A Premium Lager
From Jämtlands Bryggeri (with a little help from Oliver Twist and Akkurat in Stockholm) 5.1% ABV. Systembolaget Article Number 11460. Price 22.80SEK (500ml bottle)
Light copper colour with a typical lager-looking head that fades quite quickly.
One word. Butter. It’s a though someone has melted a packet of Bregott into my glass. I love butter (if I had to take one item of food with me to a desert island it would be butter) but I don’t want excessive amounts of it in my beer. Behind the butter there’s wood, hay and young sour pears.
The butter blast continues in the taste, with a rich, ‘fat’ sweetness of pears and butterscotch before something rather remarkable happens that saves this beer from being ignominiously poured away. Hell’s saving grace is its hops, devilishly delivering am electric shock of floral-citrus flavours that practically brand your tongue with bitterness. They go a long way to offsetting the all that overpowering butter – but not all the way.
If I could spread this beer on toast it would be delicious. I can imagine Hell being a good choice at a crayfish party with its buttery component melding with the rich meat of a crayfish tail while the flowery, earthy bitterness plays nicely with the dill.
Nerd note
I’m sorry but I must be a sinner because I really don’t get Hell (which is one of the most highly decorated Swedish beers ever). The buttery aroma and flavour I put down to diacetyl, a naturally occurring by-product of fermentation which at the right levels is welcome in many beer styles, adding a sense of richness and ‘slipperiness’ to beer. In Hell however things have gone too far, resulting in the feeling of drinking liquid croissants. In 2006 I rated it (saying “on the back label they say it’s a ’Hellava’ beer, but I’ll look to Heaven for my next drink”) and gave it 3 out of 5. Four years later I see no reason to change my mind.
Rating
3.0 of 5
Ville bara säga att jag håller med. Hell är överskattad. Finns mängder med svenska lageröl som är bättre.