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Balders Brygg

Balders Brygg

Rated 3.050 by BeerPals
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Brewed by Aass Bryggeri

Drammen, Norway

Style:  Spiced Beer

4.7% Alcohol by Volume

This beer is no longer brewed


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Beer with a flavour of aquavit. Produced in Norway for A. Ystad & Co. a.s. Herbs have been used in beer brewing since ancient times. In Norway, caraway and juniper, among others, have been basic herbs besides hops since the Middle Ages. English settlers in America brought with them tarragon for their kitchen gardens, to add flavour to their beer. Balders Brygg (Brew) is based on these 4 herbs.

ID: 24247 Last updated 6 months ago Added to database 17 years ago

Key Stats

24
percentile

0

Drunk

1

Review

0

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Statistics

Overall Rank40434
Overall Percentile24.4
Style Rank910 of 1270
Style Percentile28.3
Lowest Score3.2
Highest Score3.2
Average Score3.200
Weighted Score3.050
Standard Deviation0.000

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Beer vs Style

1 Member Reviews

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  • SIGMUND 6606 reviews
    rated 3.2 17 years ago

    Aroma: 6 | Appearance: 7 | Mouthfeel: 5 | Flavor: 7 | Overall: 7

    (330 ml bottle). This beer is contract brewed by Aass by the initiative of Mr. Arvid Ystad. I had a nice conversation with him about the background of his initiative. He also sent me a memo about the use of herbs in Norwegian traditional brewing. However, this beer is not an ale like traditional Norwegian farmbrew, it is based on a standard Aass pale lager with juniper berries, caraway/cumin and tarragon (estragon) added in the brewing process. These are herbs recognizable by modern Norwegians from the flavouring of aquavit, and Mr. Ystad emphasizes that they were already well known in Norway from the art of brewing, when aquavit was invented at a much later stage. Balders Brygg (named after Odin’s son Balder, Norse mythology) looks like a standard pale lager with a moderate head, but the aroma and flavour are much better due to the herbs used. The tarragon and caraway (to some degree reminiscent of aniseed) dominate both aroma and flavour, while the juniper berries are more subdued. Mr. Ystad himself thinks that the tarragon is more dominant than he intended, I would also like the juniper berries to stand out more than they do. But these herbs can't hide the fact that the basis of this beer is a pale lager with a rather thin mouthfeel. Props to Mr. Ystad for his initiative, but Aass Bryggeri should clearly have taken a leap forward and made an ALE with these herbs. As it is, Balders Brygg is at least a nice change of pace from the standard pilseners / pale lagers that dominate the Norwegian beer scene.

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