Nøgne Ø Porter

I am always on the lookout for new beers that come into the Reno area, and one just arrived recently that I had seen before. Over Christmas, in Portland, I told you that I had found a cool beer named "Ø" amongst other foreign beers (I eventually settled on Hinano Tahiti, a French Polynesian beer). Apparently, the brewery itself, not the beer, is named Ø, and it's actually not Ø, it's Nøgne Ø, Norwegian for "naked island". I can't remember the style that I saw in Portland, but the one on sale at Booze Bros. was their Porter. It came highly recommended, so I had to snag it, even though the price tag was a little steep. (Not as steep as in Norway, where it can fetch €12, or $17, a bottle, more than twice what I paid.)

Nøgne Ø (full name "Nøgne Ø - The Uncompromising Brewery" when translated from Norwegian) was started by two Norwegian homebrewers, Kjetil Jikiun and Gunnar Wiig, in Grimstad, Norway (a town about 4 hours SW of Oslo), in 2002. Jikiun, an airline pilot, started homebrewing in 1997 after bringing homebrewing supplies back from Seattle and Chicago. He met Wiig and, after months of persuasion, convinced him to join him in his pursuit. You see, like many countries (including the US), Norway's beer market is dominated by two main breweries, Carlsberg-Ringnes and Hansa-Borg, which control 85% of Norway's beer market. Combine that with strict alcohol control laws (no advertising, alcohol more than 4.75% ABV must be sold in state-run liquor stores, Internet legislation, high taxes, etc.), and it seems unlikely that any micro could survive.

And yet, Nøgne Ø (and many others) has, mostly thanks to exporting 70% of its crop to more tolerant countries. Even though they've had some pretty rough times over the last 7 years, it seems as if Jikiun and his crew have found their niche introducing new beer styles (mostly ales and bottle-conditioned beers) to Norwegians and sharing their interpretations with the rest of the world. The porter in particular was first homebrewed by Jikiun in 2000 and was released commercially in 2003. Jikiun himself has a soft-spot for this particular beer; says Jikiun, "Our porter was developed by me, and I am the one who have made the adjustments required, when we have changed brewing equipment or there has been inconsistencies in malt/hop supplies ... [it] is my baby." (Various pages on Nøgne Ø's site that can't be direct-linked, All About Beer November 2007)

Here come the stats:

Nøgne Ø Porter
BREWERY: Nøgne Ø Brewery, Grimstad, Norway
US IMPORTER: Shelton Brothers, Belchertown, MA
STYLE: Porter
FIRST BREWED: 2000 as a homebrew, 2003 commercially
CALORIES/SERVING: Never tested
BITTERNESS: 30 IBUs
ABV: 7%
ORIGINAL GRAVITY: 16.5° Plato (1068.04)
MALTS: Maris Otter, Munich, caramel, black malt, and chocolate malt
HOPS: Centennial and Northern Brewer hops
SERVING TEMPERATURE: 50 °F (10 °C)
FOODS TO PAIR WITH: Dark chocolate, cheese, red meat dishes
AWARDS: 2008 World Beer Championships Silver Medal (Robust Porter)

I got all but First Brewed, Calories, and the Awards from Nøgne Ø Porter's website (no direct link, so go to the Homepage → Our Beers → Porter). The rest was generously provided by Kjetil Jikiun, head brewer at Nøgne Ø. Tusen takk, Kjetil!

The head exploded out of this beer, even while I was trying to pour it the right way; it emerged a large fluffy copper color. The beer itself was an extremely dark brown, so dark that no light shone through it, despite my efforts. The smell was very pleasant, with a malty and slightly hoppy aroma with strong sweet coffee and chocolate overtones. The beer itself tasted sweet and malty with a larger amount of hoppiness than its smell. The finish dissolves into a strong coffee aroma, but it doesn't leave a bad aftertaste.

Overall, Nøgne Ø is a very well-crafted and complex beer. The beer, and the brewery, deserve all the praise they get for improving the quality of beer in Norway. Jikiun and company are doing something special in that part of Scandanavia, so pick one up in one of the 43 states Shelton Brothers distributes Nøgne Ø's beers to, or also in Finland, Sweden, or Japan for that matter.

Skål!

