From Matt Dinges of the Shelton Bros: “Two new beers are on the way from Nils Oscar in Sweden: Smoked Porter in 50cl bottles (won a medal at the last world beer championship in San Diego) and Coffee Stout, which is made with fair trade, single estate coffee from Rwanda. Smoked Porter should be available year round from here on out. Coffee Stout, at this point, is a one off specialty batch. We were lucky to get any of it, label modifications came down to the 11th hour.”

One of the beers Matt mentioned there just got federal label approval this week. Nils Oscar Rokporter is a smoked beer that features Fuggles hops (one of the English Noble varieties) and Amarillo from the States. Placing third out of 27 entries at the 2008 World Beer Cup, the beer finished behind Alaskan Brewing, which virtually owns the category and Arizona-based Four Peaks Brewing. It also took silver in the 2008 Stockholm Beer & Whiskey Festival 2008.

Nils Oscar Coffee Stout is made with coffee from the Gatsinga farm in Rwanda, sold under a Swedish label that has only been around for a few years, Johan & Nystrom. The coffee description via the brewery’s site reads, “Rwanda Gatsinga has deep sweetness, peerlessly complex, vivid flavors of fresh fruits, vegetables and spicy JUNIPER.” Only 6% ABV.

It may take a while for these beers to come over from Sweden.

Two other Shelton notes to report: “Olfabrikken Porter will be back after a hiatus, along with some special holiday beers from them.” And lastly, some other label approvals floated in this week for new Shelton imports: Huvila Arctic Circle Ale from Finland and virtually the whole Ise Kadoya line from Japan.