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

(500 ml bottle conditioned). Finally available bottled, this amber ale comes from the micro brewery that make all other Norwegian commercial brewers look ridiculous. ABV bottled is 6.0%. Colour is deep amber to reddish and cloudy. Very good thick head. Lovely complex fruity and flowery aroma - roses and flowers I can't even remember the name of. Flavour is first treacherously pleasant malty, fruity and slightly spicy, then the hops brutally take over with a very bitter (too bitter?) and salty finish. Definitely not a beer for the Corona generation.

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

(Bottle conditioned, 500 ml). Amber colour, good head. Very nice barnyard aroma. Typical English bitter flavour (Goldings hops + a hint of toffee) , a bit thin mouthfeel, good bitterness in the aftertaste. A great quaffing beer. This Norwegian micro is a very welcome addition to our rather miserable brewery scene!

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

(500 ml bottle). Dark brown colour, slightly hazy, some sediment, good head. Lovely aroma of caramel, cedar wood, nuts and cookies. Flavour is nutty and biscuity with burnt edges. Not too sweet. Aftertaste has some bitterness with burnt notes. (Some might not like the burnt part, but I do!) If Newcastle Brown is your idea of a brown ale, you're in for a surprise!

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

(500 ml bottle). Norwegian micro oatmeal stout. Black (= very dark ruby) colour, some sediment, good head. Nice aroma of roasted malts with some coffee, dark chocolate and cigar box. Mellow, smooth and pleasant flavour, can't detect the oats, some roastedness, hints of coffee. Easy drinking. Aftertaste is OK, but I'd like some more hops. Rerate: I should add that there also is a moderate but noticeable smokiness.

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

500 ml bottle conditioned. Colour is hazy deep amber, good head. Lovely hoppy and citrussy aroma that says: Come hither, lad, and drink me! Flavour is malty and very bitter, plenty of Cascade hops give a grapefruit-like bitter aftertaste.

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

(Bottle conditioned, 500 ml.) ABV is now 6.0%. Hazy deep golden to amber colour, thick creamy head that leaves a nice lacing. Lovely citrussy hops aroma on a background of oak, hay, tobacco and spices. Flavour is grapefruity bitter on a well rounded malty background, hints of spices. Plenty of Cascade hops in the long aftertaste. This is very good! Amazing what the Nøgne Ø enthusiasts of small town Grimstad have achieved in almost no time in the business of brewing quality beers!

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

Rerate 2004, 500 ml bottle conditioned: Recipe has been changed this year. The beer is now much darker, nearly black. Good tan head. Complex aroma and flavour, a distinct roastiness but also spices and leather. Full rich flavour, bitter aftertaste - this is a damn good beer!! Rating 2003: (500 ml bottle). Christmas/Yule ale from Norway’s sole uncompromising micro brewery. Only 5000 bottles made. Bottle conditioned. Deep copper colour, hazy only when yeast is poured. Moderate head. Aroma of oak, leather, caramel and spices. Flavour is malty and spicy, alcohol is evident. Drier than I expected. Good bitterness. A good beer, but after all the good things I’ve heard about it, I expected even more.

Aroma: 10 | Appearance: 10 | Mouthfeel: 8 | Flavor: 8 | Overall: 8

(Bottle conditioned, 500 ml. Courtesy of Erik Dahl, Venner av Nøgne Ø.) I received this remarkable beer with awe, mixed with great anticipation. Very few litres of #100 have been for sale to the public. Would I like it, or would the massive hops (80 IBU!) be too much for me? The cost of brewing it (= the massive amount of malts and hops required for a batch) made the brewers certain that it would be unprofitable as a permanent brew, particularly with Norwegian alcohol taxes. This impenetrable cloudy dark brown beer pours with a large to moderate tan head. Aroma is simply wonderful - Colombus hops galore, dark chocolate, leather, cigars, pipe tobacco, tar. The complexity remains in the flavour - extremely malty, very sweet, but also extremely bitter. The bitterness (which becomes medicinal and wormwood-like in the aftertaste) prevents me from giving this beer a full score. On a regular basis, I’d prefer Nøgne Ø’s God Jul (which is world class this year, IMHO) and also their Porter. But what a great experiment #100 is!

