity was one of our main goals - and it does seem like diversity in the world of beers is starting to come back.
Kjetil Jikiun "
*** OK
(maybe some other batch will make me smile harder :D)
PS. I got a bit drunk with just one bottle of this fine brew...oh shit, should I stay, or should I go (to my cellar, once more, after all, I have had just one beer :D)
Comments
Post a Comment