Blåkulla
Gamla Slottskällans Bryggeri AB

 

 

Appearance: Slottkällans Blåkulla pours a maroon-to-ruby colour along with a creamy, darker-shade-of-beige-crown, while the occasional bubble ascends.

Smell: Butterscotch, malts in the sweet style of hazelnut cream while some plum-like aroma which -- at times -- is interchangeable with that of sour cherries. Overall, really malty, the hops are, with the exception of the sporadic emergence of the acidic freshness of the cherries, not prominent at all.

Taste: Here it takes a turn in favour of the aforementioned sourness, but not for all too long, since the mellow bitterness pops up, but this is almost as rapidly replaced as the dominant tone of dry and burnt malts. However, this taste may be boasting the best longevity but it still holds a mellow tone. Finally, the sourness strikes back and gets intermixed with the burnt malt, this in combination with the late reappearance of the butterscotch-like sweetness gives a nice ending to it, a taste reminiscent of dark chocolate embedded with cherries.

Mouthfeel: A tad too watery for my taste, somewhat creamy and overall rather low in carbonation.

Drinkability: Gentle and well-balanced is the name of the game, almost too gentle at times. Nevertheless, composed in a mellow manner, but failing at none of its ambitions at that level of persona.

A clear dark amber with a hint of ruby, a beige quickly dissipating head that leaves little lacing.

The smell has some upfront sweetness with dried fruits, raisins and caramel, some burnt bread, a hint of hops.

The taste is mainly sweet and malty, but has a good finish from bitter hops. Syrup, dark bread, bitter orange and a metallic presence.

Medium high carbonation, quite refreshing, some alcohol and dry finish.

Rather well balanced, a slightly above average "Easter beer".

This beer comes in a 50 cl brown short-necked bollte. The label is white and purple in the typical "Slottskällans-cross". Looks nice.

A: Dark amber, brownish. The off-white head is rather small and dissipates rather quickly, but leaves nice lacings.

S: Roasted sweet malt, dark dried fruits. Some bitterhops. Hazelnuts and faint chocolate.

T: Light roasted malt, chocholate and dark dried fruit. Bitter hops.

M: Aftertaste is nice and long-lasting. Holds some sweetness and lots of bitterness. Body is medium and carbonation is moderate.

D: Nice beer to accompany the Swedish easterfood, perhaps together with Swedish snaps (flavoured vodka, possibly wormwood).

Serving date: 2009-03-29.

A: Glowing amber. 2 cm pale beige and slightly uneven head. Small lacings.

S: A very fresh and pleasant smell. Not very complex, though. Bread, some nuts, chocolate and malts.

T: A rather one-sided malty backbone. White bread, roasted flavors, spices. Sweet berries and fruits (gooseberries? blackcurrants?). Some piny and grassy hops. A slightly bitter and metallic finish with some notes of nuts and lingering spices. All in all, it's a very refreshing taste.

M: Moderate body. Fine-tuned carbonation with small and lively bubbles.

D: A well crafted beer, but kind of anonymous. Very refreshing and easy to drink.

500 mL Bottle, Stockholm, Sweden. Dark golden/bronze color. Aroma has some biscuit and toffee like notes, maybe some herbs, but it is otherwise, a bit sparse, nothing I enjoy. Flavor has some nuttiness, caramel and husky malt. Poor finish. Hardly drinkable.

Poured with a dark amber color and with lots of foam. The smell was fruity with notes of oranges and cloves. The taste was iinitially of metal with some sweetness and bread notes. After some time a bitterness and a taste of honey and toffee seemed to emerge. The bubbles were really hard. To be honest I found it a bit disappointing and a little watery.

The colour is rich dark brown – wine red. The finger thick foam slowly sinks down to a thin pale beige lid. Some lacing occurs.

The smell is dry and very malty with roasted notes of nuts, bitter-sour aroma hops and a touch off paraffin.

The taste is a bit chemical with lots of lightly roasted malt, passing sweet notes and some fine background bitterness. The long aftertaste is balanced with some bitter grape fruits, butterscotch, and some hints of alcohol, roast beef (gravy?) and dark rye bread.

The carbonation is quite strong but not too strong, it lightens the somewhat heavy flavours a bit. Small bubbles.

Perhaps not an ideal beer for the Easter dinner, but a damn fine one for the lazy evening afterwards.

This beer is brewed with slightly rosted munich malt. So the colour is dark brownish-red. The head disappers quickly leaving just a thin, thin ring. It has a big roasted smell and some hints of hops. The taste is malty and with taste of dark bread. In the after taste you get a quite bitter and hoppy feeling.

i like it it, similiar toasty burnt flavour found in a lot of Slottskalans brews. A touch sticky, ever so slight bittering hops in the finish, more burnt malt noticed. i actually quite enjoyed it as a session dunkel, but nothing overly special.