Ölbeat 030: Nøgne Ø Havrestout

Brewery: Nøgne Ø
Country: Norway
Style: Sweet Stout
Abv: 4,5 %
@RateBeer

Brew with oat - you'll have black beer...

Nøgne Ø, founded in 2002, is a craft brewery from Grimstad, Norway. The name of the brewery means 'naked island', referring to the name used of the barren islands near Norway's southern coast by the 19th century playwright and poet Henrik Ibsen in one of his poems, Terje Vigen. Their webpage describes the mission of the brewery "to create fantastic full bodied and handcrafted beers" and the subtitle to the brewery's name is "The Uncompromising Brewery".

What about the beer?
Colour is espresso black with small bubbly beige crown, that rebuilds as a tiny foam top after vanishing due to high carbonation and oats, probably. Aroma has coffee, dark chocolate and sweet malts with a slight roast. Taste starts with the carbonated mouthfeel, which turns to caramel and chocolate malts. Palate adds soft bitter hops and coffee with a gentle roast. Aftertaste has roasted malts and coffee.

After getting over the strongly carbonated mouthfeel, there are elements of a really fine stout. The oats added to the brew really give an extra taste to the malt. Coffee is clearly present in the aroma, but surprisingly shows up in the taste in the last minute. Very nice beer especially for the abv.

Ölbeat

The colour of the beer doesn't make it heavy. On the contrary, this stout was pretty light to drink but there was some serious soul present, so that's what we get:

Marvin Gaye: I Heard It Through the Grapevine (YouTube)

From the 1968 album, In the Groove, the song was written by Norman Whitfield and Barrett Strong for Motown Records. First recorded in 1966 by The Miracles and first released as a single in 1967 by Gladys Knight & the Pips, it was Marvin Gaye's version that became the soul classic. Gaye had an argument with the producer about singing higher than his normal range. The producer was the one to finally decide, and as we can hear Gaye's raspy overhigh vocals give the cake its icing. The sharp-hitting soul is played by the Funk Brothers and the recording was enhanced with the string section of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra. Lyrics tell a story about the betrayal of the singer's lover, that he hears from the gossiping people ("through the grapevine"), and his suffering on the ordeal. It was the serious subject and the gently floating soul that I felt with Havrestout to make this match.