Imperial Winter Black: Of Wood and Smoke by Haandbryggeriet

 

What do you get when you cross lutefisk with a hit of LSD?

A trip to Stoughton.

Hopefully a local reads that.

I've had Norway/Norwegians on the brain for a little while now. Next week I am off to Gamehole Con to spend a few days drowning in Lovecraftian chaos as I play Karsten Ekelöf, a Norwegian bacteriologist and physician who goes Beyond the Mountains of Madness. BtMoM is a Call of Cthulhu adventure that takes place in the Antarctic. Here's a bit of his backstory:

Karsten would join the Bratvaag Expedition led by Dr. Gunnar Horn.

Ostensibly an expedition to hunt seals and study glaciers and the Arctic seas, its secret mission was to claim Victoria Island for Norway.

The expedition first stopped at White Island where they improbably discovered the remains of Swedish explorer S.A. Andrée's Arctic balloon expedition. The official story is that only skeletal remains were found but Karsten and company stumbled upon corpses that still had flesh attached to the bones. Karsten examined the corpses and was horrified to discover that it appeared as if much of the adventurers' flesh had been eaten away as if by necrotizing bacteria.

The remains were stowed aboard their ship and Karsten examined tissue samples from them in transit to Victoria Island. Although he was not surprised to find that they were awash with foreign bacteria, he was shocked to discover that the invaders were unlike anything he'd seen previously.

They had strange tentacle-like protrusions and organelles unknown to science...

So there I was contemplating this Norwegian brew and what to do for a picture for this review and my mind started wandering. I thought about Nordic Noir TV shows but discovered that the ones I've watched are mainly Swedish and Danish with the odd one from Finland and Iceland thrown in. Where are the Norwegian TV producers?! Surely Oslo is as crime ridden as Stockholm. You can't tell me that there aren't maniacs living in the fjords or that the Norwegian forests are bereft of fae.

Then it occurred to me that I've been listening to a lot of Wobbler, a progressive rock band from Norway, lately and I have dragged them into this. Heck, they're probably the kind of guys who would drink this variety of beer anyway.

The brew at hand is Of Wood and Smoke by Haandbryggeriet located in Drammen which appears to be an exurb of Oslo. Thankfully some of it made its way to Madison at some point. The date on the bottom of the can was "12-7-202~~~" - the last digit was all smooshed so I guess its date of origin shall forever be a mystery. But, given that December was noted, I take it that this is a winter release.

This jibes with the beer, a hearty brew that was aged in akvavit barrels giving it a potency of 8% A.B.V. Of Wood and Smoke is an amped up version of Haandbryggeriet's Norwegian Wood, a smoked lager with juniper. This stouter iteration is apparently smokier and juniperer, in addition to having a higher alcohol content due to the spiritual comingling.

With the temperatures around here finally providing some much-needed relief from summer, I figured it was time to put this beer to the test.

My pour produced a big tan head which had shrunk a bit before I could take a decent photograph. Holding my glass at just the right angle, I could see that the beer had a deep ruby hue. I didn't notice any bubbles because I just couldn't see that far into the liquid. There was just blackness. Taking a whiff, I first caught booziness, that sharp alcohol smell. Apparently they weren't playing around with the akvavit. Luscious smoke then wafted into my nose and I attempted to discern what variety it was. Ultimately I failed but suspect it was from a fruit tree like apple or cherry. However, that impression may have been influenced by the inviting plum scent from some of the non-smoked malts.

My initial sip revealed a smooth booziness, as if the surely rather large malt bill was able to add enough sweetness to take the edge off of the akvavit. (I'd say the brew had a medium-heavy body.) Just as with the aroma, smoke came next followed by a moderate malty, caramel sweetness. I also tasted some milk chocolate. There was a mild fizz which struggled to penetrate the Maginot Line of malt.

On the finish I tasted a boozy heat which was joined by some lingering smokiness as well as bit of that caramel sweetness and a dash of the juniper. Everything resolved into a mild, slowly fading akvavit burn.

This is a really nice beer. I suspect it was past its prime but I liked it anyway. The smoke was just delicious and the sweetness wasn't anywhere near cloying. The hops and juniper were very much in the background keeping things from becoming a treacly mess and adding only piney/spicy accents. The akvavit I've had was flavored with caraway but I didn't detect any here.

Of Wood and Smoke is surely amongst the most boreal brews I've encountered. The smokiness was wonderful and it kept me warm on a chill autumn evening.

Junk food pairing: Until I can find some locally-produced lefse chips, I will recommend you pair your Of Wood and Smoke with a bag of Sørlandschips Original Spansk Paprika potato chips. The earthy paprika will go well with all of the malt flavors here and the oil will be swiftly cut by all that akvavit.

From the Cellar: Dirty Old Man by Tyranena Brewing Co.

In the process of organizing the beer in my cellar, I came across this one: Tyranena's Dirty Old Man, an imperial rye porter that was aged in rye whiskey barrels. To be honest, I was not sure when this beer was released but I put it aside anyway.

Dirty Old Man is part of the brewery's Brewers Gone Wild series, which features big brews made in limited quantities. It seems that this beer was brewed for the first time in 2008 and that my bottle dates from 2012. I also discovered via the Interwebs that only 40% of the brew was aged in whiskey barrels. This would explain the rather modest 7.9% A.B.V.

Tyranena has been barrel aging since long before it became de rigueur for everybody and their mother to barrel age everything they can get their hands on. (We now have barrel aged coffee, tea, pickles, mustard, maple syrup, honey, et al.) Their Rocky's Revenge, brewed for 12+ years, is a brown ale blended with a portion that has been aged in bourbon barrels. It was probably the first barrel aged beer I had and is extremely tasty.

