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

On tap at HaandBryggeriet Beer Festival, Drammen. Crimson colour, moderate off-white head. Strong aroma of sweet gale ("pors" in Norwegian). The flavour has also a sweet gale dominance throughout, some bitterness in the finish.

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

On tap at HaandBryggeriet Beer Festival, Drammen. Deep orange to red colour, moderate off-white head. Moderate aroma of spruce, hints of dust. Medium sweet flavour, distinct notes of spruce twigs, reminds me of Alba (Williams Brothers / Heather Ales). Interesting beer!

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

Shared bottle at hotel room tasting. ABV is 4.6%. Pale golden colour. The aroma and flavour have notes of honey, but the beer is not overly sweet. Not very interesting though. Hardly any noticeable hops.

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

Shared 25 fl.oz. can at local tasting. Cloudy orange to red colour, hardly any head. Aroma of cheap ketchup and stale seawater ponds. Sickly flavour of stale ketchup, salt and spices. Undrinkable.

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

330 ml bottle, courtesy of Cardinal Pub & Bar, Stavanger. ABV is 7%. Amber colour, slightly hazy, big off-white head. Nice aroma of fresh ginger and fruity and flowery hops, hints of lemongrass. The flavour is malty sweet with ginger as the dominant element throughout, hints of sweet fruits and candy. The finish is drier, with moderate hops. A fairly good beer if you like ginger (I do) - but if you hate ginger or are allergic to it, you are looking for trouble here.

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

330 ml bottle, vintage 2007, courtesy of Cardinal Pub & Bar, Stavanger. ABV is 6.5%. Hazy brownish orange colour, big and lasting off-white head with a pale orange hue. Fairly strong sweetish aroma with notes of candied fruits (figs, actually), caramel and malts, hints of cinnamon. The flavour has notes of cinnamon and other mild spices, figs, caramel and malts, great sweetness nicely balanced by decent hops in the finish. Some alcoholic warmth, but not dominant. Some wood in the aftertaste. An interesting beer, pleasant to drink.

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

500 ml bottle, 2009, bought at Systembolaget. ABV is 5.3%. Copper colour, big to moderate off-white head. Sweetish aroma of oranges and spices (cinnamon, ginger and cloves). The flavour is not as sweet as the aroma made me fear, there is some sweetness but it is not overdone. Notes of said spices again, noticeable hops in the finish . The beer is fairly light bodied and drinkable, not too bad.

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

500 ml bottle, courtesy of Cardinal Pub & Bar, Stavanger. ABV is 7.5%. My first "real" gruit beer, without any hops at all. Brewed in collaboration between Menno of De Molen (NL) and Jens of HaandBryggeriet. Ingredients include barley malts, wheat malt and rye malt - and herbs. Cloudy orange to brown colour, big to low off-white head with an orangey hue. Interesting sweetish malty aroma with notes of herbs, spices and rye, also notes of berries and oxidised fruit. Soft mouthfeel. Pleasant flavour with notes of malts, fruit and herbs, relatively sweet but not cloying. Could use some more bittering herbs, but this is still a nice beer as it is.

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

500 ml bottle, Cardinal Pub & Bar, Stavanger. ABV is 3.8%. Brewed without any hops at all, but with substantial amounts of root ginger. Golden colour, pours quite fizzy, moderate to low head. Aroma of ginger and citrus. The flavour has a distinct ginger burn from start to finish. Definitely not your usual beer, but nice for a change of pace. Feels much stronger than its moderate ABV.

Aroma: 6 | Appearance: 3 | Mouthfeel: 3 | Flavor: 3 | Overall: 3

500 ml bottle, courtesy of Cardinal Pub & Bar, Stavanger. Ingredients include wheat malts, honey and sugar. ABV is 7.6%. Hazy deep brown colour, moderate off-white head. Intense and unpleasant aroma of artificially flavoured sweets/candy, rotten fruits (incl. bananas) and monkey turd, hints of spices. The flavour is sugary sweet, again with notes of artificially flavoured candy, also oranges and anise - and, to be fair, some malts. Astonishingly bad.

