vann. AKA the Devil's Mouthwash. In Norwegian, naturally. Old Ale, or some variation on that. 11.5% ABV. Or is it an Imperial Stout?
Now, I enter the dilemma at hand. I bought this at the brewery on Saturday, with the intention of bringing it to a party on Monday. But, I started feeling ill Monday and knew I couldn't attend the party and enjoy the festivities to the fullest. On the other hand, there's not a lot of carbonation in these Hammerheart growlers, so I don't trust keeping them until the next party, and I believe that I will crack it now, that I am finally out of the grasp of the cold that had me, and I will strive to down it in all the consecutive evenings, gatherings be damned. My worries about the length of the growler has been assuaged by the fact that the Jormungandrs Blod growler that I opened on Sunday and didn't touch again until tonight was still fine. And so…
Let's drink up the Devil's Mouthwash….
Solid darkness, black as all evil, the color of sin and soot, with a slim, dark brown head, starting thick and rich, turning to a tight ring.
Aroma: roast and toast, deep with cocoa tones, espresso hints, echoes of molasses. Don't think these words mean I'm damning with faint praise, only that there are hints and echoes of these flavors, but they're not right there in person, so to speak. nothing wrong with that. I quite like it, actually. There's bittersweetness and deep maltiness, and it's quite lovely.
Taste: Big and beefy, massive in the mouth. All those flavors return with hints and echoes of more, anise, char, …everything you want in a big, dark malty monster. I'm a sucker for them, like everyone else. So deep, so rich, full of everything. Is this bourbon barreled? No? Then, it's not as good, right? (inside joke with myself).
Damn, this has got so much. Smoke, chocolate, coffee, dark rum, molasses, treacle…man, oh, man…
I will digress for a second. The latest Vita.MN mag/paper has an article on the year in beer, and what a year it was. It talks about new breweries in Minneapolis, Dangerous Man, 612, Sociable Cider Werks, plus outside the twin cities breweries in Moorhead (Junkyard), and Victoria (Enki), plus the expansions, then growth in Duluth, St. Paul, and what's in the future. But, to leave out Hammerheart is a gross mistake. These guys are head and shoulders above a lot of other breweries, but, alas, they are not in NorthEast Minneapolis, so, there. There are other breweries skipped in this article as well, like Bad Weather, …Northgate? gad, there are so many, I can't keep track of where they are and when they came to be!
I'm still drinking, though it's way past time for bed, and I'm still soaking this in. It's pretty amazing.
……..a day later, I'm on line, looking up "Djevelens munnvann", and after the beeradvocate.com, untappd, and ratebeer listing, the next mention is a twitter pic of a A&W root beer can. Huh? Then, something associated with a 3-pack of Belgium's Satan ale. and it goes on and on. It seems that the norse really love this phrase. It's certainly not as popular in English, and it's a pity. Funny concept, though. How stinky was his breath before?
In all, wow. Massive. Immense. Big, bad, and beautiful. I vow that I will at last finish this beast.
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