Beer review : US DARK ALE by LOTTRUP
"8 malts, 4 american hops and oats. Licorice for taste and rounded with Muscovado sugar" ... this is the statement on the back label. Muscovado is a high flavored, brown, unrefined cane type sugar. So with that information in mind, lets get to the review.
The colour is dark to black ruby brown. The foam is small and disappears fairly quickly. Straight out of the fridge the nose is weak and the taste is very bitter and there is a strong notion of hard, old licorice. But after some tempering, things start to fall in line.
The nose is still gentle yet with a clear, warm licorice and roasted malts. Spicy but not too complex. The taste is more rounded now when tempered, the bitternes is still present, but not overpowering. Lots of malt, quite sweet, but the licorice and acidity of the hops helps even out the sweetness, so that it does not become sticky-sweet christmas beer.
The sweetness is the best quality, it is longlasting in the aftertaste and keeps delivering nuances combined with a light touch of bitter coffee, which i dare say must be tfrom the quality of the muscovado sugar's rich details. The carbondioxide is medium, which is correctly balanced.
I do get a strange wooden taste in the long afterglow, that i cannot place... it goes a long way back to my childhood. It must have been from biting in twigs and stuff building huts in the forest.
You must let this one warm a bit before tasting, otherwise you have wasted your money. It is like night and day. It does not try to be pretentious, it just delivers a good, full taste of dark rich ale and the hit is the impressive aftertaste, that keeps bringing small injections long after your last sip. A recommended beer.
Rating: 4.0 /5.0
Sounds great! Haven't had anything from Lottrup, yet.
Ill look out for other brews from them, to review :-)