Legal Beer

Though this is the first time I have sampled a beer from the brewers of HaandBryggeriet I am ever so excited for a number of reasons. HaandBryggeriet consists of four Norwegian brewers who operate out of a small 200 year old wooden building in Drammen, Norway. I have seen their brews on the shelves many times but never justified purchasing them as they are limited production and imported making them cost a pretty penny. On this beer however I took exception and couldn’t help but grab the last bottle off of the shelves of The Four Firkins. Dark Force has one crazy style description on the bottle “Double Extreme Imperial Wheat Stout”. So if being the first brewers to make an Imperial Wheat Stout wasn’t enough this one is also double extreme! Jokes asside I cant wait to hop into this brew. This bottle of awesomely named beer happens to be Batch NR 144 which was brewed in March of 08. This beer pours a very dark black color that is completely opaque not even allowing a small amount light to penetrate through the surface. Head consists just over two fingers of tight creamy bubbles that are the color of rich chocolate and slowly dissipate creating larger bubbles as the minutes pass but leaving almost no lacing. Smells strongly of rich roasted dark malt with some gentle coffee and chocolate notes and a decent alcohol hint. Tastes heavily of dark roasted  malt with a slightly sweeter finish of gentle wheat notes and a soft citrus like character in the end. Mouthfeel is slightly creamy reminding me a bit of a milk stout but with less lactose, body is medium making it quite drinkable for an Imperial Stout though its 9% ABV makes it more of a sipper. This is certainly one of the more  interestingly flavored Imperial Stouts I have had the opportunity to sample and if it were more available I would happily consume it more regularly.  If you are into big dark beers and want to try something quite unique this beer is definitely worth your time. If this beer is any example of the quality of brews produced by HaandBryggeriet I might just have to open my wallet a little wider in the future and grab some more of their tasty beverages. Give it a shot and ride your bike.

This entry was posted on Friday, August 21st, 2009 at 5:26 pm and is filed under Beer. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.