Sunturnbrew (Bourbon Barrel Aged)
Nøgne Ø

Sunturnbrew (Bourbon Barrel Aged)Sunturnbrew (Bourbon Barrel Aged)
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From:
Nøgne Ø
 
Norway
Style:
American Barleywine
ABV:
11%
Score:
81
Avg:
3.37 | pDev: 17.51%
Reviews:
7
Ratings:
16
Status:
Retired
Rated:
Dec 16, 2016
Added:
Feb 24, 2013
Wants:
  4
Gots:
  2
No description / notes.
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Photo of jlindros
Reviewed by jlindros from Massachusetts

2.45/5  rDev -27.3%
look: 3.75 | smell: 3 | taste: 2 | feel: 3 | overall: 2
Been holding onto this for soooo long. Now that I'm moving, time to drink it and get it out.

Pours a light fizzy head fades quickly, leaves a little lacing, super dark murky brown color.

Nose brings plenty of bourbon still, oak barrel, big sweet candy malts, plenty of hot booze, but also fruity yeasty infection, no wonder the ratings are so low, tangy sour fruit flemmy like acidic infection.

Taste brings more infection, big sour fruity mess, tangy acidic, little flemmy, little metallic as well somehow, acrid dark malts, sticky sweet candy malts, faint bourbon if any, faint buttery oak.

Mouth is med to fuller bod, lots of small bubble carb, hot tingly booze.

Overall just bad.
Dec 16, 2016
 
Rated: 4.25 by Howlader from Canada (AB)

Feb 12, 2016
 
Rated: 3.59 by Poupae from Thailand

Jan 08, 2015
 
Rated: 3 by olradetbalder from Sweden

Nov 24, 2014
 
Rated: 3 by DNICE555 from Connecticut

Jul 17, 2014
 
Rated: 2.75 by nmann08 from Virginia

Apr 30, 2014
Photo of JasonLovesBeer
Reviewed by JasonLovesBeer from Canada (BC)

4.04/5  rDev +19.9%
look: 3.75 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 4
I agree with other reviewers that the bourbon barrel aging kind of disappears on this one, but it is an interesting and wonderful execution of a peated beer in my opinion.

The peat comes across as expansive campfire smokey air for me, filled with charred wood and charred herbs. Not too unlike a glass of Laphroaig or Ardbeg. The peat is huge and makes the beer a little one-dimensional but it's a great sipper. It is good that it comes in a small bottle, because this is something you probably want only a bit of.
Jan 18, 2014
 
Rated: 3.5 by jmtpi from France

Oct 31, 2013
 
Rated: 2.5 by Bierseligkeit from Norway

Sep 26, 2013
Photo of Phyl21ca
Reviewed by Phyl21ca from Canada (QC)

3.43/5  rDev +1.8%
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.25 | feel: 3 | overall: 3.5
Bottle: Poured a cloudy deep brown color ale with a medium size dark brown foamy head with average retention and some light lacing. Aroma of peat smoked malt with some bourbon notes and quiet a bit of residual sugar notes. Taste is a sweet mix of caramelized malt with plenty of residual sugar and some bourbon notes with limited vanilla coming out with a heavy peat smoke finish. Body is full with limited filtration and medium carbonation with some warming alcohol notes discernable. This is a very intense experience with some complexity and limited drinkability (good idea to bottle this in nip size bottle). The bourbon notes might be a bit too straightforward and probably too much residual sugar kind of ruined what could have been abetter experience.
Jul 18, 2013
 
Rated: 3.75 by Kirk from England

Jun 23, 2013
 
Rated: 4 by Hultkrantz from Sweden

Jun 16, 2013
Photo of biboergosum
Reviewed by biboergosum from Canada (AB)

3.42/5  rDev +1.5%
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3
250ml bottle. The base incarnation of this offering damned near knocked me for a loop last summer, in all its unexpected full frontal peat assault. Let's see what the bourbon barrel does for it.

This beer pours a very hazy, dark orange-tinted dirty dishwater hue, with two fingers of puffy, bubbly and tightly foamy beige head, which leaves a random array of snowbank lace around the glass as it evenly subsides.

