Beer Tasting Notes - I hope it's ok to post them here!
I believe Shelton Brothers import these the US (amongst some other hugely interesting beers) - though I have some reservations, these are very interesting and unique beers.
Quite some time ago, I wrote here about the Nørrebro North Bridge Extreme (9,5%; 100 EBU) and was quite positive about it, despite having some issues about the sheer size of everything that came with the beer (high abv and too big a bottle and too expensive). I tried it again and still like much about it: it is medicinally herbaceous, smells very green and hoppy yet there is huge, sweet maltiness to counter all the hops. The dense maltiness, however, makes this a bit heavy to drink.
I can well understand that many will find the hoppiness of this too much. But I would still like to try the beer with this amount of hops, but less of a sweet malt influence. I would expect this hypothetical beer to be quite extreme, but I find myself drawn towards the extreme bitterness or hoppiness or dryness of say Cantillon or Thiriez's Étoile du Nord, so maybe the balance would work for me. So this was a long way of asking if there are any lighter, less sweet, low(ish) abv beers with massive amounts of hops?
Despite the North Bridge being too heavy to drink a whole bottle of, I was still intrigued by the brewery, so when others became available here, I tried them out.
Nørrebro Påske Bock (7%) was a pleasant enough Easter Bock, but a bit anonymous: sweet/caramelly, soft, yet somehow still refreshing though not terribly hoppy. Nice enough, but not something I got excited about.
Nørrebro Skärgaards Porter (6%) was a pretty decent beer, but very roasted with a sweet/caramelly edge. Apparently this is brewed with honey in it, but I couldn't really sense any honey - but maybe that curious softness and roundness was caused by it? It was pleasant, but there wasn't a continuity from the harshly roasted nose to the soft palate.
Nørrebro La Granja Espresso Stout (7,5%) was a very interesting beer: very roasted, dark, bitter, heavy and with quite a bit of sweetness. Long and bitter and complex. It is a rather obvious style, and I would say it (and actually the others of their beers also) is a "New World/Parkerised" beer in some respects. I wish it would come in smaller bottles as I can't finish 60cl of it (half went down well).
Nørrebro Bombay Pale Ale (6,5%) is their IPA, but frankly I wasn't too impressed with it. The nose had too much banana/esteryness; the palate was a bit on the sweet side.
Nørrebro Old Odense Ale is brewed with maple syrup and herbs, and is deliciously sour, tart and dry despite some teasing hints of sweetness. The maple syrup is quite obvious on the nose but it isn't as sickeningly sweet as it is in other instances I have been subjected to it (pancakes and doughnuts) but rather it provides a delectable sweet edge to the herbaceousness. The scent is far removed from any beer I have had before but is nice anyway; the palate reminds me a bit of Rodenbach's GC except it is a bit softer. An weird beer for sure, but I like it.
It was an interesting range of beers, but I'm not sure I would go back to them all that often. They all seemed just a touch too obvious and heavy.
-Otto
