Nørrebro Bryghus Old Odense Ale

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

On tap at Copenhagen Beer Festival. Orange-brown colour. Fresh, fruity and spicy aroma and flavour, only moderately sour. Quite nice and pleasant to drink.

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

TAP 140208; MHT 110210; Perhaps bottled in February of 2008; Definitely Sampled in September of 2008
This smells like an old ale as I pour this as it makes me think of aged, oxidized malt. The beer, when vigorously roused produces an almost two finger thick, fairly quickly dissipating, light tan colored head. The beer is a red-amber color that shows a brilliantly clear, orange, dark copper hue when held up to the light. A deeper inspection of the aroma yields an intense, berry like fruitiness, sweet spice notes and a woody-spice / herbal note towards the end. The perceived Old Ale oxidation, that I noticed as I was pouring this beer, seems to have been a by-product of the particular aromatic components (which was actually sort of what I expected). The fruit character in the nose is just really intense and along with the sweetness seems to dominate a lot of the complexity that might be more noticeable otherwise.

Wow, the taste was a bit different than I was expecting. The beer is much drier, almost devoid of sweetness, than the sweet, fruity nose would have suggested and it is actually quite tart as well. The tartness works with berry-like flavors towards the middle and finish, though the berry notes are not anywhere near as intense as in the aroma. I would describe the fruitiness in the flavor as a mix of plums, cranberries, blackberries and tart currants. This has a certain viscousness to it that belies how dry this tastes; I would almost say that the nice tartness helps to mask a bit of sweetness that might otherwise be noticeable. The finish has a light herbal note to it that seems mostly masked by the noticeable, but not overwhelming tartness. As the beer warms up, and gets more towards room temperature, some of the sweetness becomes more noticeable, which definitely accentuates a bit more of the berry like fruit notes.

While the flavor is most noticeably tart, this beer is actually quite well balanced and easy drinking. I can't help but think this is a bit unnaturally clear, but the head retention is only medium anyway (perhaps from the same cause). I really like that the intense fruitiness in the aroma, does not drive the flavor to be one dimensional. Perhaps a bit subtle in its herbal character for a Gruit, but I have a feeling this was true of the true Gruit ales anyway; with the sourness, there is just enough herbal notes to provide a balance for the sweet & fruity notes. Quite tasty & I would be quite happy drinking quite a bit more of this.

Purchased: Papago Brewing Co, Scottsdale AZ

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

Bottled. Brownish amber colour with mediumsized off white head, that settles for a rather small one quite quickly. Aroma is sweetish sour along with some fruits,berries, some glue and melted plastic. Also some wooden and vanillaish notes as it warms up. Flavour is quite acidic and sour fruits along with some berries and vanillaish notes. Some underlying wood and alcohol too. Flavour is kind of sour ale meets the alcohol of the big ABV Avery beers. Quite interesting, and might mellow up a bit with age.