Bestefar
HaandBryggeriet

4.05/5  rDev +4.4%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 4 | overall: 4
by Sigmund from Norway

500 ml bottle, courtesy of Cardinal Pub & Bar, Stavanger. ABV is 9%, IBU 28. Brewed 22.06.10, bottled 03.08.10. Black colour, big to moderate tan head. Lovely vinous aroma, notes of red berries and dark fruits, hints of vanilla, spices, leather and oak. Soft and warming mouthfeel. The flavour has moderately sweet malts (not much roastiness), chocolate and dark fruits, moderate bitterness, hints of spices and liquorice in the finish. A soothing beer indeed.

Jan 09, 2022

4.06/5  rDev +4.6%
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4
by bret717 from Pennsylvania

Look- Pours cola brown w/a billowing 2 finger head that takes awhile to go down

Smell- dark chocolate, smoke, nutty

Taste- follows nos, also getting some black licorice, bitter roast, and something herbal

Feel- medium bodied

Overall- interesting mix of flavors that work well together

Mar 03, 2018

4.5/5  rDev +16%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5
by dcotom from Iowa

Although this is classified as a winter warmer, it has all the characteristics I look for in a Russian Imperial Stout. Deep chestnut color with ruby highlights, long-lasting tan head, big aromas and flavors of dark roasted malts, burnt coffee, and cocoa, a little dark cherry tartness, creamy mouthfeel, clean finish. Overall, an excellent beer that I'd drink year round.

Mar 08, 2017

3.09/5  rDev -20.4%
look: 4.5 | smell: 3 | taste: 2.75 | feel: 4 | overall: 3
by thebeers from Pennsylvania

Plum brown with a finger of lush, dark khaki head that leaves sheets of lacing.

Umami, light smoke and malty sweetness in the aroma. This carries over to the taste. It reminds me a bit of meaty olives and beef broth. There's almost a salty quality to it. Then there's dark fruit and a kiss of caramel malt behind, and maybe a little chocolate and coffee behind that.

Thick bodied and creamy mouthfeel.

It's purty lookin, by otherwise ain't my thing. More experimental rauchbier than winter warmer in my book. If you like lightly smokey umami, go for it.

Feb 03, 2017

4.22/5  rDev +8.8%
look: 4 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25
by makromaniak from Belgium

A dark brown to black pour with a beige head. Great aroma of burned malts, caramel, juniper, liquorice, smoke, spices and a bit of chocolate. Taste is amazing...burned n smokey malts, caramel, juniper, red fruit, liquorice, unknown spices?, some coffee, yeast and a bit of chocolate. Great weird beer!

Jan 11, 2017

4.21/5  rDev +8.5%
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.25
by bluejacket74 from Ohio

500 ml bottle, Batch 918, brewed on Sept. 15, 2015 and bottled on Oct. 13, 2015. Served in a nonic pint glass, the beer pours a very dark brown color with about an inch tan head. Head retention and lacing are both good. Aroma is nice and smoky, the brew smells like smoked malt, molasses, chocolate, and dark fruit. For the most part I think the taste is like the aroma, but there's also some woodiness and Tootsie Roll flavors noticeable. Mouthfeel/body is medium, it's a bit slick and smooth with a low/moderate amount of carbonation. I think it's a good overall brew, I liked the smokiness in it. The smoke is there, but it doesn't overpower the rest of the brew. Definitely worth picking up! $8.99 a bottle.

Dec 09, 2016

4/5  rDev +3.1%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4
by SmithyAlan from Canada (QC)

woody smoke, charred mixed with fruit cake and holiday spices.

Nov 22, 2016

2.18/5  rDev -43.8%
look: 3 | smell: 2.5 | taste: 2 | feel: 2 | overall: 2
by josanguapo from Spain

From Zombier. In Teku glass. Watching Los Soprano 4x10-11. Pretty smoky, not so much to make it disgusting but enough to not make it easy to drink. ABV well hidden. Low on foam

Oct 16, 2016

4.23/5  rDev +9%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.25
by EMV from Pennsylvania

Poured from a mini-bomber into a tulip.

L: Pours an inky black... thin brown head with sparse lacing.

S: Roasted malts and woodsmoke... vanilla and oak... dark sugars and plum.

T/F: Big time roasted malts... smokey and rich, dark sugars... vanilla... complex and luscious. Notes of chocolate and espresso. Tart cherry and dark fruits. Low carbonation. Sticky... finish is slight hops and char with some bitterness.

