Nøgne Ø Imperial Stout

I'm starting to feel pretty confident picking up big stouts and porters from anywhere in Scandinavia.

Happily this is another fine example from the big man at Nøgne Ø. It starts off with a nice pour, residing solid and deep black in the glass very much to style. The head is mocha with that slight reddish tinge I love to see from beers of this providence.


Roasty tones are immediately apparent from the nose, which comes through very rounded and hitting all the right imperial notes. There's a bit of booze present, ever so slightly disproportionate to the 9.0% abv.

Mouthfeel is again exactly to style - yet another dark euro effort that just feels so comfortable and accomplished, deliberate in its flavours and above all mouthfeel. There's an inherent silkiness of body here that you can just tell others are trying for on occasion but very rarely succeeding. Very good indeed.

It's not a subtle drop, instead confidently delivering what it has to say from the books of roast coffee, licorice, and indeed booze. A little hot perhaps but delicious once again, top drop. A yardstick brew both for the brewery, and the style. 8.0