Nogne O IPA

type: IPA

origin: Grimstaad, Norway

price: $9/.5l at BDB

abv: 7.5%

website

OK, so this is not good for my Norway-beer semi-chub. These assholes did it again! What we have here is a creatively crafted treat - not like any IPA I've tasted. The aroma is of wonderful I-don't-know-what berries, and homebrew maltiness; but, it's so perfectly hopped, and the main flavors remind me of how your clothes smell after sitting around a campfire all night burning hardwood. [Insert erect penis joke.]

Alas! It's certainly too expensive (not to mention rare) to be my go-to IPA, but it's also too delicious to ever be forgotten about. The funny thing is that Chris and I both had this in the queue. He happened to get to it first, and here's how the resulting conversation went:

C: Drinking a Nogne O IPA. Interesting, unexpected. Almost like a cross between a brown ale (more malty and sweet than the locals) and a CA pale ale.

Me: Good to hear. The pale ale was surprisingly wonderful so I was hoping for that.

C: Still wondering how Norwegians learned how to make good beer when their culinary heritage includes pickled fish assholes.

Me: Can I quote that?

C: Are there Norwegian terrorists? I don't want to get on their bad side.

Me: No they have some fucked up black metal suicide scene but I'm not worried.

C: Those folks probably don't also include browsing obscure vulgar American beer blogs among their regular activities, so it's probably not an issue.

Me: Yeah. Not having more than 4 hours of darkness is fucked up.

C: Probably what drives the fucked up black metal suicide thing.

And so, if you are a Norske-black-metal fan taking offense, please don't kill me or Chris. Then I wouldn't be able to drink beers like this, and that would suck more than a self-mutilation "performance art" show in Norway*.

*For the brave, and strong-stomached... find the clip on youtube of Frost of Satyricon, from the documentary "Until The Light Takes Us".