Deschutes Black Butte Porter

Did you ever have one of those days where everything went wrong? I did today. It just seemed like no matter what I did, the computer code I was working with just wouldn't work properly. I won't bore you with the details, but it drove me mad. That's why at the end of the day I was looking forward to the next beer I could review. For this one, I selected a beer from my home state (and there are plenty to choose from): the Deschutes Brewery's Black Butte Porter.

The Deschutes Brewery was founded in 1988 in Bend, Oregon (in the middle of the high desert) by Gary Fish (who is still the president). It started off as a small brewpub in Bend, a city along the Deschutes River, for which the brewery is named (des chutes is French for "the rapids"). At that point, it started by brewing three beers, Black Butte Porter, Bachelor Bitter and Cascade Golden Ale. The Black Butte Porter is named in tribute to Black Butte, an extinct volcanic cinder code located near Sisters, Oregon (NW of Bend). A planned resort community nearby is also named Black Butte due to its view of the mountain. Other information about the brewery is that it is completely vegan (their clarifying agent is an algae called Irish Moss) and that they moved into their current brewing facility in 1993. They also brew tons of specialty beers, some of which appear to only be available at their brewpub or thereabouts (they may serve them at their forthcoming Portland brewpub, due to open April 2008). Finally, they use a process called Kräusening (don't ask me how to pronounce it) where actively fermenting beer, yeast, or wort is added. Hair of the Dog also does this, but they call it "bottle conditioning" (see my review of Ruth). (Deschutes Brewery information and FAQ, plus info on the bottle itself)


Here are the stats:

Deschutes Black Butte Porter
BREWERY: Deschutes Brewery, Bend, Oregon USA
FIRST BREWED: 1988
CALORIES/SERVING: 192 per 12 oz. bottle
BITTERNESS: 30 IBUs
ABV: 5.2%
ORIGINAL GRAVITY: 13.735° Plato (1056)
MALTS: Chocolate, wheat, and mid-level caramel
HOPS: Cascade, galena, tettnanger (not "tettenanger")
SERVING TEMPERATURE: 44°F (6-7°C)
FOODS TO PAIR WITH: Beef with heavy sauces, steak, ribs, BBQ, chicken (basically any meat you can grill)
AWARDS: A ton...1996 GABF Gold Medal Award Winner (Brown porter category), 1998 GABF Bronze Medal Award Winner (Brown porter category), 1998 World Beer Cup Silver Medal Award Winner (Brown porter category), 1999 North American Beer Awards Gold Medal Award Winner (Brown porter category), 2000 North American Beer Awards Gold Medal Award Winner (Brown porter category), 2001 Real Ale Festival Gold Medal Award Winner (Bottled American brown ales and porters category), 2002 Brewing Industry International Awards Silver Medal Award Winner (Dark milds, stouts and porters class 3), 2002 GABF Bronze Medal Award Winner (Brown porter category), 2002 North American Beer Awards Gold Medal Award Winner (Porter category), 2003 20th Annual International Beer Festival (Best porter, people's choice), 2003 North American Beer Awards Gold Medal Award Winner (Brown porter category), 2003 Real Ale Festival, Individual Category Awards Silver Medal Award Winner (American dark ales category), 2004 Australian International Beer Awards Gold Medal Award Winner (Porter category), 2004 North American Beer Awards Bronze Medal Award Winner (Brown porter category), 2005 European Beer Star Gold Award (Porter category), 2005 World Beer Championships Silver Medal Award Winner, 2006 Australian International Beer Awards Silver Medal Award Winner (Porter category), 2007 Australian International Beer Awards Gold Medal Award Winner (Porter category)

(whew!)

The calories, first brewed, bitterness, ABV, and awards information came from the Black Butte Porter website. The rest came from a phone call I placed to the brewery on September 19th, 2007. Special thanks to Jimmy Seifrit of the Deschutes Brewery for answering my questions!

This is a very dark opaque beer, with a rich dark brown color, almost black; the accompanying head was a light coffee color and refused to go down, its puffiness lasting for upwards of 5 minutes as I enjoyed the beer. Its aroma was of a sweet dark chocolate type that was pleasant to my nose. The taste also had this dark chocolate flavor with some coffee undertones combined with a slight bitterness, which pleased my tastebuds enormously. The aftertaste finished almost clean, with just a slight hoppy aftertaste. I can handle slight hoppiness in my taste, but not my aftertaste.