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.

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

(500 ml bottle). The Nøgne Ø micro brewery is in a class of its own (at least by Norwegian standards), so this beer is by far the best Norwegian "klasse D" (= grocery store market) Christmas/Yule beer you can get (all others are Vienna lagers). Deep copper colour, moderate head. Malty, oaky and toffee aroma with hints of spices. Malty flavour balanced by a decent bitterness. Rerate Christmas 2004: Colour seems even darker this year, plenty of yeast floaties. Flavour is maybe a tad spicier, well balanced hops. Impressively tasty for a Yule beer with a meagre ABV of 4.5%

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

(500 ml bottle). Bottle condtioned. Pours with an excellent thick & tan head. Pitch black, even when held to the light. In a blind test I'd probably say this was a stout (not Guinness!), maybe even an imperial. Aroma of roasted malts, coffee, cigar box, English pipe tobacco and dark bitter chocolate. Flavour is again roasted malts, coffee and dark chocolate. Not too sweet, excellent bitterness where you can sense the hops as well as the roasted malts.

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

(Bottle conditioned, 500 ml). Another new Yule/Christmas beer from the craft brewers of Nøgne Ø. Very dark brown to ruby colour, decent head. Nice aroma of dark malts, caramel and spices (cardamom and cloves). Unashamedly sweet with a velvety mouthfeel, but not cloying. Rich and malty flavour with caramel, distinct cardamom and cloves (also some ginger and nutmeg??). Sufficient hops and spices in the aftertaste. Very good beer! I’m sure it’s nice enough with cookies, but definitely a treat on its own!

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

Rerate 13. April: I deliberately avoided pouring the yeast in this time, beer is clear deep golden, like a bitter or an IPA. Flavour is more balanced, still a substantial bitterness but not unpleasant. Very little wheat character, in a blind test I'd say this was a decent IPA or possibly an ESB. Original rating: 500 ml, bottle conditioned. Batch #128. The brewers say this beer should be consumed on Easter Day and not during Lent. I’d better re-rate shortly after Easter - maybe they mean that the beer is too fresh now? Anyway, I HAD too try it now, once it was for sale. The beer has a hazy golden, nearly orange colour. Initially large head, doesn’t last to the end. Lovely hoppy aroma with hints of citrus, honey and leather. Flavour is very bitter from start to finish (loads of hops and coriander, peppery mouthfeel) , while the beer otherwise is light bodied like a wheat beer should be. This means that the hops and spices are overdone here, and the subtleties of a wheat beer do not survive. Those who love American IPAs might like it, but to me this is my least favourite Nøgne Ø beer so far.

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

500 ml can. Deep golden colour, moderate head. A fairly decent standard pale lager with some caramel added, but without the typical Grans offensive side-flavours and metallicness. Not a typical Norwegian juleøl (it is not intended to be), but fairly drinkable, and a good choice for the lager louts who think that a standard juleøl / julebrygg is "too dark" (sic).

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

BARE ØL means "only beer", and refers to this beer being brewed according to the Reinheitsgebot, despite Gran’s partnership with Danish Harboe Bryggeri. This "no frills" discount beer comes in a simple unpainted 500 ml can. It is, so far, Norway’s cheapest canned beer. Pours with a moderate head, colour is very pale straw coloured, weak one-dimensional fruity aroma. Flavour is neutral and uninteresting, as you expect from a discount pils. At least it’s not really offensive, better than water. A little bitterness in the finish, becomes metallic in the aftertaste.

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

(500 ml yellow can). This Easter Seasonal is barely discernible from Grans BARE ØL. These neutral discount pilseners are more or less all the same. Brewed according to the Reinheitsgebot, despite Gran's alliance with Danish crap brewers Harboes Bryggeri.

