Damn! I’ve looked soooo much forward to this… Several calls & a reservation later (thx 2 the nice bloke @ Bishop arms, Bellmanns gatan), I finally get to taste this dark, mystic-entangled thingy.

Black in color (surprise!), not much carbonation going on here. This sought-after gem. barrel aged rum goodie and 2016 edition promises a lot. Nose is licorice, Deep dark caramellish, burnt & honey. Taste: Not much more carbonization, but delish BA maturity. Pastry-like, warmth and alcoholish candy goodies going on here. A beer for gods!

The sugars definately plays a big role here. Very much sweetness, mostly deriving from the honey. Mildly sourish notes midway, before heading back & fading out in that sweet manner. Nice treat, even at a summer day. Cool experience indeed!

Photo: M. K. Burheim

TRILLIUM “Dialed up” (11%) 5/5

So, on a luxurious day as this: Why don’t we just kickstart another trip to the top of the hops?

Noticeably more dark in color, very yellow and murky this is as promising as ever… Pours a small, beautiful head. The nose is caramellish fresh fruityness. Sets the mood for the event of the year that is coming up later this week: MBCC. (Giving great challenge to any IPA’s there too!)

Taste is absolutely splendid, those ABV’s perfectly hidden, blended in with a noticeable hoppy sting of delicacy. This is what an perfect IPA tastes like! Fresh and bubbly, medium-bodied, with such smooth deep sweet notes. Hints of sharon fruit/passion fruit, smooth bitterness and elegant aftertaste.

One word sums up this thrill of a hop juice: Astonishing

Shout out to Westum!

(Photo: M.K. Burheim)

Nose: Deep velvet’ish candynight… even the smell is to die for. Insane! Choco-coffee. Barrel aged amazeballs! The best that can be imagined, silky smooth, adult beer. This is everything.

The taste: Nutty, sweet, vanilla, marsmallowy

Chocolate mousse… perfect texture. Perfect balance. Not overly sweet as one expected. Absolutely mindblowing, with a nice tingeling spice sting to it in the beginning. Then, thick oily body that entangles in layers of heat, chocolaty sweetness. The marshmallows are clear as day here, providing the longest sweet aftertaste imaginable. Strange. Not exaggerated at all either, just incredible. Hands down. I hereby leave all hold-back and declare the best imperial stout (if not beer) in the world. Bottle 2553/3070. This is it.

Photo: M.K. Burheim

Another thrill to be experienced is here, in this can in front of me… and just by the odours, I can tell that we’re in for a treat. This dark yellow hop-soup gives associations to an orange soft drink that’s been a fave of mine since childhood. As I put my nose closer, I can sense notes of caramel. Deep yellow in colour, and pours a very fine head. I cannot hold back any longer…

WOW!! Light and bubbly. Immensely fruity and fresh, and with a multiple taste. Hoppy as hell, but not the directly bitter-hoppy way I am used to in double IPAs. First and foremost, it is the ripe fruityness and mango-notes that takes place in this one. Incredibly delicious, rounded off with a sweet drape. (To quote my better half: “Even the burp tastes good!”) There are also citric traces of orange, lemon and even spruce in here. Absolutely astonishing!

After the beautiful middle and great body, there is a small tingly hoppy heat to be sensed, before a long round aftertaste signs off. By far one of the best double IPAs I’ve ever tasted in my life. Hands down.

(A huge thanks to Espen @ Westum homebrewery!)

Photo: M.K. Burheim

Now, after reading up on this one, it’s about as close to a religious moment I’ll have this year apparently… And it sure looks fantastic. Black as night in the glass, with a suitable foamhead on top. Nose is massively infused with matured dark fruits and ripe berries, wood, bourbon hints and burnt notes. Count me in on this one, Chicago!

When it comes to taste: A variety of tastes. Starting off with beautiful sweetness of chocolate, and sort of like, say 5 seconds in, spanning over to the uttermost comfortable sour’ish side of the specter of whisky/bourbon taste (almost so that you wonder if you’ve just had a sip from a glass with that!), enhanced with heat, which in turn transforms into the most insane, rich roasted coffee taste imaginable. Gone is the fruity notes from the aromas, but what an exchange!

Mouthfeel: The body is magnificently full, like a velvety cloak dressed around the mouth gland. Perfectly carbonated (of course- this one lives up to (if not exceeds!) all of my expectations. Such quality.

Aftertaste is still lingering, minutes after swallowing… licorice… warm soothing heat. Wow. Just, WOW!

