Nøgne Ø - #100 Barley Wine-Style Ale

Friday nights. You know I love them. Got a nice bonus from work so I decided to treat myself to a few tasty beers at the local liquor store. Found this gem sort of stashed away with some various European beers and decided why not. You and I both know I love a good barleywine.

I'd heard some pretty good things about Nøgne Ø beers but surprisingly have never ended up purchasing one. I don't really have a reason, I just always end up buying something more local. Also something I can actually pronounce.

Did a quick little search and saw some people calling this a DIPA. A DIPA? WTF?! Looking at the back of the bottle I see mentions of Columbus, Chinook and Centennial hops. So yeah, sounds like this is a pretty hop forward Barleywine... maybe bordering on an IPA or DIPA as some people put it. Let's see how it goes!

#100 poured out a a very dark ruby red almost bordering on blood red. There is a crazy amount of carbonation on this beer. It's streaming up from the bottom of the glass. There was a really nice hiss as I popped the cap off. There was a 3, maybe even a 4 finger, fluffy/rocky white head that stuck around for a long time. Once it retreated back into itself it left behind a very thick, sticky webbing. Looks like a nice barleywine with a ton of carbonation. Old Guardian eat your heart out!

Strangely enough, the first thing I'm getting on the nose is almost like a cola character. Some chocolate malts shining through, but they are very sugary. This smells a lot like a rum and coke to be honest. There's a nice bit of cherry juice coming through behind the cola like character. It's pretty sweet but not overly sweet, definitely not cloying. There's a bit of a citrus character, some grapefruit zest, maybe a lemon zest in there as well. I'm getting a spice character as well. Some coriander, maybe even a little clove note in there as well. This beer as a lot going on for sure.

First thing I get on the taste is malt. It's your typical barleywine flavor for sure. There's some chocolate malt in there giving it a nice roasty backbone. I'm getting some of that cola character as well. I really feel like I've had a rum and coke before drinking this, which I absolutely haven't done. I'm getting more of those spices, coriander, clove, maybe some nutmeg too. Mostly coriander. I'm getting a little bit of the bitter grapefruit and lemon but it's very faint. There's a lot of that roasted character in the back of the mouth. Some espresso notes coming through.

Honestly, this is one of the more strange Barleywines I've had. I see where people would call it an IPA and I definitely get the barleywine part too. But no one mentions the spice characters which I'm sort of surprised by. It adds a different complexity to the beer that I was not expecting.

Rating: B

It's decent enough. There's no sign of alcohol (10% abv) and not really sure I'd believe this is 80ibu. I don't find this too bitter at all. It's worth giving it a try but it's not something I'd go out of my way to seek out.

Wife didn't like it.