Nøgne Ø Julenatt

Aroma: 9 | Appearance: 8 | Mouthfeel: 6 | Flavor: 8 | Overall: 8

This is a nice dark ale that worked well for a couple of Christmases. It pours a dark brown, almost black colour with a thin brown head. Spices, molasses, and roasted malt fill the air above the glass. A sweet start due to the chocolately hints is followed by a bitter roast finish.

Aroma: 8 | Appearance: 6 | Mouthfeel: 6 | Flavor: 2 | Overall: 2

b>Best Before 12.1.2009, Sampled March 2009
A solid pour into my 25cl tulip glass produces a three-finger thick, nicely browned, darkish tan colored head. The beer is pretty black in color, but does show some clear, ruby highlights when held up directly to the light. The aroma is pretty interesting, it definitely smells a bit like coconut, but really has a significant vanilla note as well as a backdrop of spicy bourbon-like aromatics. Actually it even smells a bit like tequila towards the finish. The aroma definitely smells a bit charred, with a sour roast note and a burnt vegetal note that lightly spices the nose. The aroma is more interesting than it is actually good, though it is not bad.

The flavor has a light sweetness to it up front that picks up a touch more sweetness towards the middle and finish, but never gets really sweet (the vanilla notes seem to add to the perceived sweetness more than anything). The finish is just plain weird; really it is just weird and I have a hard time figuring out how to describe it, sort of vegetal, a bit burnt and acrid, vanilla gone wrong, a mix of the worst qualities of tequila and bourbon, perhaps some plastic like phenolics, badly roasted coffee. Blech, this makes my tongue flinch, I don’t know what has gone wrong here, but something has gone terribly wrong. It is so bad and so unfamiliar that I don’t even think it is an infection. The texture isn’t too bad as it has a certain fullness to it, though it is a bit on the light side.

Wow, definitely an experience, but certainly not a good one. I am really curious what exactly has gone wrong here.

Aroma: 8 | Appearance: 7 | Mouthfeel: 7 | Flavor: 8 | Overall: 7

courtesy of fiulin - very dark brown, almost black colour, little chaotic beige head with big bubbles; roasted aroma of black chocolate and pralines; a bit oily, medium-bodied and a pronounced bitterness; dry and creamy finish with more chocolaty notes

Aroma: 8 | Appearance: 7 | Mouthfeel: 8 | Flavor: 8 | Overall: 7

Dark brown, rich light brown head. Milky chocolate, earth, soap, yeast, toffee, vanilla and cococa powder in the aroma. Loads od milky chocolate and cocoa in flavou, hints of vanilla, roasted malts, nuts and yeast. Creamy mouthfeel with low carbonation. Medium bitter finish with roasted malts and white chocolate in the background. Good and special porter.

Aroma: 9 | Appearance: 6 | Mouthfeel: 8 | Flavor: 7 | Overall: 7

Pitch black colour, big brown head, Burnt and roasted aroma, along with vanillaish hints. Flavour is king of sweetish, very burnt, also notes of chocolate, and some vanilla (after it gets warmer). Aftertaste sweet and burnt.

Aroma: 9 | Appearance: 8 | Mouthfeel: 7 | Flavor: 7 | Overall: 7

(Bottle conditioned, 500 ml). The good people of Nøgne Ø have brewed as many as 4 different Yule/Christmas beers for the Yuletide of 2004. "God Jul" and "Julesnadder" are continued from last year with revised recipes, new ones are "Underlig Jul" and this one, their vanilla porter "Julenatt" (= Yule/Christmas Night). Black colour, thick tan head. Aroma of vanilla, roasted malts, hot chocolate and dark fruits. Flavour is rather sweet, dominant vanilla, roasted malts, coffee and plenty of chocolate. A roast and hop bitterness make the aftertaste tolerable. Nice for a change of pace, a decent "dessert beer" for those with a sweet tooth. But like I said in my rating of another vanilla beer: "there’s probably a reason most beers DON’T smell and taste strongly of vanilla". I’m not a big vanilla fan, but for those who don’t mind, this is probably as good as it gets.