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

12 fl. oz. bottle, courtesy of Cardinal Pub & Bar, Stavanger. ABV is 9.0%. Bottle conditioned. Chestnut coloured beer, huge and creamy lasting tan head. Nice aroma of caramel, spices and dark fruits. Rich and full mouthfeel. The flavour is malty, rich and sweet, with loads of spices - but I’d have trouble identifying which ones, if I didn’t know. I would also have guessed that there was some aniseed or liquorice in there. There is a distinct hoppy bitterness and more spices in the finish. Interesting stuff!

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

Draught at Gladmatfestivalen 2004, Stavanger. Served cool, not ice cold. Low head, low carbonation. Hazy brown colour. Lovely aroma of juniper and wet fir trees. This is a modern rendition of traditional Norwegian farm ales, where juniper was used for flavouring and better preservation of the beer, at a time when hops were unknown or hard to get this far north. Flavour is all juniper and malts, quite lightbodied and refreshing. Not very complex, but darn good all the same. In order to fully appreciate a beer like this, you should spend a day of hard work stacking hay on a small Norwegian farm on one of our (rare) warm summer days. If you, on such a day, after tasting this beer say "I’d rather have a Budweiser", you’re a very sick person, and need to seek professional help. Or you could offer prayers to St. Judas, the patron saint of Hopeless Cases.

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

330 ml bottle, courtesy of Cardinal Pub & Bar, Stavanger. ABV is 6.0%. This is Old Tom blended with Fentimans Ginger Beer (the latter is actually not a beer at all, but a softdrink like "ginger ale" - only with REAL ginger as an ingredient). Mahogany coloured beer, big beige head. Distinct aroma of ginger, also fruity and slightly vinous notes, hints of caramel. The flavour is rich and sweet, a bit too much on the sugary side, with distinct notes of stem ginger in syrup. Some hops and a ginger burn in the finish. I definitely prefer the "ordinary" Old Tom to this one - and also Chocolate Tom if I need a change. However, Ginger Tom is far from undrinkable, if you happen to like ginger - which I fortunately do.

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

Sampled bottle, RBNAG 2007 in Grimstad, haute cuisine beer lunch at Apotekergården. ABV was 9%. Accompanied the goose liver. Deep golden colour, minimal head. Lovely complex aroma with vinous notes, oak, honey and hops. Spritzy mouthfeel. Sweet, fruity (Muscat grapes), oaky and well balanced flavour. The honey and saffron are fairly subdued elements.

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

355 ml bottle, vintage 2007, courtesy of Cardinal pub, Stavanger. ABV is 5.5%. BB Sep.09. Very dark reddish bown colour, nearly black. Large and lasting tan head. Nice vinous and sweetish aroma, notes of malts, herbs, oak, spices and caramel. Malty flavour with moderate notes of caramel and herbs, moderate hops and spices in the finish and aftertaste. A very pleasant beer to drink.

Aroma: 8 | Appearance: 7 | Mouthfeel: 5 | Flavor: 6 | Overall: 7

500 ml bottle, thanks to Beer_2000. Bottle conditioned. ABV is 4.7%. Amber to brown colour, large head with an orangey hue. Nice aroma of Christmas spices, toffee and some malts. The flavour also has Christmas spices and a moderate sweetness, but the mouthfeel is still very thin - too thin for a Christmas/Yule brew. Very moderate hops in the slightly metallic aftertaste, but this beer definitely needs more hops. Actually it needs more malts and more alcohol too!

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

500 ml bottle, bought at Vaaland Spesialbutikken, Bryne. Bottle No. 0689 (out of a total of 7733). Brew No. 1 in Berentsens new Innova-Brygg range. ABV is 4.7%. Brewed with hand-picked heather and local honey. Unfiltered, matured 6 months in tanks at the brewery. Golden colour, large to moderate head. Nice honey aroma. The flavour is dominated by heather and honey as expected, hardly any bitterness, but the beer is not too sweet. The mouthfeel is maybe a bit thin, but this is a fairly easy drinking beer for spring and summer. The finish is rather bland though.

