[4/8 Update: This beer is en route to USA if it hasn’t arrived already. Watch for bottles to start showing up later this month.]

(Grimstad, NORWAY) – In the final installment, I look at Nøgne Ø Red Horizon.

According to Co-Founder/Brewer, Kjetil Jikiun, “Red Horizon is technically a beer but as it is fermented with sake yeast, it has the aroma profile and fruitiness of a sake. We fermented it at low temperatures, as high quality sake is. That is the key to the delicate aromas.” 17% ABV. 75 IBUs.

For this one, the brewery uses sake yeast no. 7 provided by Masumi Sake in Nagano, Japan. From the Masumi website:

“[Former Master Brewer, Chisato Kubota’s] hard work and unwavering commitment to quality also began to pay off in less visible yet ultimately far more significant ways, for in 1946 the national sake brewing research institute discovered a superior variety of yeast in use at Masumi’s Suwa Kura (brewery). Dubbed “Yeast #7″, this variety has become the industry standard and is now used to brew top-grade sake at more that 60% of the nation’s breweries.”

Where does the Dark Horizon Series go from here?

“That is hard to predict. As long as we are dedicated in making interesting beers, and as long as people in our organisation are keen and ready to make the extra effort, then there will be new versions of DH coming. Which directions these new products will take will only be clear when the next beer is born. If the day comes that there are no Horizon series beers coming from Nøgne Ø, then it most likely means that there is something wrong with Nøgne Ø. Then we have probably lost our passion and playfulness. Hopefully that will never happen!”

All three editions will be imported by The Shelton Brothers.