O: Wow is there a lot going on with this beer. Very complex and rich... one to sit and savor on a cold winter day.. or a sweltering August day (as I chose for whatever reason). Very solid beer, and I didn't know that they brewed'em like this in Norway.

Aug 13, 2016

4/5  rDev +3.1%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4
by brentk56 from North Carolina

Batch 447 (Feb 2012)

Appearance: Builds a huge head of beige foam that sits atop the fudge brown liquid; excellent retention and some dots of lacing hang around

Smell: Chocolate fudge, molasses, vanilla and dark fruit; perhaps some spruce and smoke

Taste: Like the aroma, elements of chocolate, vanilla, chicory, smoke and spruce; in the middle, there is a developing sweetness that brings a touch of molasses; after the swallow, the chicory and wood flavors create a somewhat bitter sensation

Mouthfeel: Medium to full body with moderate carbonation

Overall: This is sure a hard beer to pin down but that is what it makes it very interesting; I have been enthusiastic about most of the beers from this brewery and this continues the trend

Feb 23, 2015

3.9/5  rDev +0.5%
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 4
by BlazerT from Poland

Bottle. Black with medium, beige head. Medicore lacing. Poor lasting. Aroma of roasted malts (mainly milk chocolate) and tart dark fruits notes (cherries in chocolate), some sour wood. Taste is semi-sweet with quite noticable dark fruits flavours (rasins, currants). Light to medium bitterness esp. in the end. Medium to full body, semi-sweet, soft cabronation, oily texture, finish is quite bitter, no alcohol warmth. In general nice beer, despite high ABV no alc. noticable, highly drinkable with some nice sour accents.

Feb 09, 2015

4.1/5  rDev +5.7%
look: 4 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 4
by UrbanCaveman from Ohio

1 pint 9 oz bottle, poured into a snifter at approximately 45 degrees F.

Appearance: Pours a deep mahogany brown, which doesn't let much light through in an ordinarily-lit room. Forms a decent-sized pale tan head with good retention, though little to no lacing.

Smell: That's interesting. There's more than a hint of some Belgian-esque yeast, with dark fruit and banana in the nose, atop a sweet malty backbone. There's a just a faint hint of something musty beneath. This smells not unlike a quad, or BSDA.

Taste: Sour springs forth instantly as it touches the tongue, a dry, acetic sour that reminds one of a balsamic vinegar. The sourness floats atop a richly sweet malt, which itself contains dark fruits - hints of plum and black cherry. Through the middle, tones of fireplace ashes and leaves appear and disappear. The finish leaves a touch of the balsamic vinegar, mingled with an almost soda-like sweetness and a trace of burnt wood.

Mouthfeel: Very carbonated, almost sharp to drink, which the vinegar sourness plays off of.

Overall: An interesting beer, definitely of a sort I have never encountered before - much like a Flanders Red or Oud Bruin meeting a quadrupel. I don't know that I would repeat it, but it made for a fascinating experience.

Feb 09, 2015

4/5  rDev +3.1%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4
by candcholt from Pennsylvania

Served on draught in a goblet. Classic winter warmer.

Jan 18, 2015

3.8/5  rDev -2.1%
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 4
by allforbetterbeer from Colorado

500 mL bottle bought on sale after Christmas for $6.95. Poured into a St. Bernardus Chalice. Batch 593, 2280 bottles made (according to label). No date, but from the store this is apparently a recent vintage.

Very opaque and murky dark brown body under a fizzy brown head.

Intense and aromatic nose. Brown apples, molasses, yeast, wort, something like tootsie roll and after swirling, a touch of fireplace.

Massive carbonation is limiting my ability to discern flavors initially. Swirling produces a huge head.The flavor has an interesting complexity, and makes me wonder if this is something like a BSDA mixed with a little tart/sour oud bruin or other flanders style beer. If one was to dry and powder tootsie rolls, I think I taste that. Some yeasty phenolic spice, and some little ripe fruit esters. A small portion of malt, and an interesting tartness. Not sour, but but more tart and semi-dry. Maybe a slight hint of lemon.

This beer has rich carbonation even after some swirling. Otherwise the feel is not all that heavy from the tartness. Feels as if it was made with some sugar.

Conclusion: This is a layered and complex beer. Very interesting flavors, and mostly yeast-driven I think. Very non-American, which is nice. I wonder if it could stand up to a few years of age without much residual sugars, because I would like to see what is underneath all the yeasty phenolic and estery flavors.

Jan 05, 2015