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

500 ml brown bottle, courtesy of Cardinal pub, Stavanger. ABV is 8.5%. Hazy deep golden brown colour, huge off-white head. The aroma is very fruity with notes of wine vinegar and yeast, hints of caramel, oak and sweaty feet. The flavour is fairly malty with caramel, candy sugar and some fruit, moderately bitter finish. Not bad, but I’ve had better doppelbocks.

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

500 ml brown bottle, courtesy of Cardinal pub, Stavanger. ABV in Norway is 4.7%. Golden colour, decent head. Relatively strong hoppy and sweetish aroma, notes of flowers and honey. The flavour is fairly malty for a pilsener, some fruit, decent hops throughout. Apparently Braunstein has on some occasion been voted "Denmark’s best pilsener" - I don’t know if that is fully deserved, but this beer is definitely much better than Carlsberg & Tuborg (not to mention the numerous Danish discount pilseners).

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

500 ml brown bottle, courtesy of Cardinal pub, Stavanger. ABV is 7.0%. Deep golden colour, large head. Sweetish and slightly fruity aroma. The flavour is alcoholic and reasonably malty, there’s a noticeable sweetness, some fruit, moderate hops in the finish.

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

500 ml brown bottle, pasteurised, ABV is 6.0%. Courtesy of Cardinal pub, Stavanger. Ingredients include caramel malts and rice. Dark amber to copper colour, large head. Pleasant aroma with caramel and aromatic hops, hints of oak and alcohol. The flavour has dominant notes of caramel and alcohol, hints of rye bread and oak, moderately bitter finish.

Aroma: 5 | Appearance: 3 | Mouthfeel: 2 | Flavor: 2 | Overall: 3

500 ml brown bottle, courtesy of Cardinal pub, Stavanger. Very pale golden colour, large head. Typical n/a beer aroma - sweetish "boiled" notes. Watery and thin mouthfeel. Bland flavour with some sweet and salty notes. Utterly boring.

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

330 ml green bottle, ABV is 4.7%. A trade with Ole_R, thanks! Batch #47 from Atna. This is an ale brewed with 5 different types of malts, hopped with Amarillo a.o. Copper coloured, hazy, decent head. Moderate but pleasant fruity aroma, notes of raspberries, hints of oak, brown sugar and spices. The flavour is malty and fruity, soft and pleasant mouthfeel, decent hops in the finish. I like it! (The best I’ve had from Atna so far - haven’t had their Christmas beer, though.)

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

330 ml brown bottle, ABV is 5.3%. A trade with Ole_R, thanks! Deep golden colour, moderate head. Fruity hops in the aroma. Malty flavour, fairly sweet, a hint of honey, moderate hops.

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

500 ml bottle, from LIDL Norway. ABV here is 4.7%, in Germany it is 4.9%. Very pale golden colour, moderate head. Sweetish aroma, some fruit and cooked vegetables, some grass too. Very light bodied, thin mouthfeel, minimal malts, but a tolerable hoppy bitterness, which is not quite as metallic as in most other LIDL beers. Easy drinking, not offensive.

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

500 ml bottle, at last! (my first bottle was stolen in a burglary in Göteborg) - thanks to yngwie and Venner av Nøgne Ø! Bottle conditioned, ABV is 5.9%, 70 IBU! This batch was originally a "brewing / hopping accident" (the batch was intended to be the "normal" Pale Ale) - with 70 IBU I guess this one should qualify as an IPA, or maybe even an Imperial IPA? Hazy golden colour, very cloudy in the end, decent head. Lovely hoppy aroma, with notes of citrus, apricot and pineapple, also notes of flowers. Moderate carbonation in the glass, initially a soft mouthfeel with a moderate sweetness, before the intense hoppy bitterness takes over and dominates the flavour throughout. Very bitter aftertaste. An interesting experience, but to be honest: this is too bitter for me! I prefer the "normal" pale ale.

Aroma: 10 | Appearance: 10 | Mouthfeel: 10 | Flavor: 9 | Overall: 9

Bottle conditioned, at Ølkulinarisk Aften, Måltid restaurant, Kristiansand. This beer nearly left me speechless - I’d never have expected a 16% ABV beer to be this wonderful and well balanced. LOVELY aroma and flavour, where notes of oak, fortified wine, coffee and chocolate come in front. A great match with chocolate dessert, could probably also have been a great match with the very mature stilton cheese we had as the previous course (NØ Amber was a bit light-weight for the stilton IMO).

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

500 ml bottle, bottle conditioned. Pitch black colour, moderate brown head. Both aroma and flavour are dominated by roasty malts, chocolate and leather. A good beer, but a little too sweet for me.

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

500 ml bottle, bottle conditioned. Brewed with juniper and smoked malts. Dark brown colour, creamy head. The aroma is dominated by smoke (beechwood?) and oak. The flavour is very smokey and woody, with notes of hickory and tar. Dry finish.

