Arve – drikkelig.no

Oslo Craft Distillery

It’s not every day I come across news that signals the startup of a new Norwegian distillery. But in an article covering new leases and renewals in the Bryn and Helsfyr area of Oslo I came across the following sentence:

I samme bygg skal Oslo Håndverksdestilleri AS bygge et nytt destilleri på 424 kvm fra januar 2015.

Translated: In the same building Oslo Craft Distillery (trademark has been registered in the EU) will build a new distillery covering 424 square meters starting January 2015.

The man behind it is Marius Vestnes founder of Cask Norway and Cask Sweden (importers of alcoholic beverages in Norway and Sweden), a man well known for good taste in alcoholic goods.

Not much more is know at the time of writing, but we will come back with news when they emerge.

Innis & Gunn American Oak Pale Ale 4,4%

It’s not often a new beer pops up in Norway that has no hits on the interwebz. This is such a beer.

Innis & Gunn are famous for their wood matured and cask matured beers and this newest one is no different. It’s matured over Bourbon-infused American oak heartwood for a full and rich bourbon flavour. So let’s see if it’s true.

Colour: Deep golden, edging towards light brown.

Nose: Vanilla and oak, in other words bourbon. A hint of fresh green apples is also present.

Palate: Light almost a bit watery start. But the bourbon flavours come out in force as we go along. The green apples still linger in the back. The bourbon lingers on and stay on the palate for a long time.

Summary: If you don’t like bourbon, stay away. It’s refreshing and a bit different, but the bourbon flavours are a little bit overpowering for me.

Nøgne Ø Asian Pale Ale

Nøgne Ø is getting better and better distribution in Norway after being taken over by the Hansa-Borg group. Even my local grocery store (quite small) has a decent selection of their max 4.7% abv. beers. Amongst them is the lastest offering Asian Pale Ale – a light refreshing ale with generous amounts of lemongrass (end quote).

It should be said that I’m no great fan of lemongrass and might be slightly biased when it comes to reviewing this ale.

Colour: Hazy deep golden

Nose: Fresh sitrus with a dash og malted barley and some wheat. The lemongrass is present without making a nuisance of itself.

Palate: Light, watery taste of lemongrass soup with some malted cereals. A slight bitterness hiding in the background acting all shy.

In summary: I won’t be purchasing this ale again, but I can see it going well with sushi and lighter asian foods. Or as a thirst quencher for those who aren’t biased against lemongrass.

Dalarado The Year One

In Dalarna, Sweden, a microbrewery was started a little over a year ago, Dalarado. The man behind it, Chris Slawson, a native of Colorado, USA, had started homebrewing with his best mate there. But his heart lead him to the Swedish countryside and the little town of Malung (pop. 5126). After brewing at home for some time with ever increasing quality the dream of a proper brewery started to grow. During the winter of 2012 things were set in motion and a 200 litre brewery was installed.

Today 800 bottles are produced each week, mainly of the tre standard brews: an American IPA, a Rye Pale and a Coffee Stout. To celebrate their one year anniversary they produced a limited edition beer – Dalarado The Year One, a belgish triple with chanterelle mushrooms!

Colour: Clear amber-yellow.

Nose: Smells like a low tone triple with a earthy tone in the background.

Taste: Ooh, this was strange. Sweet vanilla, mushrooms, strawberries, earthy/musty tones and a hint of yeast.

In summary: Not all there, but a fun experiment. The mushrooms gave the brew too much strangeness for my palate. Don’t see mushroom beers taking over the world anytime soon.