Haand Bryggeriet Norwegian Wood

...Continuing my recently-sparked love affair with beers from Northern Europe, I got my hands on a bottle of Haand Bryggeriet's Norwegian Wood this week. Apt, it would seem, as I sipped it, looking out across my snow-bound garden and the frozen streets beyond. Hell, the landscape would almost be pretty if it didn't add an hour onto my morning commute.

Anyway, back to the beer. Before reading the label I thought, for some reason, that this would be a pale beer - maybe it was the pine tree on the label. The beer poured russet-brown, and the first aroma lifting out of the glass was smoke - sweet, deep smoke. This carries through to the body, where that smoke - which is much subtler on the tongue - joins up with red fruits courtesy of the Juniper berries added to the beer, and ends with a lingering coffee note. Despite all these heady, strong flavours, NW is not heavy at all - well balanced all the way.

The finish is surprisingly grassy for a dark beer, and that late, warming alcohol note you want in a cold-weather beer pops up late on the swallow as it should.

Wonderful stuff, perfect for this week's cold-weather traumas. Gimme more.

Totally unrelated, but does anyone know how to rid oneself of spam comments? I've been getting loads this week - and I don't know how to block them. It's doing my bearded little head in.