Friday, February 19, 2010

Nogne Barleywine

Another day another post on a barleywine. Unintentionally this week's theme has become barleywine, and you know what I'm OK with that. This particular one is from the Nogne brewery out of Norway. Just like here in the states, home brewing interests inspired two friends to start their own brewery back in 2002. They are very proud of their beer, and each bottle is subtitled with the motto - "The Uncompromising Brewery." Nogne has become incredibly popular over on this side of the Atlantic for making some amazing beers, some unique, some strong, all very good. Unfortunately as of right now they aren't imported into Texas, but I was fortunate to get my hands on this bottle of theirs. Their barleywine as some interesting history. The recipe was used to celebrate Nogne's 100th batch, but it was only available in small batches. The brewer's noticed its incredible popularity and decided to release it commercially (lucky for us!).
The Beer: This one weighs in at 10% and 80 IBU's. It pours a very dark brown with a thick taupe colored head. The nose is figgy, hoppy, citrus, and really rich malts. The mouthfeel is rich, chewy. Loads of hops, citrus, earthy notes, figs, and raisins. Notes of warm dark bread, toffee. Creamy, bourbon like. Vanilla notes. Its warming, but not from the alcohol which is hidden pretty well. Tons of dark concentrated fruits like prunes, raisins, figs, hints of citrus peel. Citrus peel bitterness lingers through the finish. A wonderful barleywine that gets an A from me. Here's what the folks at BA think.

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