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From Norway With Love
Viktor B., Laurits S. and Jesper K.
Our Rating: 4.67 / 5
From Norway with Love is an excellent Bourbon Barrel-Aged Salted Peanut Imperial Stout from Lervig Rackhouse, brewed in collaboration with Amundsen. At 13.3% ABV, it delivers controlled vanilla, caramel, roast, and savoury nut character, with restrained barrel influence and a structure that is both balanced and exquisite.
Beer Name: From Norway with Love
Brewery: Lervig Rackhouse × Amundsen Brewery
Beer Style: Bourbon Barrel-Aged Salted Peanut Imperial Stout
Alcohol: 13.3%
Taste Notes: Vanilla, caramel, chocolate, roast, roasted nut skin, savoury, peppery
Serving: Bottle
Serving Size: 375 ml (12.68 fl. oz.)
Wax The Norwegian Nuts
Someone picked a 37.5cl wax-dipped bottle for our tasting, which is always a good sign… well mostly. Either it’s special, or it’s a trap. This one is From Norway with Love from Lervig Rackhouse, brewed in collaboration with Amundsen, and it’s a Bourbon Barrel-Aged Salted Peanut Imperial Stout at 13.3% ABV. Rackhouse matters here: this is the side of Lervig that deals almost exclusively in barrels, long ageing, and beers that are allowed to sit quietly until they’ve made up their mind. Served cool-ish at 9°C in tulip/teku territory, slow pour, no theatrics.
In our glasses, it reads as a dark brown bordering on black, with chestnut edges where the light can negotiate a truce. Head is basically absent, lacing barely interested, and the carbonation looks and feels deliberately minimal.
Aroma starts blunt and confident: vanilla and chocolatey roast first, then baker’s chocolate, brown sugar, dark caramel, and a nutty note that lands closer to baked hazelnut skin than peanut butter. From a bit of distance, it throws caramel and peanut; closer in, the vanilla and roast tighten up, with the barrel influence staying controlled rather than boozy.
First sip leans vanilla-heavy with caramel sweetness up front and roast providing structure underneath. The salt doesn’t announce itself as “salty”, but it quietly keeps the sweetness honest. Mouthfeel is medium-thick and coating, still not cloying, and very much behaving like a Rackhouse stout that knows its strength without flexing it.
From Norway With Care
As the glass warms, the balance shifts without losing discipline. Vanilla keeps expanding, moving from supporting role to main structure, while caramel deepens rather than sweetens outright. The peanut character finally settles into place here, reading more as roasted nut skin and savoury fat than dessert topping. It never turns peanut-butter thick, which helps keep the beer from collapsing under its own weight.
Carbonation stays extremely low throughout, showing up as a fine texture. That restraint is crucial in balancing the beer. It lets the sweetness spread slowly instead of rushing the palate, and it keeps the beer cohesive rather than busy. Bitterness plays a bigger role than the label suggests: firm, clean, and timed late enough to work with the salt rather than against it. That interaction does most of the heavy lifting when it comes to drinkability.
The barrel influence remains measured. There’s bourbon-adjacent caramel and vanilla, but very little raw spirit heat and no aggressive oak tannin. It feels like a barrel programme aimed at smoothing and rounding rather than shouting, which fits the beer’s expression excellently. One detail that split the table slightly was a peppery edge in the finish. For some of us it acted as a welcome counterpoint, tightening the back end; for others it pulled attention away from the nut and vanilla interplay.
BJCP context: structurally this aligns closest with 20C Imperial Stout in terms of strength, body, and roast foundation. The bourbon barrel ageing and salted peanut adjunct push it beyond a straight category fit, but the base stout remains clearly legible underneath.
Untappd sits at 4.48, which feels earned given the polish and control on display. Our own scores landed slightly higher at 4.67, reflecting how well the salt and bitterness function structurally over time, and how little the beer relies on sheer sweetness to carry 13.3%.
From Norway With Love is all in all an excellent and well-crafted, well-balanced and delicious Bourbon Barrel-Aged Salted Peanut Imperial Stout.
- Viktor: 4.50 / 5
- Laurits: 4.75 / 5
- Jesper: 4.75 / 5
Our Average Score: 4.67 / 5