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

500 ml screenprint bottle, bought in Riga. ABV is 4.5%. Filtered, but not pasteurised. Strange pale greyish brown colour, moderate white head. Strong sweetish aroma of malts, ginger, honey and cooked vegetables. I drank it too cold - but found an initially sweetish pale lager flavour with ginger, and a very dry finish with a hint of lemons. Minimal bitterness. Thin mouthfeel. Still quite refreshing and drinkable.

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

500 ml bottle, courtesy of Cardinal Pub & Bar, Stavanger. ABV is 3.8%. Clear deep golden to orange colour, decent white head. Interesting aroma of fresh coriander, spicy and herbal notes, some fruit too. The flavour has loads of fresh coriander, a slight fruitiness, hints of toffee, decent hops (and more coriander) in the finish and aftertaste. Not too sweet. An interesting beer with a moderate ABV, but probably not my choice for a whole "session".

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

330 ml stubby bottle, thanks to oh6gdx and chris_o. ABV is 5.7%. I admit I had never heard of manuka before I got this beer! Clear amber colour, huge off-white head with an orangey hue. Moderate aroma of malts and spice, and something undefined which I suppose is the manuka leaves. The flavour has moderate malts and some caramel and undefined spice, with a noticeable bitterness in the finish, which might or might not be caused by manuka leaves, in addition to the hops? Definitely drinkable, but not particularly exciting.

Aroma: 6 | Appearance: 4 | Mouthfeel: 5 | Flavor: 4 | Overall: 4

330 ml bottle, now available in Norway. ABV is 4.3%. Website for this beer is www.ikibeer.com . Hazy pale yellow colour, big and lasting white head. The sweetish aroma is a bit strange, after all green tea and yuzy fruit are not common ingredients in beers. Some rubbery notes too. The flavour has some wheaty notes, but is most of all reminiscent of lemon ice tea. Minimal bitterness. Not undrinkable, but won’t buy again.

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

500 ml bottle, courtesy of Cardinal Pub & Bar, Stavanger. Based on Nøgne Ø God Jul, matured with spruce and blended with a wild forest cranberry ("tyttebær") "lambic" (brettanomyces fermented). Very dark brown colour, nearly black, with a low beige head. Distinct notes of spruce in the aroma, also notes of fruit / berries, coffee, chocolate and liquorice. Very unusual flavour where the spruce and wild forest cranberries dominate, but I’m not entirely sure how well the various flavour elements really do blend. The mouthfeel is a bit fizzy. Still an interesting beer.

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

500 ml bottle, courtesy of Cardinal Pub & Bar, Stavanger. ABV is 4.5%. Very dark brown colour, nearly black. Moderate creamy beige head. Nice aroma of malts and juniper / resin, hints of spices and smoke. The flavour has a noticeable acidity, some malts, also a hint of resin and a faint hint of smoke. Minimal hops. The mouthfeel is too thin.

Aroma: 8 | Appearance: 7 | Mouthfeel: 5 | Flavor: 5 | Overall: 6

A new "klasse D" (grocery store strength) beer, introduced Christmas 2006. 330 ml green bottle. Copper coloured, large and creamy light tan head. Moderate but pleasant aroma of bakery, caramel, juniper berries and wild cranberries. Flavour has a noticeable malts and caramel sweetness with some bready notes, faint hints of spices, minimal hops, short and slightly dusty finish. Minimal and boring afteraste. Too thin mouthfeel for a "juleøl", despite the initial sweetness. Won’t be my choice for "the meat dishes of Christmas" this one.

Aroma: 7 | Appearance: 5 | Mouthfeel: 4 | Flavor: 5 | Overall: 5

330 ml green bottle. Amber coloured, large off-white head. Weak aroma with hints of berries (incl. juniper berries?) and boiled vegetables. Flavour has very moderate malts and hops (and possibly bog myrtle), notes of caramel but not very sweet. Thin and faintly sourish mouthfeel. A very boring beer, but not offensive.