Beer - #301 - The Twisted Hop - Nokabollokov

bwahaha and so it's back to reality with this  The Twisted Hop Nokabollokov.

Brewed by The Twisted Hop in the style of an Imperial Stout in the lovely Christchurch, New Zealand. I know it's lovely I've been there.

Which means I'm still in the stout vein that I got into recently. But that's ok.

This is a 330ml bottle of an 8% ABV beer, with  75 IBU's which makes it  2 standard drinks and 240 calories.

An Imperial Russian Stout strong enough to warm your cockles during long Baltic winters. Mind how you go. (Not recommended for those undergoing fertility treatment)

I like the idea that this is beer that makes me sit back and not take myself seriously either.

Nokabollokov 8.0% Russian Imperial Stout.  This is a very strong dark beer, first brewed in the 18th century in London for export to the court of Catherine II of Russia.  The extra alcoholic strenght was required to prevent the beer from freezing on its journey over the Russian plains.  Well, that was their story anyway!  Limited stocks available in 330ml bottles.

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More fruit than anything on opening this, Dark dark poor with a great chocolate coloured head that is persistent and fluffy.  Aroma still more fruits than anything else I can pick.

Musty mixed bitter and chocolate note.

But this needs to be dialled up to 11 to make improvement, the malingering bitterness detracts from the other things, and this is really a bit dry on the finish.

Not a raving success that makes it only to 6 on the pduybyah-o-meter.  Average is as average is.  I feel mean to mark it down but it's not making me smile, it;s not easy to drink and it's sitting there looking all mardy and sulky.

Far to fruity, a bit dry, lacking clarity, and needs more work is what I think, and remember this is only what I think.  I've had a few stouts recently and there are a few good ones in there, and this can't shine a light on those.

To quote a lyric from the music that I'm listening to "I wish I didn't know now what I didn't know then"  which is Bon Seger from - Against the Wind and not that other jonny come lately.

Don't ask how this happened but I'm listening to Bob Seger, and I'm enjoying it.

But then I would :)

IMPERIAL STOUT

Imperial stouts are usually extremely dark brown to black in color with flavors that are intensely malty, deeply roasted and sometimes with accents of dark fruit (raisin, fig) or milk sourness. The bitterness is typically medium and often the low sie of that. Imperial stouts are strong and often exceed 8% by volume.

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Beer - #266 - De Molen - Hel & Verdoemenis (Hell & Damnation)

Paired with the Kopi Loewak is this - De Molen Hel & Verdoemenis (Hell & Damnation),  Brewed by Brouwerij de Molen and styled: Imperial Stout in Bodegraven, Netherlands.

Brewed with brown malts, an English traditional specialty malt, we created an Imperial Russian Stout that has won prizes at festivals across Europe from Sweden to Italy. It’s big (10% ABV), black, roasted and complex. We are convinced that not trying this ale will be a mortal sin to your taste buds and beer experience.

The third RIS, Rasputin a Belgian IS. Tsarina Esra a Scandinavian/US RIS Now Hel & Verdoemenis, used old malts for this one like brown malts. (!)

The usual 330ml bottle, of this a 10%ABV beer - which is 2.6 standard drink units in NZ. Coming in at around 300 calories. This particular bottle was bottled on  9th November 2012 and good for seemingly 25 years.

This is the beer after a hard act to follow. the Kopi Loewak. I'm game though.

This has a much deeper coffee/chocolate aroma on opening. Pouts a deep dark black, with no head at all, There is a really soft carbonation in this because you can see it dancing in the glass. It must be me.

Settles to much more muted aroma in the glass, again with a background of fruits and raisins, might be the malts I might be daydreaming.

That is much bitterer and sour like than I was expecting, which makes no sense.

The sourness is almost almost "the beer" but it shouldn't be so.  There is some coffee, and there are some steeped fruits, like raisins, in this. Not sure where the sourness comes in, because it's not bitterness, but it is really pronounced.

There's no hint at the alcohol content with this either. I am however resigned to the fact that, and I may have mentioned this, that this is sour.

The pdubyah-o-meter frowns the frown of the confused. Of the two beers this is the one I thought would be the better.  I'm confident that I wouldn't be thinking differently if I'd had these beers in different order.

So, not for me,  sadly, but I'm going to be arbitrarily objective. But it is arbitrary and I'm not sure I'm to far from the centre in my opinions.  The pdubyah-o-meter then creaks it's weary way to 7, good, because it is actually not all bad. The underlying sweetness is there, the fruits and sweetness in the carry is nice, it's just the journey is carried on a sourness that again I wasn't expecting.

I'm thinking though that the sourness might be coffee bitterness, which is like trying to find a justification, but I really didn't enjoy this and I have been a lot harsher on better beers. This didn't live up to billing, as it warms up I don't expect it to get better. I'm going to have some cheese and crackers.

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