They Reckoned It Was Undrinkable...






























Brewery: Nogne 0

Country: Norway

Abv: 8.5%

Style: Smoked/Peated

Review:
Recently I received a shipment from one of my favorite breweries: Nogne 0 from Norway.  This is one of my go to breweries, even if it's a style of beer I don't normally care for, they tend to be able to brew it and brew it well.

When it's a style that I like, it's even better, at times epic.

In this shipment was a very special beer, a beer of a style that I had just reviewed, a smoked 100% peated beer.

This is in the same style as the Yeastie Boy's Rex Attitude and is the same style and quality of peated malt used in whisky distillation.

Whiskies such as Ardbeg and Laphroiag.

So my shipment comes in and here's the case of Nogne 0 100% Peated, in the little 250ml bottles that they do with their experimental beers, their special releases.

There's a special note on the bottle:
This beer is brewed with 100% Scottish peat smoked whisky malt. This malt generates an intense smokey flavor and aroma. In fact its intensity makes this beer almost undrinkable, unless you blend it with other ingredients. We recommend to use this product to give a balanced smoked note to foods and drinks as oysters, sauces, marinades, sausages, fatty fish, chocolate and dark beer. Improve your world by giving it a hint of smoke.

That sounds like a challenge and considering how often my co workers state that I can an extreme palate this is a challenge that sounds right up my alley.

I grab a bottle and toss it into my work fridge letting it cool down until I can get it home.

Finally home time comes and I grab my bottle and take it home where I crack it open and pour it into my trusty beer goblet while I cook dinner.

It pours a light cloudy golden color with a small off white head that quickly recedes and an aroma of peat that you immediately smell.

Smoke, peat, tar, hints of burnt meat and some slight fruit make up the nose on this little bottle of beer.  Very similar to many Islay whiskies.

Time for a taste though!

Easy drinking, at least for me, with a mouthfeel that's a little thin at times, but still enjoyable with the palate following the nose closely, however the fruit is slightly more pronounced.  A nice balance between smoke and bitter with some nice sweetness thrown in for good measure.

A soft lingering finish with an aftertaste of tar and peat finishes off this beer.

Enjoyable, but definitely not the undrinkable that they claim, actually in my opinion it was easier drinking then the Yeastie Boys Rex Attitude which although at a lower strength, felt more intense.  That being said I know for most people, this beer would be way too much.  With most peated beers you should proceed with caution.

This shouldn't be too hard to find in the Perth area, go to your usual suspects, Cellarbrations at Carlisle, Mane Liquor, International Beer Shop, etc.  Bottle shops that specialize in craft beers.  I'd expect to personally pay around $10 to $14 for a 250ml bottle which isn't a bad price just to play around, but like I said I do prefer the Rex Attitude.

Elsewhere in the world, well I know Nogne is exported throughout Europe and into the USA, but you'll probably have to look around a bit to find this beer.

By the way I had no pictures of this beer so I did use one off of Ratebeer if you'd like to see more.

They reckoned it was undrinkable, personally I don't reckon that they reckoned on me.

Nose:        21/25
Taste:       21/25
Finish:       20/25
Balance:    21/25

Overall:     83/100