Nøgne Ø Brown
English Style Brown, 4.5%
Norway
Norway: home of freaky death metal, smoking hot models, and user-friendly light lagers. Who knew they could produce such multidimensional ales? The Nøgne Ø (pronounced non-yay) brewery truly breaks the typical Scandinavian beer mold, turning out a line of big, bold beers, all of which I find thoroughly satisfying. It was hard to pick one brew from Nøgne Ø's extensive line, but after careful consideration and extended scouring of distributor product lists, I chose the Brown Ale.
The grain recipe combines a little bit of everything: wheat, Maris Otter 2-row barley, chocolate malt, brown malt, amber malt, and caramel malt. Imagine the head brewer sweeping his arm across all the grain-littered counter spaces at the brewery — "let's just put all this in the mash." But this mad mixture works, as the sheer maltiness of this brew is pure heaven.
This article appears in Feb 11-17, 2009.