A Taste of Scandinavia

You don't often see a Norwegian beer on tap at a suburban Baltimore restaurant.

But there aren't many restaurants with as vast a draught beer menu as Frisco Taphouse and Grill in Columbia. In total, there's 52 beers on tap. That's right, 52!

Many of those were eclectic craft brews that I had never heard of. So, I was sort of going blind. But I saw Nogne Brown Ale that I figured was worth a shot, since it seemed so far afield.



In fact, Nogne, which translates to "naked island," is Norway's largest supplier of bottle conditioned ale and the first and only producer of unfiltered sake in Europe, according to its web site. Founded by two home brewers in 2002, Nogne produces 20 different types of beer and 5 different kinds of sake.

The brown ale poured a dark brown, almost black, which is more fitting of an English ale that it mimics. Taste of mild chocolate overtones and slight caramel/toffee. Surprisingly hoppy for a brown ale that usually are smooth and a very low alcohol content of 4.5%. But the body comes up a tad short, hurting the overall taste.

Users scored it a B+ on Beer Advocate and a surprisingly high 92 on RateBeer, which I think is a tad high because of the surprisingly hoppy notes and lackluster taste

Rating (out of five mugs): 2.7