46. Porter - Nøgne Ø

So the last time I wrote about Nøgne Ø beers, I mistyped. The little islands like the one the brewery is on aren't actually called Nøgne Ø (naked island), but instead it's a poetic term that Ibsen coined. Anyways, they make good beer. The porter was no exception. It was super nutty, but not overpoweringly so, you still tasted the toasty malty porter goodness. The head had super big bubbles, but that might have been my fault for careless pouring. It is a good beer, but neither of us was wowed by it, probably because it was accompanying a severely lackluster dinner. Maybe it deserves another chance, but probably not. Nothing will be able to take the place of Bell's Porter in Jordan's book, and I think I'm over dark beers for a while. So umm it gets 15 out of 26 Ibsen plays.

14. Special Holiday Ale - Nøgne Ø, Jolly Pumpkin, and Stone Brewing Companies

This is a super limited edition beer that was actually brewed at the Stone Brewery, but it is a collaboration with Nøgne Ø and Jolly Pumpkin. They wanted to make a beer that reflected wintery tastes that were native to their regions, so it has juniper berries from Norway, white sage from California, and chestnuts from Michigan. They also added some caraway seed to round things out and brewed up a nice rich brown ale. Then they only released it in five states and then only to stores that already carried beers from all three of the companies. Sounds great right?

Well it wasn't that good. Jordan says it was alright, just not amazing. I, however, was put off by the cat pee smell that I think came from the juniper berries. I just couldn't get past it and get into liking the beer, even though it tasted ok, sometimes. It wasn't as interesting or complex as I expected it to be, but they recommend aging it, so we bought another bottle and will try in December and see if has gotten any better. We will see.

It gets 3.5 out of 5 things that have been overly hyped from Jordan, who says it was a solid beer that just didn't live up to the hype. I give it a 2 out of 5 states that got the super hyped beer. I didn't really like it but feel compelled to give it more than one state because we need to leave room for the truly bad beer that we may come across and because cat pee is a totally valid taste to have in wine, so I guess it is in beer too.

5. God Jul (Winter Ale) - Nøgne Ø

Our winter ale yesterday came from Norway. Specifically a rocky little island off the coast of Norway- these types of islands are apparently called Nøgne Ø, at least that is what Haley would have me believe. The most noteworthy feature of this beer is how thick it is. You can see it when you pour. It's probably as thick as Guinness, but I haven't had Guinness since I was a young lad so I'm not sure. This one time, I was in Quizno's getting ready to slam a big steak sandwich, and there were some African Americans in line behind me. One of them, offering up an indication of the quality of a sandwich, told the others that her friend recommended it. She followed that up with "And she thick." Another man in line behind them instantly stated that "Just cuz she thick don't mean it's all good." They all agreed and chuckled. In this case though, the beer was all good. It was pretty bitter, more bitter than the snowcap. It wasn't spicy at all really or malty. Just kind of bitter and pleasant tasting. Haley says it had nice coffee notes and the richness of a stout without the stout taste (which is a good thing). She gives it four out of five barren Norwegian isles and I give it three out of four thick ladies.