Fourth of five of our ultra-premium beers and last by this unique brewhouse in the Nørrebro district of Coppenhagen. Now what exactly do I mean by ultra-premium? Well in Ontario it has to do with price, standard beers are in the range of $1.50 to $2.50 a bottle, premiums and imports range upwards from this point to about $6.00 to $7.00 a bottle. Ultra premiums start here and can go sky high. One such beer just sold for around $177 dollars. As I am not that flush, we will concentrate on the lower end of that scale. The next five beers are all over $7.50 a bottle and have an average price of $12.50. The most expensive being over $21.00 (and yes... so far that is the most I have ever paid for a bottle of beer, and yes it hurt a little...)
**Special note The fifth and final ultra premium will be delayed for a few days as I have a few other posts waiting in the wings.
So this is the beer that hurt a little. The very first bottle of beer that cost me over $20. Was it worth it is the question? Let's get right into it. Packaged in a specially designed award winning bottle and label, containing "60 cl" or for us non-Europeans 600 ml is a 12.5% ABV American style barley wine. Beer pours the colour of iced tea. very murky with particulate matter floating everywhere. Has a consistency and appearance that was described as "gravy" by my quaffing companion that evening. On closer inspection there is a ring of almost "fat like" looking greasy clear portion around the rim that brings to mind the layer of beef fat that floats to the surface of separated gravy. The head is an off white to tan that disappears instantly, almost too fast to notice. I go in for a smell and I get apples right off the bat, with a woody, oaky, caramel chorus backing it up. First sip is more wood, heavy on the medicinal, caramel, chocolate toffee, with a whisky, vanila, caramel and coffee finish.
Lingering on the palate is a syrupy mouthfeel that brings up the thought of cooked raisins.Overall results: (Fail, So-so, Pass, Exceptional)
Taste: Fail
Cost: Fail (In Ontario it is $21.55 a beer)
Colour: Fail
Beer Style: fail
Re-order: Fail
Experience: Fail
Final Thoughts: I was horrified with this beer. I thought that I must have a bad bottle but a quick search on the internet confirmed almost ever word I typed above. out of ten reviews I read one person liked the beer. I felt cheated and ripped off. Honestly I can't see the reason to charge $21.55 for this beer when they are extremely good barley wines here in Ontario and the US that sell for half or a quarter of the price I paid for this bottle. I did note That the beer "improved" slightly as it warmed and later as we were finishing the bottle long after I took my notes; we had some salted vegetable tortilla chips and the salt tended to improve the flavour of the beer... but certainly not enough to save it.
Additional: though the last bottle was disappointing the overall experience of the Danish beers was very positive. Tasting beers from another culture is always rewarding. I look forward to trying more from this little Danish Microbrewery.
Cheers
CJT
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