Time to start reviewing beers so I don’t forget them. I plan on using the Ratebeer scale – 10 points for aroma, 5 for appearance, 10 for flavor, 5 for palate, 20 for overall impression, then summed and normalized to a scale of 0-5. I use the mid point as 50% percentile (i.e. 5/10 for aroma is, to me, an average-smelling beer).

Name: Norwegian Wood
Brewery: Haandbryggeriet
ABV: 6.5%
BJCP style: 21A – Spice/Herb/Vegetable Beer
Country of origin: Norway
Serving temperature: ~7C (45F) warming to ~13C (55F)
Glass: Ordinary pint glass

Aroma: 8/10. Nose dominated by peat, smoldering alder, hot burning juniper wood. Intriguing medicinal overtone, perhaps juniper berries. Not much of the base malt aroma makes it through, however. Brings back fond memories of warming my bones around a brush-fueled campfire in the desolate wilderness of the eastern Cascades.

Appearance: 3/5. Dense, persistent brownish head with no lacing to speak of. Deep brownish ruby color with some chill haze.

Flavor: 7/10. One of the better smoked beers I’ve tried. Clean, moderate bitterness with no hop flavor; dominated by peat, black patent or other roasted malt. Smoke much more evident on the nose than on the tongue. Slight wooden overtone and an equally small amount of fruitiness. Dry, woody finish.

Palate: 3/5. Heavy on intake, heavy on the tongue, heavy going down. Not a whole lot of carbonation to speak of, generous head notwithstanding. Slight alcohol warming. I think the ABV of 6.5% is understated.

General impression: 14/20. A fine small batch artisan beer. I was hoping for something a bit wackier, but Haandbryggeriet instead delivers a smoked beer of unusual refinement (if there is such a thing). Drinkability as well as complexity increased with temperature, with some of the roasty edginess giving way to a well-rounded heartiness; recommend leaving it out for about 10 minutes before pouring to get its temperature into the 10C range. By no means a session beer, but certainly an interesting treat.

Overall: 3.5/5.