[Nøgne Ø / 8 Wired / Renaissance] Ø for Awesome Imperial Amber Ale

Well, it's certainly wrapped up the longest title on the record for a start.

First impressions are great too - the dull bone head and brown, amber tinged ale body heighten expectation of something special here. Nose is slightly hot but otherwise more or less what it says on the tin: dark imperial amber malts and muted fruit backing.

Initial reaction on tasting is that it comes across like a cross between a barleywine and a solid fruity brown ale. A bit of caramel develops in the mid body as it warms before it delivers a quite strong bitter fruit finish. There's a constant and competent backing bassline of malting and alc throughout.

This beer is intensely flavoursome and interesting, but somehow just a little spiky in places which limits it from either drinking with great glee, or in great amounts. I get the feeling this was close to utter brilliance - not a great surprise given the quality of the brewers involved. 7.5