I recently picked up a bottle of Wild Thing from Haand Bryggeriet. The label proclaims it to be a Norwegian Ale with Cranberries and Currants Added. Hmmm…sounded promising. I’m not familiar with Norwegian Ale, but the tartness of cranberries and currents sounded like it would be a slightly tart fruit beer…and it was. But it also had the unmistakable flavor of ashtray. I’m not saying I have licked an ashtray, but I have taken a sip from a bottle that someone has used as an ashtray…and have done so on more than one occasion. At no time have I intentionally sipped ashtray beer….but…Haand Bryggeriet have somehow bottled that distinct flavor and have sent it into distribution. Maybe the ashtray flavor is the Norwegian Ale distinctive trademark, and I just didn’t know.
I took a mouthful, swished around…swallowed…grimaced…and quickly followed it with a water chaser. I picked up the bottle, read it…again…took another big sip, swallowed….then poured the rest of my glass down the sink. yuck.
But…hey…if you like that flavor, this may be your beer…and you don’t even have to fish out the cigarette butt with a fork to enjoy it. Cheers.
