Style: English Porter / Winter Ale / Holiday Ale
ABV: 8.5%
IBU: 30
Availability: annually, late fall and winter, bottle and draft
Pairing: charred steak, black and white cookies, brownies
click here for more Nøgne Ø reviews

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Popped in to the bar on a brutal New York City winter evening to grab a quick beer and came across a real treat… Nøgne Ø Winter Ale on tap. In my opinion, Kjetil Jikiun is one of the finest brewers crafting ales today and this one is no exception. I’m on a mission to drink as many of this fine Norwegian brewery’s offerings as possible.

Appearance: Pours a deep, dark brown with a tan head which leaves a bit of lacing on the glass

Smell: Notes of licorice, chocolate and vanilla all come forward. Some roasted notes as the beer warms. Very unique for a porter.

Taste: The Nøgne Ø Winter hits the palate with lots of roasted malt characteristics and a dry finish. There are lingering flavors of burnt caramel as well as all chocolate and vanilla. It’s incredibly balanced for such a unique beer and hides it’s 8.5% alcohol well.

Mouthfeel: A fine light carbonation and sweetness hit the mouth but the finish is quite dry. The result is a dangerously drinkable combination.

Drinkability: This one goes down pretty easy. It’s thick for a porter but – like most Nøgne Ø beers – the balance holds together any skepticism of its drinkability. I could easily have a few of these on a cold night.

Overall: The Nøgne Ø Winter (or God Jul if you live outside of the U.S.) is a rich winter ale that is welcoming to both porter and stout drinkers alike. The combination of sweet flavors, roasted notes and dry finish make it a great dessert beer, pairing for a heavy winter meal or even a nice aprés ski brew.

Brewing Note: “A dark ale brewed specially for the Christmas season, with a rich, complex taste of caramel. This is a strong, dark and rather sweet Christmas Beer – just the way we think a Christmas beer should be. Recommended serving temperature 12°C/53°F. Great with cheese or nuts. Ingredients: Lager, Munich, caramel, black, and chocolate malt; Chinook, Columbus, and Centennial hops; English ale yeast, and our local Grimstad water.” source)

Other reviews:
Nøgne Ø Winter on Beer Rant
Nøgne Ø Winter on Beer Advocate

(photo source)

Tags: Christmas Ale, god jul, Holiday Beers, Nogne O, porter, Winter Beers.

Christmas is sort of like a final culmination of beer geekery for me. A time when I get out all these random east coast bottles and submit my west coast hop loving brothers to what I have been slinging back all year. Its also a chance to crack a few bottles I’ve been saving up and share them with my family. This year has gone way overboard and I’ve broken it all down to a seven course, five hour extravaganza drank amongst four or (hopefully) five people. This is sort of a predecessor to my “Best of 2009″ list coming next week…

Appetizers (paired with baked clams and antipasta)
Goose Island Matilda (22oz)
Goose Island Juliet (22oz)
Goose Island Sofie (22oz)

Pasta Course (paired with fettuccine alfredo)
Avery Dugan (22oz)
Allagash Victoria (750ml)

Pre Dinner Intermission
Dogfish/Sierra Life and Limb (750ml)

Main Course (paired with baked ham)
Southampton Saison (750ml)
Brooklyn Local One (750ml)

Pre Dessert Intermission
Jolly Pumpkin Noel de Calabaza (750ml)

Dessert (paired with fruit, nuts, Italian pastries and brownies)
Nectar Black Xantus (22oz)
Captain Lawrence Nor’easter (22oz)

Post Desert Evening Closer
Brooklyn Black Ops 2009 (750ml)

Tags: Christmas Ale, pairing, Winter Beers, Winter Warmer.

Brewery: Nogne O, Jolly Pumpkin and Stone Brewing Co.
Vintage: 2009 vintage brewed at Nogne O in Grimstad, Norway
Style: Christmas Ale, Winter Warmer
ABV: 8.5%
IBU: 50
Availability: unknown frequency, November – January
Pairing: butternut squash soup, beef stew, roasted chestnuts

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I love brewer collaborations. It’s a great example of what the brewing community is all about and it often takes the best of each brewers skills and combines them into something greater. Stone Brewing Co. has been on a similar kick with their Collaboration Series, traveling around the world and joining forces with renowned breweries such as Brew Dog, Mikkeller, and Ale Smith to bring their unprecedented technical knowledge to new and exciting concoctions. For Special Holiday Ale (now in its second vintage) they’ve teamed up with the sour beer loving jokers over at Jolly Pumpkin (Michigan) and style pushers at Nogne O (Grimstad, Norway) to create a holiday crew that combines local ingredients from all three regions – California white sage, Michigan chestnuts, and Norwegian juniper berries. The result is a medium bodied winter ale thats much more drinkable then a lot of the strong beers floating around this season. Perfectly balanced, I’ve been hunting this one for a while and glad to see if found it’s way to my glass!

