Beer Review: Mikkeller – Nøgne ø
Mar0
The breakfast of champions(?)
Amount of brew in bottle: 16.9 fluid ounces
ABV: 7.5%
Type of brew: Stout (Oat & Coffee)
Price: ~$12
With a sub-title of “beer geek breakfast” this beer was just calling to me to try. While having a beer for breakfast sounds gross to me, to each his own. The beer says it is a “mixture of an oat and coffee stout” which I can tell when I drink it. Overall this beer is thick and a little sweet. As it warms up it gets a lot sweeter than when it was cold (shocking I know). This is the first beer that I have had that was solely brewed at nøgne-ø and I have to say I am quite surprised. One thing that is nice is that the beers are in pints and not 22-ounce bottles which makes it a lot easier for one person to drink by themselves.
Since this is a combination of an oatmeal stout and a coffee stout the oatmeal portion gives it a nice little bitter finish which is great counter-balance to the coffee portion. If you ever get a chance to get your hands on this beer I would suggest letting it warm up a bit before drinking it. Overall this is a nice little stout to drink although it is a bit high on the ABV but not over the top like a lot of the beers. But the price is pretty damn steep. I expect for $11 to not go “eh” for a stout, I mean it is good but is it $11 good? Nah. I know they had to import the bugger but they have to do that for other beers as well.
But hey if you are feeling like you have a bit of extra cash and want to try an imported oatmeal stout go right ahead. However, there are far better ways of spending your cash…like you know buying me a bottle to review 
.
The good: A good craft stout
The bad: Expensive!!
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Stone (and company) – Special Holiday Brew
Mar0
Yummy spices!
Recently I got my hands on Stone’s/Nøgne-Ø’s/Jolly Pumpkin’s special holiday ale and I am glad that I did. This is a pretty mellow beer that tastes great. Admittedly I was a little hesitant to try this beer at first since the additional spices involved with this beer are: chestnuts, juniper berries, white sage and caraway seeds. With all of these additional spices I was curious to see if the beer tasted good or like someone threw my grandma’s spice rack into the brewing process. Thankfully the spices are not over powering but you can taste hints of additional spices. Another interesting thing about this beer is that it is a compilation of three different breweries: Stone, Nøgne-Ø and Jolly Pumpkin. I could imagine that the logistics of creating this beer was a bit of a pain-in-the ass since the companies are spread throughout the world (Norway, Michigan and San Diego).
On thing I initially noticed is that this beer is fairly carbonated, not to the point of soda but it is definitely not flat. It has a fairly sharp aftertaste but not like what you normally expect from a hoppy beer. I think the sharpness comes more from the caraway seeds but I can’t be 100% sure. This is a darker beer with a small almost non-exsistent head when poured. The beer is supposed to be packing a 9.0% ABV which is fairly strong but it doesn’t taste like a beer that strong or I am just getting used to these stronger beers . As the beer warms up the bitterness almost disappears and the spices become more prominent. Also, at the bottom of the cup you can see white sediment which I am assuming is the white sage. Overall I thought this beer was decent but I think you have to have specific tastes in order to like it.
The good: Unique flavor and easy to drink
The bad: Some people might not like all of the different spices
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