So how did Dirty Old Man fare over the past few years?

Like any porter, it poured a deep, deep brown that looked black in my glass. A very thin tan head made a very brief appearance. Staring into the beer all I could see was Stygian gloom so I can't say whether or not there were any bubbles inside. It seems quite unlikely, however, given the paucity of foam.

At the time I sampled the beer I was unaware that only a portion of the beer was barrel aged. And so I was surprised when I took a whiff and didn't get drunk off of the fumes. The whiskey was certainly there but I also able to catch a little roasted grain and coffee in there too. On tasting I noticed that these elements were reversed. The malt flavors – coffee, mostly, with some roasted grain and bitter chocolate – were out front leaving the whiskey to bring up the rear. There was just a hint of the rye to be had in the form of a little dry spiciness.

While there were a lot of great flavors here, it was quite obvious that time had taken its toll on Dirty Old Man. It had a syrupy malt sweetness to it that signaled oxidation. I will say, however, that this was one of the smoothest, most velvety beers I've ever tasted that wasn't nitrogenated. Dirty Old Man finished with some lingering bitter chocolate taste and bit of boozy heat.

Despite the wear and tear, my Dirty Old(er) Man wasn't bad. The sweetness was bearable as the great coffee and bitter chocolate malt flavors combined with the booze to offset the effects of age. I am hoping that Tyranena brews this beer again because I would imagine it that it is excellent fresh. Plenty of whiskey flavor but not enough to make it rocket fuel. Instead it melds with the great taste brought by the dark malts. And I'd love to be able to taste the rye grain more.

The current Brewers Gone Wild selection is Benji's Smoked Imperial Porter Brewed With Chipotle Pepper. This beer, on the other hand, is quite fresh having been bottled last week.

Roll Out the Barrel: Stag #9 by August Schell Brewing Company

I'll say right up front that I have a lot of respect for August Schell Brewing Company. While I don't think every beer they brew is fantastic, I highly appreciate their willingness to stick to their guns. It is said that you dance with the one that brung ya and after 150 or so years of German-influenced brewing tradition Schell hasn't abandoned it in order to be able to slap "IPA" onto bottles, have a line of lambics, or have an excuse to throw a release party for a bourbon barrel aged imperial stout called something like Tyr or Fimbulwinter or Loki's Pride.

Instead they adopted the slogan "German Craft Beer" and meld Teutonic tradition with contemporary tastes. The Noble Star series delves into the sour world of the Berliner Weisse with a variety of takes on the style; hopheads get the Fresh Hop series – a pilsner each autumn that is brewed with a single variety of freshly picked hops; they also got Arminius last year, a hoppy lager (it didn't do very well as was discontinued); and earlier this year the ninth entry in the limited release Stag Series was a barrel-aged lager.

Stag #9 is a dark lager that was aged in American whiskey barrels which sat for a prolonged period of time in the brewery's original lagering caves.

The beer pours a deep, deep mahogany. So deep, in fact, that it appears jet. It's the kind of beer you'd expect to be expelled from non-Euclidian taps at the taverns of R'lyeh. Holding my glass up to the light and craning my neck, I caught a shallow spot in the glass and found the beer to be clear. My pour produced a good two fingers of dense, frothy foam. I tried as best I could to check out the effervescence beneath the head but failed.

As has always been my experience with barrel-aged beers (does anyone else remember the barrel-aged Night Train that O'so poured at Jan's Friendly during the very first Madison Craft Beer Week? Gott im Himmel! That stuff could fell a horse.), I smell the booze first and Stag #9 was no different. It had a moderate whiskey aroma that was kind enough to let some of the dunkles come through. Ergo I also caught the scent of roasted malt as well which was like coffee. I suppose this shouldn't have been a surprise as the beer is a mere 7.7% A.B.V.

That whiskey came through in the taste as well. But again, it was moderated by the grainy tastes which gave coffee and dark chocolate flavors as well as something nutty/woody underneath. There was a distinct bitterness from the dark grain too, as with a porter. Dark lager is perhaps a better descriptor for this than dunkles as those German brews generally don't have that bitterness. The beer had a medium body and was rather smooth although the carbonation could also be tasted.

As the whiskey and grain flavors receded, a dry finish was revealed with carbonation, the bitter grain flavor, and a touch of herbal hops all conspiring together. I also caught a little bit of heat from the booze. There were sheets of Schaumhaftvermoegen to be seen all around my chalice.

The dark lager/dunkles is one of my favorite beer styles because it highlights the earthy, Maillard reactiony side of roasted malt flavor rather than the sweeter, toffee tastes of caramelization. Coffee and dark chocolate flavors are in abundance here but also present is a rather sharp, burnt malt bitterness. (Black Patent malt, perhaps?) I enjoyed how the various malt flavors and the whiskey were all in harmony with none overcoming the others. As I noted above, Stag #9 is 7.7% A.B.V. so this is not a rich, viscous imperial stout that pours like motor oil. Being a lager, it is clean and more reserved, in a sense. Too much whiskey could easily have crowded out the malt. Still, Stag #9 has some big, bold flavors and I thoroughly enjoyed this re-working of a favorite style.

Junk food pairing: If you have any Stag #9 then drink it sooner rather than later. (Whole Foods in Madison had six packs for $7.99 recently – a steal.) And when you do drink it, pair it with the bold flavors of Snyder's of Hanover's Pumpernickel & Onion pretzels with a potent brown senf to assert the food's presence. Your tongue will be overloaded with heady, roasted grain goodness.