Overall, this is a great beer, and it's plain to see why Deschutes stands by this brew. It's coming up on its 20th anniversary next year, and who knows what this brewery will do to celebrate. I only wish I could be there.

Prost!

MacTarnahan's Amber Ale

The fourth and final beer that I brought back from the Northwest is a MacTarnahan's Amber Ale. The MacTarnahan's Brewing Company was started in 1986 as the Portland Brewing Company with one mission: "Crafting delicious beers for a small (but growing) number of discerning beer lovers." Starting out as a 1,000 barrel per year brewpub in Portland, Oregon, MacTarnahan's started producing award winning beers such as Portland Ale, Original Oregon Honey Beer, and what has been dubbed Portland's Original Amber Ale, MacTarnahan's Amber Ale. Recently, MacTarnahan's was acquired by Pyramid Breweries of Seattle, expanding its mini-empire into three states. I picked up an Amber Ale in the Made in Oregon store at Portland International Airport before heading home. Yes, it's still made in Oregon, so it counts.



Here are the stats:

MacTarnahan's Amber Ale
BREWERY: MacTarnahan's Brewing Co., Portland, OR, USA (a division of Pyramid Brewing Co., Seattle, WA, USA)
FIRST BREWED: 1992
CALORIES/SERVING:
BITTERNESS: 30 IBUs
ABV:
ORIGINAL GRAVITY: 13° Plato (1052.85)
MALTS:
HOPS: Cascade
SERVING TEMPERATURE: °F (°C)
FOODS TO PAIR WITH: Grilled and smoked meats, full-flavored fish, fish and chips
AWARDS: A ton...1992 GABF Gold Medal, 1993 Sunriver (OR) Lodge Best of Show, 1993 Karnival of Beers (Fullerton, CA) Silver Medal, 1994 World Beer Championships Silver Medal, 1995 World Beer Championships Silver Medal and Best Buy, 1996 Association of Brewers' International Beer Competition Bronze Medal, 1996 World Beer Championships Silver Medal, 1996 International Beer Summit (Osaka, Japan) Gold Medal, 1997 World Beer Championships Silver Medal, 2006 GABF Gold Medal

I got some of this information from the Mac's Amber Ale page, and I hope to get the rest of it from an e-mail that I plan to send tonight.

This beer poured very well and had a nice aroma that was a mixture of grains and citrus. The beer itself was a rich clear amber color with an off-white head that looked very soft and puffy, retaining its shape long after being poured. At first taste, it did not have any trace of over-hoppiness (compare that to the Hale's Red Menace) and went down smoothly. It definitely gained a hoppy texture, but it was comparably muted throughout. The finish left a nice grainy aftertaste, but after a little while it started to go stale, the only downside to an otherwise pleasant beer.

Overall, this beer is a good one to go with a nice meal, especially the fish and chips at the Mac's brewpub (or so I'm told).

Prost!

Hair of the Dog Ruth

First off, I would like to dedicate this post to all the dogs in my life: Tess (my dog, pictured left), Spanky (my fiancée's dog, pictured right), Truckee (my friend's dog, not pictured), and Hercules (my friend's other dog, not pictured). They are the four-legged loves of my life.

Now, on with the beer.

The third beer I purchased in the Northwest was from a brewery called Hair of the Dog (hence the dog dedications above), a small brewery founded by Alan Sprints in November 1993 out of Portland. Most of their beers have are named for people or at least seem like they do. I personally have had two different Hair of the Dogs before, the flagship Adam (named for an extinct German beer style, Adambier), and Fred (named for beer writer/historian Fred Eckhardt, the inspiration for brewing the Adam and first person to purchase it). Both of those beers have an impressive 10% ABV, and utilize "bottle-conditioning," or when new yeast and beer is added to finished beer to make it age like a fine wine. To help determine how much an Adam or Fred has aged, Hair of the Dog has put "vintage numbers" on their bottles denoting the batch of the brew. They still have their first vintage of each (Adams from 1994, Freds from 1997) that the brewers taste every so often to see what new flavors have developed. Hair of the Dog is still a small outfit, essentially a one-man operation that brews 5,000 cases of all their beers (not 5,000 per beer) each year.