Photo: M.K. Burheim

Now, this should be quite interesting… Having saved this bottle of excitement for merely almost a decade, it is now time to taste it and see what’s in store.

Pouring reveals a devilish black color, whilst notes of licorice, fruits, dark berries strikes the nose. According to the description that I find this is supposed to be a triple/black IPA. I must say and admit that I am highly excited now! It somehow reminds me a little of Brewdog’s other flagship, Tactical nuclear penguin (albeit in a lighter version). Let’s get down & dirty…

Not at all as expected. That is the first thing that comes to mind- there is absolutely no combination left in this beer and the taste is mildly put… ehrm, mild. With no bubbles going on at all, I must say it’s over its peak for sure. Can’t say that I’m that surprised considering the length of storage ? What can I say about taste here though… mild, lightly hoppy (probably lost most of it along the way). Quite dead and bland now, not even traces of heat to be found. Well well, tick the box, I suppose one can say.

Photo: M. Burheim

With the amount of new brews coming out, the scene is Pretty flooded and hard to follow up with nowadays. Every now and then though, a light shimmers in the shape of something outstanding- such as is the case with Norwegian brewery’s 2018 version of this incredible stout.  It looks amazing (of course), but in addition to that, the nose is nothing but seductive. Coconut! Like, as in a bounty (yes, the delicious chocolate), only in liquid form. Black as night, we must dive in, mustn’t we?

At first, it’s suiting bubblyness going on here. Light to medium-bodied, for a stout to be. Then, sweetness, clean chocolaty taste, entangled in coconut and sweet, vanilla & hint of christmas’y cinnamon-infused pastry. Deep, deep down there lies the aftertaste… very mild and comfortable sweetened coffee and caramel. Fading out perfectly, a real sweet dessert. Fantastic, balancing on the top. On the verge…

Finally, trying this! Like some kind of candy… Doesn’t really smell like an IPA at all.

Pretty flat- not so strange, since best before-date is well passed on this one. Reddish/light brown colour, little bubbly-action going on… very little aroma at all… tiny fruity hint, perhaps. And little acidic… Tiiiny honey infusion/caramel’ish note. The tastes herein must have taken twists & turns, going through the long while since production.

Well, tastewise then? Like a fruit juice, overly balanced- just so round now that if this passed as a controversial IPA some 4 years ago, it’s turned into an incredibly adjusted fruitpunch with figs and an incredible mateurity unlike much else… And after a long, long while eventually showing a hoppy hint that once was bitterness. Then ounded off with sweet outro- almost like George & Freddie touring Russia for a last time together. In perfect hoppyness.

What we got here is one of my favorite breweries, namely De Molen of Netherlands. I am extra excited when it comes to their beers, because more than once I’ve had a positive experience with several of them.

So what do we have at hand? Well, this time it’s the Bourbon barrel aged Imperial Stout. Colorwise it is very dark brown and pours a fine light brown head.

The Aromas in here are really exciting, spanning from vinous points in the direction of dried figs, ripe cherries, subtle sweet notes deriving from dark bitter chocolate, with a smokey touch… To almost rum-like, mature cognac/oak. Absolutely stunning, to say the least!

On the palate it kicks off with an intense feel of hard liquor, almost like a bourbon-drink infused with beer. Too intense for my taste, but I bet it’d do well with some more years of storage.

The alcohol taste in the beginning is a bit overwhelming, but eventually evolves into a sourdough and later sweet aftertaste. I was balancing on the edge here, on the brink towards giving it a 4, but the potential is big here- still worth mentioning.

(photo: M. Brochs)

As I am familiar with some of their other brews, expectations would be reasonably high from the start here. Adding to that, the fact that this is an Imperial IPA from the brewery’s Barrel aged-series, stakes are dangerously high… First off; the label design is cool. There is a tipsy reaper lurking beneath the beer bottle, all barely visible in this dark artwork. So, let’s get down to the real deal, shall we? A fine, smooth golden look, pouring equally esthetic head in the tulip glass- just a tad mirky… Like watching a still flame. Nose is an incredible blend of hops, resulting in foresty smells, including flowers, spruce and almost caramelish notes of sweetness. I’m incredibly eager to drink this! When the first drop comes in contact with the tongue, there’s maturity fusing with an incredible bitterness, vanilla hints comes into play in the background. It’s quite strong, as one would expect from an imperial IPA to be. Still, very very nice balance of each of the elements featured. The taste lasts for an eternity, like a dark long catacomb from here to the underworld. Pretty astonishing stuff, as I thought.

(Photo: M. Brochs)