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

(330 ml bottle. A friend left me a few bottles after a party.) Another beer of the "low carb" craze. Golden colour, moderate head. Unlike some other brewers of low carb beers, Grans have retained more of the flavour of their ordinary pilsener. In Gran’s case, that unfortunately also means the house character of over-boiled vegetables flavour and the metallic aftertaste. Avoid.

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

Actually, I have a bottle of this beer now and then with a nothing-special-dinner. There are three reasons for such an irrational behaviour: a) It's a low alcohol beer (in Norway, 'light' beers are always low alcohol, while colour may actually be slightly darker than most pilseners) - and I often have to drive after dinner (yes, our drink-and-drive laws are extreme too - as well as the prices of decent beer). b)Even the faintest beer flavour is better than no beer flavour. c) This beer is the cheapest there is, and I can't afford decent beers every day. A bit of malty flavour barely justifies this beer's existence. The usual metallic Gran's aftertaste makes it impossible to drink more than one bottle.

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

Norwegian discount Christmas brew for the grocery store market. Just slightly darker (brownish) and less hoppy than Grans Juleøl. Watery mouthfeel. Too low ABV to be a "real" Christmas brew.

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

Norwegian discount grocery store Christmas beer. Fairly clean tasting low ABV Christmas beer, at least it's slightly better than you'd expect from this miserable brewery. Drinkable, but of course: watery and thin like most other "klasse D" Juleøl. I don't think Grans even make a "klasse F" beer any more.

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

(330 ml clear bottle.) A beer of ABV 3.7% is unusual in Norway, Grans Lyst Øl (="Pale Beer", they don’t hide the truth) is not much better than their Lettøl at 2.5%. On the other hand, their pale lager and pilsener varieties of ABV 4.5 or 4.7% are not exactly God’s gift to mankind either. Lyst Øl has at least a hint of malts. Aroma is weak but not unpleasant. Hop bitterness is low as expected, and the usual Grans metallic aftertaste is there. Avoid.

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

500 ml bottle conditioned. The Trippel is finally for sale in some pubs and restaurants, not yet in Vinmonopolet stores. The beer pours hazy golden with a moderate head which vanishes after a while and leaves very little lacing. Very pleasant yeasty and fruity aroma with notes of oak and spices, hints of barnyard in the background. Flavour is sweet (a bit too sweet?) with an oaky and moderately spicy character. A certain alcoholic punch, not unpleasant. Subtle hops in the finish. I started drinking the beer a little colder than the recommended temperature, but liked it that way. Clearly another craft brew from the good people at Nøgne Ø, but I’d suggest a slightly less generous amount of demerara sugar in the next batch.

Aroma: 7 | Appearance: 6 | Mouthfeel: 4 | Flavor: 4 | Overall: 4

330 ml clear bottle. This winter lager is slightly darker than your average pils, like a Danish "Classic" or maybe a Vienna. Deep golden to amber colour, decent lingering head. Fairly pleasant but very moderate aroma of hops and some toffee. Flavour is bland and boring, some dusty hops and hints of caramel and wet cardboard. Another weak product from Grans!

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

440 ml can. Guajiro is a very pale golden new lager from Ringnes, artificial (?) lime and mint flavouring, probably developed by the marketing department rather than by any brewer with some self esteem. Initially decent head that rapidly disappears completely and leaves no lacing. Sweetish artificial aroma of lime and mint candy. Nasty and watery flavour with repulsive notes of "lime and mint" chemicals. Minimal hops. A remarkably bad beer! Avoid!

Aroma: 2 | Appearance: 4 | Mouthfeel: 2 | Flavor: 2 | Overall: 2

440 ml can. A new pale lager from Ringnes (again developed by the marketing department, rather than by a brewer with any self esteem). Allegedly inspired by Asian / Japanese dry lagers. Very pale clear golden colour, large head that soon subsides. Weak sweetish aroma with a faint hint of hops. Bland, watery and extremely boring flavour. A glass of sparkling water would be better. But then, sparkling water has no alcohol ... If you LIKE beer, avoid!