Beertasters "95% Viking" Tasting

I do have a passion for Nordic/Scandinavian beers so jumped at the chance to attend this tasting event. The premise was to celebrate the great work of some of these brewers with a tasting of "viking" craft beers scoring 95 or better on the "Rate Beer" website. I have only included a selection of my favorites from the beers tasted.

First up "Mikkeller Draft Bear", a Danish Imperial Pilsener with a very healthy 8% ABV brewed using Amarillo & Cascade hops.

Light Golden beer with a small  head and little lacing. Nice session able hoppy pilsener with a crisp finish, the 8% alcohol is barely noticeable.

Next "To Øl First Frontier IPA", a Danish brewed American style IPA with 7.1% ABV. Brewed with a healthy dose of Warrior, Simcoe & Centennial hops.

Cloudy amber beer with a medium dense head. Has a definite fruit hop flavour with citrus & peach hop character. Doesn't have a super bitter finish probably due to the addition of caramel malt. Not the big IPA I was expecting but nevertheless a very good Ale.

"Nøgne Ø Imperial Brown Ale" a Norwegian Strong brown ale. Brewed with a variety of malts (predominately English) and hops (including EK Golding). This was an extraordinarily good brown ale with a very malty taste with a crisp hop finish.

"Beer Here Mørke Pumpernickel Porter" a Danish dark Porter. Brewed using roasted malted rye, this beer had a lovely dark brown colour with a thick coffee coloured head. Great slightly easy to drink smoked porter.

"Mikkeller Barrel Black Hole Aged Stout" (Red Wine Barrels & Bourbon Barrels) a terrific way to finish an evenings beer tasting. These stouts have an incredibly rich flavour, the fruit can be tasted in the version aged in red wine barrels and a bourbon sweetness comes through in the version aged in bourbon barrels. I loved both of these stouts.