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Norwegian beer

full o’ beans

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It’s weirdly cloudy outside, but it hasn’t gotten any cooler. Do gray skies give me an excuse for a dark beer? You bet! And this one is a northern one, so maybe fitting. If we got a good rain, which we won’t, it might evoke some seafaring fantasies. Or forests, dark and foreboding. Actually, that sounds a little more like Laugar, threatening images on the label, and what we have today is Lervig. Not only that, but there’s something light and silly about a three bean stout. You can only imagine the symphony later.

It doesn’t look especially thick as a liquid, but the head certainly has a whipped-up appearance. It’s a very dark beige and only diminishes slowly. More than any kind of beans, I’m getting cinnamon from the aroma, with a touch of gingerbread. It’s thick, smooth and rich on the tongue, liquid gingerbread in fact. Is there vanilla and cacao? Vanilla for sure, cacao probably, but I can’t identify tonka as a distinct flavor. When I have had it, in stouts, it’s been more of a variety of cacao than something uniquely its own. The whole blend is very Christmasy, and it’s too bad I didn’t pull this out for Beermas. Well, maybe I can make an exception with repeats. It is almost a whole dessert in itself, I think any kind of baked good or pastry would just be too much. A nice simple ice cream might be ok, even something like strawberry. It does calm you right down, almost giving you a gauzy curtain to shield yourself from reality, and I expect it has to do with the strength. But for the life of me I can’t find the ABV on the can. It does seem to recommend splitting this little 330ml can into several servings, though. Should have been a warning.

Supplier: Lambeer
Price: €6.50

what’s his story anyway?

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Hoo boy, it’s really summer now! Not my favorite season, really, even though I am blessed with A/C at the moment. Maybe it’s my aversion to beaches that turns me off of the season. Also, the dearth of dark beers in the past. This year there are a few more stouts around than other years, which certainly warms my heart, and you’ve already seen some evidence of my enjoyment. This is the last one from La Mundial, a Lervig Imperial Stout with a name that makes me thing there ought to be a story – Konrad’s Stout. Can’t find a story in a quick Google search, but maybe that’s a Google problem. We’re having more and more of those.

Beer float worthy head, thick and bubbly, and a little nest of tiny bubbles at the bottom. It’s slightly cakey in aroma, but only a mild whiff. It smells fresh and bready, almost perky. Tastewise, it is a full-fledged stout, bitter and toasty warm. It warns of coffee or licorice, but doesn’t quite go there, staying strong in its stouty identity. It doesn’t quite feel as strong as its 10%, but it definitely has presence. It’s also fairly clean going down, not a whole lot of afterfeel, although there is a little bit of film on the back of the tongue reminding you that you have had a drink. In a way it’s good, since you don’t have the desire to just chug the thing. As usual, it might be too heavy for some given the weather, but I have no problems sitting in a shady place and enjoying a fine northern stout.

Supplier: La Mundial
Price: €5.20

shiny, shiny possibilities

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It’s still the month of darkness, only the beginning in fact, and already I have a super cool stout. It’s even called a Glittery Imperial Stout, which makes me wonder a little about what color it ended up after brewing, and it’s a collaboration by Amundsen and Vault City, the latter from Scotland, so a good place for something strong and dark to get brewed, and the former a success at giving me what I want in the past. I’m hoping Diamonds in the Mud is chock full of diamonds, or be made of chocolate mud.

There’s a small explosion of tasty smells with the pop of the tab, liquory, vanilla-y, woodsy, coffee…y. While not quite pure black, the brown is darker than an early winter night and the beer is not letting a drop of light get through. Glitter? Diamonds? Maybe that’s what you see when you finish that can. Not terribly heady, but what there is is stubborn and clingy, a nice little cap. The flavor is a festival of fruit and chocolate, cherry, raisin, raspberry, grape? It’s a surprise as a stout, and not an unpleasant one. While a sour stout is not exactly appetizing as an idea, this one has a good balance with the fruitiness lifting up the dark earth of the black beer. There’s a creaminess that you don’t get with sours and I find it very nice, I don’t always appreciate having my throat stabbed by a beer on the way down. Of course, there are stouts that will take a chunk out of you with bitter claws too, but in my experience they aren’t quite as dangerous in that regard.

Supplier: Hop Hop Hurrah
Price: €10.50

going darker

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Oh, I just can’t stop myself from picking up another black beer! It was a hard choice too, there are a lot of new names on the shelves. But Lervig is always trustworthy and it’s been a while since I’ve enjoyed one of their fine products, and while it’s still default vacation I feel like cake. Kransekake, that is. It’s labeled as an imperial stout with almonds (there’s a warning label about them on the back), not a pastry stout, but I have the feeling that it’s going to brush up against that variety.

Although it contains almonds, I’m getting more of an egg nog hit off the smell from the can. In the glass it’s a little nuttier. I haven’t been able to pour for head recently, but again, the beer is a rich and inviting color, and temptingly opaque. It has that syrupy pastry stout sweetness, and more than natural almonds I detect marzipan on the tongue. Good for me I love the stuff. There’s also a good whack of raisin and preserved fruit, another kind of Christmas-y note. It’s a thick and heavy beer, not what most people would choose for a summertime sip. I’m happy enough with it being sweet, that gives you a little kick when you feel run down, even in Madrid summer.

Supplier: Más Que Cervezas
Price: €6.47

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