The Ø's Brown Ale (11°P, 27 IBU, 4.5% abv) pours very dark brown, with a small but extremely persistent head. Hoppy nose, but mild, malty flavour, definite chocolate and roasted notes, while avoiding being thick/sweet/syrupy. Some dried cherries, and a hint of mushroomy broth/funk.Very faint hoppiness. With a fresh cold pour, thin and simple, but with complexity increasing rapidly as it comes to room temperature. Good acidity and brightness all over the palate, nice clean finish. Mild, very easy drinking ale, not particularly bitter. Even at 4.5% abv, this has "session ale" written all over it. A solid, refreshing, 4 season brew. Well done!
Monday, February 15, 2010
Nøgne Ø Brown Ale
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IMO Nøgne Ø is one of the most exciting brewers from Northern Europe. Usually I find brown ales one of the most boring categories of beer, but I do admit that Nøgne Ø's is one I enjoy (though not regularly because it is expensive). Do you have other Nøgne Øs available?
ReplyDeleteBR, Otto
Otto, check out this post - I picked up quite a few all at once - imported by Shelton Brothers, who are clearly fans.
ReplyDeleteSo, since you are fan of Nøgne Ø, also check out this post - it's about a sake internship I got to participate in last year. Kjetil Jikiun was in the first session, which took place in February, I went for the second session in March. It was there that I first heard of his brewery, since he had brought some bottles with him. I saw the empties and figured I needed to check it out!
Nice to see your blog - is the title derived from Yury Dombrovsky's novel? Always impressed by the variety of things you drink!
Vinod
I saw a couple other notes on Nøgne Ø in your blog, but haven't you yet tried the other beers from the link you provided? The #100 is a lovely winter warmer with a bit of bottle age! I've found it perfect for this cold winter. I'm surprised to read you're not a great fan of IPA. From your wine and Sake notes I would actually have assumed that such a strongly hoppy style would be to your taste.
ReplyDeleteI'm quite amazed that someone finally spotted the link to Dombrovsky! I'm a huge fan of Russian literature.
I don't know why, I just can't get into the super-hoppy styles, especially West Coast IPAs. For me, it lacks subtlety. I definitely prefer the English-style IPA, but I was assuming that Nøgne Ø's might have more of a West Coast influence? Wrong?
ReplyDeleteI've tried Dark Horizon 2 and 3, the Special Holiday Ale, the Toshi Double IPA, Peculiar Yule, and the Sunturnbrew. I had a real backlog of winter brews to get through, so it's taking me a while to get to all of those - I'm working on it! I have a Winter Ale in the fridge at the moment, but for you my friend, I've just pulled the #100 to open tonight!
I read "Faculty" a long time ago, when I got into the Russians - especially fond of Gogol, Chekhov and Turgenev. As a "genre", it's up there for me with Japanese and my favorite, genre-by-himself, Naguib Mahfouz.
Check out the Nøgne Ø website - Kjetil Jikiun is brewing sake!
ReplyDeleteI think you are right about the influences on the IPA - I find the whole Scandinavian brewing scene very "American".
ReplyDeleteIf you liked the anti-utopianism of Dombrovsky, have you tried Zamyatin? I've gone back to the established classics after trying out the Soviet stuff. Nothing beats Chekhov IMO.
Has anything other than "We" been translated from Russian? I bought my copy in St. Petersburg, in 2000. In fact, had travelled there by train from Helsinki - it was on that trip that I ate at Zetor.
ReplyDeleteNot much. The longest list of translations I have seen is here: http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/zamyatin.htm . (scroll to the end of the page).
ReplyDeleteI've been trying to find the 15 stories volume for some time (I think it was even published in Penguin Classics at one point!) but with no luck. We remains the only I've read from him.