The Ruth, a 4.5% All-American Ale, is named after founder/brewmaster Alan Sprints' grandmother, Ruth, a fitting tribute if I do say so myself. When I spoke with Alan, he said that he expected it to be one of his most popular beers, but it actually is the least popular. However, it has maintained a loyal following of people who do not enjoy the stronger Adam and Fred. The bottle says to "Have one on Granny," so I did just that.



Here are the stats:

Hair of the Dog Ruth
BREWERY: Hair of the Dog Brewing Co., Portland, OR, USA
FIRST BREWED: 2000-2001
CALORIES/SERVING: ~180 per 12 oz. bottle
BITTERNESS: ~30 IBUs (varies year to year)
ABV: 4.5%
ORIGINAL GRAVITY: 12° Plato (1048.58)
MALTS: Pale
HOPS: Crystal
SERVING TEMPERATURE: 50-55°F (10-13°C)
FOODS TO PAIR WITH: Pizza, hamburgers, hot dogs, sushi, even apple pie
AWARDS: Never entered in judging contests

The ABV came from the bottle's label, and the rest was answered by a phone call to the brewery on June 29th, 2007 at 12:45 PM PDT. Thank you very much Alan!

This beer, while light on alcohol, definitely packs a great color and scent; the color was a rich cloudy amber color and its scent was wheaty with a hint of citrus, a pleasant surprise. The head was nice with a slight off-white color, and it did not dissipate. It's taste was very smooth and inviting, with only the slightest bite that I actually liked. The finish was equally smooth, with a milky aftertaste that didn't last long enough to go sour. I thought that the alcohol was starting to settle at the bottom towards the end, something I don't like in beers, but it wasn't enough to deter me from truly enjoying it.

Overall, this beer is a keeper, perfect for kicking back this Independence Day.

Woof!

Widmer Hefeweizen

For my inaugural beer review, I decided to sample one of my favorite beers: the Widmer Hefeweizen from the Widmer Brothers brewery in Portland, Oregon. According to their website, the brothers Widmer (Kurt and Rob are their names) introduced hefeweizen to the United States in 1986 as their flagship beer, and they have never looked back. Hefeweizen is a type of wheat beer in which the yeast isn't filtered out (in fact, hefeweizen is German for "yeast wheat"), and this lack of filtration also leaves in wheat proteins, making the beer cloudy. And boy, is this beer cloudy.



Here are the stats:

Widmer Hefeweizen
BREWERY: Widmer Brothers Brewing Co., Portland, OR, USA
FIRST BREWED: 1986
CALORIES/SERVING: 156 per 12 oz. bottle
BITTERNESS: 30 IBUs (International Bitterness Units)
ABV: 4.9%
ORIGINAL GRAVITY: 11.75° Plato (1047.52)
MALTS: Pale, Munich, Wheat, Caramel 40L
HOPS: Bittering: Alchemy; Aroma: Willamette, Cascade
FOODS TO PAIR WITH: "A wide range of foods from salads to seafood to robust ethnic foods."
AWARDS: 1998 GABF Gold Medal Award Winner, 2004 Gold Medal Beer Cup, 2006 GABF Gold Medal Award Winner

It's pretty safe to say that I really enjoyed this beer. It started off with a bitter opening, but finished clean with a nice wheat aftertaste. It's been 40 minutes since I finished this beer and I don't have that skunky beer breath, so it must be clean.

Now, I've heard that it's pretty much a law in Germany to never order a hefeweizen with a lemon. But with American style hefeweizens like Widmer's, it's not only preferred with a lemon, it's also encouraged. Widmer even has its own website, http://www.lemonyourwidmer.com/, where people demonstrate the extreme ways that people put the lemon in their Widmer. Some of the more creative ways include rockets and slingshots (the aim of those people is amazing).

In short, Widmer is a very delicious, yet slightly harsh wheat beer that is crisp and enjoyable. It is available country-wide, except in six states (Arkansas, Louisiana, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, and Utah, otherwise known as the "party-pooper states"). Prost!

UPDATE: I got the beer's stats from Widmer's Hefeweizen website, http://www.widmer.com/beer_hefeweizen.aspx, and the FAQ, http://www.widmer.com/faq.aspx.