Yesterday on BeerSweden’s Facebook page I asked people to decide which beer should be the next reviewed here – the critcially acclaimed 1/2 idjit! imperial porter from Swedish micro Dugges in Gothenburg or a relatively unknown (and rather more difficult to get) amber ale produced by a Norwegian brewpub from Flåm that looks like it comes straight from the set of The Fellowship of the Ring.

The people voted (well about 5 of you actually) and asked for the Rallar – which meant I got to try my first ever beer from the Ægir Brewery, which has the distinction of being named Norway’s Brewpub of the Year in 2008.

The story behind this brewery’s name is wonderful. I’ll let their website explain:

”In Norse mythology, Ægir is described as a giant, the brother of Kári (Wind) and Logi (Fire) and the master of the ocean. Ægir’s hall is lit not by fire but instead by bright gold. Every year he invites the Norse gods to a great feast in his hall, Brime, where the beer and the food are magically transported to the guests and the drinking-horns fill themselves (editor’s note – got to get me one of those). According to Odin, Ægir brews the best ale. He has the world’s biggest brewing kettle, a mile deep, which Tor stole from the giant Hyme and gave to him. In Ægir’s hall the gods were never allowed to fight, and anyone making trouble was banished for all eternity (editor’s note – gulp…better be careful what I say then).”

All of Ægir’s beers are unpasteurised and unfiltered, which became pretty obviously the moment this beer hit my glass, pouring a murky chestnut brown with a noticeable yeast ‘throw’ as I reached the bottom of the bottle.

I wasn’t expecting a lot of hop character from this beer as amber ales tend to display a distinctively malty nature. Ægir uses no less than six different kinds of malts in Rallar. However I also wasn’t expecting the strong smells of yeasty bread dough it threw up. It was as though most of the freshness had already left this beer. It reminded me of the smell in the darkest parts of the woods in autumn, when mushrooms push through the wet fallen leaves and cover the roots of moss-covered trees.

To taste Rallar delivered a little more. The malts of course were there, giving the beer a nourishing, quite heavy feel with some brown syrup sweetness and faint chocolate. The hops were almost non-existent which made Rallar anything but refreshing.

Without wanting to incur the wrath of any gods I wasn’t that sold on Rallar Amber Ale. I understand that Norwegians are the butt of jokes here in Sweden very much like the Irish are to the English and the Canadians are to the Americans but Rallar Amber Ale could never be called a joke of a beer.

It’s completely missing a punchline.

(Editor’s note: 1/2 idjit next up!)

John Lennon asked the question in the classic Beatles song, but the answer, like his lyrics, is anything but straightforward.

Norwegian Wood is a traditional smoked ale brewed out of a 200-year-old barn at Haandbryggeriet in Drammen, Norway. It is a modern recreation of a beer that every Norwegian farmer once had to brew by law or face having their farm confiscated by the King and the Church.

What makes Norwegian Wood so unusual is that it is brewed using some wood smoked malt – a reference to the days before modern kilning techniques when many beers had an element of smoke to them since the malted barley used to make them had been dried over wood fires.

Also in keeping with the period (which pre-dates hops in beer) juniper branches are added that impart a very distinctive raw pine needle flavour.

Pouring a slightly hazy reddish mahogany with a thick khaki head Norwegian Wood sends out a retrained amount of smoke on the nose, rather like the smell of a fire the day after it went out. There’s a lot of dark chocolate there too and a splash of tea.

The taste of smoke gets even thicker in the mouth, firing up flavours of bacon and some salty cheddar that bizarrely seem to work as a foil to the sweet caramel malts. I thought I detected a little off flavour like melted plastic bags at one point but it quickly faded away

Norwegian Wood feels like a very genuine and believable beer to me. If you’re not a ‘smoker’ then this ‘Blend Light’ version might be a good choice for your first try.

I’m still not entirely sure why I like Norwegian Wood. I only know I do. Like a song from the Beatles it possesses the annoying abilty to get stuck in your head and stay there.

Norwegian Wood

A traditional smoked ale from Haandbryggeriet, Norway

6.5% ABV

Article Number: 11519