As promised, here are a bunch of reviews of beers from Norwegian brewery, Nogne O. Of the five beers I tasted, I found that the three which were made in famous styles (DIPA, Porter and Tripel,) to be well made and very true to type. The remaining two beers were Nogne-designed styles and were very original and complex, great for people looking for something different.
The Two Captains DIPA was conceived by a Norwegian home brewing champ, and brewed by Nogne O, Underlig Jul (which translated to peculiar yule) is a Christmas-cross between a beer and a glogg (a traditional mulled wine), and the #100 is labelled as a barley wine in the USA, but a DIPA everywhere else, and makes an exceptional example no matter how you categorize it.
Tiger Tripel:
500 mL bottle. Pours a semi-transparent peach color, with a little haze and a thick white head. Yeast oriented aromas of bread, biscuit and hay are available, orange zest and coriander, a faint touch of char and graphite from the smoked malts. Fairly dry for the style, with good carbonation. Smooth on the palate with a sticky sour finish. Interesting.
Porter:
500 mL bottle. Pours opaque black with a thick brown head, lots of lacing to be had. Aroma of roasted malt, caramel, chocolate, strong coffee and anise. A touch of sweet with a bit of a bitter hop finish. Super smooth and creamy, full on the palate. A textbook porter.
Two Captains Double IPA:
500 mL bottle. Pours a slightly hazy copper color, a nice loose white head. Nice American styled nose of hop, orange and pine. Sweet and sticky, medium carbonation and a heap of hops. A refreshing bitter bite. A nice rendition of a big dirty American IPA.
#100:
500 mL bottle. Pours a murky walnut color with a thin tan head. Toasted nuts, cocoa powder, orange, fruitcake and pine. Medium sweet with a big hoppy kick, a long bitter finish with plenty of layers and texture. Full mouthfeel. Lots of complexity here, despite the labelling mishap; it makes a great DIPA or barley wine.
Underlig Jul:
500 mL bottle. Pours almost black, with a fluffy brown head. Aroma holds layers of spices, black cake, clove, ginger, molasses and deeply roasted malt. Deeply spicy coffee flavour, roasted meat, gingerbread. Stout like dryness, with enough sugar to balance all those spices and a gentle hop finish. Medium in weight with medium carbonation. Tasty and different!
As I am off to Spain, a land where they consume far more wine than beer, this will probably be the last you will see of beer ratings for a while. Hope you have been enjoying. If you need more, you can find all my reviews here:
http://www.ratebeer.com/user/169526/ratings/
Saturday, December 29, 2012
Sunday, December 23, 2012
A Boatload of Beau's
As mentioned in my last beer rating post, the LCBO is full of great products from Beau's brewery. The brewery is certified organic and produces tasty peer just outside of Ottawa. Reviews in this post include: Bog Water, a traditional gruit beer brewed with myrtle in replacement of a large portion of the hop content; Farm Table Belgian Pale Ale, a light farm style Belgian with a low alcohol content and a lot of flavor, my favorite under 5% ABV beer to date; Patio Saison, a very average example of a very interesting style; Screaming Beaver, an oak aged Imperial IPA that's just enormous; and Matt's Sleepytime Belgian Imperial Stout, a real malt driven beer with Belgian ale yeasts.
Beau's Farm Table Belgian Pale Ale:
600 mL bottle. Pours a hazy cider color with a nicely lacing white head. Nice aroma profile, sour yeast with buttery biscuit notes, orange, spices and a little wood. Taste is mild, a touch of sweetness, a little hop and a great yeasty finish. Dry and medium carbonation. Painfully drinkable, love the fact that this beer has so much flavor and so little alcohol. Aches for rustic pate and pickles.