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

500 ml bottle, bottle conditioned. Orangey brown colour, moderate head. The first time I had it I found the aroma fairly moderate and slightly spicy with some fruit, the second time the lovely fruity hops came more in front. The pleasant flavour is nicely balanced: oak, fruit, spices, hoppy finish. Good beer!

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

Bottle, courtesy of gunnfryd, who supplied it to our tasting. The ABV was 9.0%. Served at room temperature - I would prefer it just a little cooler, but not cold. Pitch black colour, moderate head. Heavily roasty aroma and flavour, with notes of liquorice and coffee. A very robust and tasty imperial stout, but not too extreme.

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

33 cl bottle, courtesy of gunnfryd, who supplied it to our tasting. The ABV was 5.0%. Served at room temperature, which was too warm, and caused the beer to gush out of the bottle when opening. Reddish brown colour, decent head. Very nice aroma: oak, spices, leather, malts, fortified wine. Moderately spicy and malty flavour. Not bad!

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

33 cl bottle, courtesy of gunnfryd, who supplied it to our tasting. The ABV was 6.0%. Served at room temperature, which was too warm, and caused the beer to gush out of the bottle when opening. Hazy deep golden colour. Pleasant spicy aroma. Moderately spicy but nice flavour.

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

33 cl bottle, courtesy of gunnfryd, who supplied it to our tasting. The ABV was 5.0%. Served at room temperature, which was too warm, and caused the beer to gush out of the bottle when opening. Hazy golden colour, moderate head. Surprisingly malty aroma, plenty of coriander. Moderately spicy flavour.

Aroma: 5 | Appearance: 4 | Mouthfeel: 4 | Flavor: 4 | Overall: 4

500 ml bottle, kindly provided by yngwie for a hotel room tasting. ABV was 4.9%. Golden colour, low head. Weak aroma, some sweet fruit. Weak industrial pale lager flavour, moderate hops. As expected from Darguner/Harboe.

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

500 ml can, kindly provided by yngwie for our tasting. ABV was 3.8%, EBU 18, EBC 60. Reddish brown colour, moderate head. Wort aroma. Thin mouthfeel. A little malts and a little caramel in the flavour, very boring. A slight bitterness in the aftertaste.

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

500 ml can, kindly provided by yngwie for an informal tasting. The ABV was 4.5%. Type pale lager golden colour, moderate head. Fairly sweet aroma, fruit and malts. Standard pilsener flavour, fairly bitter finish, slightly metallic aftertaste. No masterpiece, but I’ve had worse pilseners. And the name is quite amusing in Norwegian!

Aroma: 7 | Appearance: 4 | Mouthfeel: 4 | Flavor: 4 | Overall: 4

500 ml can, bought at Vaaland Spesialbutikken, Bryne. Golden colour, decent head. ABV is 4.7%. Over-boiled maize and vegetables in the aroma, a little caramel too. Thin and fizzy mouthfeel. Boring flavour - a little caramel, minimal hops. Yawn ... zzzzzz.

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

330 ml bottle, courtesy of Cardinal pub, Stavanger. ABV is 4.5%. Brewed and bottled by Blossom Industries, India (trade mark owner: United Breweries, Bangalore). Imported to Norway by ITG. Golden colour, moderate head. Flowery aromatic hops, maybe some citrus too. Standard pale lager flavour without any offensive sidenotes, rather fizzy but with tolerable hops for the style. I’ll admit that my expectations were very low, but for an Indian pale lager this one is not too bad. At least it will be a tolerable accompaniment with your curry.

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

330 ml bottle, courtesy of Cardinal pub, Stavanger. ABV is 5.0%. Brown colour, low head. Moderate but pleasant fruity aroma, hints of spices. The flavour is spicy with moderate malts, not very sweet, pleasant to drink. Relatively high carbonation in the glass. This is not an "extreme" Belgian ale in any way, and no "challenge" for the beer enthusiast, but probably an ale that most people will like.

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

355 ml bottle, courtesy of Cardinal pub, Stavanger. ABV is 10%. Imported to Europe by www.bierenco.nl . Hazy deep orange-brown colour, decent pale orangey head. Intense vinous sweet, oaky and very hoppy aroma. Some liquorice too. Intense flavour too, very oaky, nearly brandy-like, plenty of hops, but unfortunately too sweet for me, there’s something unbalanced about the entire flavour profile. Cough medicine in the finish, fairly bitter aftertaste.

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

33 cl bottle, as "Gordon Finest Scotch Highland Ale", courtesy of Cardinal pub, Stavanger. ABV is 8.6%.Copper colour, large beige head. Pleasant aroma of malts, caramel and hops. The flavour is very sweet as expected, malts, sugar and caramel galore, but the sweetness is to some degree balanced by decent hops, which linger in the aftertaste. Still, the beer is sweeter than I’d like it to be. But at 8.6% ABV, this is not an easy-drinking refreshment beer anyway. Worth a try, when you know what to expect.