A Danish Sour Gruit ale based on a 15th century recipe, this ale is a collaboration between Sam Calagione and Anders Kissmeyer from Norrebro Bryghus Brewery in Copenhagen. Ingredients included pale and dark barley malt, oats, fine syrup (maple syrup from Sam's dad's farm in Massachusetts), smoked dark syrup, fir branches and bark, wood sage, hyssop, blackthorn berries, woodruff, and star spice.
The beer has a bright copper color with a very sparse and fragile head. The aroma is extremely complex and spicy, with notes of anise, tobacco, brettanomyces, leather and dried fruits. The body is rich and with a delicate sweetness that balances the sour tartness, making it far more accessible than a Belgian lambic, which would be the only well known style to which one could possible remotely compare Old Odense Ale.
This beer, which pretty much defies any known style or category (if pressed, you could remotely compare it to a Belgian Lambic).
This beer was brewed in Copenhagen in June of 2007. Dogfish did not handle any distribution for this beer, although a limited amount was brought into the US by Shelton Brothers Importing.
