Nøgne Ø Funky Geyser is what many have called an infected monster that has been taken over by brettanomyces. It originally was a batch of Bitter that got infected with brett somehow and this geyser has high carbon dioxide levels. The color was very light straw yellow and the head was huge and kept on growing. Aroma was very funky indeed, lots of farm animals and sour notes of lemon zest.
It was little to no sweetness, just sour and bone dry to taste with flavors of sour apples but then it got very bitter and dry in the end. Very tart with lemon sourness, a great beer for cleansing the palette. I was lucky enough to try this beer at the brewery when it was labelled as a Bitter and the batch that needed to be removed from the Vinmonopolet. Kjetil was very excited about this infected beer and was curious to see what I made of it.
To summarize it was nice to try this beer, I actually liked the funky aroma a lot but as sour beers are not my cup of tea, I was not gone on the taste.
Nøgne Ø Kriek of Telemark is the first beer of this style from this brewery and fitting that is used Norwegian sour cherries from Telemark. The Lindheim Gardens are located in the small village of Gvarv in Telemark and grows wonderful sour cherries, perfect for a proper Norwegian sour beer. I really like the label that symbolizes authentic rose painting from Telemark and this beer is very pretty to look at with its reddish pink tones. I admit I am a beginner when it comes to the Kriek and Lambic beer style so I cannot rate this beer saying I have tasted great beers from Cantillon.
Very deep pink colour with an amazing pink foam that was quite large, carbonation was just perfect. The aroma has lots of sour cherries, slightly bitter and the distinctive lactose acid. The cherries are more in the aroma that in the tastes, in the beginning it was sweet but then it got sour, but I would say a medium sour beer. 7% alcohol and as with most Nøgne Ø beers, is perfectly balanced and not noticeable. This beer delivers as it states, sour tarty cherries and easy drink-ability.
A Kriek that is not as tarty and sour as I expect the ones from Cantillon are. I am happy that Nøgne Ø did not experiment with wild yeast in the brewery making this funkier. Don’t want to jeopardize all the other great beers they make. Another very stable beer, I like it and I am very happy to have got hold of this limited edition in the end, a great craft beer shop Dublin of all places.
Nøgne Ø Sour Brown is dark brown in colour with a small tan coloured head that quickly disappeared. Aroma is musty with vinegar and apple cider dominating and very sour with oak coming through in the background. Tarty, fruity with some fruitiness like from raisins and cherries but mainly a farmhouse wild yeast aroma, not my cup of tea at all.
Flavours are very sour in the beginning and lead on to some brown ale tones of slight bitter chocolate and coffee with a bitter dry finish. Not in any way a sour ale fan and being a brown ale fan this mixture just leaves me confused and definitely not a beer I will be drinking again. Did I not mention this before, I hate sour beers.
Nøgne Ø Tindved is the second sour ale I have now tasted from Nøgne Ø and this one should be more to the sour ale style as it has been fermented with the juices of sea buckthorn which are quite bitter. Last year at Kuldse Notsu Korts restaurant in Tallinn I had a sea buckthorn drink there that was like a smoothie with alcohol so I do remember how this berry smells and tastes. I am not by any means a fan of the sour ale style and have tasted very little of this beer type so my critic is quite limited and have little to review this beer with.
I really liked the aroma here which was full of apple, cider, vinegar and some wood which I guess is oak from the casks. From what I have figured out with sour ales, there is very little head to this style and the carbonation is quite high and bubbly from the high acid that is fermented. Not super sour by any means to taste but quite dry and also some apple and cider on the tongue. So to summarize I loved the aroma and thought the taste was good, if it was more sour then I would have difficulties with it. The bottle size was great for this style of beer and I look forward to trying more sour ales going forward from Nøgne Ø and getting more experience with this style of beer.
Nøgne Ø Tyttebær is the first ever Lambic brewed by Nøgne using 1000 kilos lingonberries. Brewed by two of the world's best brewers, Nøgne-Ø and Mikkeller a wild beer Lambic made from tyttebær (Norwegian for lingonberries) or (wild cranberry know in US) sometimes referred to as Scandinavian Cranberries.
Lovely red lingon colour to the beer even though the head was a bit on the volcano side and I guess it is due to the yeast and amount of acid in the beer as it was still alive after 3 years. Very sour lingon aroma with little else in the aroma with a bitter tartness on the flavour that was quite refreshing but bighting on the tongue. Wheat usually gives smoothness to a beer, difficult to see that in that being the case in this dry bitter brew. Tarty in the beginning with a crisp sour finish, not exactly my cup of tea but a lot better that some classic lambics that I have tasted in the past that were 100 times even more sour and bitter.
Always nice to try a once off beer from Nøgne that took 9 months to ferment and more than a year to age in bottle. If you like your beer with huge amounts of carbonation and tannin like bitter then Lambic is your best bet, I prefer my beers with little to no acid.
