Midvinter Mörk
Gamla Slottskällans Bryggeri AB

Oct. 2006: (500 ml bottle, as Slottskällans Wien). Beautiful dark reddish brown colour, low head. Interesting strong aroma, initially it’s overwhelming horse stable / fresh horse droppings(!), later the caramel, molasses and malts come through. Malty sweetness is well balanced by the hops, pleasant mellow aftertaste. I’ll leave it to the "style police" to discuss if this is Vienna or Munich dunkel - IMO the Swedes have done a reasonably good job with this beer.

 

The colour is deep dark amber. The low off white foam forms a quickly sinking head, just leaving a minor ring without much lacing.

The smell is burned and a bit sweet. There is also a chemical note of plastic (Fuggle hops?), cocoa and a fresh hint of bitter hops.

The taste is at first very chemical with notes of sealing wax, printed circuits and burning plastic. It is however soon replaced by a fine semi-sweet malty flavour with some salty roasted notes, which develops into a creamy, dry, somewhat bitter taste. The aftertaste is unexpectedly short as the malts leave place for a milder variant of the hoppy flavours.

The mouthfeel is creamy with mot so many medium-sized bubbles.

An interesting dark lager, but in my opinion the daring selection of hops is more interesting as a proof of concept than a successful product. Nice try, though.