Kaggen! Stormaktsporter - Närke Kulturbryggeri AB

rallison

California

4.95/5  rDev +6.5%
look: 5 | smell: 5 | taste: 5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 5

Thank you Bonus Beer Bob for the chance to try this incredibly rare beer. While I've had it once before, this was the only time I've had more than a couple of sips, and enough to properly wrap my head around the beer. Thanks dude.

Pours a thick, viscous, oily black. Tan, creamy head. Beautiful.

Chocolate, honey, creamy espresso in the smell. Notes of brown sugar and vanilla. Complex. Wonderful. Inviting.

Huge, rich, creamy chocolate, brown sugar, tobacco, dark fruits, oak all slowly unveil themselves in the taste. Caramel and vanilla notes. Honey carries through from the smell as well and provides a very nice, unique note in this beer.

Super rich, super creamy mouthfeel with virtually no alcohol heat. Excellent.

Extremely drinkable.

Every once in a while, a beer lives up to the hype. This is one of those. Incredibly complex, with layers of complexity that are slowly peeled back, sip after sip. All this, and no noticeable flaws to dampen the enjoyment. Awesome beer. Keg for my home, please? Ha, I wish. So, in summary, this beer sucks. Don't seek it out. Avoid at all costs. /sarcasm.

Serving type: bottle

03-30-2009 03:23:30 | More by rallison

tjthresh

Indiana

4.3/5  rDev -7.5%
look: 4 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 5 | overall: 4.5

Pours dark roast coffee black, with an oily looking texture, and what little head that could be conjured up was brown with a reddish tint. Deep rich aroma, of oak, bourbon, wet tobacco, asphalt, coffee, and charred marshmallow. The flavor comes over like an alcoholic cafe mocha. Pretty nice. On top of that I get some anise, bourbon, oak, vanilla, and lingering bitterness and alcohol. The mouthfeel and body are substantial, but not overwhelming. Oily and mouth filling. Long dry gritty finish. Believe the hype.

Serving type: bottle

03-19-2009 23:56:59 | More by tjthresh

TexasStout

Texas

4.97/5  rDev +6.9%
look: 4.5 | smell: 5 | taste: 5 | feel: 5 | overall: 5

Appear: Poured pitch black with a tiny, light brown head.

Smell: Nose was of roast malt and oak with some bourbon. As it warmed, the aromas enhanced to include some coffee and chocolate.

Taste: Taste was incredible. Delicious chocolate, fruit, vanilla and bourbon.

Mouthfeel: The texture was chewy, yet there was no harshness here. Slight alcohol warmth. Very complex.

drinkability: This was the best tasting beer I have ever had, by far. Truly fantastic. Give me a supply of these and I would never drink anything else again. The perfect beer.

BTW, this is classified here as a porter, but it is definitely an Imperial Stout.

Serving type: bottle

01-29-2009 04:44:26 | More by TexasStout

ggaughan

Pennsylvania

4.33/5  rDev -6.9%
look: 4 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

The bottle I sampled was a 2005 bottle that my cousin krkearney shared with me around the Christmas holiday, thanks Keith! The beer poured a deep black hole color with a deep brown head that runs away quickly. The nose had some wonderful chocolate and caramel notes. The taste has a definite bitter chocolate taste with some dried fruit notes and a great malty backbone. I am glad I finally got a chance to try one of the Narke beers.

Serving type: bottle

01-06-2009 20:57:05 | More by ggaughan

badbeer

Iowa

3.9/5  rDev -16.1%
look: 4 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

Black with a tan head, spotty lacing; head recedes to a ring around the glass. Chocolate, roasty coffee, graham cracker, and some ash. Taste is roasty, maple, molasses, vanilla, and seemed to have a fair amount of earthy hops too. Medium carbonation and medium body. Pretty good beer, but not really the amazing beer it's made out to be. Thanks to pepsican for sharing. I'd be interested in trying this again, but not for the price this commands in trades.

Serving type: bottle

01-03-2009 04:11:43 | More by badbeer

Bananaman

Sweden

4.9/5  rDev +5.4%
look: 5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 5 | feel: 5 | overall: 5

Aww.. So wonderful, this beer is really brilliant and I think it lives up to it's reputation.

Dark-brown almost black color, and the bottle is so really cool too, looks kind of mystic.

The taste/smell is wonderful, big flavours of chocolate, fudge, vanilla, honey and some oak-character.

Great brew from Närke Kulturbryggeri! Luckily enough I have had the chance to drink this one twice!

Serving type: bottle

08-18-2008 10:25:34 | More by Bananaman

Ljunkan

Sweden

5/5  rDev +7.5%
look: 5 | smell: 5 | taste: 5 | feel: 5 | overall: 5

Appereance: Dark brown, almost black color

Smell: Wonderful chocolate/vanilla smell, extremely pleasant. I could smell this all day long.

