Beer of the Weekend #159: Dark Force
Another Monday tasting, but for a reason. Along with Hobgoblin, tonight’s brew is vying to be my October recommendation in the Little Village.
The beer tonight is Dark Force, brewed by the HaandBryggeriet (“Hand Brewery” in English) of Drammen, Norway.
Just the name fits October’s sinister and spooky image, which is exactly what I am going for. I want a beer that embodies the dark, mysterious, and otherworldly vibe during the death knell of another year. I want a Halloween beer — something Jason Voorhees and Freddy Krueger could sit and enjoy to some black metal after stalking and killing their latest movie victim. Hobgoblin and Dark Force evoke different elements of darkness and the unknown — one more folksy and traditional and the other very sci-fi — but I think both fit October in their own way.
However, I don’t think Heinie, the beer guru at Dirty’s, grasps what I’m trying to do. When I told him I planned to possibly recommend Hobgoblin or Dark Force (depending on this review), he said, “You could do those. Hobgoblin isn’t the best beer.” I know that. It’s not the best beer in the world, but it is still good stuff and fits the season. Even after explaining I wanted something that captured the Halloween spirit, he was unmoved and suggested a saison. A saison may be a good flavor fit for the season (I wouldn’t know because I have never had a saison), but I feel he’s thinking strictly in terms of beer and, probably, sales. I’m thinking in terms of beer, season, audience, and originality.
But whatever. I’m spending too much time writing and not enough drinking beer.
Serving type: One 500 ml bottle. The label features three — THREE! — freshness quality numbers: two dates and a batch number. The “Brewed” date is “21.047.09” and the “Best bef.” date is “21.07.12.” I’m not exactly sure if that 4 in the brewed date is a typo. The “Batch” number is 236. That’s how you do it, baby.
Appearance: Straight pour into a pint glass produced a ton of chocolaty tan head. Don’t do that with this beer. I should have taken its wheat character into consideration. The color is an opaque black. No light came through. Somewhat fittingly, the head dissipated to leave a creamy, cappuccino-like spiral galaxy of dense foam.
Smell: As I let the head settle, the glass was an arm’s length away from me and I could still smell the bourbon quality mentioned in other reviews. However, the scent faded entirely after letting the glass and bottle breathe. The wheat was played up, but all the aroma qualities point to stout. Toasted coffee and dark chocolate malts, a tiny bit of caramel, and dark fruit (cherry and maybe fig).
Taste: Toasted and hop bitterness, as well as a little alcohol, upfront, which gives way to stout’s usual suspects: coffee, chocolate, and dark fruit. The taste is much sweeter than the aroma leads on; the figs and cherry from the smell play a large part in that. When I got down to the bottom for the second glass, I loosened the sedimentation and poured it in. Though a little chunky, it gave the beer a dunkelweizen quality with a little ripe banana.
Drinkability: I’m not sure what the Dark Side has to do with Norse mythology, but I like how the Norwegian woods quartet is thinking. It is not as original as they make it sound, but it is a top-notch brew. May the Dark Force be with you.
Fun facts about Dark Force:
-Style: The label classifies it as a “Double Extreme Imperial Wheat Stout,” and the HaandBryggeriet website says Dark Force is
BA, though, classifies it as a Russian Imperial Stout:
-Price: $8.99/bottle at John’s Grocery. I didn’t realize how pricey it is until I just looked at the receipt. Goddamn! This is without a doubt the most expensive beer I have ever drank.
-Serving temperature: The HaandBryggeriet website suggests 50-59ºF.
-Alcohol content: The label pegs the ABV at 9 percent, but BA lists it at 8.5 percent.
-Food pairings: The folks at HaandBryggeriet say “Dark Force Goes very well with sweet deserts and bitter chocolate or just nipping to it in front of the fireplace.” Sweet deserts, eh? Sounds sandy.
-IBU: 65.
-The HaandBryggeriet crew consists of only four guys. They brew on a volunteer basis in their spare time in a 200-year-old wooden building that was originally used as a stable. They are digging through Norwegian history in an effort to recreate beers that may have been forgotten over time, and are taking inspiration from Norse mythology to concoct new beers. Very cool stuff.
-Here’s something that’s kind of nasty and kind of cool at the same time. HaandBryggeriet has made a copy of a traditional yeast stick, which was used to keep yeast in Norway’s old farmhouse breweries. It looks nasty as hell (scroll down the main page for the pic), but the goodness that is Dark Force would not have been possible without it.
The Quiet Man’s grade: A-.
The beer tonight is Dark Force, brewed by the HaandBryggeriet (“Hand Brewery” in English) of Drammen, Norway.