It smells of smokey, mildly peaty caramel malt, edgily medicinal alcohol, acidic black fruit, singed citrus rind, wet pine needles, a hint of vanilla, and very soft grainy wood notes. The taste is meaty smoked caramel/salted toffee malt, fruity cough drops, sharp citrus juice, dry white wine, softly whiskey-soused wooden barrel staves, and drowned pine resin.

The carbonation is fairly understated, and near invisible, the body medium-light in weight, a tad too sharp to be considered all that smooth, even though you can feel the attempt. It finishes off-dry, the smokey peat, alcohol, and battered caramel malt sort of weirdly off-put by the lingering citrus and pine hoppiness.

Well, not the gag-inducing affair that I experienced (sadly more than once) before with this beer's un-wooded predecessor. However, the alcohol seems to thin this out in its dominance, while the peat remains out of place, and the hops are still stunned by it all - I'm with them.
May 04, 2013
Photo of peensteen
Reviewed by peensteen from Canada (ON)

2.77/5  rDev -17.8%
look: 3.25 | smell: 3 | taste: 2.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 2.5
Deep red-brown colour, faint collar of tan around the edges, no lace at all. Smell is almost all peated malt, salty with some smoke, a bit of bourbon and vanilla, only a bit of oak, malty with some caramel but mostly a great deal of salt water. Taste is very similar to the nose lots of salty/iodine flavours, peat, only a bit of bourbon and vanilla, malty with some sweet caramel sugars, woody-peaty finish. Lightly carbonated, medium full body, decent feel for a barleywine. This while not horrible still isn't very good, from an 8.5oz bottle split with 1 other person I still didn't finish my glass.
Apr 06, 2013
Photo of liamt07
Reviewed by liamt07 from Canada (ON)

3.01/5  rDev -10.7%
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.25 | taste: 3 | feel: 3 | overall: 2.5
Bottle shared by Pino, 250ml bottle into a tulip. Best before July 17, 2017.

Muddy reddish brown, beige head that leaves back a film and a some lacing. Nose has peat and smoke upfront, bourbon barrels are just behind this. Iodine and salt as well, with a malty/toffee/molasses buried deep behind this and almost completely destroyed by the aforementioned qualities. Palate has iodine, peat, smoke and salt again at the forefront, almost sour in quality. Light bourbon and some malt sweetness buried underneath this again and only presents as an afterthought. Thinner mouthfeel and low carbonation. Not impressed, peat manages to overpower even the bourbon barrels this was aged in.
Mar 17, 2013
Photo of lacqueredmouse
Reviewed by lacqueredmouse from Australia

4.39/5  rDev +30.3%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.25
Small 250ml bottle purchased from Slowbeer in Melbourne. Shared with Adrian (aka @headlessclown).

Pours a shadowy, cloudy brown colour with a minimal, fussy off-white head. Lace forms speckled dots, like the spot on a slug. Body is fluid but thick. Carbonation is fine, and quite powdery and flurrying when tilted. It looks really good.

Nose is smoky, deep, boozy and rich. Big peated notes, some sharpness (partially alcohol, partially hops, perhaps), burnt lemon and medicinal overtones. Hops are indeed present: noticeable pine and resin come through later. There's not a huge sweetness or residual body. But it works as a big barleywine anyway. Great stuff.

Acidity on the palate, which I didn't expect: perhaps it's just the booze stretching or contracting my tongue. Sharp and smoky, more of that tartness, lots of vinous oak characters, grape vine leaf and a bit of aniseed. Wow this is complex stuff. It's still unashamedly boozy—very boozy in fact, you can feel, smell and taste the alcohol throughout. It's sharp, toasty, smoky and intense. Holy crap.

Intense. Yes. That's intense. It's different to what I thought it would be: I remember the original Sunturnbrew being complex, but somewhat sweet and comfortable. I assumed the barrel aging would give it more roundness, perhaps a little more integration. But instead it adds booziness, intensity and sharpness. Still, it's extremely good.
Feb 24, 2013
Sunturnbrew (Bourbon Barrel Aged) from Nøgne Ø
Beer rating: 81 out of 100 with 16 ratings