Taste: Even better! Chocolate, caramel/toffee, honey and vanilla with some oaky tones. There's also some fruit behind all this.

Mouthfeel thick, creamy and smooth... extremely good.

Drinkability: goes down pretty easy for this kind of beer. Nothing to drink many of but one bottle is no problem. I drank one by myself the first time I tried it, and the second time I shared it with a friend.

This is the best beer I've ever tried and I hope oneday I will find it again.

Serving type: bottle

06-25-2008 11:00:20 | More by Ljunkan

Crosling

Colorado

4.63/5  rDev -0.4%
look: 5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 5

Bottle, 2005, Akkurat, Stockholm, Sweden. Inky black pour, opaque, with a lasting filmy head of dark brown foam. Aroma is multi-dimensional and incredibly impressive, with hints of tobacco leaves, honey, every decadent dessert (truffle and fudge cake,) and a light touch of whiskey. Wow, what a nose. Flavor is incredible, but doesn't have the expression, definition or finish of the regular Stormaktsporter. Flavors of chocolate and caramel, toffee and cappuccino, while the barrel contributes a touch of whiskey. A world class beer, but I prefer the regular Stormaktsporter.

Serving type: bottle

06-11-2008 14:52:31 | More by Crosling

baggio

Sweden

4.53/5  rDev -2.6%
look: 4 | smell: 5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 5 | overall: 4

Finally got to try this, very hyped, beer and for an affordable price at 30USD for a, approx, 8.5oz bottle :-)

A: Dark dark dark red with a creamy beige head.

S: Oak, Vanilla, Honey, Portwine, Fruit

T: Bitter chocolate, Vanilla, Cream, Brown sugar, Cherries.

M: Smooth as silk but liquid is very thick and creamy. Low carbonation.

This is, hands down, one of the best beers i've ever had the pleasure to sample. Very filling tho and sharing a small bottle among 2 people were just perfect. If you can ever get hold of this little beauty, do not hesitate. Highly recommended!

Serving type: bottle

05-14-2008 07:00:53 | More by baggio

4.65/5  rDev 0%
look: 4.5 | smell: 5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 5 | overall: 4.5

Enjoyed a 2005 vintage at The Rover, looked like an 11oz. bottle. You have to ask for it, as it isn't really displayed.

Opaque black, viscous fluid. Large dark tan head. Head faded fast, but was easily stirred up again. Great legs.

Scents of raisins, blackstrap molasses and ginger bread. Most often, I get port when I smell a stout, this time it was more like scotch - maybe the barrel aging? Alcohol popped up occasionally, but not too much so. Bittersweet chocolate.

Taste was vanilla and smoke. Throw in some cherries, dark of course. Here comes the scotch. Now a bit of licorice. I am really not doing this beer the justice it deserves....
Finish me off with just a bit of hop bitterness at the end.

Light bodied (just kidding). Heavy as they come, no doubt. Hard to figure out carbonation, it seems low, but beer comes across as almost creamy. Probably more carbonation there than you can easily perceive with a beer of this heft. Alcohol warming starts to make it's appearance very quickly.

Overall, a fantastic beer. Shame that it's production is only 500 liters annually and that it doesn't appear to make it out of Sweden.

Serving type: bottle

12-08-2006 20:41:25 | More by

lagomswedish

Sweden

4.9/5  rDev +5.4%
look: 5 | smell: 5 | taste: 5 | feel: 5 | overall: 4.5

There are moments in your beer life when you're fortunate enough to be in the right place at the right time. Last week I found myself sitting down with one of the brewers at Närke, who personally took me through his range of outstanding beers.
By far the best of a great bunch was the Stormaktsporter - a rare (unlabeled) bottle from 2005 that had been matured in a whisky cask for a couple of months.
I was told there's only a few hundred litres of this left in the world - just as well I managed to slip a bottle into my pocket before I left!

appearance - pours as thick as engine oil. Ink black body, with a thick, creamy earthy brown head. This beer demands your respect and attention.

Smell - soooo complex. Layer upon layer upon layer, with distinct vinous qualities, buttery chocolate, coffee, spirit-soaked fruits and oak wood.

Taste - Exceptional. Port wine, mixed with powerful dark fruits (a hint of liquorice?), vanilla toffee, chocolate, expresso coffee and lightly burnt sugar. You could scoop the head up and dollop it straight onto vanilla ice-cream!

Mouthfeel - despite its oily colour, the mouthfeel is decadently smooth, and totally in keeping with this style of beer. Top marks.

Drinkability - I'm torn between giving it a '5' or a '4.5' - it's such an overwhelmingly great beer that I tried almost everything to avoid reaching the end of the glass. Twisted logic I know - but with this stuff so hard to come by I really mean it!

I've really going to treasure my one 250ml bottle of Kaggens Stormaktsporter. Quite simply it's the best Swedish beer I have ever tasted.

Full-stop.

Serving type: bottle

10-14-2006 16:57:41 | More by lagomswedish