Beer # 125 Kissmeyer Nordic Pale Ale

Nordic Pale Ale

Beau's All Natural Brewing Company
Collaboration with Anders Kissmeyer and B-side Label

Vankleek Hill, Ontario, Canada
Independent
Flavoured APA 5.0 % ABV Brown Class Bottle 750 ml
$4.85 (Canadian) At LCBO 
Twitter: @Beausallnatural


Tonight's beer is an interesting Collaboration from Anders Kissmeyer and The good folks at Beau's All Natural. Anders is Described on the Beau's website as a "One man gypsy beer company" he previously worked with Nørrebro Bryghus, the innovative brewhouse in Copenhagen, Denmark. I have Tasted three of their beers here,

Yarrow

here, and here (The last one was my favourite). Prior to being a driving force in that brewery, Anders worked for Carlsberg as the quality control officer. He flew around the world ensuring that carlsberg beer in Uganda tasted like Carlsberg beer in Mexico. On a trip to the States he met Brooklyn Brewing Company's rock star brewmaster Garret Oliver and had his eyes opened to American style craft beer. He left Carlsberg to persue his dreams and ten years later it seems he still had more dreaming to do and has left Nørrebro Bryghus, to open Kissmeyer Beer. His Facebook page is here (mostly in Danish).

Tonight's beer has a lot of components... and I mean a lot. There are three different grain malts, 3 herbal additives and hops, maple syrup, rosehips, AND cranberries. Sweet Gale yarrow and heather make up the herbals. So this is going to be a complex beer, which is par for the course with Anders, as his beers from Nørrebro Bryghus were quite complex as well. So I look forward to trying this.

Sweet Gale

Enough already... onto the tasting.

Dusty gold in colour with a slight cloudiness to it. The fluffy white head is made up of medium sized bubbles. The aroma is herbal hops, citrus, and spicy. Notes of Dusty Miller (the flower), hay, and yarrow. Slight muskiness, earthy, weedy. Effervescent sweet and tart, Yarrow is prominent, followed by the sweetness of oats and the heady malty taste of dark rye bread. Light citrus and such a tiny hint of cranberries and ginger. As it warms you get the sweetness of rosehips and and a fruity, spicy finish. Aeration gives us a woodsy, outdoors, field at the edge of the woods smell, very vegetative and sweet. Finish is not unlike a bitter aperitif wine, cleansing, and refreshing.



Impressions: Fail, So-so, Pass, Exceptional 


Cost: 5/6 PASS
Colour: 5/6 PASS
Beer Style: 5/6 PASS
Re-Order:  5/6 PASS
Experience:  5/6 PASS


Final Thoughts:

When I first read the ingredients list for this beer I was taken aback. Barley, rye, and oat malts, hops, wild sweet gale, maple syrup, cranberries, rosehips, yarrow, and heather flowers, all organic of course. It seemed to me to be an impossible task to make all of these ingredients work together. Regular readers will recognise some of these ingredients as we have discussed medieval beers before, namely Gruits, which is what I thought this beer was aiming for. However it was plain to see that they had merged a gruit style into an APA, and it actually worked. Pick this one up while it still is in stores.


CJT


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Beer # 46 Black Chocolate Stout, Brooklyn Brewery

Ok this isn't an Ultra-premium. However, when doing research for the Nørrebro Bryghus, I realised the connection between Brooklyn Breweries brewmaster Garret Oliver and Nørrebro Bryghus founder Anders Kissmeyer, and considering I already had this beer in my fridge waiting to be tasted, I thought I would throw in a bonus. We have done a Brooklyn Brewery beer before: Post Road Pumpkin Ale here,

Brooklyn Brewery has it's origins in 1987. It was first opened by

Steve Hindy an Associated Press correspondent who gained experience making beer, as contraband, in Muslim nations while he was stationed there and banker Tom Potter. Originally the beer was all brewed offsite by Matt Brewing Company of Utica famous for the Saranac Line (I have to admit when Saranac Pale Ale is available in Ontario it is a regular visitor to my fridge!! I will post it as soon as I get another six pack). Steve and Tom contracted Milton Glaser to compose the brewery's iconic baseball-esque logo. Glaser was most notably the genius behind the "I Love New York" logo. In 1994 Garret Oliver signed on as brewmaster and the rest is an American microbrewing fairy-tale. The brewery has a vast stable of award-winning beers. Garret Oliver (while looking like the slightly more distinguished older brother of the Old spice guy) has a number of books, has been judge on the tasting panel of the "Great American Ber Festival" for 20 years and regular Judge for CAMRA's (Campaign for Real Ale) "Great British Beer Festival." He has won numerous awards both home and abroad, and is a vocal advocate for both the slow food movement and pairing beer and food.

Beer God Garret Oliver

Old Spice Guy Isiah Mustafah

PRETTY CLOSE I THINK YOU SHOULD DECIDE

Alright enough already... let's drink some beer:


Almost pure black with a small band of a dark tan head made of small bubbles. Looks like a doberman! Deep molasses on the nose with a leathery earthy sweetness. Slightly smoky and and hint of the high alcohol, 10.0% ABV. Comes in a brown glass bottle holding 355ml of Imperial Russian, or "Black Chocolate Stout." There is no actual chocolate in the beer. The name comes from the grades of malts used, six of them in total, two of which are black and chocolate. First sip is a strong smack of bitter chocolate, followed by espresso coffee and a green pea sweetness. Rich and complex like a whiskey, smoky, bitter, sweet and woody. Aeration brings out brandy notes



Overall results: (Fail, So-so, Pass, Exceptional)

Taste: Pass
Cost: So-so (In Ontario it is $3.00 a beer)
Colour: Pass
Beer Style: Exceptional
Re-order: Pass
Experience: Exceptional

Final Thoughts: Very nice stout, not mucked about with and didn't need the addition of chocolate or other adjuncts to get the point across. Very drinkable despite the 10.0% ABV. Not a beer I would have more than one at a sitting, but definitely one that can find it's way into my fridge more than once.

Cheers

CJT