Appearance: Pours the deepest brown imaginable, almost black. Rich, frothy tan head leaves a nice creamy lacing on the side of the glass. Notes of excellent craftsmanship right off the bat.

Smell: There’s tons of spice and herbs on the nose of this one. Lots of the sage, juniper, allspice and chestnuts come through without too much malt character.

Taste: The Rye used in brewing really stands out giving a good, grainy character along with some roasted barley malt balance. It tastes dark and woodsy with a piney, peppery finish.

Mouthfeel: A refreshing medium body for a holiday beer. There is well calculated carbonation behind this and it goes down easy leaving a nice spice tingle on my tongue.

Drinkability: Very drinkable for a winter warmer. The medium body and balanced spice hide the alcohol and makes this one easy going. Well, easy going for an 8.5% dark, spicy beer.

Overall: Take one of the world most practical brewers, one of its most adventurous, and one of its most technical, and give them a Santa’s sack of local ingredients to play with. The result is Special Holiday Ale, a winter take on all the things going right in brewing today. I could easily drink two or three of these over a night, especially after an icy commute home or a long day on the slopes. I’ll be picking a few more up to share at Christmas dinner!

Brewing Note: Special Holiday ale was first brewed in April 2008 at Stone’s facility. This version was brewed this past July at Nogne O’s facility. The beer uses the same ingredients as the original: white sage from Southern California, chestnuts from Michigan and juniper berries from Norway. The differences in brewing and aging may have lead to a slightly different beer though. (source)

Tags: Christmas Ale, Holiday Beers, Jolly Pumpkin, Limited Release, Nogne O, stone, stone brewing co, Winter Beers.

Brewery: Harvey & Sons, LTD, Leeds, UK
Style: Christmas Ale, Winter Warmer
ABV: 8.1%
IBU: 45
Availability: annually, winter months
Pairing: Vanilla Ice cream, Cherry Cordials, gingerbread cookies

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Harvey’s Christmas Ale appeared randomly in my brewshop (aka the Whole Foods on Bowery) the other day – a lowly 375ml bottle amongst the Noél behemoths – with no gold foil, no cork and cage, and one of the most basic punk-rock photocopy looking labels I’ve ever seen. Simple words on the glass: Holiday beer brewed with spices. So what do we do? Pop the top, pour it out, give it a try.

Appearance: Pours a deep, deep red. Good carbonation that resides quick.

Smell: There are lots of sweet flavors up front; notes of caramel and toffee. When I get through all of that there is some pepper, some chicory, tangerine, allspice and clove. This is not a spice monster and these notes are very subtle and balanced.

Taste:this guy has a big, syrupy body. It reminds me a bit of a barley wine in the sheer amount of malt flavor happening. The taste is right on point with the nose as the malt is back by prunes, raisins and a peppery, lingering finish.

Mouthfeel: Thick, sweet, with a fine carbonation that, when combined with the spiciness, to leave a bit of tingle on the tough. I can taste the alcohol finish in this one but it goes well with all the big flavors. This may be a bit syrupy for some some.

Drinkability: Look elsewhere if you want a crisp refreshing brew, this is a true winter warmer. The flavor is not so complex that it needs to be savored but the thickness and high amount of alcohol keep you my from slinging it back. The first one go down nicely but I fear a second would be a bit long-winded.

Overall:I drank through about 80% of this one and then hit a wall. It just became overly sweet and the alcohol started to set in. This is a nice winter sipper but I’d have trouble putting back more than one of these. It’s more of a heavy classic (brewed for over 25 years) than some of the more finely nuanced strong beers you see today. There’s something to be said for a classic but I wish it was a bit less sweet and more complex.

Brewing Note: Harvey’s Christmas Ale has been brewed for over a quarter of a century. Maris Otter Pale Ale Malts are blended with highly roasted ‘crystal’ malts and pinhead oats. Harveys pride themselves on brewing from local Fuggle and Golding hops grown within 35 miles of the brewery. Fermentation takes place in their traditional ‘open’ fermenting vessels using a strain of yeast which has remained unchanged in the brewery for over forty years. In conditioning tanks the brew is then dry-hopped. The beer remains in these tanks for between two and three weeks during which time it undergoes a secondary fermentation and the hop oils are incorporated into the complex flavor of this brew, giving a most splendid aroma to the finished product. (source)

Tags: British Beers, Christmas Ale, Harvey's, Winter Warmer.