Nøgne Ø / Bridge Road Aurora Australis II Tripel at 11% ABV | 35 IBU (C$14.49 at Willow Park Wine & Spirits, 330 ml, packaged on 21-Aug-2013, acquired 18-Nov-2017, reviewed 22-Feb-2018)
Appearance: muddy medium amber with a short, short-lived off-white head diminishing rapidly to a thin cap and ring, minimal lacing. (3/5) Aroma: port, candi sugar, dark fruit, wood, Belgian yeast esters. (7/10) Taste: moderate-high sweet, moderate bitter. (7/10) Palate: medium body, moderate-high carbonation, sweetish warming mildly spicy finish. (4/5)
That is one deeply weird beer. Conventional wisdom dictates that variations in cellaring temperature and/or mechanical disturbance of a beer are negatives, yet Nøgne Ø and Bridge Road decided to send this thing traipsing across the equator on a boat? That’s an… “interesting” decision right there. Port barrel ageing of a Tripel is another debatable stylistic choice. The concomitant assault upon the olfactory and gustatory senses is unique, to say the least. Oh, wait, Norway, right: a culture that thinks that it’s a good idea to age fish until it’s gelatinous and clear – “different” is pretty much going to be the baseline here, innit? Needless to say, it’s not a complete success – but it’s not an utter failure, either. (14/20)
7/10 #ryansbooze ryansbooze.com
