I have never heard of Nordeast and I'm not a fan of dark beers, I remember the first dark beer I ever had and it was named "Old Chicago Dark" , I drank one of those on a Sunday afternoon when I was at home as a teenager at dinner time. That one beer was like drinking a six pack, I was a little tipsy from it, plus I just didn't care for the taste.
I do know that I had several friends in high school that thought they could keep up with me on drinking beer that ended up sick and puking because they had no previous drinking experience, so starting young and under controlled conditions or restrictions was a benefit for me.