Beau's Patio Saison:
600 mL. Pours a hazy buckwheat honey color, a thin white head. Aroma is honey laced, spiced and lightly hopped, a little thyme and citrus. Mildly sweet with a sour finish, medium bodied and highly carbonated. Tasty, but nothing stands out
Beau's Screaming Beaver:
600 mL bottle. Pours a dark amber colour with a lacy, lasting head of beige foam. Aroma is complex, candied orange, oak, caramel malt, cream and pine. Big and sweet, rounded out by a great big hop bite, 99 IBU’s of it to be exact, a long layered finish. Smooth as silk and medium carbonation. Do yourself a favour, don’t waste this by serving it right out of the fridge. A massive beer, really liked it.
Beau's Matt's Sleepytime Belgian Imperial Stout:
600 mL. Pours a dark brown, with a thick medium tan head. Aroma of yeast, molasses, roasted malt, bitter cocoa and espresso. Sweet, but not overly with a coating mouthfeel and a bitter/sour finish. A real malt bomb, a little yeast complexity.
Up next there has been a release of beers from famous Norwegian brewery Nogne O, I got my hands on all five and look forward to sharing them with you!
As ever, more can be found here:
http://www.ratebeer.com/user/169526/ratings/
Beau's Farm Table Belgian Pale Ale:
600 mL bottle. Pours a hazy cider color with a nicely lacing white head. Nice aroma profile, sour yeast with buttery biscuit notes, orange, spices and a little wood. Taste is mild, a touch of sweetness, a little hop and a great yeasty finish. Dry and medium carbonation. Painfully drinkable, love the fact that this beer has so much flavor and so little alcohol. Aches for rustic pate and pickles.
Beau's Patio Saison:
600 mL. Pours a hazy buckwheat honey color, a thin white head. Aroma is honey laced, spiced and lightly hopped, a little thyme and citrus. Mildly sweet with a sour finish, medium bodied and highly carbonated. Tasty, but nothing stands out
Beau's Screaming Beaver:
600 mL bottle. Pours a dark amber colour with a lacy, lasting head of beige foam. Aroma is complex, candied orange, oak, caramel malt, cream and pine. Big and sweet, rounded out by a great big hop bite, 99 IBU’s of it to be exact, a long layered finish. Smooth as silk and medium carbonation. Do yourself a favour, don’t waste this by serving it right out of the fridge. A massive beer, really liked it.
Beau's Matt's Sleepytime Belgian Imperial Stout:
600 mL. Pours a dark brown, with a thick medium tan head. Aroma of yeast, molasses, roasted malt, bitter cocoa and espresso. Sweet, but not overly with a coating mouthfeel and a bitter/sour finish. A real malt bomb, a little yeast complexity.
Up next there has been a release of beers from famous Norwegian brewery Nogne O, I got my hands on all five and look forward to sharing them with you!
As ever, more can be found here:
http://www.ratebeer.com/user/169526/ratings/
A Change of Pace (Off Topic)
Life as a professional chef can be interesting to say the least. You often work in a high stress, unrewarding environment; you are under constant pressure to do better and do faster. I am lucky enough to have a job where the people I work for and work with are understanding. Most of us often wish we could just return to the simple roots of cooking, make beautiful and tasty food, just for the sake of making it. Lots of us would love to spend hours a day just learning more about food and the culture from which it was born. Strangely, I have been granted the opportunity to do just that.
Come January I will be spending a full month in Toledo, Spain, just outside of Madrid, working and learning at a fantastic restaurant under the guidance of Chef Adolfo Munoz. I hope to discover more about the roots of Spanish cuisine, broaden my horizons of modern culinary art and find a bit of temporary salvation. Feel free to follow my journey on the blog or alternatively on Facebook, which will link you here; I hope to be able to post pictures and information about what I am up to every couple of days, as well as review a few restaurants, wines and beers.
As happy as I am to get going, I look forward to coming back home as much. Once I return in February, I have a little more excitement on the docket. Friend, fellow chef and devout beer-a-holic Tyler Scott and I are going to take on the monumental task of making homebrew. Good homebrew, from scratch, no extracts and no cheating. Take a look at the blog for pictures and updates as to how we are making out, and drop me a line if you want to come by and a have a taste or maybe even lend a hand!
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