Just the name fits October’s sinister and spooky image, which is exactly what I am going for. I want a beer that embodies the dark, mysterious, and otherworldly vibe during the death knell of another year. I want a Halloween beer — something Jason Voorhees and Freddy Krueger could sit and enjoy to some black metal after stalking and killing their latest movie victim. Hobgoblin and Dark Force evoke different elements of darkness and the unknown — one more folksy and traditional and the other very sci-fi — but I think both fit October in their own way.
However, I don’t think Heinie, the beer guru at Dirty’s, grasps what I’m trying to do. When I told him I planned to possibly recommend Hobgoblin or Dark Force (depending on this review), he said, “You could do those. Hobgoblin isn’t the best beer.” I know that. It’s not the best beer in the world, but it is still good stuff and fits the season. Even after explaining I wanted something that captured the Halloween spirit, he was unmoved and suggested a saison. A saison may be a good flavor fit for the season (I wouldn’t know because I have never had a saison), but I feel he’s thinking strictly in terms of beer and, probably, sales. I’m thinking in terms of beer, season, audience, and originality.
But whatever. I’m spending too much time writing and not enough drinking beer.
Serving type: One 500 ml bottle. The label features three — THREE! — freshness quality numbers: two dates and a batch number. The “Brewed” date is “21.047.09” and the “Best bef.” date is “21.07.12.” I’m not exactly sure if that 4 in the brewed date is a typo. The “Batch” number is 236. That’s how you do it, baby.
Appearance: Straight pour into a pint glass produced a ton of chocolaty tan head. Don’t do that with this beer. I should have taken its wheat character into consideration. The color is an opaque black. No light came through. Somewhat fittingly, the head dissipated to leave a creamy, cappuccino-like spiral galaxy of dense foam.
Smell: As I let the head settle, the glass was an arm’s length away from me and I could still smell the bourbon quality mentioned in other reviews. However, the scent faded entirely after letting the glass and bottle breathe. The wheat was played up, but all the aroma qualities point to stout. Toasted coffee and dark chocolate malts, a tiny bit of caramel, and dark fruit (cherry and maybe fig).
Taste: Toasted and hop bitterness, as well as a little alcohol, upfront, which gives way to stout’s usual suspects: coffee, chocolate, and dark fruit. The taste is much sweeter than the aroma leads on; the figs and cherry from the smell play a large part in that. When I got down to the bottom for the second glass, I loosened the sedimentation and poured it in. Though a little chunky, it gave the beer a dunkelweizen quality with a little ripe banana.
Drinkability: I’m not sure what the Dark Side has to do with Norse mythology, but I like how the Norwegian woods quartet is thinking. It is not as original as they make it sound, but it is a top-notch brew. May the Dark Force be with you.
Fun facts about Dark Force:
-Style: The label classifies it as a “Double Extreme Imperial Wheat Stout,” and the HaandBryggeriet website says Dark Force is
as far as we know the only wheat stout in the universe. This is a true wheat beer made from mainly wheat malt and lots of dark roasted malts, our house wheat yeast and plenty of both bittering and aroma hops to create this unique and tasty beer.
BA, though, classifies it as a Russian Imperial Stout:
Inspired by brewers back in the 1800's to win over the Russian Czar, this is the king of stouts, boasting high alcohol by volumes and plenty of malt character. Low to moderate levels of carbonation with huge roasted, chocolate and burnt malt flavours. Often dry. Suggestions of dark fruit and flavors of higher alcohols are quite evident. Hop character can vary from none, to balanced to aggressive.
-Price: $8.99/bottle at John’s Grocery. I didn’t realize how pricey it is until I just looked at the receipt. Goddamn! This is without a doubt the most expensive beer I have ever drank.
-Serving temperature: The HaandBryggeriet website suggests 50-59ºF.
-Alcohol content: The label pegs the ABV at 9 percent, but BA lists it at 8.5 percent.
-Food pairings: The folks at HaandBryggeriet say “Dark Force Goes very well with sweet deserts and bitter chocolate or just nipping to it in front of the fireplace.” Sweet deserts, eh? Sounds sandy.
-IBU: 65.
-The HaandBryggeriet crew consists of only four guys. They brew on a volunteer basis in their spare time in a 200-year-old wooden building that was originally used as a stable. They are digging through Norwegian history in an effort to recreate beers that may have been forgotten over time, and are taking inspiration from Norse mythology to concoct new beers. Very cool stuff.
-Here’s something that’s kind of nasty and kind of cool at the same time. HaandBryggeriet has made a copy of a traditional yeast stick, which was used to keep yeast in Norway’s old farmhouse breweries. It looks nasty as hell (scroll down the main page for the pic), but the goodness that is Dark Force would not have been possible without it.
The Quiet Man’s grade: A-.
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